By Dr. Ross Langmead

I was buying a second-hand car through the Trading Post. I was taking a test drive. The seller found out I was a Christian and tried to convert me to his brand of religion by showing me where Christianity had gone wrong. I was listening for engine noises, but the only knocking noises came from beside me.

I might have been interested if it had actually been a conversation. In the one-to-one, preaching at people seldom works, it seems. Aggressive apologetics, if it ever worked, won't work today.

Confronting people is not only counterproductive. It misses the essence of the gospel, which invites us into God's gracious order of new relationships.

If our method is to fit the message, our approach to others must be dialogical. What do you think? (OK, I realise articles aren't very dialogical .)

What is dialogue?

Dialogue, taken broadly, is conversation that is respectful and open. It gets beyond surface matters. We bring to it our core beliefs. But we also listen in love. And both conversation partners are open to being changed by the encounter.

It can only happen when those in dialogue treat each other more or less as equals.

Most of the time dialogue occurs in daily life. There is dialogue whenever we treat others as God treats us. This dialogical attitude is at the heart of mission. It differs clearly from the approach of those who stand on a street corner and tell us we're going to hell.

The practical attitudes and skills we need in dialogue are those we find in all loving relationships: care for the other's wellbeing, empathy, non-judgemental presence and active listening.

Dialogue becomes essential when we cross cultures or converse with someone of another religion. There are so many ways we can misunderstand each other if we don't listen and explore what we think the other is saying.

If we grow into dialogue we might even experience a dialogue of the heart. We can go beyond an exchange of ideas to an exchange of longings and feelings. This seems only to happen when we show deep respect for the spiritual journey of others.

Is mission more?

Some missiologists, such as Paul Knitter, argue that dialogue is the sum of mission. Our goal is reached, he says, when as a result of dialogue a Christian is a better Christian and a Buddhist a better Buddhist. [1]

I have a deeper commitment to the unity of truth than this, even if I recognise that none of us grasps it adequately. So witness to the Good News, as I understand and experience it, will always be part of dialogue.

There will also be times when we engage in mission in ways other than dialogue. We will give aid, challenge injustice, develop communities, appear on TV, care for creation and so on.

But the central approach of Christian mission, particularly in interpersonal relationships, is surely to be modelled on the way Jesus approached people.

The conversation at the well in Samaria with a woman who didn't expect to be treated with respect is the classic example (John 4).

Holy conversation

Missiologist Richard Peace has recently argued that Christians have lost the art of witnessing to their faith through holy conversation. [2] This is a beautiful way to put it.

Holy conversation, he says, is characterised by mutuality, reciprocity, openness and respect. By all means approach people with conversion in mind - as long as we also are open to being transformed.

About that car: I bought the car, but I didn't buy a word of what was spoken at me.

Endnotes:

[1] Paul Knitter, No other name (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1985), 22. [2] Richard Peace, 'Holy conversation: The lost art of witness', Word and World 22 (2002): 255-263.

Ross Langmead

Director, School of World Mission

Published as the Editorial for Mission Horizons (quarterly newsletter of the School of World Mission, Melbourne, Australia) in March 2004. May be reproduced freely with acknowledgment.