Dr. Mills, my philosophy prof, made sort of the same point in relation to missions. He pointed out that people who go on mission trips to foreign countries, other parts of the U.S., etc., almost all come back saying, “Wow! What an incredible experience! I mean, those people have nothing, and the way we were able to connect and help them out, it really changed my life!” In reality, though, that’s missing the entire point, because sharing the gospel isn’t about the awesome experience the sharer gets out of it. Consider the effect such mission trips have on the people being visited. Sure, I bet they’re positively affected, but in the long run, what difference is made other than the impression of “Wow, those curious white people were interesting” or “Wow, those rich people were…rich”? This is not to say that mission trips have no effect. I’m sure there have been countless instances of mission trips that have truly influenced lives. But contact with a gospel-sharing believer for one week is absolutely nothing compared to a life-long relationship with a believer who not only shares the gospel, but acts accordingly, and supports those who are being witnessed to in times of need. Dr. Mills shared his own experience with missions, where he and his church family spent every Saturday for a considerable number of months cleaning up the inner city near their church and trying to develop relationships with the people there. They never piled out of the church bus to knock on somebody’s door and “witness,” they simply cleaned up trash each Saturday and poured their own funds into making the city look nicer. Eventually, people started answering their doors, and started asking “What the heck are you doing picking up trash?” It was then that they’d share that their reason was to act in the love of Christ, the same love that Christ expresses toward everyone. Many people were skeptical, but there were a number who were saved within the first couple of months. As the ministry continued (note that “ministry” here is not referring to “Hi, I’m a Christian, and here’s why you should believe and not go to hell”) more and more people began to open up to Dr. Mills and his church group, sometimes spending hours on their front porches just talking about stuff. Incidentally, when the team started their trash-cleaning project, no one in the city would ever sit on their front porch waiting for someone to talk to. Now that people were opening up to this group of Christians, they in fact began to open up to each other, and neighbors that hadn’t talked to each other in their entire time of residence there began to speak to each other and get to know each other. There was actually a community forming where before there had been a bunch of solitary people living in the same area. One old lady in particular had been kept in her house by her children, who wanted nothing to do with her, and her house was trashed inside beyond recognition. One day, she made it a priority to try and answer the door when those weird Christian people came by, and Mills said that when they met, she was the most cynical woman he’d ever met in his life. It so turns out that this lady who hadn’t spoken to anyone in years ended up (after a few months of this trash-picking-up) waiting eagerly on her front porch every Saturday to talk to Dr. Mills, and after a very long time of investing his Saturdays in this woman, Mills was able to lead her to Christ. Her funeral was about a month ago, and the number of friends at that funeral was overwhelming, all of whom were friends that this woman met through the church. And if Mills and his church group had not started by investing their lives in their sphere of influence by picking up trash every Saturday, this woman would most likely have died with not one friend to attend her funeral. That is real witnessing.

I feel like there’s such an emphasis on prepackaged church activities (week-long mission trips are an example). In reality, the gospel is something to be lived out in everyday life, and is something that must permeate our immediate surroundings. And like you’re saying, Tim, it’s the people around us that we’re going to relate to, both within and without the Body of Christ, and it’s those people that we’re called to witness to.

Anyway, I thought that was an inspiring story that might connect to your point.