The record of the Church at intentional evangelism ranges
from brute force, through social personal exclusion,
to current threat of eternal agony, or reward for living a good life.

Such evangelism seems framed to pander only
to a selfish desire for comfort in eternity
rather than to make men think again
about their present behaviour.

It is an approach and doctrine that seems utterly contrary
to the thrust of the message of Jesus and the tenets of God's Kingdom.


Jesus centred his message on God's reality
the imminence and effect of God's kingdom
the potential for good around us;
positive, active, loving.

But then he also spoke of God as goodness;
not some mystic father-figure
This is often what others already see
as good and valuable in their own lives.
This is the beating heart of God's kingdom
.
So we can point to Jesus as our example,
our model of how to live a perfect life,
and invite others to join us
in trying to follow him.

and we can talk of love's impact
serving and caring for each other,
bringing hope to the hopeless
justice to the downtrodden
and peace for all.

We can talk of what the world could be
if love reigned instead of pride,
if we worked for others
instead of ourselves,
if God's kingdom
truly came.

But we should not, can not, bludgeon others with suspect doctrines
that suit our own depreciated view of the realities of divinity.