This week I was speaking to a Baptist lady at work who told me she was reading a book about “witnessing.” As I skimmed the back cover and table of contents I could see that it was all about strategies for presenting the gospel and how to broach the subject. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, in fact, it is a noble effort to think through ways of speaking about the faith. However, I would like to take a moment to think about non-verbal “witnessing.”

In Greek, the word “witness” is the same word for “martyr” (martys). It originally referred to those who gave testimony in court, but Christians specifically labled those killed on Christ’s behalf as “witnesses.” How do we who are not being killed then witness? By “presenting our bodies as living sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1). One of the most explicit New Testament exhortations to speak about Christ to those who ask is in the midst of Peter talking about being persecuted: “But even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. Do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil” (1 Pet. 3:14-17). For as much thought as we put into the answer we give for the hope that is in us, we must put at least as much prayer, fasting, and ascetic discipline into cultivating a gentleness and reverence in which to present that answer. For if we do not have a “right spirit” our teaching will not lead to conversion (or if it does it will be in spite of us), as the Psalm says: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence; and take not your holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto you” (Ps. 50:10-13, Ps. 51:10-13 LXX).

This week I was reading “Liturgy and Life” by Fr. Alexander Schmemann wherein he makes some interesting and important comments about raising children in the faith. One of those comments was that church should be the first place children hear the word “God.” He writes, “In a classroom it is difficult to understand, it remains abstract; but in church it is ‘in its own element.’” In the context of our present discussion about “witnessing” to those outside the church we must keep this difficulty in mind. Without being able to transport the whole atmosphere of church to the highways and byways the least we must do to give Him of whom we witness any concreteness and context is have a right spirit, be a living sacrifice, a continual martyr.

MCO