Original_To:  CHRISTIA
Original_cc:  HUTTER
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Fri, 16 Oct 1992 10:57:00 N
From:         Wolfgang Hutter <HUTTER@DULRUU51.BITNET>
Subject:      Ways to evangelize

In a message of Thu, 15 Oct 1992 07:56:44 -0700
Received on Thu, 15 Oct 92 15:59 N
(MARK DRAKE) <DRAKE@ASUCHM.LA.ASU.EDU> wrote:

> I've never been satisfied either.  Lately, the morning sermons at my church
> have been very evangelistic, and have been talking about evangelism.  One
> of the things that my pastor said really caught my attention.  He was
> looking at statistics.  He said that 70% of those led to Christ by a stranger
> are never seen in a church again after a while.  The majority of those led
> to christ by friends and family do stay with a church. ( 80% ? )  Those
> led by a stranger hear the gospel presented about 2 - 3 times.  Those led by
> a friend hear the gospel about 5 - 6 times.  ( on average )

Other figures: of all the believers in German churches (the two state
churches are excluded) only about 5% are there because of big
evangelisations and over 90% are there because of
"friendship-evangelisation".

In a message of Thu, 15 Oct 1992 11:44:19 EDT
Received on Thu, 15 Oct 92 16:53 N
Brenda Curry-White <BSCURR01@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU> wrote:

> I'm not a big fan of evangelizing strangers, or street witnessing, or whatever
> you want to call it, and I am not so gifted anyway.  But in defense of those
> who are, if 70% of those led to Christ by a stranger are never seen in a
> church again, that means that the other 30% go on to find a church and remain
> in it.  If you were to tell 10 people (strangers) about Christ and only 3 of
> them decided to make a true lifetime commitment, would it be no less worth
> it because 7 of them reject God?  I think most of us would consider our time
> well spent for the sake of the 3.

I agree, Brenda. Our main concern should not be the numbers, but the
people. On the other hand: we aer expected to be good stewards. We have
only limited resources of time, money, physical and mental strength. Now
I think that God would like us to use these in the most effective way we
can. Of course He will acknowledge our will to serve Him even if we
could have done better. But if you think it through thoroughly starting
with obvious and easy facets of stewardship and moving to more subtle
topics you will easily grasp what I mean. If, e.g. a chruch would want
to plant a tree in their church yard and in their midst would be a man
who does these things as profession and who would gladly volunteer to do
the job, but the church comittee would decide to give the task away to a
professional team of gardners who will chrage them a lot of money, we
would all blame them.
If we could buy a car for $5,000 or for $10,000 we would be foolish to
take the more expensive offer. If we want to organize a meeting of
several people and could do it by making five phone calls or by spending
several hours in walking by each person's home we would (perhaps) be bad
stewards of our time.

And if we spend our time witnessing to strangers on the street while we
could use the time in a more effective way, we are bad (or at least
thoughtless) stewards.

So my point is simply this: I have only seven days a week and 24 hours a
day. five days a week and 8-10 hours a day I spend at work. I have to
sleep 8 hours a day. I have a wife and, hopefully, a child soon who need
me. And I have several church activities that I am involved in. This
leaves me with a very limited amount of time and mental freedom (I hope
you get the meaning that I like to convey with this construct). The
easiest way is to go out on the street, play some drama, sing, preach,
witness and go home. But I doubt if we can't do better than that.

The present discussion on cell groups is very interesting for me,
because I think that this would perhaps be a way to organize our
churches in other, more effective ways.


In a message of Thu, 15 Oct 1992 17:46:00 -0500
Received on Thu, 15 Oct 92 22:46 N
Scott A. Rust <11SRUST@GALLUA.BITNET> wrote:

>         That last sentence says it all. So many times, I've visited a
> church or gone to church with a friend only to sit and listen to the
> "body count" of the last service. Many of my Christian friends love to
> brag about "how many" they've converted or led to the Lord.
>         Spreading the word of God is not a numbers game!

I don't want to be misunderstood. I'm not seeking to get higher scores.
I just want to be a faithful servant. I do what I do with the best
motives I can possibly have. This is the most important part. But I also
want to make sure that there is no way I could do better - with the
right attitude.


In a message of Thu, 15 Oct 1992 13:22:45 CST
Received on Thu, 15 Oct 92 19:24 N
Yvette Traylor <YST1@DCCCDBIT.BITNET> wrote:

> Remember that: "For God is my King of old, working savation in the
> midst of the earth." Psalms 74:12
> God has been doing his job a long time and I wonder how many times
> over eternity has he said "I need new and better ways to save mankind."
> We are only vessels that he uses. And I truly believe that the most
> important thing that we can do for God is to make ourselves available
> for him to use us in what ever way he wants to. To me, there is no such
> thing as a new and better way to share the Gospel, because which ever
> way you share it, it's God's way. I have learned that you Pray First and
> Proclaim Second.

Yes, I agree again. We have to pray first and expect the Holy Spirit to
guide us. But just as you probably practice it in make everyday
decisions or decisions about jobs or mates, I think that we are to use
our thinking that God gave us as well. My experience is that the Holy
Spirit can and does lead us by means of "direct revelation", but most of
the time He uses our own thoughts and abilities to lead us.

> I would love to street witness the old fashion way, but unfortunately
> I am a scardie cat. Keep up the blessed work.

What is the meaning of "scardie"? - Sorry, sometimes the German in me
has to show up! ;-)

Shalom,
Wolfgang <><