A post like this might already exist but I am eager to hear other people's thoughts on this matter.
Cheap evangelism.
That might not be the best phrase but you'll see what I am after.
It amazes me how much the Church has cheapened the call to make disciples through unbiblical methods. You are probably aware of this, but the sinners prayer, asking Jesus into your heart, or accepting Jesus into your life, is no where in the Bible. It is a cheap, two minute elevator pitch that allows church leaders to get numbers without ever sacrificing their time to have a relationship and actually disciple people. The whole "ok now you just need to join a small group" is insufficient and (in my experience) are mostly filled with compromising people who struggle to read 1 chapter of the Bible in a week.
When church leaders proclaim that "200 people stepped forward last week and gave their lives to Christ" how do they know those people are actually following Christ? Because a person full of sin and rebellion said so? Who is deceiving who here?? Agh, so much to say but I will move on.
Power evangelism. What is this? "2 million people gave their lives in (country name) today." "300,000 people gave their lives in (country name)." I once heard an interview of a foreign church leader who said that if all of the numbers Western missionaries were claiming for converts in his country were true then the entire population has given their lives to Christ 4 times already.
Let me end this with what I think would be the equivalent if Jesus made disciples the way most churches do today: Jesus walks up to Peter and says to him "Hey I just want you to know that I love you, and I am going to die for your sins, and life is going to be awesome. Keep fishing though, and maybe I'll see you around."
Ok so that was more on the humorous side but I hope you see my point. Jesus told Peter "Follow me." He didn't ask him to pray. He didn't wait for the lights to go down and the right music to come on. He told him to walk with Him, live with Him, have an actual relationship with Him so that Jesus could have the time to teach Peter the true way to life.
We must do the same with others
Cheap evangelism.
That might not be the best phrase but you'll see what I am after.
It amazes me how much the Church has cheapened the call to make disciples through unbiblical methods. You are probably aware of this, but the sinners prayer, asking Jesus into your heart, or accepting Jesus into your life, is no where in the Bible. It is a cheap, two minute elevator pitch that allows church leaders to get numbers without ever sacrificing their time to have a relationship and actually disciple people. The whole "ok now you just need to join a small group" is insufficient and (in my experience) are mostly filled with compromising people who struggle to read 1 chapter of the Bible in a week.
When church leaders proclaim that "200 people stepped forward last week and gave their lives to Christ" how do they know those people are actually following Christ? Because a person full of sin and rebellion said so? Who is deceiving who here?? Agh, so much to say but I will move on.
Power evangelism. What is this? "2 million people gave their lives in (country name) today." "300,000 people gave their lives in (country name)." I once heard an interview of a foreign church leader who said that if all of the numbers Western missionaries were claiming for converts in his country were true then the entire population has given their lives to Christ 4 times already.
Let me end this with what I think would be the equivalent if Jesus made disciples the way most churches do today: Jesus walks up to Peter and says to him "Hey I just want you to know that I love you, and I am going to die for your sins, and life is going to be awesome. Keep fishing though, and maybe I'll see you around."
Ok so that was more on the humorous side but I hope you see my point. Jesus told Peter "Follow me." He didn't ask him to pray. He didn't wait for the lights to go down and the right music to come on. He told him to walk with Him, live with Him, have an actual relationship with Him so that Jesus could have the time to teach Peter the true way to life.
We must do the same with others