Old Words, Contemporary Significance

His words sound all to contemporary. Speaking against one who advocated the new methods so rapidly catching on in the 19th century R.L. Dabney wrote,

Since the question is raised why the church does not grow faster, we are persuaded that the real answer that needs looking to is the one our author dismisses most hastily. The cause is not ecclesiastical. It is spiritual. The real need is not new methods, but fidelity to the old [ones]. [The real need is] a true revival in the hearts of ministers and Christians themselves, a fear of the power of the world to come and deep love for souls. What we most need is repentance, not innovation.

#1 Mission Field

"Believe it or not, one of the most strategic mission fields in North America today is the church!"
--Tullian Tchividjian, grandchild of Billy Graham

The Rivalry

Where ever the Lord erects a house of prayer,
The Devil builds a chapel there.

--Sorry, I forget the source.

The Word Moves On

I should also mention another amazing thing that has to do with my brother behind bars.

I mentioned that I send him my sermons each week. It is always good to hear how he drinks in the messages and interacts with them. But it is even better to hear what he does with the sermons.

In his zeal for God, he seeks to advance the kingdom with the messages he recieves. After he reads them, he shares them with his Christian buddies on the inside. After that he passes them out to other inmates, using them much like tracts.

In his last letter he said that his group is growing because of the word's distribution (and he even signed the letter "Your extended congregation." That was a humbling thing!).

Perhaps, through my brother in the Lord, the prison system will indeed become a correctional facility.

Front Yard Missions

Spring time is here!

You might have noticed that the blogs are not as frequent as they have been. That's because the warmer weather is drawing my family and I outside more. As a result, when evening time rolls around, I am pretty bushed.

But while I have been out there lolly-gagging about with the family I've been thinking about outreach to our neighborhood, especially the kids who always seem to swarm to our house.

The Bible commands us to be hospitable, and I have come to find that hospitality is more than having someone over for dinner or giving a person lodgings for the night. The Greek word for hospitality in Romans 12:13 has the broader idea of loving strangers. It could even be translated, "entertain strangers."

Hospitality then, if I might pose a definition, has to do with the pouring out of affection upon your neighbor and giving yourself (and your resources) to them so that they may be comforted and gladdened.

Perhaps now you can see how broadly this can be applied, especially when it comes to the neighborhood kids. A game of kickball, hide-&-seek, or coloring with sidewalk chalk may be the highlight of some kid's week.

When we think of evangelism we tend to think of a one on one conversation with someone over the legal drinking age and lands somewhere in the upper middle class. But we must remember that these little ones are our mission field too, not just adults. They need to be the objects of our hospitable attention too.

This is the essence of James' words when he says, "true and undefiled religion is this, to visit widows and orphans in their affliction." Biblically speaking, an orphan is not necessarily one who doesn't have any parents. He is often one who only has one parent, or even has both parents in the home, but not in his/her life.

Francis Schaeffer once started a whole youth program with kids just by going around the town and rounding them up off the street. He would march up to them and say, "Hey, do you want to have a hot dog roast?" After grilling up some Franks he would tell them a Bible story and then they would play some games.

Some people can go all out, organizing backyard Bible clubs like Schaeffer. But most may just simply play the role of the parent-they-never-had for a few hours.

Just a warning though: if you show a kid some attention, you may never get them off your front porch. But that's a risk you take with love.

The Necessity of Widespread Christian Education

Speaking on the necessity of Christian training Charles Hodge said that communism is the natural product of materialistic atheism, and its only cure is found in theism. The cure is in...

"Bringing the people to know and believer that there is a God on whom they are dependent and to whom they are responsible...To imbue the minds of the mass of the people, especially in great cities, will be a slow and difficult work; but [it is] absolutely necessary. [For] if materialism and atheism are practically embraced by the mass of any community, it will inevitably perish."

Gospelizing Through Tracts, pt. 2

My interest in tracts has not only made me think about the design of a tract, but the distribution of them too. I often think that tracts, based on their placement, can be seen as quality Bible literature or something along the lines of Bible litter.

Some people are hard core tract distributors, but tactless in it. The one that got me thinking the most (not about the content, but about the placement) was the one placed on a urinal in a public bathroom.

Now I know that God can do miracles and He is able to use even the feeblest of efforts in convicting and converting sinners. But a tract on a urinal? It just seems weird.

Another time I saw a man drop something out of his pocket. He was an older fellow so I, attempting to be a good Samaritan, quickly rushed over, bent down to pick it up, and said, "Sir, you dropped something." It was a tract. He told me I could keep it, and then proceeded to give me three more.

You can see how I came to think that some tract distribution is Bible litter.

Of course, I already mentioned the fake $100 bill tract. Boy, you think you hit the jackpot and are already thinking about what you could spend it on. But the disappointment hits just as hard and just as fast as you look at the back side and see some Bible passages about greed. Maybe it's just me, but if I were an unbeliever I just don't think that I would be in the mood to be converted after that.

David Dickson, in his book on church elders, says that tracts should be "aptly placed." He does not expand on that notion--it was just a passing comment-- but I take that to mean that it should not be random or like the sower in the parable of the sower of the seed. There should be some tact in your tract, perhaps as a follow up of a conversation you had or after a meaningful relationship has developed.

I'm not saying there should not be widespread tract distribution. I'm all for it, as long as it is done "well and in good order." One lady I met has given me the the same tract 3 times. Perhaps 1) she doesn't think it has worked yet 2) she didn't remember who I was, or 3) she's too preoccupied with the distribution and not focused enough on the personal side of evangelism (I do commend her zeal to get the gospel out though).

I have heard about one English man who made it his goal to give out 10 tracts a day, every day of his life. If he could, he would try to warm up to the person and converse with him or her and then hand them the tract. If a conversation could not be developed, he would say, "Excuse me sir, are you a Christian? If not, you're going to hell." Then he would hand off the tract like a baton and be on his way. That could have been done in a way that was brazen. But from what I hear, he pulled it off with a fair amount of finesse (I guess it just depends on the person and situation). I am also told that many people have been converted through his tracts.

So I'm still in a quandary when it comes to tract distribution. I probably know more how not to do it, than how to do it properly. I do know that I'm not the kind of guy who can just go up to someone and break into a conversation. I know I could never go up to someone's house and do the mormon-esc thing. Door to door work strikes fear in me. (Not that I would do it if I had the courage. I think that D2D is a lot like junk mail in our culture. People just don't want to be bothered when they are home.)

At work I try to pass around my audio stuff. I once had a coworker "read" the entire audio Bible that I listen to there. But I'll talk about audio tracts next time.