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"The age in which we are living is similar to the first century in many respects. The old world was exhausted then. The flowering period of Greek philosophy had come and had gone. Rome in a sense had passed her zenith, and there was the same kind of tiredness and weariness, with consequent turning to pleasure and amusement. The same is so true today; and so far from saying that we must have less preaching and turn more and more to other devices and expedients, I say that we have a heaven-sent opportunity for preaching."
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
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Editorial: The Problem with Numbers
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Evangelists are often accused of loving numbers, and I admit that I
do love them-not because they are notches in my belt, but because numbers represent real, life-and-blood people that God knows by name. When it comes to people finding a secure place in God's kingdom, more is clearly better. (And obviously, if it is just about notches in your belt with little regard for the people themselves, there is a problem.)
There's another set of numbers often tied to evangelistic endeavors that can prove problematic, however. Before I head into any city, I always make myself familiar with all of the demographic data I can lay my hands on. I want to get a general sense for the makeup of the community: age, gender, culture, religious preference, income ... you name it. It's very useful information.
But there are dangers in the data, because it can give you a false impression. I've heard people suggest that because a community polls as highly secular, the work is going to be tougher. Likewise, I've heard people suggest that if a community polls as highly Christian, the work is likely to be easier. Experience, however, has shown me that the opposite is usually true: in secular communities, I often find much better results. That may not be true for every evangelist, but generally speaking, it's been true for me. If I developed plans with a strictly academic approach, I'd miss the mark far more often than necessary.
There are a number of things to bear in mind as you peruse demographic data:
1. The data can make us overconfident. If you assume too much based on favorable data, you may find yourself unready for the realities of a great controversy raging behind the scenes. There is no such thing as a place with no resistance; if the devil's been there, you'll see his work. (If you never do, you might want to ask yourself why he never seems to resist your efforts.)
2. The data can make us overly concerned. The converse is true. I've seen people bemoan the fact that a city is "unreachable"-or virtually so-because the data tells them that very few people are religiously inclined. But pollsters can't see the lives that have recently fallen apart. They can't sense burgeoning conviction in a person's heart. They can't see what's been going on behind the scenes on a daily basis before you showed up to preach. There are always that have heard the voice of the Spirit, people who wrestle with quiet disappointments and conviction. I've never yet seen the community that had nobody ready to hear the gospel.
3. The data can make us overly dependent on our own efforts. At the end of the day, we're not in charge of the evangelistic process. There is nothing we can do to bring conviction to the truly secular mind (see 1 Corinthians 2:12-14). We simply aren't clever enough, no matter how well we are armed with studies and numbers. Conviction is the province of the Holy Spirit, and we cannot forget that our plans will always fail - no matter how well strategized - if we are not found cooperating with Him.
4. The data can lead us to forget God's promises. When the children of Israel sent twelve spies into Canaan to conduct what amounts to a feasibility study, ten out of the twelve were definitive in their answer: impossible. Judging by the mournful (and fearful) response of the Israelites, they were effective in stating their case. But they were wrong. God's work has always been a matter of faithful men and women answering His call in spite of the odds. It's a faith-based venture, designed as much to build our confidence in God as it is to win the world.
By all means, collect the data. Make intelligent decisions about resources. Know what kinds of things would clearly be counterproductive. But never let it stop you or slow you down, because God's work has always defied all the numbers. His promise? A numberless crowd on the sea of crystal.
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| On Methods of Evangelism |
 | | Jason Worf |
"Let's do a full evangelistic series!" someone in the room said.
"That's a good idea, but it doesn't have to be one of those 24-night meetings; it could just be a weekend or a few nights," the pastor quickly retorted."
"When was the last time we did an evangelistic meeting at this church?" someone else asked.
"It's been quite a few years ... more than five, I think," another member volunteered.
The meeting was a brand new action committee the church formed to decide what the church should be doing for evangelism. It was clear that the church was doing really good things to help the community-Adventist Community Services was active in giving away clothes and other necessities, a monthly dinner for the needy, a Sabbath morning breakfast for members and the community, and no one could miss the friendliness of the church-there was no doubt, the church was doing a lot in the community. But in spite of all these worthwhile efforts, the church was not experiencing growth.
The pastor had lots of contacts in the community; he even made several personal visits each week to members and unbelievers alike. The church even had non-members attending regularly. But why was no one making a decision? Why was all this effort seemingly in vain for "kingdom growth"?
Ideas and opinions and frustrations with church growth and evangelism exist from the smallest church to the largest, and even up to the conferences and unions-everyone wants a magic bullet that will get people to join the church, or else they're certain that "the way is narrow" and few will come no matter what we do.
Click here to finish reading.
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| Writing for Preaching Requires Different Approach |
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"A sermon is not an essay on its hind legs," writes Haddon Robinson, because people don't speak the way they write, and people don't listen the way they read. "You can't prepare sermons the same way you prepare an essay or a book. Write as though you were talking with someone, and as in conversation, strive for immediate understanding. Readers can examine a page at leisure, reflecting on what they have read, argue with the ideas, and move along at any rate they find comfortable." Click here to read the rest of Haddon's ideas on sermon preparation, many of which have direct bearing on evangelistic preaching.
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| The Role of Bible Stories in Evangelism | 
What is the role of Bible stories in evangelism? Why bother to tell these stories when we could easily give a tract or make a conventional presentation of the gospel? What is it about telling stories that makes their influence different from just giving evangelistic information?
Click here to read three answers to these questions as they apply to a world of people who learn from oral presentations, and as they apply to the often indifferent world of postmoderns.
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| Clarifying Rumors | 
Last month, rumors were spreading across the internet that the Pentagon had forbidden Christians in the American armed forces from sharing their faith with fellow soldiers - under threat of court martial. On May 2, the Department of Defense issued a statement aimed at debunking the rumor, stating that it was forbidding "proselytizing," but not evangelism. You can read more about it here.
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| Four Lies About Introverts |  It comes as a surprise to many people that large numbers of pastors and evangelists are actually introverts, often because introversion is often confused with shyness. Susan Cain's best-selling book Quiet, an exploration of introversion, features a lengthy section dealing with introverted clergy and the expectations that the public has about people who work up front. It's well worth reading.
In this blog post, Amie Patrick explores four lies about introverts, and makes several astute observations that will come in handy if you happen to be an introvert, or happen to be working with one.
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| The Effects of Pornography on Mind and Marriage |  The typical public evangelistic meeting spends little time covering subjects like marriage and family, in spite of the fact that there is an ever-increasing need to cover such topics publicly. We've become proficient at dealing with minor addictions like tobacco, and yet a surprising percentage of a public audience is dealing with an addition to online pornography. (And, sadly, it's not just the public audience: Christians are increasingly falling prey to it as well.)
To that end, it makes good sense for the evangelist to begin stockpiling useful information to include in presentations dealing with the moral challenges of western culture. You might find this article (and others like it) a good place to start studying up.
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| Ten Reasons that Kids Leave Church |  From Focus on the Family: ten reasons that kids leave church. Some of these will come as a surprise to you. Number ten? The church is trying too hard to be relevant. Normally, "relevant" is a positive term, the author explains. In this case, it labels the problem: we've couched our faith in modern trappings to the point that 2,000 years of history and rich tradition have been diminished.
Ready to have some assumptions challenged? Read all ten reasons here. |
| Register now for a FREE Webinar: Sharing the Good News in the 21st Century |
 | | Sung Kwon. |
This month's webinar presentation will take place Tuesday, May 21 at 1:30pm EST. Sung Kwon, Director of NAD Adventist Community Services and Co-founder of the Nonprofit Leadership Certification Program, will present Sharing the Good News in the 21st Century.
Because community outreach is the essence of our mission, Dr. Kwon will address why we have dualistic piety in our approach to community and church. He will focus on the essentials of community connectedness and share examples of church growth addressing these essentials. He also will share a better understanding of serving God and His people in Isaiah 58. Join us as we discuss the real essence of reaching communities around our churches.
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| Follow NAD Ministerial on Twitter | 
If you haven't started following NAD Ministerial on Twitter, you haven't lived! OK, perhaps it's not as earth-shattering as that, but we would love to keep in touch and let you know what we're up to. And it's easy. Just click the link to follow.
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C'mon - you know you want to help!
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Remember what it was like when you got started with public evangelism? How challenging it seemed? Then remember how, later on, you discovered that someone had already discovered solutions to some of the problems that plagued you most - years ago?
Someone out there is just getting started. You have already faced a number of challenges, and God has blessed you with ideas to make life easier. Don't let them discover - years from now - that you've already solved some of their biggest problems. Let them discover it now!
Find out how to contribute to the discussion here.
Please write as if you are writing for an audience. We're happy to do some light editing, but if you address it personally to the editors or submit it in the form of bullet points, it's not nearly as useful.
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| Tools of the Trade: PDF Expert | 
Have you started preaching from an iPad? You might want to check out PDF Expert. Save your sermon notes as a PDF and open it in this amazingly useful app: it allows you to highlight, annotate, underline, scribble ... in every color under the rainbow. If you're accustomed to preaching straight from a Bible, try scanning the relevant pages into a PDF document-this app will allow you to mark those pages without permanently marking your physical Bible. It also turns pages intuitively; instead of swiping up or down (as you would with Pages or most other apps), you swipe from right to left, as if you were working with a real paper document. Add pages, rearrange them, highlight with 100% opaque white to completely erase a section of your manuscript. It's well worth the ten bucks you'll shell out for it. You'll find it in iTunes, or by clicking here. |
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Best Practices for Adventist Ministry is published by NAD Ministerial. Editor: Shawn Boonstra; Managing Editor: Dave Gemmell. Copyright 2012 North American Division Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists. v(301) 680-6418
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