Local church revolution part 3

3) Stop productizing evangelism
Outreach is not a packaged 8-week video curriculum. It is a not scripted set of questions that you can unload on perfect strangers. And, hold onto your hats... it's not the "The Roman Road." People need to see the testimony of a changed life. Only then do those other tools for presenting the message of salvation have any meaning at all. Am I saying that the Bible is not powerful? No. I'm saying that teaching people to mark a course in the margins of their Bibles through a few verses and telling them that is how you do "evangelism" is weak.

I could be way off on this but I am coming to believe that sharing the Gospel is NOT strategic. It's not something that you sit around in a room plot with other christians. Evangelism is not a scheme. Billboards and direct mail campaigns are good at convincing other christians that your church can offer them something that their church does not. If you have a couple of good concerts you may even get them to move their membership. But these tactics are ineffective and inefficient when it comes to reaching lost people. Then you also have those christians who wear a tee-shirt with a fish on it or a WWJD bracelet and call that witnessing. That's just another example of a hands off approach.

Personal witnessing strategies are a little bit better but not much. At least with "FAITH" training and the like there is some personal contact. That contact is usually between relative strangers and is scripted. Christians seem to prefer tracts and memorized gimmicks to honest and open communication. Why is that?

Maybe christians are afraid to share their faith because they are afraid they will do it wrong. The church has been shovelling witnessing strategies down their throats for years to "equip" them. I think they are right to be afraid. What if they forget what the A in FAITH stands for? Will someone go to Hell because they didn't memorize it completely? I took the "Share Jesus Without Fear" course but what if I forget how I am supposed to respond to some of those questions? What if the conversation diverts from the "script?"

These ideas about evangelism are all misguided and you would be hard pressed to find similar "strategic" approaches to witnessing in the Bible.

Let's simplify witnessing so that it doesn't seem so hard. Just figure out what your own "story" is. It is simply, what do you believe, when did you first believe it and what difference does it make in your life. Tell that story when it is appropriate to the people who share your life. Finally, do your very best to live a life that is consistent with what you say that you believe.

If you don't have a story, then maybe you haven't found God yet.

Don't forget to tell your church leaders to sell that evangelism video curriculum on eBay and give the money to the poor (see part 2).