By Kevin "Mac" McClure
The need to share the Good News is assumed by Christians, based on our understanding of Scripture. Do we understand what sharing the Good News, that is, what "Good Newsing," as Pastor and Author Greg Boyd calls it, is all about?
I think I had a clearer understanding of it as a new Christian than I did when I became more indoctrinated. As I sat under various teachers, I "caught" that it was about proving other people wrong. Bad form. Very bad form. If it is about winning a debate, then from the get-go, we are creating a situation that places us at odds with the people we aim to influence. Not too winsome, if you ask me.
Over time, I'm coming to see afresh that the essence of God is love (1 John 4:8) and the essence of the Good News is love (John 3:16). This being the case, "Good Newsing," is not about debate. It's about helping people realize their surpassing worth. If people who don't know God walk away from us feeling rejected, judged and devalued, have we "Good Newsed" them?
If we are going to be effective Good News-ers, we need to be so filled with God's love that everyone we connect with is attracted to the life that is in us. People are far less influenced by doctrinal truth than they are by the truth of God's love when it is embodied by His followers.