The Need for Un-Traditional Evangelism
Mary, an elderly lady in my Tampa First SDA Church family, told me how she became a Seventh-day Adventist in the early ’30s in British Honduras, now Belize. She was school age, when her little brother noticed a huge tent going up in town. He told their mother he wanted to go to the circus. His mother told him there was no circus, as nothing was said about a circus in the papers or radio.
Still, little brother would not relent, so mother took the family on a walk to make sure there was no circus in the tent. At the tent, the mother told the boy to go look inside. It only took a moment for him to come back out and inform the family, “We can go home now. They are just having church in there!” The mother said, “I am too tired to walk any more now. Let’s go inside and rest a while.” The family then heard the gospel message which changed their lives forever. This is how my friend Mary, now in her 90’s, became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and married a Seventh-day Adventist pastor.
In addition to all my small group Bible studies, I also have a golf group that meets the fourth Sunday of each month. I have formed a real camaraderie with the other guys over 18 holes, searching for golf balls in the woods and creek beds. While this group does not study the Bible on the golf course, we do have some in-depth discussions sometimes, waiting for the groups in front of us to tee off. One discussion resulted in some Bible studies after the game, which led to a father and son baptism. One Sunday after a round of golf, I went with one of the guys to lunch. He had been visiting our church, and commented that he wished the other guys would have had time to join us for lunch as he is really enjoying getting to know them. Hence, our golf group is bonding us not just to woods and sand traps, but to those who need Jesus. As a result, during our discussions, people are learning more than just how to improve their swing, but also how to improve their walk with God.
Some people may complain that our approach to evangelism is becoming too worldly. They say we should not try to imitate the world to win people to Jesus. I agree to a point. But I have even heard a couple of people say, we need to go back to our roots and those old-fashioned tent meetings. Old-fashioned tent meetings? Those old-fashioned tent meetings looked like the worldly circuses of the day! And because of the circus-like tent meetings, my friend Mary spent over 50 years of ministry as an Adventist pastor’s wife. She is also a very “traditional,” balanced, well-versed in the Bible lady.
When people say we need to go back to the old-fashioned forms of evangelism, they often forget that at the time, those were actually pretty “modern” forms of evangelism – to arrest the attention of the people in that era. So today we need to do likewise.
Let every worker in the Master’s vineyard, study, plan, devise methods, to reach the people where they are. We must do something out of the common course of things. We must arrest the attention. We must be deadly in earnest. We are on the very verge of times of trouble and perplexities that are scarcely dreamed of.–Letter 20, 1893.
From Christ’s methods of labor we may learn many valuable lessons. He did not follow merely one method; in various ways He sought to gain the attention of the multitude; and then He proclaimed to them the truths of the gospel.–Ellen White, Evangelism, Pages 122-123
Sure, there are boundaries to everything, even evangelism, but when you hear someone say that a current form of evangelism is not traditional enough, remember we have been counselled to do “something out of the common course of things.” We must try various methods to gain the attention of the multitudes who so desperately need to hear about Jesus. Back in the day, we used “old-fashioned” tent meetings because they looked like “old-fashioned” circuses, which always drew a crowd. Today old-fashioned tents and circuses no longer draw crowds, so we must find new ways to draw people to hear about Jesus in our day, just like the tent people did in their day.
It needs a very planned plan for evangelism work in town and cities today.
We have to come up with a well organised planned which attract people to spair sometimes to listen our Lords gospel.
We may use well organised meeting like having dinner with friends to your home,Invitation of your neibhours to your home as a getting together and get a little time without bouring them to talk about our God.
Indeed we need to have activities that would attract the people to spare time for the good news. With prayer Christ will help for us to ensure we balance by not going to the extreme of disgracing His name.
Thanks kindly for sharing William!
May God help us let the Spirit guide us and learn lessons from how Christ Himself reached out. In His day he did reach out in unconventional ways didnt He? I pray God does give us balance and we prayerfully make plans to do more for Him.
I personally request prayer for efforts I am trying to make including the ministry shown on this website: www.consolationproject.com
where we are trying to reach particularly youth (though not restricted to them of course) with short pointed messages on practical christianity.
I will greatly appreciate your prayer support as we pray on for one another.
I can't remember who presented our college commencement at Pacific Union College, but I haven't forgotten the message. In involved three case studies: 1) Voice of prophecy. When H.M.S. Richards started on radio he accumulated a file folder about a foot thick of mail urging him to abandon his foolish and wicked idea of using the devils medium of radio. We smile now, but those dear saints were dead earnest. 2) About 30 years later William Fagal started a TV program--and used the medium of dramatic television. Similar story. He too collected a large file of hate mail from saints who were sure Television was owned by the devil and that Ellen White would never approve of drama. (later having worked for FFT, I actually have met some like minded souls). 3) In the early 60s the first student missionaries were sent out by our colleges. Surprisingly the director of missions sent an impassioned letter about how this was destroying the very fabric of Adventist missions. So sad.
I shouldn't have to remind anyone that all three are respected outreach methods in our church today, each having yielded much fruit for the kingdom. Yet many of us persist in looking for the devil in any place that doesn't fit tradition or our perceived way of doing things. I'm so glad God gave Ellen White the forward looking advice quoted above. Sadly, I agree with Sakae Kubo "conservatism is antithetical to the gospel". As he points out, not only was Christ a radical in the culture he came to, so was just about any reformer we have record of before or after. "Because that's the way we've always done it" isn't going to sound any more plausible at the second coming than "I buried your talent" or "when did we see you ____ and didn't minister to you".
Every Christian is an evangelist. with our words, actions, life, we bring people to Jesus or we repel them from Jesus. We are open bibles at home, at work, at school, at our neighborhoods. People are watching us daily. The book of Acts continues with our lives.
Evangelism starts in our homes.
Evangelism starts in our neighborhood. we do not have to go so far to present Jesus. We have 29 houses in our neighborhood. I practice prayer driving. When I enter my neighborhood, I raised my two hands and pray for the houses. i have prayed already with four neighbors. One neighbor told me on Sabbath, Frank, have a happy Sabbath.
The field where one can and should evangelise is huge. From homes to wherever one finds oneself.
God create human with love ,in order to love others and wemust make it personals.
I agree with the need to try various approaches to reach people where they are but the only way that old-fashioned tent meetings resembled circuses was that they were held in a tent. Nothing inside would resemble what happened at the circus. Nobody would confuse the two--just as you described in your story. The idea that tent meetings were arranged in order to draw the crowds that were attracted to the circus isn't completely accurate--if at all. They just needed a large place to meet and tents were the most viable option. It was not about mimicking the circus.
Agreed Joseph (Full name please), but even today people will complain that something may mimic the world,even though that is not the purpose. Like you say, just because something may in a way resemble the world at first glance does not make it all together wrong.
I like the old fashioned tent story. Classic. Be relevant.