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March, 2006
What Kind of Fisherman Are You?
Posted by Brian Beers at 3/20/2006 7:20:00 AM (4 comments left)

I don’t mean, “Are you a good fisherman or a bad fisherman?” Are you a commercial fisherman or a recreational fisherman? For the first time yesterday it dawned on me that our understanding of evangelism may hinge on that question. Before that realization struck, fishing with a pole was as good as fishing with a net. I have not done much of either. Now I see that they are poles apart. Peter, James, and John were net fishermen—commercial fishermen, and that makes for a very different relationship with the fish.

Commercial fishermen don’t use bait. The fish don’t choose to be caught. The cleverest fish may escape the nets, but he’s the exception. Recreational fishing, on the other hand, depends on deceiving the fish. Use the right lure and the fish will seek you out.

The implications for evangelism are probably many. I will offer but a few.

If we have a commercial mindset, we are less interested in how the fish feels while being caught. We know that the right place for people to be is in a relationship with God and fellowshipping with God’s people. Whatever else they were doing is irrelevant. We are not interested in making the Gospel alluring to one person at a time. The opinions of uncaught fish are not our criteria for success. We allow the Gospel to sweep through in all its power, altering life for vast numbers of people.

Now I wonder how to work this into my life or my church?

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Comment 1 by Mark Kernan:
I'll bite...
Brian I think you have a good analogy here.  Having done both, there are a few things I'd throw in the mix.  (As Brian knows I live in Kodiak, Alaska)

1. Recreational fisherman spend alot of money not just on rods, lures and waders but all the trendy gizmos and clothing lines.  Here, we spot the tourists by their matching Cabelas clothing and their fancy $400 rods.  (Their presence is almost more important than the presentation of their lure or fly)
.
2. Commercial fisherman spend almost nothing on clothing- just good rain gear and boots.  But they catch fish. (I couldn't come in the house when I got off the boat, my clothes stunk so bad) 

3. Commercial fisherman are relentless.  They head out in weather that no one else would and endure circumstances on board no prisoner would tolerate.  They keep fishing even when everything come up empty.  They continue to fish even when injured and exhausted.  The more fish they catch the harder they fish.

4. Commercial fisherman know their reward comes at the end of the season- and in some fisheries the end of the season is unknown.  The boats report thair catches and when the quota is met everything is over.

hmmm, we don't know the end of our season either...  Do I fish with the urgency of the season closing tomorrow- not as well as I should.

Mark


Posted  3/21/2006 11:09:00 AM email 
Comment 2 by Sam:
Not to rain on your analogy....
I understand what you are saying about the sorts of fishing...I do wonder how much of this sort of comparison was intended by Christ at his declaration, "I will make you fishers of men."  It seems that the issue is more vocational (thus the priority of evangelism) than description (use nets/avoid lures, etc).
 
The other concern I see is the de-personalization of evangelism.  Certainly Christ (and the disciples) preached to massive groups, but they also sat and talked with the woman at the well, to the beggar outside the temple and to the fools on Mars' hill.  Jesus did not pander to his audience, but he did care about them as individuals and spoke to them with words that made sense (even if the concepts were sometimes badly missed).
 
I like the way you're going...we need to be thinking of reaching a broader sphere than we can comfortably efriendgelize, but pushing the analogy too far might have unwanted (and unwarranted) consequences.
Posted  3/22/2006 7:33:00 AM 
Comment 3 by Brian:
"Unwanted" is not the same as "Bad"

Sam,
I don't think the contrast is unwarranted. I am sure that Jesus did not intend the imagery that popped into my head when I thought of a recreational fisherman (imagery that could be classified as "reader response"). His imagery was communicated to commercial fishermen. I believe that we have formed many of our evangelistic methods out of an incorrect interpretation of what it was to be a fisherman.

The de-personalization that is a greater concern is that which moves the person of Jesus into the background. If I do this, I find that I become shy about the gospel when I haven't been a good person/employee/coworker. You weren't exactly "begging" the question, but the three examples that you mentioned represent the exception rather than the rule. I want us to cast off the flawed ideas of how evangelism is supposed to be done-particularly those that contradict the commercial imagery.

I like your term "efriendgelize." It is appropriately diminutive. One of the consequences that you may have had in mind may have been applying the lack of desire in the fish to be caught. Could we develop an idea of evangelism in which a person is swept along unwillingly into the kingdom of God? That seems to go against all but maybe a few Scriptures, and even then those require a bit of twisting (i.e. "you and your whole household").

The main concept that I wish to toss back into the stream lies in the deception that underscores my ideas of evangelism. The fawning over the opinion of the envangelee is disgraceful. We try to conceal the offense of the Gospel until we are sure that we have got them hooked. Until then (until we "set the hook") we present all of the inoffensive parts, the parts that even the worldly-wise can recognize as good.

I am still afflicted by some of the attitudes taught as I grew up in the church. Jesus told Peter that he would be led where he didn't want to go. Somehow I have this idea that following Christ shouldn't become too difficult, and when it does I want to complain about it. That is a result trying to fish for converts using a deceptive lure.

In evangelism our goal is to convert people to an accurate understanding about reality. We seem, however, to be trying to give them an accurate picture of Christianity. The reality of the world is that Jesus is coming back in judgment, and that is going to be agony for all who value their own opinions. This is what I like about the commercial fisherman: he doesn't care about the opinions of his fish. He understands reality, and the fish have to go along with him.

Posted  3/22/2006 10:41:00 AM 
Comment 4 by Sam:
"Unwarranted" may not always mean "bad," but it must always be defended.
Brian,
 
I am skeptical about the idea of recreational fishing at the time of Christ.  Do you know of any data about it?  If you look at the account of Mark, the emphasis is that they left their father and nets and followed Jesus.  The point Jesus was making was not, "Hey, I want you to be commercial fishermen, not recreational, thus this means you are to emphasize the differences between the two," but rather, "I am calling you to forsake everything that seems comfortable and life preserving (having a job that pays the bills), and to make this one thing your priority."
 
I admire your desire to bring unabashed evangelism back to the fore, but I think your treatment of the fisherman concept is lacking exegesis...
 
Certainly scripture does not favor pandering, but even Paul said that to the Jews he became a Jew and to the Gentile, likewise.  There might be some basis for crafting our message in such a way that it speaks most pointedly to our specific group.  This does not require a watering down of truth.  We ought never sell a bill of goods.  Whenever I preach the Gospel, I include the promise of persecution and difficulties.  (By the way, on a pragmatic level, this is more believable to the modern audience.)
 
Finally, I could drag you through the whole of scripture and show individual after individual that was reached by some messenger of God.  Even when Billy Graham is preaching to thousands, it is an individual that is hearing and responding.  A group cannot respond, only individuals.
 
Just mixing it up.
Posted  3/29/2006 9:58:00 AM 

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