evangelism

Jared Wilson: 10 Reasons Big Easter Giveaways Are Unwise

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Apparently cash give-aways at Easter are a thing in America. The folly of this is the focus on getting people to church at any price rather than getting them to Christ.

We are nearing the day many Christians look forward to all year. Yes, there’s the somber reflection and penitence of the Passion week, culminating in the resurrection of Jesus to celebrate on Easter Sunday, but there’s also some fabulous cash and prizes. Every year some churches seek to outdo themselves — and their local competition — by luring unbelievers (and I suppose interested believers) to their Easter service(s) with the promise of big shows and in some cases big giveaways. One guy in Texas made national news a couple of years ago for giving away new cars. More and more churches each year are dropping prize-filled Easter eggs out of helicopters to gathered crowds below. Local churches with more modest budgets sometimes promise door prizes like iPods or iPads or gift certificates to local restaurants.

I’m not against “Easter egg hunts” and kids having fun and all that, but I think the sort of large-scale, giveaway promotion that takes over this time of year in the church calendar is profoundly unwise and in many cases very, very silly. I want to offer ten general reasons why, but first some caveats: I’m not talking about a church giving out gifts to visitors. Gift cards, books, etc. to guests can be a sweet form of church hospitality. What I’m criticizing is the advertised promise of “cash and prizes” to attract people to the church service. Secondly, I know the folks doing these sorts of things are, for the most part, sincere believers who want people to know Jesus. But I don’t think good intentions authorizes bad methods. So:

Ten reasons luring people in with cash and prizes is not a good idea.

1. It creates buzz about cash and prizes, not the Easter event.When the media takes notice, nobody wants to interview these pastors about the resurrection. They want them to talk about the loot.

2. It identifies the church not with the resurrection, but with giving toys away.It makes us look like entertainment centers or providers of goods and services, not people of the Way who are centered on Christ.

3. Contrary to some offered justifications, giving prizes away is not parallel to Jesus’ providing for the crowds.Jesus healed people and fed them. This is not the same as giving un-poor people an iPod.

4. It appeals to greed and consumerism.There is no biblical precedent for appealing to one’s sin before telling them to repent of it. This is a nonsensical appeal. We have no biblical precedent for appealing to the flesh to win souls.

5. Yes, Jesus said he would make us fishers of men, but extrapolating from this to devise all means of bait is not only unwarranted, it’s exegetically ignorant.The metaphor Jesus is offering here is just of people moving from the business of fishing to the business of the kingdom. There is likely no methodology being demonstrated in Jesus’ metaphor. (But the most common one would have been throwing out nets anyway, not baiting a hook.)

6. It is dishonest “bait and switch” methodology.Sure, the people coming for the goodies know they’re coming to church. But it’s still a disingenuous offer. The message of the gospel is not made for Trojan horses.

7. It demonstrates distrust in the compelling news that a man came back from the dead!!I mean, if nobody’s buying that amazing news, we can’t sell it to them with cheap gadgets.

8. It demonstrates distrust in the power of the gospel when we think we have to put it inside something more appealing to be effective.What the giveaways really communicate is that we think the gospel needs our help, and that our own community is not attractive enough in and of itself in its living out the implications of the gospel.

9. The emerging data from years of research into this kind of practice of marketing-as-evangelism shows the kind of disciples it produces are not strong.I have no doubt these churches are going to see many “decisions” Easter weekend. We’ll see the running tally heralded on Twitter. As questionable a practice as that can be, I’d beextrainterested in how discipled these folks are in a year or two years or three. Hype hasalwaysproduced “decisions.” Would anyone argue that after 30 years or so of the attractional approach to evangelism the evangelical church is better off, more Christ-centered, more biblically mature?

10. What you win them with is what you win them to.

Full article here

Egyptian Christians Respond To ISIS Brutality

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From Christianity Today comes this awesome account of how Christians and Muslims are reacting to the murder of 21 christians by ISIS.

How Libya’s Martyrs Are Witnessing to Egypt

Murders spark largest outreach ever amid new freedoms and new threats.
Jayson Casper in Cairo/ FEBRUARY 23, 2015

How Libya's Martyrs Are Witnessing to Egypt

Image: Bible Society of Egypt
Covers of the English and Arabic tracts.

Undaunted by the slaughter of 21 Christians in Libya, the director of the Bible Society of Egypt saw a golden gospel opportunity.

“We must have a Scripture tract ready to distribute to the nation as soon as possible,” Ramez Atallah told his staff the evening an ISIS-linked group released its gruesome propaganda video. Less than 36 hours later, Two Rows by the Seawas sent to the printer.

One week later, 1.65 million copies have been distributed in the Bible Society’s largest campaign ever. It eclipses even the 1 million tracts distributed after the 2012 death of Shenouda, the Coptic “Pope of the Bible.” [A full English translation is posted at bottom.]

Arabic tract (outside)Image: Bible Society of Egypt

Arabic tract (outside)

The tract contains biblical quotations about the promise of blessing amid suffering, alongside a poignant poem in colloquial Arabic:

Who fears the other?
The row in orange, watching paradise open?
Or the row in black, with minds evil and broken?

“The design is meant so that it can be given to any Egyptian without causing offense,” said Atallah. “To comfort the mourning and challenge people to commit to Christ.”

The Bible Society distributed the tract through Egypt’s churches, but one congregation went a step further.

Poster at Isaaf Evangelical ChurchImage: Jayson Casper

Poster at Isaaf Evangelical Church

Isaaf Evangelical Church, located on one of downtown Cairo’s busiest streets, hung a poster on its wall at eye-level with pedestrians. “We learn from what the Messiah has said,” it read over the background of an Egyptian flag. “‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you….’”

Pastor Francis Fahim said the poster was meant to express comfort to all Egyptians, Muslim and Christian.

As CT reported on Thursday, the beheadings by the Islamic State in Libya have resulted in unprecedented sympathy for Egypt’s Christians, who are increasingly finding common identity across denominational lines. The martyrdoms have also allowed Copts a platform to witness to the realities of their faith, as they publicly forgave the terrorists.

Full story here

Ray Ortlund- It multiplied

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It multiplied

 

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.  Acts 9:31

I’m not against strategic plans.  I’m for them.  They have their place, as a matter of wise stewardship.  But they cannot generate the astonishing outcomes described in the book of Acts.

I remember hearing Michael Green at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in 1974.  He asked us, Why don’t we see anywhere in the book of Acts a man-made strategic plan for evangelizing the world?  His answer: They didn’t have one.

What then did they have?  Two things, for starters: the fear of the Lord, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

In the fear of the Lord, they were teachable, they were humble, they were listening to the gospel, they were open and grateful and easily bendable.  They did not have a spirit of self-assurance.  They were eager to learn and grow and change in any way the Lord wanted them to.

In the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were gladdened, they felt forgiven, they were reconciled to God and reconciling with one another.  They saw their sins and failures, but they also saw the far greater reality of Jesus crucified for them.  To put it in a secular way, they couldn’t believe their luck.

Openness in a know-it-all world, comfort in an angry world – that ancient world simply could not resist these heaven-sent powers.  So the church didn’t just grow, it multiplied.

Those early churches had no master plan for their future.  But they were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and it worked.

Church growth takes planning.  Let’s do it.  But church multiplication takes miracle.  Let’s be open to what only God can do.

 

 

Evangelism- “go and catch them” or “drag ’em in”?

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Last night I saw an advertisement in our local paper inviting people to attend an Australia Day service. This follows a successful pre-Christmas service where locals were invited to come to that church.

This got me thinking about the way we “do” evangelism.

There are two basic approaches to the process of sharing the Good News with people who do not yet believe.

The first is the “attractional” model. In this approach, exemplified by the example I gave already, a church puts on some kind of event. It might be a special service with an evangelistic speaker, a bigger band than normal, perhaps drama or some kind of gimmick. The plan is to attract people to a central place where we hope that they will hear the message and be saved.

This is the way that the church has long done evangelism in the West. Think Billy Graham and other evangelists.

The problem is that this is resource- hungry and very intensive for the small group of people who take on the responsibility of producing the event.

Of course it assumes that people are waiting to be invited to church, which may be true of some. Increasingly, though, church is seen as an alien, even frightening place for many people. The expectation that some express is that the roof will fall in if they cross the threshold.

Some churches respond to this by raising the ante- offering the possibility of winning a car or a holiday, or paying people to attend.

The second method is called “incarnational”. Rather than inviting people to come to where we are, we go to where the people are, living the gospel in daily life. This is a more dispersed approach that sees evangelism happening in the midst of real life, rather than taking place in a specially designated place at a particular time.

The Indian missiologist D.T. Niles described evangelism as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” In other words it is a conversation on the street of people who are spiritually poor sharing the Good News of what they have found through the grace of God.

Cell groups are a great opportunity for this kind of sharing. We invite neighbours to a meal, a picnic, or perhaps we serve them at a place of need. Out of a relationship, over time, the opportunity to share what we know about Jesus arises.

Near the end of last year, we ran a Family Festival as a Christmas outreach. It was an event, but it was incarnational. We sought out a location that was accessible to people- a park beside the river. We arranged activities, food and music. Each family received a gift bag with various goodies, including a New Testament. There was a good, happy and peaceful atmosphere, and people were free to converse in a relaxed environment. There was no altar call, but the Kingdom of God was present.

The attractional model has the advantage of being centralised and controllable. We can see how many attended and how many responded. It gives people a reason to invite people and to talk about their faith.

The incarnational approach is less tidy, but more like the way Jesus acted. He didn’t call out from heaven “Come on up and I’ll show you how to get saved.” He came down to where we live and showed us what God looks like in the flesh. Then He told us to do the same- show others what God looks like in the flesh.

The Great Commission tells us to GO and make disciples rather than STAY and tell people to come.

Let’s get out and live it.