Gospel.com Blog

When some people evangelize, they do so with tracts. Tracts, for those that don’t know, are short Gospel presentations in a little booklet. They usually have some sort of eye-catching cover or are centered around a particular theme. Every single one that I’ve seen includes a “Sinner’s Prayer” that the reader can read aloud in order to become a Christian.

We’ve probably all heard stories of well-meaning Christians leaving tracts as tips at restaurants, or giving children tracts instead of candy during Halloween. And if you’ve spent any time in a major city, you’ve probably seen a tract or two “left” in a bathroom. I’d have to imagine that most of these tract distribution methods are ineffective (I’m willing to be proven wrong). However, a tract in the hands of someone who can explain what it means seems like it has potential to me.

What about you, do you think that Tracts are an effective evangelism tools?

Share your thoughts!

If I were to go to your Facebook page, what would I see listed under “Religious Views”?

Defining your “Religious Views” can be a deceptively complicated experience. Many people aren’t comfortable with labeling themselves so succinctly, because taking on a label often means taking on all the connotations of that label. You might understand what it means to be “Baptist” or “Catholic,” but do all of your acquaintances and friends? Will they in turn label you as a nutcase if you say you’re “Presbyterian?” Should you care if they look at you askance for being “Anglican?”

A recent conversation on the definition of the term ‘evangelical’ comes to mind (see this Jesus Creed post if you’re interested in exploring that). Nowadays, the word “Evangelical” carries some very unchristian baggage along with it in some people’s minds.

A Washingtonpost.com article, Soul-Searching on Facebook, provides some insight into the thought process that goes into the “Religious Views” question:

Creating a Facebook profile for the first time, Eric Heim hadn’t expected something so serious. Hunched over his laptop, he had whipped through the social network Web site’s questionnaire about his interests, favorite movies and relationship status, typing witty replies wherever possible. But when he reached the little blank box asking for his core beliefs, it stopped him short.

“It’s Facebook. The whole point is to keep it light and playful, you know?” said Heim, 27, a college student from Dumfries. “But a question like that kind of makes you think.”
[...]
Of its 250 million users worldwide, Facebook says more than 150 million people choose to write something in the religious views box.

Later in the article Piotr Bobkowski, a doctoral student at UNC, talks about his research:

He has found that a significant portion of privately religious young adults — almost a third in the case of Protestants — avoid identifying themselves by their traditional sects.

Many teens, Bobkowski said, prefer to portray themselves as spiritual but not religious: “That’s why you see all these little one-line creeds popping up.”

What about you? What does your Facebook profile say your religious views are? Do you think there’s good reason for religious people to tiptoe around labels?

It’s easy to worship God when the mood and setting are pitch perfect, but what about when things aren’t quite right?

Shawn, over at the Youth Specialties blog discusses something key to worship: we don’t always want to. He’s discussing it in terms of youth ministry, however, I think his observation holds true for adults as well.

Here’s an excerpt:

Time after time I’ve seen students enter in to no-holds-barred worship when the “atmosphere is right”: when the place is filled with teenagers lost in passionate worship… when the music is loud and the band is tight… when the lights are set… and when the smoke machine is on. The camp atmosphere… where it’s hard NOT to enter in. You know what I mean.

But I want to challenge our students to remember that God is worthy of ALL of our praise even when the group is small, when the music isn’t on, when they are not in the church building, and even when they don’t FEEL like it.

Read the rest of It’s Not About Us.

We all like those times when the musicians are on and the lyrics what we’ve needed to hear all week. But, as the YS post points out, sometimes the mood is just all wrong. There’s a new drummer who can’t quite keep a beat or it’s a rainy day or you and your significant other were fighting 15 minutes ago in the car; you name it, you’re not feeling it. It’s in those times that worshiping God is more of a decision than an outpouring of our heart.

This is an unformed thought, but I wonder if our ability to worship during imperfect circumstances is a reflection of our spiritual maturity. When we first come to Christ, many of us are so spiritually full we could worship God anywhere at any time, but slowly that ever present feeling fades. It’s then that we face the true worship test: finding God in the midst of a less than stellar situation.

What do you do when faced with a less than ideal worship experience? How do you worship when you’re not feeling like it?

Capital punishment is considered only in the most extreme of cases, and even then, it’s rarely used. Despite its infrequent use, is the death penalty something Christians should support?

Share your thoughts!

Pastor Eugene Cho of Quest Church out in Seattle has a heart for the impoverished. He cares about them so much that’s he’s giving away his entire 2009 salary.

It’s all part of the kick-off for the site One Day’s Wages, which is devoted to connecting donors with organizations who are actively involved in combating global poverty and injustice. The site frames giving in terms of what you earn in a day, which is about .4% of your salary for the year.

By now, you’ve all heard the statistic that billions of people are living off of less than 2 dollars a day, which—to be honest—is staggering in itself, but really hit home for me after I used ODW’s calculator to determine how much I made in a day. It’s sobering to think that in one week I’ll make more than many people do in an entire year. I absolutely can afford to give up one day’s wages, no matter how tight my budget might feel to me.

You can hear more about One Day’s Wages from Eugene in this introductory video:

The Movement of One Day’s Wages from One Day's Wages on Vimeo.

God is very interested in the widows and orphans. Are you?

It’s amazing how plain James makes the care of widows and orphans in verse 27 of chapter 1:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (KJV)

The NIV puts a slightly different twist on it:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (NIV)

Religion, we’re told, should primarily be concerned with protecting the vulnerable and helping us stay pure in a sinful world. I’ll be the first to admit that if unprodded I rarely practice the first two (well, all three if I’m being honest). I’d much rather leave the messy business of caring for kids without parents to someone who “has a heart for those things.” Likewise, looking after widows might mean sympathizing with someone’s painful loss.

It’s just so much easier to just read my Bible to myself, then to go and care for groups of people that have been forgotten.

So I wonder, when’s the last time you made a concerted effort to reach out a widow or an orphan? Is it something that you do regularly? Do you have any stories of how you’ve been blessed by the experience?

What does your church do to practice what James calls “pure religion”?

This train of thought was started when I ran across a site called 143million.org. As you might have guessed given the URL and the content of this post, there are approximately 143 million orphans in the world. To put it in perspective, that’s about half the population of the United States.

If you’re interested, they have a number of ideas of how to help the orphans of the world.

The testimony is perhaps the greatest form of evangelism. One can be skeptical of apologetics or bored with theology, but it’s hard to argue against someone’s personal experience.

Plus, humans love to engage in stories and storytelling. Jesus knew this, and so he spent a lot of time telling stories and parables.

A recent Lausanne World Pulse article points to a site called iamsecond.com, which is full of very personal and real testimonies of God working in people’s lives. Whether it’s a rockstar who found Christ, or a couple who were able to forgive each other, each of the stories on iamsecond.com are powerful testaments to God’s grace and mercy.

Have you ever heard a testimony that’s changed your life? Do you have a life story that you’d like to share?

Missionary stories are almost always encouraging. They’re the tales of men and women making intentional choices to challenge themselves, to stretch themselves and to honor God’s calling. Missionaries are a lot who often find life to be difficult, but often find it to be joyful. Few find themselves regretting their decisions.

I personally like reading missionary stories because they remind me that missionaries are real people who have real fears and real successes.

The Beigerts are missionaries with BCM International who were recently featured in the the Spring edition of BCM World. They’re a young couple who have been in Peru just a few short months but have hit the ground running.

Here’s an excerpt from their article, Not My Home:

Still, landing in Peru was again a shock, physically and mentally. We’d flown from Florida where it was 45 degrees Fahrenheit to arrive in Lima at almost midnight to about 80 degrees and humid. We’d left English speakers to be surrounded by thousands of people jabbering what seemed to be the world’s fastest language, Spanish. As we left the airport, I looked at my husband to see his eyes opened wide, looking more lost than I ever thought he could be. As we went to bed in our new home at 1:30 AM, we looked at each other, and said, “What in the world are we getting ourselves into?”

But now that the initial shock has worn off, we are so content to be here. Everyone here has accepted us and made us feel welcome. And we’re excited to begin our new ministry.

My favorite verses recently have been Hebrews 11:13-16 (NIV). The author is speaking of the heroes of faith who died without ever receiving in their lifetime the promises from God. They realized they were “aliens and strangers” here on earth. “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return” (vs.15). But they were longing for something better—a heavenly homeland. Verse 16 says, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Read their whole BCM international account here. You can also keep up with the Biegerts over at their regularly updated blog.

If you moved to a new country and found yourself faced with unfamiliar customs, religions, and politics, where would you turn for information? Would you turn to local media (TV, movies, newspapers) for help understanding day-to-day life in your new home? Where would you begin?

That’s a challenge faced by millions of Muslims in America, many of whom have moved to the United States without a clear understanding of Christianity and without anyone to help them get connected to local culture. Many have never interacted meaningfully with Christians, just as many Christians have never done so with Muslims.

Mission Network News reports on The Crescent project, which is devoted to building bridges between Muslims and Christians in the West:

Misunderstanding and misinformation. These are the problems affecting relationships between Muslims and Christians. One organization is trying to change that, while equipping Christians to help Muslims better understand Jesus.

President and CEO of Crescent Project Fouad Masri says, “Our goal is to equip and enable Christians to reach out to the millions of Muslims in America with the claims of Jesus and give them a chance to respond.”

Masri says there’s a reason he started the ministry. “I discovered that a lot of Muslims moving to the West do not have any Christian friends. The majority of Muslims today have never been to a Christian’s home. So they come to America, and their view of our values and our religion is what they see on television and in movies. Muslims are not hearing the claims of Christ.”

Read the rest of the article or visit The Crescent Project’s homepage.

It’s John Calvin’s 500th birthday! Well, it isn’t exactly his birthday quite yet (that doesn’t happen until July 10 this year). But that hasn’t stopped a lot of people from celebrating the hugely influential theologian’s life and work—there are conferences engaging Calvin’s legacy scheduled all throughout the year.

You don’t have to adhere to Calvinist theology to acknowledge the enormous significance of Calvin’s contributions to church history. Calvinism continues to be an important influence in Christainity today; Time Magazine recently noted its resurgence in evangelical circles. In honor of Calvin, then, here are a few links to help you get in on the celebration this year:

• Not surprisingly, Calvin College in Grand Rapids has an extremely comprehensive list of Calvin-related conferences taking place in 2009. They’re taking place all over the world, from Tokyo to Calvin College’s own backyard in Michigan.
• Perhaps the biggest Calvin celebration this year is the Calvin Quicentenniary, a conference and tour that visits most of the major locations relevant to Calvin’s life and ministry, and which features talks by a wide range of Calvin scholars. Have room in your schedule to visit Geneva, Switzerland this July?
• Even if you’re not participating in the big Calvin conference just mentioned, the Calvin 500 Blog is posting daily about all manner of Calvin-related events, trivia, and discussion.
• If you aren’t familiar with John Calvin or his teachings, there’s a good overview of his life and theology at the Christain History Institute. The Wikipedia entries for John Calvin and Calvinism have more detailed information if you’re interested.
• Calvin’s most important written work, Institutes of the Christian Religion, is available online for free at Christian Classics Ethereal Library, if you really want to delve into Calvin’s ideas.
• Not every Christian adheres to Calvinist theology, of course. The main theological branch of Christianity that is generally set in opposition to Calvinism is Arminianism. Googling around the web will turn up a lot of different (and strongly-held) opinions about the two strains of theology; for a neutral perspective, start with Wikipedia’s entry on the ongoing Calvinism/Arminianism debate.

Calvin’s birthday might not be the flashiest event in church history, but it’s an important one. Take advantage of this anniversary to learn a bit more about one of the church’s most famous scholars!