Relational Apologetics: What If The Relationship Gets Hard? - A Simple Faith Special Series

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Faith everybody. I'm your host, rusty George, and this is the grand finale of our five part journey into Relational Apologetics. Over the past few weeks, we've explored the power of connection, the art of hearing, the heart finding common ground by building bridges to Jesus and the incredible witness of a loving community. If you've missed any of the previous episodes, I encourage you to go check those

out. And today in episode five, we are diving into what it truly means to sustain a relational approach to faith, making it not just a strategy, but a way of life. In our exploration, we've learned that faith isn't always built on winning arguments, but often blossoms within the context of genuine human connection.

We've seen how listening with empathy and helping people to empty their bucket can unlock the deeper questions people carry, and how finding common ground can build bridges across diverse worldviews. The Christian community itself stands as a powerful testament to the love of Christ when it embodies welcome and care. This is the Celtic way of evangelism, but to be honest, that can sound exhausting. How do we keep this going? How do we make relational apologetics a lasting part of our lives?

We began this series by asking the question, what if doing traditional apologetics means doing it the hard way? And I think we've made a pretty successful case that. Relational apologetics for many of us, is a much easier form or more natural, at least form of evangelism. But there is one problem with that.

Relationships are hard. Relationships are difficult. Everybody knows that. Most people think it's because of money, sex, kids work, or who picks up the socks. Some people think it's because we're just not right for each other or we don't have enough in common. Look, it's not just you or him or her. There's actually nothing more difficult on the planet than another person. Think about that. We are all difficult. That's Stan Tatkin. Stan is a clinician, researcher, teacher, and developer.

Of a psychological approach to couple therapy. I can tell you that fighting in and of itself is inevitable. There is no relationship without conflict. In fact, if you are a conflict avoider, you will appear threatening to your partner. The real problem isn't that you fight. It's when you do one or both of you threatens to leave the relationship. A relationship can survive fights. What it cannot survive is loss of safety and security.

Atkins says the real problem is not that we're fighting, it's that someone to one degree or another is threatening to leave the relationship, to dissolve the relationship, or in this case community. So how can a close community or any relationship for that matter. Survive the constant threat of disintegration. Well, that's the million dollar question, isn't it?

It's easy to get fired up after a conference or a podcast series, but the real work happens in the day to day, and those ordinary interactions with our neighbors, our colleagues, our families, sustaining a relational approach requires patience and perseverance. Think about any meaningful relationship in your life. It wasn't built overnight. It took time, consistent effort and a willingness to stick with it even through the tough times.

The same holds true when we're sharing our faith in this relational way. We're often planting seeds and we may not see the harvest for a long time.

My wife and I met while we both worked at a Panera. We both opened at 5:00 AM so it was definitely not a romantic time of day and it absolutely was not love at first sight, but we did become friends. Over time, I learned that she had grown up in a Christian home, but now in her early twenties, she wasn't living for Jesus. She had walked away from the church and God and was living a very un-Christian lifestyle.

When we spent time together, I would share my story in particular, the joy of my faith, the fulfilling purpose She had grown up in a church. She knew all the arguments and reasons for Christianity. But they didn't feel relevant to her. She eventually fell deeper into addiction and left town, but the spirit had placed a burden for her on my heart and even when I eventually moved away, I continued to pray for her. About four years later, I got a call out of the blue.

After going through some challenging times, she had turned back to Christ. She had attended a recovery program for about a year and had been completely transformed by the power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit. The next time I was in the area of visiting family, we met up and she even looked like a brand new person.

She told me that after she had gotten saved and moved in with her mom, she wanted to find me again since I was the only Christian friend she could remember from that time in her life. When talking about it with her mom and trying to think of a way to contact me, her mom remembered that. Surprisingly, my phone number was still written on their whiteboard in the basement from four years earlier. For four years, I had been praying for her, but not just me.

Her parents and her parents' friends and their church have been praying for her for much longer than that. A year or two later, we began to date. And then a year and a half after that we were married. Now we've been married for 15 years with two beautiful daughters. The seeds that were planted in our 5:00 AM conversations took four years to bear fruit, and the seeds and prayers planted by her parents' community took even longer.

But when they did bear fruit, the difference was nothing short of a miracle. Exactly.

Our testimony and the stories of those in community are powerful tools. Our own journey of faith has likely had its twists and turns, and sharing those moments of uncertainty can actually build trust and show others that faith isn't about having all the answers, but about a relationship with a God who welcomes our questions. And here's the key. Faith isn't just a one-time act. It is ongoing. It takes us from faith to faithfulness.

It is a difference between a wedding and a marriage, a moment and momentum. Relational apologetics also requires faithfulness to the harmony of truth and love. It's not enough to be just loving without speaking truth, and it's certainly not effective to be truthful without love and respect that's falling into the trap of unity.

For the sake of unity alone, I. The Apostle Peter urged us to always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect. We are all called to be ambassadors for Christ. This isn't just for the pastors or the professional apologists. It's for every single follower of Jesus.

Sustaining a relational approach means equipping ourselves to share our faith in our everyday lives in the coffee shop. At the school line, pickup in the workplace, and certainly wherever we go. Think about Sean McDowell and how he connects with people by understanding their interests. Even something like Marvel movies, it's about finding those common cultural touchstones as starting points for a deeper conversation. And to be honest, that takes time.

Learning about your kids' hobbies or interests doesn't mean a quick Google search. You have to spend time in the world of Minecraft or Pokemon or whatever it is. And then you have to be able to translate the gospel into Pokemon in a way that your child can understand without losing any of the truth of the gospel. In a way, that's exactly what Jesus did in his incarnation.

He was fully God, but translated perfectly into being a human in a way that we could completely understand and grasp going through everything that we go through with nothing lost in translation. And he did it for his entire life. But the difference is that Christ did it for us so we could have grace extended towards us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That sounds a lot like relational apologetics. Exactly. So now we don't have to be perfect because Christ was perfect.

Our community that we are inviting people into doesn't have to be perfect because they aren't perfect and never will be. It just has to be rooted in the perfect love of God, and that is where our faithfulness springs from, and that is an incredible thing to offer someone. It is our Christian community. That itself strengthens us. It is the vehicle by which God helps us not just be willing to die for Christ, like Peter said, but also to be able to live for him. Day in and day out.

Christian community is also a spectrum. You have your acquaintances and you have your lifelong friends, but the deeper your community, the more self-sustaining it becomes. It will always take time, but that investment of time eventually starts to pay off with more time to put it practically. When your friends come over. Do you want a messy house? No, of course not. For your good friends, you'll clean your house, but for your great friends, they'll help you clean your house.

The time you invested in that relationship to get to that point where they help you with the dishes, make meals when you're sick, and help you raise your kids and rake your leaves. All that investment of time pays off with more time to spend on each other, and then a world of individualism. Time is the most precious commodity and incredibly valuable reason to be part of a community as an attractive as any other Christ-like demonstration.

Ultimately sustaining a relational approach to faith requires us to take the long view of influence. Our goal isn't necessarily instant conversion, but rather fostering understanding, building meaningful relationships and planting seeds that the Holy Spirit can water and grow. There might be times when we pour our hearts into a relationship and we don't see immediate results.

We might face resistance or even rejection, but relational apologetics reminds us that every genuine connection, every seed of kindness and truth planted in love has value. I. Some might object saying it is relational. Apologetics, a weak or ineffective approach. In a world that demands certainty and proof, and that's a fair question. In a world that often values quick answers and forceful arguments, a relational approach can sometimes feel slow or indirect and relational apologetics.

Celtic style evangelism doesn't shy away from answering the tough questions. It's patient enough to listen for the real questions. Think about it. How often are people truly persuaded by being argued into belief more often? It's through seeing the love of Christ lived out in the lives of others through feeling genuinely heard and understood that hearts begin to open.

As we've explored relational apologetics, prioritizes building trust and understanding before presenting arguments, it recognizes that for many belonging, often proceeds believing, and in the long run, those relationships built on genuine care. It can be far more persuasive than any isolated intellectual argument.

So as we conclude this series, I wanna encourage you, you don't need to be a theological expert to live out a relational faith. The Christian community does call us to go further up and deeper in as c. S Lewis put it. It starts with simply caring about people listening to their stories, being willing to walk alongside them. It's about showing the love of Jesus in tangible ways and being ready to share the reason for the hope that lies within you.

Take some time this week to consider how you can intentionally incorporate the principles of relational apologetics into your daily interactions. Who in your life might need to experience the love and understanding of Christ through you? Who are you willing to invest a little time in?

So as we look to the future, let's think about this As the cultural landscape continues to shift and new questions about faith arise, how will the emphasis on genuine human connection and relational understanding shape the way we explore and share our deepest beliefs, moving beyond arguments? To Authentic Encounters.

Well, thanks for joining me for this series on The Simple Faith Podcast. You can find all the previous episodes and more resources@pastorrustygeorge.com. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcast. Check out our YouTube channel as well, and join us next week for brand new content. Until then. Keep it simple.