Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
–Matthew 4:19–
My friend Conrad uses a boat and sonar to map out the bottoms of lakes. In other words, he charts the topography of lake bottoms, indicating the kinds of plant life, as well as the various hiding places that fish can use. Conrad sells his maps to fishermen so that they can increase their catch. The idea is that, if you want to catch fish, you’ve got to know where the fish live. You must know their habitats and their habits.
Perhaps this is not a bad image to keep in mind as we strive to evangelize those around us. If we want to win souls for Christ, we cannot do so in a vacuum. We need to know something about the lives of the people whom we are trying to reach. We need, so to speak, to get them where they live.