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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