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Lettr to my church pastor 8/14/2017 2:01:38 PM
Where a church fails in spreading the Gospel Re: Revelation evangelistic series
A very troubling new survey just released by the Pew Research Center finds, in a nutshell, that Americans are giving up on both God and miracles.
The study identifies a massive 49-percent of those surveyed as "nones," or those who don't identify with a religious group, say they left their church because they simply "don't believe." Some said it was because they "don't believe in miracles."
As I read about the evangelistic series coming to -------, I have mixed feelings. From my observation and wide reading on our culture, and dialogue with former Adventists and nonbelievers, I find little interest in Bible topics. To them the Bible can’t be trusted as historical. They know little about the written Word. Disturbing news, violence, political crises, Darwinism, fundamentalist religions, materialism, the problem of evil and disease—all of these things overwhelm them every day with expanded media. And add to that personal problems. People wonder how a good God can exist.
Who is our target audience now? It appears to be other Christians who have accepted Christ. Meanwhile we fail miserably with the unchurched, yet we have some distinctive ideas that could draw this group. The evangelical fundamentalist churches have nothing to offer the educated seeker. Of evangelistic meetings at our church in the past, those by ------- seem the most superficial and out-of-touch.
Most of our evangelism is superficial and results show it. Once in a while we get a dedicated member such as --------. I don’t know the names of other recent converts, and I am not saying they weren’t worth it.
But I am concerned about those in our community who do not know the God of the Bible and His love. They peg prophecy seminars as fantasy for fundamentalists. Yet they seek the spiritual. Maybe at first they want a mere feeling, but look for hope beyond this world. Many are afraid. I don’t think “Revelation” will draw them if they even know it’s a book of the Bible (Maybe not knowing is better.) It may be my favorite book, but closed to others.
I believe the pure Gospel—the picture without the frame of doctrine at the beginning-- needs to be emphasized. But our society won’t understand that at first either. There needs to be something to draw their secular attention to spirituality--something that stirs their deepest needs and answers contemporary fears of the future. I found the following in the recent Visitor.
HOPE TREINDING: A CRASH COURSE ON HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT FEAR—Oct. 14-22—a fresh new worldwide evangelistic event with Dwight Nelson. Visit hopetrending.org
Now this may be more of the same ole, but the title meets needs. A program like this MUST include discussion afterward by a few members to get it started. A smaller room with chairs in a circle would work better than the sanctuary, depending on attendance. Weekly meetings make more sense and to have the audience pick the most convenient day. Today’s culture wants input; any inference of intolerance or salesman ship will stop them cold. Adding a vegan dinner would be a plus. I would also suggest a weekly survey of interest, and definitely no fill-in-the-blanks school-age lessons.
I was quite discouraged when --- shelved a film to meet the needs of young people. As I understand it had been shown to a focus group and was well accepted. To me this showed an unwillingness to try new approaches and dampened the enthusiasm of creative youth who love and want to serve God. I found this depressing; I did not see the film, but it worked for those who did. To my knowledge no young people were asked to evaluate it before nixing it. And it cost a lot of money.
My view of God is a flexible God, and I find that throughout the Bible. He reaches down to people while most religion makes people reach up part way or all the way. But Jesus came down to us as did the God of the OT to His primitive people. I often wonder how Jesus would relate to the world today with its technology.
How many have seen the series “The Seventh Day.” Its creators spent much time and money on it. The series should have been on public television. What happened to it? It was excellent and churches could have used it at least. Are we putting our funds in the right places? The story is that wealthy Christians only want to invest in that which has not really worked in this country—traditional evangelism. I cannot conscientiously support this.
That doesn’t mean I will not pray with all our members. Their dedication leaves me thankful and humbled. I am praying our Lord overlooks our outdated methods and answers the prayers of His people.
