Is our understanding of evangelism counterproductive?

D.T. Niles in his famous book That They May Have Life stated "Evangelism is witness. It is one beggar telling another beggar where to get food".

For many of us, this definition is helpful because it takes a lot of pressure off of the one doing the sharing. All we are required to do is bring people to the source of the food we have found and let the source take care of the feeding part. This makes evangelism about the spiritual and not so much about the material.

Christians are great at talking about Jesus as the bread of life and that God gives spiritual food and the Spirit is that living water from which we drink and do not thirst. But spiritualizing the problems of the world is not very helpful and in fact is a bit counterproductive to the mission of the Church. 

Perhaps the problem that I have with this understanding of evangelism and church work in general is that showing people the location of food is not bringing people out of poverty.

Yes, we show people where the food is. But we also are the ones who are called to help educate and equip the poor so they no longer are dependent upon our directions to the food source.  

Evangelism is the sharing of Good News. And for some people at this point in their life that Good News is Jesus Christ's message of forgiveness and reconciliation. For others at this point in their life that Good News is I know of a place that can get you a job or I will help you find money to go to school. 

Sometimes, many times, the Good News is much more material than we think.

We don't need to be Christian to be a good person, but...

I am leaning toward we need to be connected to a community in order to be understand who we are as an individual.

Conversions are followed with songs

Recently it was shared in a small group I am a part of, that every time a religious experience becomes real for someone a hymnity follows. 

We see this in the different songs in the Bible. From Mary after the annunciation, to Miriam after the destruction of Pharaoh to the songs of David to the early hymns of the church. 

It was shared to me that this is why there are so many people who get defensive about the type of music in a worship setting. It is not just about style or if drums are okay or a pipe organ is too lame. People are protective of the music that follows their religious experiences.

Many of us have these religious experiences when we are kids or youth and so the music of our youth really is the music we really hold on to for the rest of our life as "real music". It is why I still love the Beastie Boys, Moby, Fat Boy Slim, and Weezer. It is also why I do not understand rap music at all. I was being shaped in my life in my late teens and as a result I hold on to the music that was around at that time.  

So when you find yourself in a worship setting thinking, "This music sucks" or "I don't like that instrument in worship" remember that the music is a reflection of the religious experiences of the community and to understand the music is more than style - it is also connected to a life changing experience/s.