QUESTIONNAIRE EVANGELISM

by Richard Kemp

Everyone has had the frustrating experience of discovering at the end of a long conversation that the other person was on a completely different wavelength, and subsequently understood almost nothing you said. It is easy to waste hours in evangelism by failing to understand the other person's world view. All too often, our assumptions about those outside our churches prove unjustified. Recently, MEPA has been developing a questionnaire to help churches better understand how their neighbours view spiritual questions.

Questionnaires are a national pastime, since the French like to give their opinion. Try idly mentioning the words la vache folle to a French farmer and you will soon see what I mean! I have found that many people are willing to stop in the street to complete a questionnaire on their beliefs and attitudes towards Christianity and the church.

Much of our work takes place in busy towns, but I have also found questionnaires to be effective in village markets, where people have more time to talk. This February, for example, we set up a stand for the annual village fair in Lauris, where MEPA is based, presenting a colourful mixture of Christian art, music, videos and books and using questionnaires with passers-by.

Some people answer the questions quickly and move on. Others think at length about each one. It is as if they have never considered these issues before. It is not unusual for people to want to talk further. At this point, a method of collecting information becomes an opening for evangelism.

Recently, I presented the questionnaire to a market stall-holder who was selling posters. A conversation about faith ensued. We even talked about the answers he had given. For example, he had indicated that he believed God to be an 'impersonal force' but also that Jesus was 'God incarnate.' I found this combination of beliefs curious to say the least, and as we talked he shared that he was suffering greatly, following a broken relationship, and that consequently he found it hard to believe God could be 'personal'. He was visibly moved by the idea that God loved him and that this could be seen tangibly in Jesus' life. The connection between the two had never clicked before.

Shortly afterwards, we were joined by a Muslim and two communists to whom I had spoken earlier, and the group of five soon became quite animated. Their desire to see a better society was genuine and one of them, on seeing a poster of Martin Luther King, knelt down before it, saying "Now here is a man to whom I bow the knee." I knelt down beside him and translated the poster's English transcription of Luther King's speech:

I have a dream, that one day every valley will be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low‡ and the glory of the Lord will be revealed.

It was easy to make the point that real Christianity addresses social issues. Please pray for us as we continue to meet people on the streets of Southern France.