A knock at the door

Yesterday I answered the door in my dressing gown. Yes it was late morning, but in my defence, a) it was my day off and b) I had a cold. I was greeted by an older gentleman holding out a Watchtower and asking if I would like to talk about God? I smiled, said I was a Christian, but bless him for coming. He thanked me for answering the door.

My response to him was purely instinctive rather than thought through. Usually I hate being interrupted by cold callers (who doesn't?), especially when I am ill and in my pyjamas. And should I be 'blessing' him for his evangelising efforts? Jehovah's Witnesses believe a version of Christianity with, I would argue, the important bit taken out: they don't believe Jesus Christ is God. So while I will happily worship alongside Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Quakers and so on, it would not be appropriate for me to worship with JWs because we are not worshipping the same person.

As an evangelist, however, I have to admire their passion and persistence. The idea of going door to door fills me with dread and horror. Some Christians do it, but I would absolutely hate it. Partly that's because I know how much I would dislike to receive such a call; partly it's because, for me, evangelism has to happen through relationship, and you don't have a relationship with someone you've never met. You're knocking on their door, asking them to listen to you when they don't know anything about you. But I understand the motivation of people who do this: they believe they have a message others need to hear, so they go and tell them. Hence my impulse was to bless the man who knocked on my door, rather than to curse.

Had I been properly dressed and feeling well, I might have had a discussion with him about his beliefs and mine. I could have taken his knock at the door as an invitation to a conversation and we could have had an interesting talk. Maybe next time.

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