Tag Archive - Evangelism

Stupid Bumper Stickers

September 22, 2010 in Christianity with 4 Comments

Dumb Bumper Sticker

Dumb Bumper Sticker

I will continue to look, but I won’t hold my breath. Look for what, you ask? I will continue to look for a person who’s been compelled to change because of a bumper sticker! I have been searching for years, but haven’t found one person who’s ever admitted to having been swayed to a pro-life position, to believe in God, or to change their political affiliation because a bumper sticker was so powerfully moving that they couldn’t but change. Despite the futility of my search, I know they will continue to be printed and placed on bumpers,  the back of windows, or, as was the case for me today, passed out in a local WalMart.

I was torn yesterday morning. We’d been purchasing our fruit and vegetables at a local grocery store, but I was short on time. Heading back to campus, WalMart was right on the way. I let convenience reign, when I knew I should have forgone convenience for something more enduring (That’s another subject, though.). So I went to WalMart.

Inside I crossed paths with a man I’d met before. In fact, he is a part of my Christian fellowship, but not a member of our particular congregation. He hands me a religio-political bumper sticker. I’m not even an Obama fan and it ticked me off. The thought that a dumb bumper sticker like the one he handed me might, at all, be persuasive is simply absurd to me. It smacked of everything that I’ve grown weary of over the years. To be brutally frank, I was embarrassed- both for him and for the fact that this is what things have come to.

Last year, I read Lord Save Us From Your Followers by Dan Merchant. It was an insightful look into how people perceive professed Christians. Part of Merchant’s project was to stick a bunch of bumper stickers onto a white jump suite and ask New Yorkers questions about Jesus and Christians. He found that a good number of people, several of whom were atheists, had a favorable opinion about Jesus, but an unfavorable opinion about today’s Christians. There seems to be a growing disparity between the modern Christian and the First Century Savior. His book probes into why. He’s also produced a DVD that is probably worth watching. I haven’t seen it, though.

Merchant had more than a few things to suggest about “bumper sticker” evangelism. It’s not conversational, at all. Nor is it really affective. In fact, it tends to be rather offensive. But the book spoke to me because of my growing disgust for an approach that demeans more than discusses, that markets more than it moves.

I mean really, is this what we’ve come down to? Walking around WalMart passing out religio-political bumper stickers? Lord save us from your followers? These days I can’t help but agree!

We Don’t Have the Resources

November 30, 2009 in Church, Evangelism with 0 Comments

Bovina Bulletin Board

Bovina Bulletin Board

Are you kidding me? How much money does it cost to share the gospel with someone? It takes no money. Zero. Zilch. Not a dime. Gimmicks cost cash; conversation is free. Of course, it takes being relational to sustain a conversation with anyone. Hmmmm. Could this be part of the problem?

The 1st Century church didn’t thrive because it had unlimited resources. Had they possessed such, the Jerusalem benevolent effort would not have reached out as far or lasted as long as it did. Paul was collecting funds for the needy of Jerusalem late into his ministry. The kingdom advanced naturally, not because there was an unending supply of monetary resources. Resources, actually, were scarce.

Churches grow because God is at work in them.  Churches came together collectively to “stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24-25). God is intimately engaged in this process. It’s a joint venture project wherein he helps us “ to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12).

In our culture, though, resources seem to be essential for churches to survive. I think resources are more integral to the edification process than to evangelism. Still, it’s functional relationships within the body that causes it to grow “with a growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:19). Resources only facilitate the relationships, giving us avenues and opportunities in particular environments. Nevertheless, resources aren’t necessarily essential for such.

At the core is how we believe growth is derived. I began this series with the premise that God is the one who gives the increase, not us (1 Corinthians 3:6). Growth cannot be forced. That we haven’t learned this yet is disturbing. That “resources” even come up goes to show that commercialism and consumerism overly affects our thinking.

Good News

April 7, 2009 in Evangelism with 0 Comments

You can tell whether people are serious or not by how they respond to things. James was put to death; Peter was imprisoned by Herod, but the Lord would rescue Peter (Acts 12:1-11). Peter would venture to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. At her house many had gathered to pray (v. 12).  Peter knocks on the door and Rhoda, a servant girl, responds to the rapt at the door. She recognizes Peter’s voice and in elation runs to tell the others that Peter was back. She was so excited that she didn’t even let him in. She left him standing there outside the gate!

The group that was gathered didn’t believe Rhoda. They responded with, “You are out of your mind…It is his angel!” (v. 15), but “Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed” (v. 16).

Sometimes the news is so good that you can’t but go run and tell others. Poor Peter was left standing outside as Rhoda sought to convince the group of what was so. I think Rhoda’s excitement about Peter’s arrival said a lot about her that is good.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a similar joy and quickness to share the good news of Jesus with others?

Fruit

February 24, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

The other day Tisha told me that a certain passage was really bothering her. Specifically, it was Matthew 7:20, “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” Most of us know it well. It’s a statement that makes all the sense in the world, but it doesn’t necessarily sit well with a person when thought about introspectively. That was Tisha’s point. Her concern was about what, to her was a lack of fruit, might say about herself. Of course, I had been thinking the same thing about myself. What was my lack of fruit saying about me?

What kind of fruit was Jesus getting at? Was it about bringing souls to Christ or could it be about something else? Could this be a foreshadowing reference to how the fruit of the Spirit is the defining element to a person’s Christian character? 

I sense that both can be in view. Seeds of evangelism do not always grow. This we learn from the parable of the sower, as well as from the very ministry of Jesus. His message didn’t affect change in everyone with whom he spoke, but he touched the lives of many nevertheless. He made a difference. He wasn’t fruitless, but why was that?

One of my concerns is that we so rest on the fact that we are merely seed planters and waterers, trusting that God will give the growth(1 Cor. 3:6), but when that growth doesn’t necessarily develop, we simply say, “Well it wasn’t meant to be!” That’s convenient, but what if we’ve been the problem all along? What if it was the way we went about it that produced the end result? Or even worse, what if on the outside everything seemed proper, but that it was nothing more than a facade that God saw through, and because of our disingenuousness our efforts fell on infertile soil?

Could it be that evangelism without the fruit of the Spirit in us is futile?