LITTLE YES OR
HEALTHY MAYBE!
She had been praying for him for thirty
years! Yet that night was the first night
he had come along to church with her
and he had asked her if he could come.
That’s a ‘healthy maybe’! It might not
have been the ‘big yes’ but it needed
to be celebrated.
One of the biggest challenges I
believe the church faces is changing the
perceptions people have of the Christian
faith and church. This means anything
that helps address this, however small,
is something we should celebrate.
Whenever I preach the gospel, share my
faith one-to-one, produce resources or
help churches with their evangelism – I
try to build in a healthy maybe option. I’ve
had people come to see me at the end
of my evangelistic events introducing
themselves as “a healthy maybe”, this
makes me happy as they are on the way!
A ‘little yes’ is making an intentional
decision to find out more about the
Christian faith
So what is the healthy maybe? Many
people would see themselves as open-
minded. Healthy maybe asking people
to make a commitment to remain so.
What’s a ‘little yes’? A little yes is making
an intentional decision to find out more
about the Christian faith. This can be
made as a commitment to God or simply
as a commitment to themselves to find
out more about the Christian faith. A ‘Big
Yes’ is giving people the opportunity to
become a Christian. This often seen as
big step in the conversion journey but for
many it’s the final ‘little yes’! For some a
healthy maybe could be the big step!
A ‘Big Yes’ is giving people the
opportunity to become a Christian
It’s my firm conviction that we need
have a long term view of the journey
of commitment and celebrate and
promote whatever steps people take in
their discipleship journey – which starts
incidentally before they come to Christ.
Have a prayerful think about the people
you have had the opportunity to share
your faith. Are any of them a ‘healthy
maybe’ or ‘little yes’ or ‘Big yes’? ❖
Revival Times June 2017 11