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"Would you be interested in something else to read?" I asked, and handed him a copy of the latest issue of Encounter, entitled "Who is this Jesus?".
He received it with enthusiasm. He explained that he had just flown in from Japan and was going to do post-doctoral work at the University of Saskatchewan. He was a Buddhist, but one of the things he wanted to do while in Canada was to learn more about Christianity.
Our discussion caught the interest of the man across the aisle. He was flying from Hawaii to Saskatchewan to see his son, who had just been arrested. He himself had given up drugs and alcohol five years ago, but hadn't been able to give up women yet, he said. He had been turned off by the hypocrisy and racism he had encountered in a church in Saskatchewan years ago (he was of Native background), but in recent years he had begun to pray. He, too, enthusiastically accepted a copy of Encounter.
On another flight, I gave an Encounter to a young man who cheerfully declared that he would show it to the Christian students who had been witnessing to him at his university.
Still another man carefully read through the Encounter that I had given him and then asked if he could keep it so he could show it to his wife and family.
Another woman seemed uninterested, but paged through Encounter politely and quickly. As she neared the end of the magazine, she suddenly stopped. She pointed to a highlighted sentence in the second to last article: "I was broken, at the point of a nervous breakdown; that was when God met me." She explained that she was on her way home from visiting one of her two grown daughters. Both of her daughters were suffering from severe depression, and that sentence summed up where they were at--except that neither she nor her daughters had met God yet. She kept the Encounter and said that she would show it to her daughters. She didn't know where else to look for help.
This led us to further discussion. I described my own period of severe depression years ago, and how God had pulled me out of it, encouraging me through specific Bible verses and giving me reason for living. I said I would pray for her daughters. I still do.
Over the last few years, I have given away numerous copies of Encounter, the special evangelistic issues of the Mennonite Brethren Herald that we publish twice a year. Most people I have offered a copy to have accepted it and read it. Even those who refused it or handed it back after looking at it were polite. In many cases, Encounter was one of a number of Christian influences in the recipients' lives, another step in their journey to God. In some cases, giving the magazine opened up avenues for conversation and the sharing of my faith. I am not a natural evangelist, I am not outgoing with strangers, yet I have been able to use Encounter effectively.
Church members and leaders keep telling us that Encounter is attractive, relevant and seeker sensitive. Compared to locally produced and commercially produced evangelism aids, it is reasonably inexpensive. Yet it grieves me that Encounter is not being used as widely as it could be. We know that a good number of the 15,000 copies of Encounter we send to our regular subscribers are passed on to non-Christians. We usually sell another 2000-5000 copies to churches and individuals who distribute them. But why don't we sell 100,000 or 200,000? Why don't more individuals buy extra copies for their friends and neighbours? Why don't church plants use Encounter to help introduce themselves to their neighbourhoods? Why don't churches band together to blanket whole towns and cities with the gospel?
Our next issue of Encounter, due to be published on October 10, is on "Change". We know that Encounter cannot change lives. Only God can do that. Yet Encounter is a tool that the Holy Spirit can use to bring that change--if it is given to someone who needs it.
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