Evangelism Myth 10 - If We Only Get the Youth

One of the major myths that deals with Evangelism revolves around youth, and the idea is that if we only can somehow attract and appeal to the "youth", then we will have a vibrant, growing Church.

This is an utter myth, both in the short term and the long term. Why? As for the short term, imply put, kids aren't the majority of any Church population - they are small minority. They are young and vibrant, but just a minority. And often, they are a minority that isn't in control of where they are at. Sure, the ones who are over 16 might have a car - but other than that, they will rely upon parents for transport and things like that.

But more importantly - the youth constantly change - they constantly roll over. So you get a couple of dynamics with this -- first, they often move away, head to college, whatever. They will leave your own congregation - this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it won't necessarily mean growth for YOU. Have to accept that. More importantly - if you try to simply cater to and placate youth, you will have to change what you do with every new batch of high schoolers. What this constant focus on change will do is alienate other people.

Think about this - if you make the focus of your Church "youth" - you have the 17 year old who gets told everything revolves around them - you change, you jump through hoops, you try to be hip all to attract that 17 year old. Great. But what happens when they are 23? You aren't placating them anymore - you're placating the new 17 year old. . . and you've alienated them. You had told them they were special and awesome -- but now they aren't the center. If you run for the youth, you will alienate them once they are no longer youth - because you had taught them that Church is supposed to do what they want. . . and they will run off to the "Gen X" ministry, or the young adult ministry - what have you. This is to say nothing of alienating the adults and elderly if your attempt to please the youth at first involves demolishing the Church's tradition and identity.

Now, does this mean the mean Pastor Brown doesn't care about youth? Not at all - in fact, one of my great loves is Campus Ministry... but this isn't because "this will grow the church." Rather - instead of placating our youth - we need to raise them, instruct them, show and teach them not why "they" are important and how we should focus on them, but teach them why Christ is important, and why everything we do in the Church focuses on Christ... and how they won't get that focus elsewhere.

Other denominations placate people and itch their ears. Is it any mystery that youth whom we spend years placating wander off to new placators when they become old and our "we've got to get the youth" don't view them as so important anymore?

Rather, our task is to take everyone, male and female, Jew and Greek, slave and free, young and old - and focus them upon Christ and the gifts He gives to them. Sure, we can have groups and studies focused on whatever - ladies aid and men's club and youth and college and singles -- whatever -- but they need to be focused first and foremost on Christ and also upon being incorporated with the rest of the Church in worship and (literally incorporated) in the Supper.

Evangelism Myth 9 - The More Complex, the Better!

There is another myth that seems to sort of revolve around Evangelism Circles, and that is the more complicated the plan, the better it is. If there are stages and daily goals and weekly goals and monthly goals and various committees and groups and timetables, then clearly we are dealing with wise people who have thought through these issues carefully. Hence, we can just follow the massive outline they present for us and we will have success.

This is a popular myth for a couple of reasons. From the perspective of the authors, well, if you are going to write something. . . write. From the perspective of the consumer. . . well, it's big and shiny. And it also provides some cover for when it doesn't work. The author can say, "Well, you didn't do these steps right". The consumer can say, "Well, this was just too much for a little congregation like us." The complexity gives a false hope going in and it provides a ready made excuse on the way out.

Here's the simple truth. Evangelism is nothing more than this - speak the clear Gospel of Christ Jesus to people who are aware of the struggles they face against sin and the fallen world.

If they aren't aware of their sin, you need to speak the Law. This is uncomfortable - and unless you are their friend and know that you care for them and love them, they will simply write you off.

If they aren't aware of the struggles we see in life. . . um, give them a bit of time. They will fall and skin their knees at some point.

When the Law has done its work - proclaim the same Gospel that you delight and rejoice in - tell them that what Christ has done for you and given you is what He has done for them and desires to give them. This means you need to know real Gospel, and not a false Gospel of money, wealth, or power - but the true Gospel of forgiveness of sins and life in Christ.

It's simple. Know the Law, and know the Gospel. This makes it a wondrously difficult art to master, but that's as hard as it gets. It really is simple - but we think it has to be complex.

Evangelism Myth 8 - Study is really where it is at

The ads I get on my facebook page depress me. Seriously, they do. It knows that I am clergy, so it throws up ads that should appeal to me as a member of the clergy (did you know that I could get a bachelor of theology on-line. . . oooOOOooo. At least a few ads offer me a doctorate). Well, many of the ads are for outreach/evangelism programs. And I saw one that pointed to another myth of Evangelism - Small Groups are what really are important.

The idea is that the way in which people really grow is to gather into small groups and study the Word together. This is a very old idea, reaching all the way back to the roots of Pietism (Gads, Lutherans, what ills we have unleashed upon the world in that one! And then Rationalism - the German people are swine! Weep for your heritage, German Lutherans, weep you bullheaded krauts! Okay, I think I'm better now). The idea of Pietism is that what truly mattered was one's deep felt personal relationship with Jesus, and that this could only be fostered in small groups called conventicles, where there would be prayer and study of the Scripture.

Now, don't get me wrong - I love bible studies. I think they are fantastic for growing in the understanding of God's love for you. I end up teaching four bible studies during the week (and they're all small group, I guess. . . show up to bible study more often people!), and now that my Seminarian is home, we study all the time. It's great to study - you can pause, dive into things.

But Bible Study isn't the liturgy. What's the difference between Bible Study and the liturgy? In Bible Study we look at what God has done - see it, try to understand it. Nothing wrong with that - in fact, that is very good (like an excellent vegetable side served with dinner). But what happens in the Liturgy? Christ's forgiveness is given to us. The Gospel is proclaimed, forgiveness is distributed, Christ is present in His Word and in His Supper.

This is the different. In Bible Study I can study God's love - I can look at it, examine it, contemplate it. In worship, I receive it, I have it preached into my ear, I have it placed upon my tongue.

In a Bible study I can see and learn the depths of sin - it in worship where I hear, "I forgive you all of your sins."

In a Bible study I can about how the prophets talked about how Christ would come - in worship I hear, "Take and eat, this is My Body, given for you."

In a Bible study I can learn many things from the Word - in the worship I receive the Word of life.

Bible Study is wonderful and should be encouraged - but the true center of a Christian congregation is the Divine Service where we receive the forgiveness won by Christ Jesus. This reception is the most important thing. Too often this passive reception of God is replaced by some good old fashioned active learning.

Be in Church - be passive there and receive from Christ His goodness - something the latest plans completely and always overlook.

Evangelism Myth #7: By Grace Alone, not "By Grace, alone through you"

As per Pastor Sullivan's request, let's address the "wondrous" myth in Evangelism circles that completely blows out of the water the doctrine of election. The Myth is this - that yes, of course we all know God uses means, but YOU ARE that means for THAT person, and if you don't get out there and beat the bushes, they will BURN FOREVER.

Now, if you want a full, thorough beat down on this approach, I'd recommend Rev. Heath Curtis' excellent paper - it's a fantastic, fantastic paper. Take some time and read it when you can.

But, in brief, let's think about this. I am told that people are going to go to hell unless I tell them about Jesus. Isn't that sort of Egotistical? I mean, has God elected, chosen little Billy for salvation, but because I'm a lazy slob, Billy ends up in hell? Really? That sort of makes me rather important - it makes me and my actions the hinge, dare I say it makes my speaking the article upon which Billy stands or falls.

Hmmm, Scripture tells us that God chose us before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:4). We are told that nothing can separate, can pull us from the love of God that is ours in Christ (Romans 8:38-39). But if I become a lazy slob, oops, guess that no longer counts for Billy.

See, here is the thing. God works through means - people are called and brought to faith through the proclamation of the Word. But here's the thing - if you drop the ball, if you SIN and do bear witness. . . why do you think that God won't use someone else. When people want the crowds to be silent on Palm Sunday, we are told that the rocks themselves would cry out.

We are saved by Grace alone - only for the sake of Christ. That means God doesn't need you. Oh, He will use you - He wants to - you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for Good Works (including the speaking of the Gospel to those in your life) that you might walk in them. Go - do this. It's good.

But God's grace to people does not come only through you. This is just crass egoism with either leads to a brash self-righteousness (look at all I, Me, what I have done for Jesus) or horrible despair (I didn't talk to _____ enough, and now he's dead. If only I had told him one more time, then God could have saved him. . .).

It's not about you - it's never about you, never, never, never about you. It's about Christ. Proclaim what Christ has done for you. . . just know that if you fail to, God will use someone else to accomplish what He wills.

There's actually a great scene from Babylon 5 that teaches this - the Inquisitor has come to see if Delenn, the leader is "worthy" of leading, if she can fulfill her "destiny" - and is basically putting her to the question, over and over and over. And Captain Sheridan comes to rescue her, gets caught, and is about ready to killed - would you trade your life for his. . . "if I fall, another will take my place, and another, and another." (Now, there is some other wonky theology, but if you are a Bab 5 nerd like me, you can see the clip here)

This is what we should remember - evangelism is never about our glory. We are always utterly replaceable in our service - if we fail, if we fall, God will raise up another in our place. There's a line of pictures on the wall here of the pastors who were here before me - if Christ tarries in His return, there will probably a line of pictures after me (God grant it for the sake of this Congregation!). His will shall be done - His elect shall be called and brought to faith - may God simply grant us humility so that we neither take the glory for this, or in our sinful stubbornness refuse to be the workmanship which accomplishes this.

Evangelism Myth #6: More = Better

One of the things that comes up when looking at the Evangelism/Outreach schools of thought is the normally unstated assumption that more people is always better. "Well Pastor Brown," one might say, "Of course MORE people is better - isn't that the whole point of Evangelism and Outreach, to bring in MORE people?"

Yes, while the goals of Evangelism is to bring Christ to more people (note - not more people to Christ, that's the Holy Spirit's job), the simple fact that more people show up to something doesn't mean that it is good.

Partially this is because we forget that in the Scriptures good preaching will often drive people away. Read John 6. Read John 8. Remember, most people want to kill Jesus (and don't try this, "Oh, most people liked Him" stuff. . . really? Then why were the people so willing to stone Stephen and look upon Saul with approval for ordering it?) Paul preaches - and how often does he get reject, hounded out of town, and then finally killed?

"Growth" or "Everyone liked it" isn't the biblical sign of quality. Nor is it the sign of quality in this world. Consider food. Lots of people eat at McDonald's. It's the most popular restaurant we have. Would anyone say that this means that McDonald's is the best food in America? The healthiest? Is it even the best fast food, or the best hamburger? No. It's just the most popular.

This is the thing - we aren't simply to be concerned with getting people in the doors and doing whatever we have to in order to make them stay. We are to be concerned with preaching Christ - and you know what - sometimes that means people don't come. Sometimes it means people revile you. Sometimes it means your family and friends lambaste you for your "backwards" beliefs.

But this isn't bad. "Success" isn't a fruit of the Spirit. Faith is. Let us consider being faithful being more important than being successful. Then let God tend to the results of His Word that we simply proclaim.

Evangelism Myth 5 - We Can Save Everyone!

Americans don't like failure. I can tell this as a sports fan. The past few weeks what has dominated sports radio is the World Cup (where we tied, which is a failure, and we got beat by Ghana, which is a failure, even though, really, we did relatively well) and then LeBron James (who didn't win the NBA Title, so his season was a failure). People have been ranting all about these things. Why? We can see failure over and over whenever anything doesn't go the way that we would like. If things fall short of some ideal, the achievements along the way are viewed as worthless.

In this world there is much failure - if perfection and total victory are your goal. Dreams don't pan out, plans fall apart, things just don't work. And we don't like it - I'm not going to say that we should, but part of handling the stresses that comes from these failures is having realistic expectations. If your expectation is set too high, you will see failure. We will be disappointed.

Now, as Christians, we of all people should be prepared to handle this. First, we know that the world is broken, fallen, sinful - so that all things here will fall apart. We don't expect perfection, we don't expect unlimited, unending joy here, because we know our sin and we know the sin of the world. We are people whose lives revolve around the fact that Christ Jesus has died for our sins to rescue us from this fallen world and give us live everlasting.

Now then, consider much of the rhetoric involved with the typical Evangelism plan. "You need to do this to keep people from going to hell." That's the point, right - unless you act (in according with the program and pay the nice man his money), then people are going to go to hell. That's the line delineating success and failure - whether or not that person there ends up not believing and going to hell.

You know what - people are going to go to hell. I don't like it, but guess what - that's the way it is. Faith cannot be forced upon someone. You don't beat salvation into people, you don't swindle salvation into people. However much you work, however much you change what you do, however much you try to appeal to people - some are still going to go to hell. Pastor Peters does a good post about people who just don't like Church"> noting that the Gospel itself is a turn off to many. Consider what Paul says in 1 Corinthians - the Cross is foolishness and a stumbling block - it is folly to those who are perishing. Or consider how many get mad and leave Jesus when he preaches.

If we expect that everyone will receive the Gospel with joy and believe, we are having unrealistic expectations and simply setting ourselves up for failure. Not everyone believes. In fact, that's part of the point of the Parable of the Sower - a lot of that seed falls on soil where it doesn't grow - what of that - go spread the Word. And that isn't a "failure" - that's just how it is. Yours is not to create faith - yours is simply to be faithful.

We are called to be faithful. Part of the faithful life of a Christian is to proclaim the Word - to be God's Workmanship in wherever He has placed you in your life, and the speak the Word to family, friend, and neighbor as you have opportunity. Strive to do this - and should you proclaim Christ, should you point to Him in Word and Deed -- then that should be viewed as a success - you have done what you have been called to do. (Will you ever do it perfectly? No - confess your sins, receive forgiveness, and be fed on Christ's Body and Blood so you are strengthened to do better) - but be concerned with faithfulness.

Evenagelism Myth #4 - Results are What Count

One of the things that will often come up, that will be presented as part of an Evangelism Plan is results. The person selling the plan will point to results - why, one church did plan X and they had an increase in attendance of 30%. Behold the results - see the results. This even happens on an informal level - did you hear about St. _____ - they did X and more people came - we should do X too! The focus is placed upon the results.

This is especially true because we are Americans. Americans love results. Think about the typical newspaper - the Sports Section - results. Box scores and stats - results. Or the business section, chalk full of Stock Market results. Movies and TV - what does the box office say, what are the ratings. In fact, this is what has driven our love of reality TV and before that game shows (anyone notice that most reality TV shows are really just long lasting game shows?) - we love results.

Here's the problem - God doesn't instruct us to focus on results. God calls us to be faithful, and God calls us to speak. I can think of tons of examples that can point to either of these ideas - being faithful or speaking about what God has done. I can't think of a single instance where God tells us to worry about the results.

In fact, quite often the faithful could care less what people might see from the results. Consider Joshua. At the end of his life, this is what he preaches to Israel:

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

It is a call to be faithful - to listen to what God commands - to remember all the blessings of salvation he has given you (Joshua had just talked about the Exodus). And as for the results -- well, Joshua is dismissive of results. He even says, "I don't care if every one of you here thinks being faithful is lousy - if every result is poor - me and my house - we will serve the LORD. This is a call to faithfulness - even if the results and the times look bad.

Or consider Elijah - after his great victory over the priests of Ba'al (hey, good result there), Queen Jezebel is determined to kill him (eh, not so good result there) - and Elijah runs to the hills and complains to God - " have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." Consider what Elijah says - I've been faithful, very, very faithful - but the results aren't there. I'm not seeing the glorious revolution and growth. The queen wants to kill me, and there aren't too many people trying to stop her!

Yet what does God say? Does God say, "Hmmm, perhaps we should change our strategy"? "Hmm, maybe we need to be more culturally sensitive and find out what felt need of the people is being reached with Ba'al worship"? Nope.

"Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."

I love this. Oh, being a faithful prophet isn't giving you the results you wanted, Elijah? Well, here's what you're going to do. Go be a faithful prophet. Prophets anoint - go anoint. Go find an assistant and anoint him, train him. He'll take over for you when you die. And as for results - um, yeah, I think I'll let Jehu and Elisha see the results you want. As for you, just go be faithful and teach.

And there's more - Jonah who is sent to preach, but actually is surprised and angry when people listen. Jeremiah, who preaches faithfully and people decide they want to kill him (not the result the evangelism salesman promises). So on and so forth.

Or even consider the New Testament - What's Peter supposed to do in John 21? Grow the fold? No - feed the sheep. Being faithful and proclaim. Or consider Acts. What was Stephen supposed to do - be faithful - even if it gets him stoned. Or Paul - preach faithfully, even if it gets him arrested and sent to Rome.

In fact - "witnessing" rightly in the New Testament generally led to death. In fact, that's the general approach - be faithful and speak faithfully (amongst your friends for everyone, publicly if you are a pastor) until you die. Simple as that.

The focus, the thrust that God has instructed us deals with faithfulness - to have no other gods - to teach people to observe all things (not just the things that might bring good results). And this is how any program should be judged - does it point us towards results or instruct us towards faithfulness?

Evangelism Myth 3: Biblical "Plans" that Aren't Biblical

In the one year lectionary this upcoming Sunday has as its Gospel lesson the calling of Peter and the first disciples - Luke 5:1-11. This is the familiar, "let down your nets" - "Lord, we caught nothing, but at Your Word" - oh, look, lots of fish - Depart from me, for I am a sinful man - do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men (or the old fashioned "I will make you fishers of men").

It's one of those familiar lessons, one of those familiar stories - one that we know. Sadly, it will provide the jumping off point for another style of Evangelism Myth - Biblical "Plans" that aren't Biblical. What happens is this - the presenter will take and episode from the Scripture and say, "See, this is what we need to do" - where the "this" that he suggests has nothing to do with the text.

For example, I was recently told that I should consider how the disciples did their fishing. They didn't fish one on one - they didn't do "pole fishing". They did "net fishing" - where a few people would get together and they would work together and get lots of people -- therefore, you should follow our plans for exciting group activities where you don't merely get 1 new person to show up to church, you get lots! Yea! Fantastic!

Except. . . this image of "net fishing" meaning that we need to do giant group events has nothing to do with the Scriptures. You want evidence of that? Well, let's actually consider the text. Simon and his friends had been "net fishing" all night - working together - and you know what?

"Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!" Nothing. Zilch. Squadush. And Simon Peter knew fishing - he could plan with the best of them, ran several boats, was successful. And yet, at that moment, all his planning was worthless. No, the keep is that Christ commands him to let down his nets - even when the nets have been cleaned, even when it's the wrong time of day to fish. "But at your word I will let down the nets." And then there is the wondrous catch of fish.

It's not that it was a group activity that let there be a great catch - it's the Word of God. This "net fishing" idea really misses the boat (get it?). The point wasn't the labor of the many disciples, it was the power of the Word of the One True God, Christ Jesus. And that Word is what will catch men - if you want to catch men, you must proclaim Christ Jesus and His Word.

But what is so vile about these types of Biblical "Plans" is that to push the plans, they actually do damage to what is good and biblical. I was told that "Pole fishing" was bad. That it didn't work well. That it was inefficient.

Hmmm. Let's see - isn't Jesus moving away from His preaching to speak and deal with Peter one on one. Eh, that doesn't count. Or Jesus dealing with the woman at the well. That's pole fishing Jesus, You aren't following the "Biblical Plan". Or let's see, what other things do we see in Acts? Phillip and the Ethiopian - eh, that was one on one. Or when Paul and Silas deal with their jailer. . . Acts 17, Paul and Silas dealing with one jailer - oh, good heavens, two people dealing with one - that's pole fishing of the worst sort!

There is nothing Biblical about this plan - rather Scripture is used and abused to make something that is merely a human plan sound Divinely endorsed.

And here's the sad thing. There's nothing wrong with encouraging group activities. You have image to support that idea - that whole 1 Body with many members - your Church should be working together - that way people's talents can support and over lap. But plans for specific things shouldn't come at the abuse of Scripture.

If you abuse the Word of God with your Evangelism Plan, your Evangelism Plan isn't going to center on the Word of God that brings about the catch of men. And that is sad.

Evangelism Myth 2 = The "Ideal" Myth

There is another Myth going around concerning Evangelism - and this is the myth of the Ideal. I noticed this because I heard a bit of the "Ideal Pastor" myth lately - that if your Pastor is just a certain way, a certain kind of fellow, then people will flock to him.

Oh, it's not said so bluntly as that. It's said under the guise of "leadership" - or that the pastor will be an "example of this outreach lifestyle." What in reality this all boils down to is that an ideal Pastor is supposed to be an out-going, creative person who is good looking, slick, the kind of guy people will look at and say, "Man, I wish I could be like him." In fact, at the TCN the other night, the "Ideal" pitchman-pastor noted how part of the program is that pastors in the program would be held accountable for their health and habits. . . translation - we think fat pastors are lousy pastors, cause people don't envy fat people in America any more.

And this got me to thinking. Am I the ideal pastor in any way? I'm not a stunningly handsome or charismatic man. I'm not outgoing - I'm much more of an introvert. I'm willing to serve and go, but I'm less likely to suggest. And even with things like this blog, I'm not nearly as creative as I am a responder (this is a response to what I have heard, not me just making something up). I'm a shy, intellectual counter-puncher, who likes to analyze and examine things, tinker with them.

(Side note: this might be why I love the Japanese - this is culturally what they excel at. Take something from other people, examine it, tinker with it, improve upon it. And Musashi Miyamoto, the greatest Samurai of all time, basically taught that the most effective way to fight was to wait for your opponent to expose a weakness when he began his attack - or in other words, be a counter puncher.)

So - what does this mean? I'm not the Ideal pastor - does this mean I am doomed, doomed to utter failure?

If I had just considered the plans of men instead of the world of God, yes. However, I much prefer to be in the Word. Consider this - "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone."

Now, consider the typical Evangelism program that comes down the pike. Although they say they will customize it to you, to your demographics, and the like - are they not all pretty much cookie-cutter? They want pastors to act in way X (where X has nothing to do with preaching or teaching), they want people who outreach by doing Y (cause the people in the pew are going to be "ideal" pew-sitters too -- and they may even have a neat catch phrase for what the laity must be like). And if my talents don't lean that way. . . well, we'll just have to put you through training and try and fix you since we are stuck with you.

But thanks be to God, our Lord doesn't work that way. Do you know why I am a Pastor - not because I fit some ideal mold, not because I'm some bureaucrat's poster-boy vision of what the LCMS should look like. No, I'm a pastor because God in His wisdom gave me my talents, and then called me to be a pastor. Let me improve who I am, not attempt to be something I am not.

Likewise the laity. What are your joys, what are the ways of loving your neighbor that you delight in? Go do those! Go live out your vacation. If you like to bake - go bake. If you like yard work - go help out someone with their yard. If you are a nurse - go help someone with health stuff. If you can build - um, I myself could maybe put you to work. But whatever talents, whatever gifts God has given you (and I'm not talking about some "Spiritual gifts inventory" here, which assumes that only "Spiritual" gifts have real value - Hogwash!), go put those talents to use in showing love to your neighbor.

Then, as you do that, as you have opportunity, as God gives you courage (if and when He does), confess your Lord.

That's Scripture's instructions - instructions that are so flexible that they can be applied to us all - even if we aren't the "go-getter" that some slick-haired fellow tells us we should be - even if we aren't as fit as we ought to be. God made you - you are His workmanship, created for Good Works which He designed especially for you? Now, doesn't that give you more confidence than any $8000 Outreach "intervention" done by some so-called expert in Evangelism ever could?

The Myth of the Evangelism Magnet

There is a myth floating around - and I mean literally a "myth" - a story, a tale that floats around, and people hear, and then they believe, and they think, "Oh, this is what we should believe and put our trust in." It is the Myth of the Evangelism Magnet.

So, what is this myth? Well, it has many variations, but it goes like this. Did you hear about that congregation over there? Well, they decided to do "X" (where X is some program, or some specific activity or building project) - and suddenly, more people started showing up and their church was growing. Boy, that means we ought to do X as well, sign us up!

There are a lot of Xs. . . maybe it's the latest program for outreach from the Synod, maybe it's a building project (not as popular a myth in a recession, but just wait, once the economy turns around, you will hear how a growing church is a building church), maybe it's a day care or a spiffy program, maybe it's a "blended" service. . . there are tons of Xs. However, they all have one thing in common.

They don't involve you directly speaking to people you know about Jesus.

Oh, well, sure, of course someone does some Jesus talk at some point (although if that can be held off until the people magically wander into the Church and the pastor can handle it, that's the best -- according to the myth). But note about these myths - they are are impersonal - there is a project, a group activity, something everyone does together (or throws money at), and then we can sit back and watch the people show up - how awesome!

But for a moment, pause. Consider yourself. How did you come into the Church? Was it the building program? Was it that you woke up one Sunday and thought, "You know, even though I have never wanted to go to Church before, I heard Church Y had a rocking service, I'll go"? Actually, I'm guessing it was because someone, someone you already knew, told you about Christ's love for you.

Simple as that. As wondrous as that.

However, now the dominate idea seems to be this Evangelism Magnet idea - that the program will draw - and that my interacting with people I know will be minimal. The program is what will draw people in and give growth.

But that's not what Scripture teaches. The Word gives life - the Word spoken by parent to child, the Word spoken by friend to friend, the Word spoke by neighbor to neighbor. The Word proclaimed 1 on 1.

It's an appealing myth, this Evangelism Magnet. But it is a lie. Even if you get people to sniff around your church because of program X, it still is a lie. It is the Word alone that gives life.

And the thing is - you don't even have to do much for this - in fact there is less work involved in this for you than there is for program X. Go hear the Gospel proclaimed - learn it. And then, when God drops someone into your path who is hurting, who sees the impact of sin in their life, tell them the comfort you have received from God in His Gospel. And leave it there.

As the old lyrics to "Lift High the Cross" taught, there is one magnet - the Cross - the Gospel of Christ Crucified. Let that be your only magnet - and don't put a lot of time-consuming, expensive fluff in the way of it.