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Evangelism a Cultural trend?



Leadership and Evangelism

My wife and I were talking about our childhood and the life we lived growing up. We had a very privileged life -not in regard to wealth or class, but in the way we were brought up and in the culture that we lived in. In the course of our discussion we both hit upon an issue that we don't see in our present life and situation. We said how we missed people just dropping in to see us for coffee and a chat. That impromptu visit from a friend or family member at the weekend- that resulted in an unplanned BBQ or supper and great laughs and conversations that are still remembered to this day. Today if you want to go and visit a church friend or family member you have to phone for an appointment, just like the doctors. Sometimes you have to plan weeks in advance. Relationships are not built around lasting friendships but around a well organised diary.

This got me thinking about church. Do we get so busy in church and serving in church that we forget about our mission and purpose as Christians? Do we get so involved in the program, that church becomes just a place where likeminded people congregate? If we are to reach out to people in our children's schools, (The PTA), or our workplace or our communities, is there a need to rethink the time we allocate to these things? So for example if we are spending say 10 hours a week doing church stuff and only 1 hour a week talking to friends and family, shouldn't it be the other way round?

Two things came to my notice recently that got me thinking about evangelism. One was a face book posting that gave a few statistics on evangelism. 0.5% of all people won for Christ comes through church adverts. 2% are won for Christ through church programmes. 1% of all people coming to Christ are won through Evangelism campaigns and street evangelism. Yet 70-80% of those won for Christ are those who are friends and family brought to Christ through relationships and friendships not programmes. The second thing I heard that got me thinking about the way we view evangelism was from a prominent church leader who talked about "The Church gathered and The Church Scattered"
The first, the leader said was when Christians met together at Church for the 3 hours on a weekend. The second was when these very same Christians met with non-Christians and family throughout the week for upwards of 70 hours, in the world. Where are our greater opportunities to reach those for Christ, where are we more influential, in church programmes or in the real world?

Is, therefore our cultural norm such that we carefully plan our lives around getting our work done and no more. Where our social lives are regulated in such a way as to be planned months in advance. And the few hours we commit to church and God are programmed, so as not to interfere too much with our TV viewing.?
I put these questions out there not to be controversial but just to ask is there a need for us as Christian leaders to rethink out evangelism strategies in the light of our current cultural trends.

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