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I'm doing this in reverse order. Obviously it makes sense to roll out Random Sampling 'Part 1' first...

But I was going through UKGospel.com version 1 the other day, and I came across this piece by Mike and immediately started work on transferring it.

There's an old Yoruba saying from South West Nigeria:

'...there's more than one gateway into a market square'.

Mike's excellent piece reinforces the fact that if more of us were less dogmatic and a bit more empathetic, we'd probably get the gospel heard (and positively responded to) by more people in more places...

I'll post Part 1 here soon, but - in brief - the whole idea behind the Random Sampling series is to showcase some great writing and thinking across the gospel music spectrum. Coming soon: Karl Nova and Commission.

Now, on with Mr Rimmer.

MIKE RIMMER: FISHING IN STARBUCKS...  (originally published 3rd August 2008)

  It seems that the older I have got, the busier my life has become.
  I can't tell whether this is because the pace of society has increased or it's
  simply I've now got more opportunities to do things. 

  Finding time to relax has become harder, and when I announce that I am
  going to sit in a Starbucks and enjoy a coffee, a lot of my
  friends think I'm simply skiving and it's time I got a proper job.

I have to confess that I love Starbucks. I know it's expensive and I know that coffee snobs think it's not very good.

But I'm not a coffee snob and I just enjoy sitting there watching the world go by or chatting to friends. Sometimes I even take a laptop and tap away writing an article or a CD review.

FISHERS...
But these days I'm more often there to fish. Jesus called us to be fishers of men, to hook others into the Kingdom of God.

HUNTERS...
I think so much of our evangelism in the past has been more like hunters than fishers. And often we get weary or guilt driven in telling others about Jesus. Door knocking or cold calling always seemed too much like hard work and bore little fruit but fishing in Starbucks works great for me.

SETTING UP
Let me set it up for you: like fishing in a river, you have to find just the right spot.

My favourite is in the corner of Starbucks where there are two sofas facing each other. I occupy one and sit working on my laptop leaving the other sofa wide open, inviting coffee drinkers with its comfort and emptiness.

And then like any good fisherman, I wait for a bite.

Before long someone will come along and ask if it's taken and I smile and invite them to help themselves and pass the time of day and ask how they're doing. It can go two ways, they either mumble at you and the conversation peters out or they engage and we chat about anything.

That's the great thing about fishing, if you get a bite, you can try and reel them in but if you don't, you don't worry.

BAIT...
Obviously bait is very important. I think when we're chatting to people, we need to learn to be much more intriguing in the things we say and how we reveal God to them.

Personally I use a lot of self deprecating humour and I like to drop hints and throw stuff out to see if they'll bite rather than an all out proclamation. It's always better if they are asking questions and having a nibble than me chasing after them.

Normally someone will eventually ask me what I'm doing and I tell them a bit about my job and explain that I'm a journalist and broadcaster who's into specialist music.

Then they'll ask about the music and I'll explain it's gospel music and say something about that and normally the conversation will move onto faith and then it could go in any direction.

SOMETIMES THEY'RE JUST NOT READY...
Some fish when you catch them aren't old enough and a good fisherman will throw them back. Some people when you talk to them they aren't ready and so you have to let them off the hook.
But you can still enjoy the process of sowing seeds and intriguing them and who knows who will come long down the line and chat to them.

NO PRESSURE
The great thing about fishing in Starbucks is that it's very relaxing, there's no pressure. The person opposite doesn't want to talk? It doesn't matter! I just wait for someone else to take their place later and start again.

I've spent so much time when I was younger being frantic about sharing my faith that this new relaxed way is a breath of fresh air.

A fisherman deliberately sets out to land some fish and so being deliberate is important. To my friends I'm obviously having too good a time chilling out and I should do some real work.

POSITIONING...
But for me I'm deliberately putting myself in a position where God can use me to talk to people. I'm paying attention, wondering who God will bring across my path and which fishes might take a bite.

The most tasty bait for the fish is when we're loving, take an interest in them, have a sense of humour and intrigue them. What fish can resist biting into that...?

LIFE STORIES
I'm pretty sure that Jesus worked in a similar way to intrigue people, asking them questions, making interesting observations about life around them and telling funny stories.

When the conversation gets round to God I'll weave in more stories about my own conversion and experiences of God and present the gospel to them by explaining how I responded to the message myself rather than directly hitting them with the message, so they hear the gospel without feeling they're being preached at.

I guess that if you have another favourite coffee spot (it doesn't have to be a Starbucks), you can
do this too. Why not give it a go and let me know how you get on...

Muyiwa and Riversongz - Declaring His Name All Around The World - Get It from Amazon!