Discussion Starter: Listening to Unbelievers

The Christian Post tells the story of a Christian pastor in San Antonio who invited an avowed atheist to speak to his church on a Sunday morning. The pastor, Randy Frazee of Oak Hills Church brought in Hemant Mehta, a math teacher in Chicago who writes for a blog called the Friendly Atheist.

Mehta became a bit of an expert outsider after “selling his soul” on eBay as a kind of stunt. His soul was “purchased” by a former pastor who asked him to visit ten Chicago churches and describe those experiences on a ministry web site.

After telling the congregation in San Antonio that he admires the amazing charitable work done by Christians, he also addressed what he sees as problems for Christians. For instance:

When reaching out to an atheist, Mehta emphasized to not treat them like a project, or as if they’re people who are broken and need to be fixed. He explained that just because a person is an atheist, it ‘doesn’t mean they are immoral, untrustworthy or are not a good person,’ or even that they have bad familial relationships.

He has a point. Often, we encourage students to witness to their friends, but we don’t always encourage them to love their friends first. Loving includes listening, understanding and respecting people, not just delivering the good news as effectively as we can.

It might be a point worth discussing with your students. Ask questions like,

• How many unbelieving friends do you have?
• What do those friends think about Christians and Christianity?
• How normal it is to have conversations with unbelievers about what both they and you believe (or don’t believe)?
• Do the unbelievers you know feel respected and understood by the Christians in their lives?
• Are you more or less likely to invite someone to trust in Christ if you know them well or if they are a stranger? Why is that?
• How can we do better at hearing and respecting what our friends believe while also telling them the truth about Jesus, heaven and hell?

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