Leaving the Evangelism Bubble: How Far Outside Your Comfort Zone Have You Gone?

I received an intriguing email invitation today.

The offer came from a radio program, inviting me to come on their show and to speak with their audience about Lent. The hosts of this show are active in another religion, one which does not traditionally observe the season of Lent. In their note, the hosts told me that they are interested in learning more about Lent. A portion of their note reads:

As _____, we don’t formally observe Lent and this year we’ve decided to learn more about it, observe it and blog our experience… we were wondering if you might be willing to come on our show and talk with us a little about the practice of Lent and how beginners can start observing it?

I took a few moments to pray about this request, honestly hoping I’d receive some massive sign from God saying in his booming voice:

“Hail Lisa, my faithful servant, this is not a good idea. Generously decline and pray that they will find a more suitable spokesperson.”

Unfortunately, that divine diatribe didn’t happen. In absence of lightning and thunder and a big “no”, I heard in my head one of my Daddy’s mantras:

“Always err on the side of generosity.”

Darn. Ok. When in doubt, say “yes”.

I’m still waiting for the details to be confirmed, and you can be assured that I’ll be asking for your prayers if this pans out. I’ve listened to a bit of the program in question, and the hosts seem both extremely devout and fabulously fun. If given this opportunity, I hope that it will be an opportunity at bridge building and also at getting to know one another’s faiths better, with an eye towards possibly erasing some previously-held stereotypes on both sides.

We’ll see.

I’d like to know from you today, have you ever truly “evangelized” outside of your comfort zone? What was the result? How did you prepare and how did it go for you? What would you have done differently?