Not Everyone Cares

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I've been reading Seth Godin's blog and book (Unleashing the Ideavirus) at the same time as Dallas Willard's The Allure of Gentleness. It's a good combination of ideas. Both have spent lifetimes learning and teaching about how people work.

Godin says, "Organizations that grow start by selling their services and products to people who care."

That statement is relevant to evangelism and apologetics, I think.

The majority of people do not care enough about living life well to seek out mentors. (Jesus is the ultimate mentor.) Maybe they believe that they are actually amazing at living life all on their own, but I think they are more likely complacent. Life on their own doesn't hurt enough yet for them to care about seeking something more.

Jesus' call comes to people who care enough to want something different. Are you weary? You don't have to be (Matt. 11:28-30). But do you care enough to want a solution (John 5:6)?

Godin's marketing wisdom lines up with Jesus' way of invitation--which makes sense. No one knew how people work better than Jesus.

Godin holds up Apple as an example of wise strategy: Apple originally designed the iPhone for people who care about their phones, not for the masses. The masses don't care enough to change from using the phone they've got. It works.

In the same way, Jesus invites those who care about their souls, who care about whether or not they lose their lives in the living (Matt. 16:24-26; this turn of phrase borrowed from T. S. Eliot's The Rock).

Many don't care. Evangelism and apologetics are for those who do.

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