Here’s a post by Biola University professor Clay Jones again.
Excerpt:
One of the most common approaches to witnessing is to tell people how your life was transformed from awful to awesome. You know what I mean. Something like “before I was a Christian my marriage was on the rocks, I was depressed, was on the verge of being fired from my job, and wondered whether life was worth living. Once I became a Christian, however, my marriage improved, I started getting along better with my boss, and I’m happier.” The idea behind this is that if you come to Jesus your life will get better here. I call it “improved lifestyle witnessing.”
Many Christians encourage this as a method of evangelism. After all, it is easy to do, it is something you can remember because it is about you, and it is irrefutable because you are telling people things that actually happened to you. As a method of evangelism then, what’s not to like? Right?
Wrong.
He then goes through a half-dozen or so problems with lifestyle evangelism.
Here’s my favorites.
First, consider that just about every cult and religion in the world does the same thing. How many cults or false religions say, “Come to us and your life will get worse”? Of course not! They promise a better life here.
Second, postmodern hearers, who believe that all truths are small “t” truths, will receive this approach as “good, I’m glad that worked for you.” And sometimes they will then add that what works for them is Baha’i, or Zen, or therapy, or Prozac, or “I get high on life” or “I don’t need a crutch,” and so on.
I don’t think we should be selling Christianity as a means to make yourself happier in this life. I don’t see many happy people in the New Testament – I see many joyful people suffering under harsh conditions. And if you substitute a changed life for apologetics, then I really think you’ve gone wrong. The gospel is always presented as a true solution to the problem of sin – never as a placebo to make us feel better. Either it’s true or it isn’t – whether it makes us “better people” or not is irrelevant.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
The question at the top of the post was, “Should Christians abandon changed-life evangelism?” I see the problems of “changed-life evangelism”. On the other hand, I can also see positives. So what I’m wondering is what the answer to your question is? Should we ABANDON it, or should we relegate it to a “lower status”, put it in its place? Seems like throwing out a tool because it can be flawed isn’t a wise choice. Surely it’s not your view that “Apologetics” is the ONLY valid means of evangelism, right? (By the way, “changed-life” doesn’t always mean “happy, peppy people”. It includes changes in perspectives, values, directions, even abilities — you know, like being able to do good where you couldn’t before.)
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It’s good in combination with apologetics. But be sensitive. Use it with genuine seekers, not with Richard Dawkins.
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Interesting. I do think many Christians are too reliant on soft-selling Christianity. It’s like a weight-loss ad, “Before :-(” and “AFTER! :-)”. LOL!
Yes, unfortunately, it ignores the countless examples in the New Testament where the apostles’ lives became considerably worse (at least by worldly standards). It also can be viewed through relativistic eyes as just a path to happiness.
However, I wouldn’t abandon it. It does have a place in witnessing. A number of times, people would say that “I acted different” or would “remain calm” in stressful times and ask why. It was not apologetic books that caught their attention, but my LIFE.
This usually happens most with girlfriends stuck in bad relationships or a sad situation. They’re looking to fill a void. If I had handed them a CD on proving the existence of God, they would’ve crammed it back in my face! But using Scripture and yes, my LIFE experiences I was able to open their eyes to God who is Love. From there, I started Bible studies and led discussion groups for them to find out more.
So I definitely say it depends on the situation and the person. You shouldn’t ONLY do the changed life approach, but don’t write it off.
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Yes, we should abandon “changed life evangelism” altogether as it is not only a poor tactic but actually biblically wrong considering Jesus called his followers to a life of hardship for living according to the truth in a still fallen world.
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I don’t see how you can hope to convince an atheist through more argument, as good as you are at it. To me, that is just asking for a show down. I think a sign or wonder is more effective. My suggestion would be to be heal someone’s mother-in-law, or produce enough food for the multitudes, or raise their daughter from the dead, or help get their son out of bondage by turning a few pots of oil into a thriving business. That, to me, would probably win over a few more skeptics. It sure worked for Jesus and the prophets.
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I think we need to be smarter about how we witness what God has done in our lives. Some people have genuine deliverance from evil things by the hand of God.
If that is the truth, then to deny that would be a horrendous distortion of the truth, and I believe a sin.
That said, so much written and discussed on evangelism is pure garbage, trying to distill everything into a one-size-fits-all package. If God has changed your life, declare it! If he has not, please please please don’t think you have a less powerful witness. God has made people as His workmanship, and each life, each salvation is a beautiful and unique song to sing. Reject one-size-fits-all anything. God’s much more creative than that.
“Beginning Well” by Gordon T. Smith takes a pretty good stab at listing out the consistent hallmarks of authentic Christian conversion, and in doing so, I think has given people the tools to share faithfully what God is doing, rather than what the latest class on evangelism has told them they should say.
Back to the first. God *has* changed my life, and for the better. He saved my marriage and delivered me from alcoholism and drug addiction. Were I to deny that, I would deny the power of God to heal. That said, when I share, I don’t just share that, I also share that God spoke through apologists into my life, including W.L. Craig, Wells, Ravi Zacharias, and also through great preaching, like that of Alistair Begg.
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Changed life evangelism is a useful tool, but it should be combined with an exposition of the truth of the gospel. This is especially true for cultivating faith that lasts when things get tough in this life – which they will, as Jesus promised us. If our faith is not true, it’s worthless and pitiful. The Apostle Paul said as much.
It also, as Stan rightly points out, depends on what sort of change you’re referring to. So it’s an important theological point that God makes you a new person and that if you become a Christian you will receive complete fulfilment. However, you will define that fulfilment in a very different sense to the way the world defines it. You will find God supremely fulfilling because God gives you new desires. To have relationship with God is then to receive the deepest desires of your heart next to which all other desires pale in comparison. We do not love God for what He can do for us so much as for Who He is. He Himself is the greatest source of delight, joy and abundance. Whatever happens to us in this life, if we have God we have reason for overflowing joy. If we then have this God-centred delight, we won’t want to waste our time or grieve our beloved Saviour by doing harmful things that both ruin our lives from an external perspective and damage our relationship with God. We may struggle with the flesh, but we will not give up. And as we grow closer to God it will show.
As Alisha rightly says, we also need to be sensitive to the situation. Jesus, our perfect Example was. And sometimes the first thing people need to hear is that their lives can change for the better – in the lasting sense that matters most. And their lives are changed by the Truth Himself. That is what Jesus offered the Samaritan woman at the well: living water so that she would never thirst again, water that HE Who is Truth would give her. When she came to realize that in front of her was the Messiah she also realized that He was what she was longing for. Truth and and fulfilment beautifully combined. Jesus always does it best. :)
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