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The Christian life
Without wishing to present an inaccurate stereotype I do think that in the period I am referring to as well as the negatives already referred to, the positive side of the Christian life was too much pictured in terms of witnessing and personal evangelism. Gregarious extroverts exhorted everyone to be witnessing or handing out tracts practically all the spare time you had – as they sometimes still do. I remember in one of my few conversations with the Doctor saying that where I lived I sometimes passed groups of lads in the evenings and felt convicted that I ought to speak to them, but I was not sure about it. My memory may be faulty, but I think that he replied that a lot of harm could be done by Christians zealously buttonholing others who then felt victimised and were put off rather than helped. He suggested I prayerfully attempted to approach them and see how I got on. This I did and as a result decided that while others did had much more of a gift of getting alongside strangers this was not something which I was generally able to do fruitfully. The Doctor’s view of the Christian life was far bigger and more rounded than that of some of his contemporaries. Of course, being ready to confess one’s own faith and being unashamed of the gospel is a vital part of Christian witness, as is a readiness to befriend those you are brought into contact with. It also requires time and wisdom to build fruitful gospel relationships from scratch.
