Bifurcation can be such an unholy word

"It is not a matter of engaging in both the gospel and social action, as if Christian social action was something separate from the gospel itself. The gospel has to be demonstrated in word and deed. Biblically, the gospel includes the totality of all that is good news from God for all that is bad news in human life—in every sphere. So like Jesus, authentic Christian mission has included good news for the poor, compassion for the sick and suffering justice for the oppressed, liberation for the enslaved. The gospel of the Servant of God in the power of the Spirit of God addresses every area of human need and every area that has been broken and twisted by sin and evil. And the heart of the gospel, in all of these areas, is the cross of Christ." - Christopher J. H. Wright International director of John Stott Ministries (from Knowing the Holy Spirit Throught the Old Testament)

This, actually reminds me of the E. Stanley Jones quote: Evangelism without social action is like a body without a soul. Social action without evangelism is like a soul without a body. One is a corpse, the other is a ghost. We don't want either one.

So - why do we so often settle for ghosts and corpses in our ministrues?

When Muslims convert...

From 1991 to 2007, Fuller Theological Seminary's School of Intercultural Studies conducted a survey among 750 Muslims who had converted to Christianity. Those surveyed represented 50 ethnic groups from 30 different countries. Here were the nine most-cited reasons for conversion to the Christian faith:

1. Christians practiced what they preached.

2. Christians appeared to have loving marriages in which women were treated as equals.

3. Christian-to-Christian violence was less prominent than Muslim-to-Muslim violence.

4. The prayers of Christians had healed the disabled and delivered others from demonic powers.

5. The Koran had produced profound disillusionment because it accentuates "God's punishment more than his love, and the use of violence to impose Islamic laws."

6. God had used visions and dreams to influence the converts' decision.

7. Muslims can never be certain of their forgiveness and salvation as Christians can.

8. As they read the Bible, the converts had been convicted of its truth.

9. The converts were attracted to the idea of God's unconditional love.

Jennifer Riley, "Analysis: Why Muslims Follow Jesus," The Christian Post (11-16-07)

Good advice from Fulton Sheen?

Richard John Neuhaus in First Things seems to think so:

A priest on Long Island tells me that, when he was newly ordained, he had the chance to visit with the legendary Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who was famed for, among other things, winning many converts to the Catholic Church. Sheen was in the hospital and, as it turned out, on his deathbed. “Archbishop Sheen,” my friend said, “I have come for your counsel. I want to be a convert-making priest like you. I’ve already won fifteen people to the faith. What is your advice?” Sheen painfully pushed himself up on his elbows from his reclining position and looked my friend in the eye. “The first thing to do,” he said, “is to stop counting.”

Preaching that melts...

From George Whitefield's Journal:

Tuesday, November 27, 1739 - ...I preached from a balcony to above six thousand people. God strengthened me to speak nearly two hours, with such demonstration of the Spirit, that great numbers continued weeping for a considerable time.

Tuesday, April 30, 1740 - Towards the conclusion of my discourse, God's Spirit came upon the preacher and people, so that they were melted down exceedingly.

May 14, 1749 - I believe there were near twelve thousand. I had not spoken long before I perceived numbers melting. As I proceeded, the influence increased, till, at last, thousands cried out, so that they almost drowned my voice...What tears were shed and poured forth after the Lord Jesus...After the last discourse, I was so pierced, as it were, and overpowered with the sense of God's love, that some thought...I was about to give up the ghost. How sweetly did I lie at the feet of Jesus. With what power did a sense of His all-constraining, free, and everlasting love flow in upon my soul! It almost took away my life.

What kind of preaching melts hearts today?

Progress!

"It took 18 centuries for dedicated believers to grow from 0% of the world's population to 2.5% in 1900, only 70 years to grow from 2.5% to 5% in 1970, and just the last 30 years to grow from 5% to 11.2% of the world population. Now for the first time in history there is one believer for every nine people worldwide who aren't believers...we're talking about Bible-reading, Bible-believing stream of Christianity." (Ralph D. Winter and Bruce A. Koch/Perspectives)

Evangelistic smackdown quote of the day

"Every man needs reconversion at forty on general principles! Because at forty we settle down, begin to lose that sense of spiritual expectancy, begin to take on 'protective resemblance' to environment, and to play for safety.

I once heard an Anglican bishop say that the period of the great number of spiritual casualties is between forty and fifty and not between twenty and thirty, as one would expect. Why? Well, if 'heaven lies about us in our infancy,' the world lies about us in our middle age. We come under its standards, fit into its facts, and are slowly de-Christianized." (E. Stanley Jones, Christ and Human Suffering)

I fought the good "jihad?"

Yep. That's what Paul said...

A legendary missionary who smuggled Bibles behind the Iron Curtain is calling on Christians worldwide to join the “good jihad” for the souls of Muslims in the Middle East and in other Islamic nations.

Though the term jihad carries a negative connotation – especially after the 9/11 attacks and current events around the world involving Muslim extremists - Christians have a biblical mandate to wage a “good jihad,” according to Brother Andrew, the founder of the international ministry Open Doors.

“It is literally quoting from the Bible because Paul said, ‘I fought the good fight’ and in the Arab Bible it says, ‘I fought the good jihad,’” said Brother Andrew during a recent interview with The Christian Post.

Evangelism?

ROME (Reuters) - Catholic missionaries have always trekked to dangerous parts of the Earth to spread the word of God -- now they are being encouraged to go into the virtual realm of Second Life to save virtual souls.

In an article in Rome-based Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, academic Antonio Spadaro urged fellow Catholics not to be scared of entering the virtual world which may be fertile ground for new converts wishing to better themselves.

"It's not possible to close our eyes to this phenomenon or rush to judge it," Spadaro said. "Instead it needs to be understood ... the best way to understand it is to enter it."

Second Life is a simulation game where players can create a virtual version of themselves -- an avatar -- and interact with other people in the three-dimensional world.... (more)

Serve yourself by serving others

Coming back from Philadelphia on a plane last eve I sat beside a lady who said she was a minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA. She bemoaned the fact that her denomination, some years ago, made the decision to turn inward and "take care of themselves" and ceased to reach out and evangelize or share in compassionate ministry.

I said, "It may be that the way to take care of yourself best is to take care of others...you have to use your gospel muscle - or atrophy." She heartily agreed. And many churches within my own denomination understand this well, because their membership freefall looks a lot like the PCUSA losses over decades.

You grow by serving; you gain muscle by exercising. It is as true personally as it is congregationally.

Jesus - took us by surprise?

The Lord of all comes as a slave amidst poverty. The hunter has no wish to startle his prey. Choosing for his birthplace an unknown village in a remote province, he is born of a poor maiden and accepts all that poverty implies, for he hopes by stealth to ensnare and save us.

If he had been born to high rank and amidst luxury, unbelievers would have said the world had been transformed by wealth. If he had chosen as his birthplace the great city of Rome, they would have thought the transformation had been brought about by civil power. Suppose he had been the son of an emperor. They would have said: "How useful it is to be powerful!" Imagine him the son of a senator. It would have been: "Look what can be accomplished by legislation!"

But in fact, what did he do? He chose surroundings that were poor and simple, so ordinary as to be almost unnoticed, so that people would know it was the Godhead alone that had changed the world. This was his reason for choosing his mother from among the poor of a very poor country, and for becoming poor himself.

—Theodotus of Ancyra, a martyred saint from the 4th century

Hug evangelism (maybe?)

Apologetics diminished as an evangelism help

From PreachingNow newsletter:

Haddon Robinson makes the case that apologetics has less impact in evangelism today than in past generations. In a recent interview with PreachingTodaySermons newsletter, he says, "There was a time in which apologetics had great force. I don't think that's as true today. In a postmodern age, to use that cliché, people aren't as impressed with evidences that demand a verdict. That's not just my opinion. It's the opinion of a lot of people who are skilled at reaching non-Christians, who have, in the past, used apologetics. Usually apologetics are more forceful for those who have come into faith, and having come to faith, have all kinds of questions.

"Often a church that has small groups, that has warm fellowship, that draws people to an atmosphere of love, has something going for it. People are drawn to that, and then they want to talk about the gospel. People want relationships; they want to know there are people who care about them. When they find that, then they will hear the gospel, but I don't think apologetics is as strong and as needed today as it was 25 years ago."

Has something taken the place of apologetics? Robinson believes that it is, "people telling their story. I'm not talking about the modern theology that you have your story and I've got my story, but there's no great story, no meta-narrative. I'm talking about telling your testimony, what's happened to you along the way. You're telling how coming to trust Jesus Christ has made a difference in your life. When someone hears that story, and it overlaps their story, there's a way in which that can connect. That's truer today than in the past. We've always used testimonies, but today the witness box has an appeal to people because, in a way, that's the way life comes to them." (Click here to read the full interview.)

Too smart for some?

John Derbyshire over at National Review includes this communication nugget:

A friend of mine, an academic psychologist, remarked offhandedly a few months ago that communication between two human beings is difficult if the gap between their IQs is as much as one standard deviation (i.e. 15 points). If you try communicating across gaps bigger than that, she said, mutual understanding quickly becomes impossible.

One wonders how, say, Jesus every winsomely delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Or, how John Wesley effectively communicated with those whose lower-class faces were stained with coal. Or...well, you get the idea. True intellectual brilliance has little to do with standard deviation differences and more with how to take God's gift to your mind and transform it into that which is life-changing and understandable.

C.S. Lewis being able to communicate new worlds to my exceedingly humble imagination comes to mind, for instance...

Should we fret people leaving our church? Maybe yes, maybe no...

Closing the "back door" of the church is something that church growth pundits think we should be thinking about on a constant basis. There are some things we can do to keep people "with us" as this article attests. But, even Jesus had this problem...

Jesus, too, had a "revolving back door" in his ministry...Reach out to them, apologizing when needed, offering clarification and love when this is what's called for. But remember that when Jesus, God's Word made flesh, preached the gospel on this earth, most of his hearers did not accept his message. Some accused him of having a demon. One of his key leaders even betrayed him.

Jesus knew that God's kingdom would not expand by "pleasing all of the people all of the time." Instead the Kingdom expands as the relative minority of people who hear the gospel, live it, and in turn, give it away. Our task is to keep scattering the seed.

Old geezers don't come to know Jesus?

Wrong, says Charles Arn. And I suspect he is right. Maybe it is the church that doesn't have a clue and is woefully unprepared for the coming "Age Wave."

Only 6.8 percent of those who become Christians and new church members are over age 50, and only 1.2 percent are over 60. In addition, two-thirds of churches with 1,000 or more members in the United States reported “1” or “0” senior adults added to their membership through “conversion growth” in the previous year.

One of three conclusions can be drawn …

1) The older people grow, the more resistant they become to the Gospel; thus, fewer older adults convert.

2) Churches allocate the bulk of their outreach resources to youth and younger adults; thus, fewer older adults convert.

3) Evangelism strategies practiced by churches today are more effective for people in the first half of life; thus, fewer older adults convert.

From my involvement in older adult ministry for the last 11 years, I've observed that the first conclusion is completely untrue, the second is often true, and the third is almost always true.

And the most recent entry in our "Gimmick Evangelism" contest...

Alas, this apparently is no joke:

The image of Jesus in the froth left on the sides of an almost empty pint glass next to the words 'Where will you find him?' will spearhead the Churches' Advertising Network (CAN) festive campaign to encourage church-going this Christmas.

And who will be the first to say, "Yeah, but if it saves just one person then it will all be worth it..."?

Spare us.

Students - how NOT to evangelize. Got it?

Outside of persistence try to forget this...

Comeback churches

Turning a significantly declining church into a growing one (particularly one growing by conversion) is a rarity. But it can be done. Take a look at "Comeback Churches."

HT: smartpastor.com (great website)

Comeback churches...how churches can return to evangelistic effectiveness. A good read from Ed Stetzer and Mike Dobson:

When we undertook our study of churches that went from decline to stagnation in a 5 year period, about 1% of churches qualified. Ten denominations shared their data for this research project and an average of 1% of their churches qualified. Moving a church to evangelistic effectiveness is hard work and takes wisdom, courage, and insight. Hopefully these resources will help you know how... and in 2007 ComebackChurches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and How Your Can Too! will be published. Until then, you can consult some recent books, read the articles from On Mission Magazine, and learn from other organizations involved in church revitalization. -Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson