Johnhwilburn.org

A few weeks ago I read an interesting article by Stephen Kneale titled “Don’t be scared of lame evangelism.”  In it, he describes the evangelistic outreaches of his Church.

1. Things like a tract table after Church
2. Open air preaching
3. A Bible club
4. and English classes

Kneale confesses that sometimes these forms of evangelism feel “lame.”

 I often look at what we’re doing and feel it is a bit naff (silly). Divvying out some leaflets to people hardly feels like you are breaking new territory for the kingdom; offering fairly pedestrian presentations about some aspect of the Christian faith to a handful of people committed to a diametrically opposing belief systems does not feel especially significant; little of what we do would sell out the tiniest of venues were we to ticket it. But I want to say that we should not be scared of such lameness.

As a missionary, I know exactly what Kneale means.  Ministry in St. Vincent relies on what can be viewed as weak or unimportant tools such as tract distribution, visitation, and conversations with unsaved friends.

Often Satan uses that “lameness” as an excuse for not sharing the Gospel at all.  He says you must have a flashy elaborate Gospel presentation that draws crowds before sharing Christ.

Yet we shouldn’t be ashamed of the lameness of the Gospel (relying on Scripture to change hearts instead of our own words and wisdom) is what transforms lives.

• Only the Gospel is the power of God to Salvation (Romans 1:16)
• We are called to rely on the cross instead of wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)
• And flashy Gospel presentations lead to a trust in men instead of God

Almost every morning at 8:00 I pass out tracts in the neighborhood and it’s definitely lame.

• I only have four kinds of tracts (almost everyone’s read them all already)
• Often there isn’t enough time to actually share the Gospel with others
• And I’m not always as confident as I should be

But that’s okay…because I hold in my hands the power of God unto Salvation.