They sat, looking at one another in disbelief. They had the secret of perfect Pizza but many of their restaurants were empty and some were even facing closure. They had grown up hearing stories of the previous generations, of packed restaurants where crowds had come to feast on Pizza. They knew that they were faithfully following the recipe and that they were doing all the same things as those who had come before them. They felt like they were doing everything right which left them confused because it felt like everything was going wrong.
One of the managers broke the silence. ‘I’ve had people ask if we could deliver Pizza to them and I’ve always said no, but now I’m beginning to wonder if that is the best way forward’. All of a sudden everyone began to speak ‘Perfect Pizza can only be experienced in restaurants’, ‘We couldn’t possibly deliver because the Pizza wouldn’t remain warm enough to be worth eating’, ‘Our restaurants were once full and we just need to be faithful until they are full again’. The shouting continued until the oldest and most experienced manager stood up ‘People who want perfect Pizza just need to realise that they can only receive it on the terms that we are willing to offer it to them. We know Pizza and those who want it need to come to us and trust us to serve Pizza in the proper way’. With that, the meeting ended and the managers went back to their restaurants.
Although he hadn’t chosen to argue about it, the manager who had raised the subject of delivery still felt like it was the right thing to do. He couldn’t sleep that night and as he tossed and turned he was agonising over the conflict that he felt between wanting to honour the other managers but also wanting people to experience perfection for themselves.
As he walked to work the next day some people stopped him ‘when are you going to start delivering Pizza’ they asked. They talked at length about why Pizza was best experienced in an especially dedicated restaurant but the enquirers weren’t convinced. ‘We’re really interested in Perfect Pizza, we just don’t see why we should have to come into some old building at a set time to enjoy it’.
The manager walked into his restaurant feeling a failure. He had something amazing to offer to people but expecting people to come and receive it in restaurants just wasn’t working anymore.
What should he do?
When someone mentions ‘friendship evangelism’, many of us imagine awkward conversations that involve us delivering a gospel presentation in a telesales style but this doesn’t have to be the case. Can you think of ways that you could talk to people about your faith in a natural way? Could we try to get into the habit of telling people we will pray for them? Perhaps we could be braver and talk about how our faith is making a difference in life in the same way as we would talk about the other things that help us? What about trying to talk with people about things Jesus did or said – for example, when people are stressed, you could talk about Jesus calming the storm and encourage them to hear the words of Jesus ‘Peace be still’ speaking peace into their lives.
Graeme Ross
