Led Anyone to Christ?

As the Area Representative for the CCCC I am occasionally called upon to do an interview with a prospective candidate who is seeking to be credentialed for ministry within the conference. One of the questions I am supposed to ask the interviewee is whether or not he has ever “led anyone to Christ.” The question slightly rankles my Calvinist sensibilities for it raises other questions about how someone is saved and who is doing the saving. But I am not criticizing the question. It is intended to find out if the candidate is willing and able to share the Good News with someone else. One who is seeking to enter into the ministry of the Word should be willing and able to share the faith. But someone recently offered an insight to me and I pass it along to you. When such a question is asked of him his response is, “Every day.” What does he mean? He is suggesting that leading someone to Christ is not a particular kind of activity, such as getting someone to pray the “sinner’s prayer.” Rather, he realizes that every day he is either leading someone to or away from Christ. This he is doing by his words and actions.

The woman who was healed of the hemorrhage of blood (Mark 5:25-34) was emboldened to seek out Jesus and touch the hem of his garment because “she had heard the reports about Jesus” (v. 27). Clearly, what she had learned about Jesus was compelling. Note that this being exposed to Jesus by secondary means (i.e., she did not see him personally prior to her going out to find him) was sufficient to birth faith within her heart. That faith was motivating enough to cause her to leave her law-imposed isolation and risk embarrassment and rejection in order to receive the life that was in Jesus.

This reporting and receiving of the truth of Jesus is the lifeblood of the church. We see in Paul’s teaching from Romans 10, if a soul is to be saved from death by the life that is in Christ they must have faith in him. And yet, for someone to believe in Christ they must learn who he is; and, for one to learn who he is another must tell him. This is the process summed up by the words, “faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

But what the fellow was suggesting to me when he acknowledged the daily responsibility of leading people to Christ is that we should not think that our preaching is done only with our mouths. What we say and what we do are inextricably linked. The emphasis that James makes in his letter is to the point: “someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).

For the woman, faith was engendered in her soul and she was led to the savior through her learning about what Jesus had been teaching and doing. What report do we offer to those around us who are as burdened down by their circumstances as she? Let us ask God for the grace to lead them to Christ.