Emotions for Evangelism, Helpful or Harmful?
What moves people to change is pain. There is a timeless experience that the Bible addresses. All people have a deficit that allows pain to be real, and genuine relief to be experienced in Christ. Unlike the modernist question, "Is it true?' postmodernists are going to ask, "Does this work?" (p. 77). Emotions are not evil, and in my opinion, there are often concerns that certain denominations are too emotional. There is a balance to be had between head and heart. What motivates Christians is the goodness of God to send Jesus for our sins. What keeps them in it is the knowledge that "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (NIV, Romans 5:8).
Salvation is both a change of mind and heart. For a self-disciplined person, the heart follows the mind, but how many in today's culture are able to set goals with the mind and keep them going once the heart is no longer "in it"? For example, New Year's resolutions. We have a desire to be different and yet, once the heart has detached from the plan, forward progress is a challenge. Engaging the heart for witnessing to a lost world will help overcome the challenge of quitting when it difficult to share the faith. Jesus said "All the laws and the prophets hang on these two commandments" to love God and love others (Matthew 22:40). Love is a feeling and a decision. The emergent church knows the pull of culture and speaks to the heart through stories of love in action.
Besides pain, stories motivate for change. Many leaders learn fundraising techniques around the power of story. While vision casting for a project with logic may work on a small level, what brings in excitement to give are stories of others who have been successful. These positive stories are motivating and encourage people to persevere. This is the same for teaching Biblical principles such as the Ten Commandments. These may be a list of rules that govern us, but the relationship with Jesus is what explains why the Ten Commandments are needed.
I am concerned with how easily people give up on each other and the lack of faithfulness through hardships. In the American culture, the stories of perseverance, generosity, grit, and ultimately, reward, are what grab our attention and allow us to see beyond the present to imagine an ideal future. The stories the Bible convict of sin, point to redemption, and open our understanding (mind) to how God works on people (emotions). "We ought to pursue strong feeling and learn approaches that touch the emotions as much as they deepen understanding (Sweet, et al., p. 177). We run from issues of the heart but must work to include the vulnerability of heart-work in everyday life. Personally, "pulling the heartstrings" is something I try to include in my sermons, not as manipulation, or information, but motivation to follow through and respond to the call of God.
References
Sweet, L., Akkerman, J.R., Oord, T. J., Peterson, B.D. (2009). Postmodern and Wesleyan? Exploring the Boundaries and Possibilities. Beacon Hill Press.
First posted as a discussion post at Ohio Christian University on May 18, 2024.
Comments