Author: Jim Henderson

Jim Henderson, in the 7th Chapter of Evangelism Without Additives adds another layer to a surprisingly simple recipe for sharing Christian faith with the people Jesus misses most. He makes a case for doing what is doable, and paints a picture of how Jesus partners with us in our simple doableness (Made up word :-).

Jim says, "When God asks us to give Him something, He asks us to give Him only what we already have. It might take a little work to identify what that is, but we already have what we need to help move others closer to Him." As I read this I had to ask myself if I truly believed that. Do you believe this? Most people don't think they have the right personality, wisdom, holiness, salesmanship, or ad infinitem to expose others to their faith is a positive way. This book has gone to great lengths to lay out the fact that all we need to help nudge people along the path towards Jesus is our ordinary life. Consider this verse out of Romans chapter 12 -- "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him."

Often, in our zeal or immaturity, Jim says we try and, "give more time, more money, more bravery, and more effort, none of which we can sustain for any length of time." As a new church planter, with 20+ years of active Christian faith behind me, I've been telling myself that I need to be in this pastoring work for the long haul. I can see in reading this chapter, that the author is correct when he states that to partner with Jesus for the long term, we will need to get a new reality.

For some, that new reality will mean being more real - more authentic, with all the ups / downs, good / bad, and right / wrong that come with our humanity even after we give our lives to living like Christ. God wants people who are real, even if it means that they have little to give. Jim says our realness gets God's attention, because in todays world, realness and authenticity is in short supply and high demand, which means just being real carries tremendous value.

I'm praying for a new reality where I can see how my ordinary life, yielded to Christ, does glorify God AND help the people around me who are looking for faith see Jesus, and find encouragement in the relationship that I have built with them. Even with this chapter, it still takes faith to believe that Jesus comes with just the right compliment of stuff to make up for what we lack, and that our ordinary life does bring Him joy.

Joedy Zapara - book reader