All it takes is a few seconds to spread the restoration plea!
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All it takes is a few seconds to spread the restoration plea! Today's post is very quick and practical, since it is Halloween! "Hello ma'am, my name is Lee and I am from the church that meets here in town. I'd like to ask you some questions about your Bible study habits and possibly give you some materials that will help you."
That's the statement, or something like it, that many a door knocking campaign has been founded upon. When a member of the local congregation, or the congregation as a whole, takes it upon himself to reach out to his community to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teach people the one true way of salvation, there is often a "pitch", if you want to call it that, that the individual will say and by the end of the day that phrase or sentence has been ingrained into his mind to the point of him not even understanding the meaning of it, like when you look at a word for so long it doesn't look like it is spelled correctly any longer. Cut to the congregation in another town. It is fall and the local church has decided to host a "Trunk or Treat" at the building in order to provide the children of the community with a safe atmosphere in which to gather their bounty for the year. The parking lot is full of cars and the tailgates are all down with piles of candy for the kids to take. At the entrance is a small table with a few brethren sitting and taking the contact information for those that attend the event, in return giving them a few tracts and some information about the congregation that meets at the building adjacent to the parking lot. Each family "hosting" the event are members of the congregation there and see many of their friends and family come through to receive their allotment of sugary goodness. What is the difference in these two situations? One is a cleverly devised statement bent at making people think about the spiritual, the other a cleverly devised event bent at making the people of the community recognize members of the congregation and giving them the opportunity to learn the Word of God and think on the spiritual aspects of life. There is no difference, aside from the way in which the person is attracted. Dictionary.com defines the word "gimmick" as, "an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, especially one designed to attract attention or increase appeal." While both circumstances are clearly gimmicks, they have different purposes, all of which are advantageous to the preaching of the Gospel. While one is pointed, the other is rounded in its approach. However, both
The fact of the matter is, we all use gimmicks. Whether that gimmick is in the form of comment or candy (or any other physical thing), they are all for one specific purpose. - To get people to realize that the Lord's church cares and wants them to know the Truth. However, there are some limits to which the local congregation must not go.
Last month I made a promise to myself, the Lord and the congregation here in Gray that something was going to change. You see, I have been here for just over a year now and haven't experienced the evangelistic growth that I feel we have the opportunity to achieve in our community - and that is changing, NOW! That Sunday morning I preached a sermon entitled "Something Was Missing" (click the title to hear the sermon) and before that recording started I publicly asked for forgiveness from the congregation for my lackluster performance in the area of evangelism. But, the change that is occurring here in the small town of Gray in the heart of the Lord's people isn't just me. You see, I've often heard a statistic, whether it is a factually based one or one like "97% of statistics are made up, including this one" type of thing I'm unsure, that states that 20% of the people do 80% of the work in any given congregation. And if I were asked I would have to say that statistic was somewhat true of the congregation just one short month ago, but not anymore! In actuality, 80% of the word "Queue" is silent just like 80% of members of the Body of Christ are primarily. With all of that untapped evangelistic potential what is the Lord's church to do about turning it around and making the "Queue of Christian Workers" into the "Q of Christian Workers" and have 100% of the word be in use?
All this is true and every one of the points will help but there's one thing that we can never forget. Regardless of how you go about your evangelism, just TRY! If we are trying, He will help! I know this article hasn't been theologically deep and may have been things that every one of us already knew but if it does nothing more than remind us our goal as members of the Body of Christ is to evangelize then it has done its job.
If you'd like to know some of the other evangelistic plans the congregation here will be using in the near future in order to get ideas, feel free to contact me by emailing me at [email protected] or using the Contact Us button at the top of the page. This quote by David Shannon is from Polishing the Pulpit 2013.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV) |
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