Pastor's Page

From the Pastor (excerpted from the July-August Eagles' Eye)

YOU ARE INVITED...

     I've been watching a video entitled, "Evangelism for Shy Christians". Let me share with you some of the things I've learned.

The presenter in the video says that there are three types of evangelism present in the United States and he gives statistics for the effectiveness of each approach.

The first he calls "presence" evangelism. This style of evangelism is best summarized by a folk hymn popular in the 1970's - "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love." The evangelism of "presence" trusts that non-Christians or non-practicing Christians will be moved by the love and care of Christians for their neighbor and the world to such a degree that they become members of a Christian congregation.

If successful evangelism is defined as a person joining a Christian congregation and staying there at least one year, statistics show that "presence" evangelism has a 0% success record. Why? Because most people see little or no difference in the good that Christian congregations do from what Rotary, Lions, or Kiwanis clubs do.

That does not mean that Christians should not do these things. Jesus said, "When you have done it to the least of these you have done it to me." We are to love and care for our neighbor in the name of Jesus. It just isn't a very effective evangelism style.

The second evangelism style on the tape is "proclamation" evangelism. The most popular example of this style is the Billy Graham crusades.  Gather as many people as you can, proclaim the need and the way of salvation, call those forward who wish to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and then direct them to a church where they can be further nurtured in the faith. According to statistics just 4% of those who accept the invitation to come forward and accept Christ will be active in a Christian congregation one year later. Now, 4% is better than 0%, but it's still not very effective.

The third style is known as "persuasive/relational" evangelism. This style relies on the relationships that church members have with non-practicing Christians and a personal invitation to them to participate in a church-sponsored activity that speaks to a particular need of the individual. This is often an invitation to worship, but not always.

In interviews with Christian believers not currently attending a church, 47% of them said that they said to themselves at least once during the previous week, "Maybe I should worship somewhere on Sunday." Do you sense a field of opportunities in this statistic?

But not everyone's invitation to the Lutheran Church will be first through worship. Let me offer an additional door. This assumes that there are some people who want to know more about Lutheran Christian beliefs before they even come through the door for worship.

For those people I will lead a 4-week "Lutheran Basics" course on Monday evenings in September beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Activity Room. The effectiveness of this program will depend on your involvement. It requires you to give the invitation.

I am asking you to do four things this summer: 1) Think of someone you know who does not attend church - spouse, friend, neighbor, co-worker, 2) Invite that person to this class; 3) Upon a positive response let me know the person's name, and 4) bring/attend at least the first class with the person you invited. Please assure those that you invite that this is not a membership class, but an informational one.

Please join me in this effort. I'm counting on you to say, "You are invited...."

Grace is yours,

Pastor Cindy