Are we Stuck?

Been thinking alot about church growth lately. Most churches in my association are traditional. They have been doing things the same way for a very long time. They sing the same songs, in the same order of worship at the same worship time.  Dare change that, why you messing with God stuff, or so they say.

I am fearful for the traditional churches. Most of them have leveled off or are dropping in attendance. They are for the most part resistant to change. Oh, they call in a new pastor and sell him or her on the idea that they want change and need to reach a new generation. But as soon as those changes are brought up, they are voted down. Why you just can’t mess with tradition.

In some churches you can do some changes, but don’t mess with the sanctuary or the worship service. I do understand that for older folks, everything in thier lives have changed. But they revel in the thought that “at least my church is the same”. It gives them security and comfort knowing that when they come to worship, it will be as it has always been. Nevermind that the numbers are dropping further and further down.

I’m afraid many of our churches are stuck. They are stuck on phono players while most are doing mp3 players. They are stuck in the past glory days. They will set around and bask in those  days, when all the Sunday School rooms were overflowing with kids.

In the 1950’s, the golden years of the church, were days when all the churches were overflowing with families. Everything I was taught in seminary was based on those years. For a while in the 80’s some of those principles actually worked. Today they don”t.

But most churches are still stuck on what used to work. Have we done the same with BGCT?

My Point is Proven

It is true. People will read about “controversy” over evangelism. They prefer the train wrecks to lush green valleys of sweet salvation stories. I checked my hit counts and there were no hits on my blogs about evangelism, but a good number about the false view the SBTC is out of money.

I don’t know that people are bored with evangelism as such. Maybe we have images of it that are unwholesome. Mine were of some dude carrying this huge Bible around ready to get ya saved.  I picture him yelling “REPENT” at the top of his lungs. Admittedly this is a warped view, but it is the image many have.

Many think of the preacher giving invitations at the end of the worship service for salvation and implying to get saved ya gotta walk the aisle. I have heard many people share thier salvation stories and will include the time “I walked the aisle” as a part of the salvation process.

From what I have researched the idea of “walking the aisle” is a fairly recent event. It has it’s origins in the revivals of the Wesley brothers. I guess it was a way of counting decisions. Some say it is related to “confessing before men”. But I have always thought that was what Baptism is. The public confession was the believers Baptism.

Honestly I think the “walking the aisle” thing is to stroke the egos of pastors. So they can see results from the message. That the congregation can see tangible results of the preacher they pay to evangelize. Nevermind that it is not found in the Scriptures.

Charles Finney, the evangelist of the 19th century, never gave invitations to walk the aisle. He had what he called “enguirers rooms” for people to go to who were interested in salvation. He encouraged those who might want to follow Christ to meet him in a room at a nearby house or something like that. Those rooms would be overflowing with people.

In some of our churches, including mine, if the pastor didn’t give an invitation, why he wasn’t doing his job.  People feel strongly about walking the aisle. I realize it is tradition and not all traditions are bad. I starting to offer a time for those who are uncomfortable about walking the aisle to visit with me in the church prayer room. So far no on has taken me up on it. I also offer to anyone to call me anytime if they have questions.

I guess walking the aisle isn’t a real bad thing, but to say that it is the only way you can come to salvation is to add to the gospel message. Many of the Cowboy churches don’t do alter calls. And yet they have more conversion than the average church does. Hmmm. Makes ya wonder.

SBTC out of money!!

Just kidding. Thought I would test Rick Davis’ theory about hit increases. We will want to read and believe such stuff as my headline. But talk about evangelism, then the hit count nose dives. 

We human’s love “rubber necking” to see a car wreck. Or we see smoke and we just gotta take a look see. But talk about people getting saved, well that is a whole other matter.

Have a church call a female preacher, especially in Baptist circles, then the hair will fly. Elect female deacons, kick em out of the association as quickly as possible. Have a change the color of the carpet vote at a business meeting, attendance goes up and opinions are loud and bosterious.

But have a teaching session about evangelism,no one shows up or very few.

I don’t know that people are bored with the subject, so much that they are either scared of it or don’t really want to do it. Afterall, that’s why we pay the preacher.

Have You Been Saved?

That was the question asked of me when Brother Epstein approached me and a friend inside the Sears department store in Amarillo. He was the town preacher/evangelist. He had hair hanging down on his shoulders, wore a white robe outfit with sandals. He had a beard just like the white european portraits we all know of Jesus.

Brother Epstein had a reputation for practically chasing you down to preach/yell at you about Jesus. We saw him from a distance and knew what was about to go down. We high tailed it down the main aisle heading for the nearest exit. He caught up with us and grabbed us by the shoulders and spun us around and promptly said, “Boys, have you been saved?”

Understand that we  had very little church background and I for one didn’t know what he was talking about. I looked at my friend
Steve and said, “You say something!” To which he responded, “No you say something!” Not knowing how to respond I said, “Yeah, I’ve been saved.” Thinking that would satisfy him, I smiled. He said, “Well, tell me about it son.” I shared how I was pushed into a swimming pool and a friend saved me, and so I was saved. I literally thought that was what he was talking about. He shook his head and said, “I’m afraid you boys are missing the boat!”

I really don’t remember what else he said after that. I think I mentally blocked him out. 

My grandmothers on my dad and mom’s side, had a propensity to “preach” to each grandchild about getting saved. One grandma put lots of emphasis on getting baptized. The other getting right cause Jesus was gonna come back any time.

So my first experiences with the Gospel were negative in tone. No wonder I didn’t want anything to do with Christianity. It wasn’t until I got involved with Young Life in high school, that I finally heard someone share the gospel in kind and simple terms. I was gently told of His love for me and never pushed to “get saved”.

My high school vice-principal shared the gospel with me in kind and compassionate ways too.  A number of people gently nudged me toward the Savior. Yelling and screaming kind of gospel sharing turned me off.  But a kind, gentle approach brought to the a place where I wanted to know more of Jesus and His love for me.

Confrontational kind of evangelism, at least for me, just didn’t work. I am finding that more and more, that in your face gospel sharing is a turn off for most people. Sadly enough the image most have of evangelism is the smack down kind of stuff.

I remember a young man who pulled up in his car to see if we needed another person to play touch football. There were only three of us and yeah, he was much needed. He played football with us for a while and then afterwards invited us to attend church with him. I liked the guy, he was not pushy and was a genuinely kind person. The three of us agreed to meet him Sunday morning. He said he would look for us and save us a seat. And we went. Why did we go,because the guy didn’t come across as a fake. We saw something different in him. He meet a need that we had and we were grateful and gained a hearing for the gospel.

Texas Baptist and Evangelism

I see where Rick Davis and Ken Coffee are challenging all Texas Baptist bloggers to blog on evangelism. I accept the challenge. Montoya on the other hand, well, read his response to Davis.

I can remember while a student at SWBTS,  a well known evangelist spoke in chapel. I had high regards for this evangelist and sought his advice afterwards. While a student, was contemplating doing full-time evangelistic work.  

So I sought him out and patiently waited to ask him questions. I asked how a person knew they were called into evangelism. With great anticipation I waited for his answer. He said, “If you are called to do evangelism, then every single time you preach people  get saved.” That was not what I expected. I was stunned by that response.

I had done some preaching while a college student and filled the pulpit on a number of occasions. I could honestly say, on more occasions than not, people didn’t get saved when I preached.  When the evangelist told me his opinion of how a person knew they were called into evangelism, it was like someone had punched me in the stomach.  I was devastated.

I now know they dude was off his rocker. At the time I was a young Christian of about five years and was very much influenced by the evangelist. I had no idea what to do at that moment and was numb from his response.

I have since learned that I am called into evangelism. That all of us are called into evangelism. Some may be more “gifted” in the area of evangelism than others. Even the “gifted” ones don’t always get “responses” each time they preach or share the gospel.