Tag Archives: evangelism

More Movements Not Bigger Movements

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Last month I participated in a discussion in response to a post on Brian Barela’s blog looking at the role that ministry mode evangelism plays in our movements on campus.

I think that ministry mode evangelism is an important element in our movements on campus but I do not think that we are ever going to fulfill our mission unless we can move beyond ministry mode evangelism into the two other modes (natural mode and body mode).

My concerns rest largely on two points. The first is that while ministry mode evangelism is essential in starting a movement, it is extremely difficult to have true spiritual multiplication in a campus setting without natural and/or body mode evangelism. The second is that unless our students learn natural mode evangelism (through us or others) they will be frustrated in their evangelism efforts beyond campus. I want to focus on the first of these points in this post.

Many of you will also be familiar that once a campus ministry gets to a certain size it becomes extremely difficult to grow beyond that point. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the law of 150, where once a group gets larger than 150 it begins to lose effectiveness. He cites many examples such as military unit sizes, Hutterite communities, etc which will divide or split up instead of exceeding this number in a group. The reason given for this is that beyond this number it becomes difficult for a person in the group to know everyone else and their relationship to each other.

Why is this important? Because the gospel travels faster along existing relationships. Evangelism where there are already existing relationships is also more likely to result in disciples. And one of the keys to building momentum in a movement is that momentum being visible. In a group of 150 a dozen disciples will be noticed and can have an impact. In a group of 15,000 much less so.

Bob Hopkins, from Anglican Church Planting Initiatives talks about a strategy they have been running called Clusters, where they aim to form mid-sized missional communities, who reach a group who share a common bond. (You can listen to him talk about it here.) One of the key things about this group is that it is mid-sized – not a small group and not a large group, and the key reason for that is so that everyone can still know each other. He also suggests instead of starting up a group, to find a group that already has a common bond, whether it be geographical (eg people living in the same apartment block) or interests. Those of you who have received CCC training should now have the key words “target area” and “affinity grouping” lighting up in your brain.

In fact, this was one of the key strategies used in the early days of CCC. The very first outreach that Bill and Vonette Bright did was to a sorority group at UCLA. Moreover, this was Paul’s strategy, he would go to different towns and start a church in each town. One of the difficulties we have faced in the last 20 or 30 years on campus has been that the campus has grown so much. In the 1950s the UCLA campus had about 15,000 students. Now it is close to 40,000. Even so, Bill Bright understood that if CCC was going to grow, what was needed was more movements, not bigger movements, and so CCC expanded into universities across the country, and eventually around the world.

The point being that if we are going to reach campuses of thousands of students, we need more movements, not bigger movements. We need to be identifying and locating “target areas” on our campus where we  can start a movement. Ideally, if we can identify target areas that are in the “150″ range then we can minister in these settings and allow the gospel to spread along natural pathways within the group.

Perhaps one way we can overcome the resistance that we find to going past the “150″ size in our movement would be to split the movement on campus. To have separate movements for each faculty or hall of residence.

In all of this, ministry mode evangelism is still important. Each target area needs to begin with intentional missional activity ie ministry mode evangelism. However, once we have a critical mass, the key to starting the movement is natural mode evangelism, where we utilize the existing relationships within the target area for the gospel.

So what do you think? Can more movements on a single campus help us to better reach the campus?

Backstory (or Life@Large 2.0)

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One of the tools I mentioned a few days ago in the best tools for evangelism was Life@Large, the narrative gospel presentation. I notice today that the revision of Life@Large is now out. It has a much more visual presentation.

Backstory

Here is how it opens:
There are seven billion people in the world. Seven billion stories. And yet there are themes in our stories that are universal: betrayal, love, romance, redemption, sacrifice… The question is if there’s a larger story or narrative to which all our stories relate, one that makes sense of our shared experience — a common Back Story.

I look forward to getting my hands on a copy. You can get a copy from CruPress

Best Tools for Evangelism

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The following are some of the tools I have found best for evangelism. I have mostly used these tools in a university campus setting but they are easily transferable to other settings.

Soularium – this is a great tool for starting spiritual conversations on campus. I have found this tool to be a great way to start spiritual conversations with students. When I trialled this on campus over 90% of the students who went through the Soularium were interested in hearing the gospel. This goes against the trend we have seen recently where it in increasingly harder to get students from a survey or other initial contact to the gospel. One of the strengths of the Soularium is that it focuses on the other person’s life, goals and desires. It is as much as anything a tool to help us listen to people and fid out what is important to them.

Soularium

Short films – These films at the Global Short Film Network are great for stimulating talk about God and spiritual truth. Also check out these anime versions of stories from the Jesus film. The Global Short Film Network also has a mobile site with four free films there. With the proliferation of internet and video-capable phones, videos are becoming a ubiquitous means of communication, and what’s more, they are often able to communicate much more powerfully than words alone.

GSFN Vantage Vol 1Vantage Vol 2

Life@Large – This is a gospel tool that guides you in a gospel conversation that follows a narrative format. This is a great alternative to the Four Spiritual Laws, or Knowing God Personally booklets that are widely used around the world.

Life@Large

Stripped – An interactive investigative Bible Study designed specifically for artists. Includes discussion on famous works of art and opportunities to express thoughts on issues through art.

Stripped

I have information and links to a range of other tools on this page

Using Short Films in Evangelism is Biblical

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In 1776 two world-changing works were written, the American Declaration of Independence and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. However, the writers of both of these pieces were probably not even aware that the other had been written until the next year. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, the next day president Roosevelt made an announcement on radio. However in this generation things are different. We all watched together with horror as the World Trade Center towers crashed to the ground, and when the plane crash-landed into the Hudson River in New York last year, someone on one of the nearby boats sent a twitter message from their phone which was relayed around the world alerting media and others to this event. Now we can know what is happening around the world instantly. Young people today are saturated with information. They are still people with the same intrinsic and spiritual needs as anyone else, but the methods needed to reach these people are going to differ from the methods needed to reach the generation before them.
This is the challenge that Paul faced and outlined in 1 Corinthians. Not everyone was the same sort of person as he was. Some were Jews, but some weren’t. Some had spiritual backgrounds but some didn’t. They all needed to hear the same gospel message, but how Paul packaged the gospel for these people was not going to be the same. Paul considered how he could preach the gospel in such a way that the Jews could understand and receive the message, and that those without the law could understand and receive the message. He even said that he became all things to all people so that by all means some may be saved. So what would Paul do to preach the gospel to 21st century young people? He would become a 21st century young person. He would try walk in their shoes, try to see the world through their eyes, and find out the way that they see and experience the world, and so find a way to help them to understand the real message of the gospel.

And I believe this would mean that Paul would use short films to connect with today’s young people. The average high school or university student watches 120 films a year. What’s more, these films are highly influential in these students developing values and opinions. One of the most influential and visited sites on the internet today is Youtube, which is almost entirely videos of less than 10 minutes in length. Stories have always been a powerful medium. Jesus told stories to encapsulate spiritual truth. Probably the most famous example of English literature is a bunch of stories written by William Shakespeare. Today, the stories that shape our society are increasingly being told on our screens. And not just our TV screens. Six in ten people in the world now have mobile phones, and many of these mobile phones are equipped for video.

The current generation is also increasingly visual. Originally all languages were very visual – each letter or character was a picture or representation of something. Throughout history the only language to have retained this link to the original meaning of the characters or letters is Chinese. But now this generation that is growing up  is returning to a more visual orientation. Look at you computer – where you once saw a label ‘USB’ above your USB port, you now see an icon, same with Bluetooth. ON/OFF has been replaced by an icon. In many countries the words on road signs are disappearing, the images – colour and shape – convey the meaning. This means that today’s generation thinks much more in images than in either the written or spoken word, and consequently, image-driven communication is increasingly effective.

A short film is simply a story told through moving images. Given the narrative and visual orientation of this generation, I believe that Paul indeed would have used this strategy to become a 21st Century young person so that 21st century young people may be saved. What do you think?

Thank You For Arguing by Jay Heinrichs

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What place would a book on rhetoric, the art of persuading people, have for an evangelist? Of course, you can see the pragmatic value of being able to use the skills learnt to win someone over to your side. But do such tactics have any place in the lives of God’s followers?
Rhetoric today often gets a bad press. It is most often heard in the epithet “mere rhetoric” meaning words speech that amount to nothing more than hot air when examined closely. Jay Heinrich’s book is in many ways a modern apologetic for the lost art of rhetoric. (Or maybe hidden art would be more accurate because although the word may not be popular these days the practice of rhetoric is everywhere, from politics and advertising to the classroom and family.)
One of the main principles in the book is age-old concept of ethos, pathos and logos (character, emotion, and reasoning) as persuasive elements in any argument. I found the approach in this book useful, as it pointed out that all three are needed to win over an audience. So instead of thinking do I need to use ethos, pathos or logos to win this person/audience over, you are thinking how your ethos, pathos and logos in influencing their receptivity to your argument. It encourages a much more holistic view to communication and persuasion.
To give an example, the author includes several ‘tricks’ to persuade an audience and mentions several times that in rhetoric what works (ie what persuades) is important, as opposed to what is true. However, there is a reminder that if an audience suspects that you are not telling them the truth then your ethos will go way down in their standings and so consequently will your ability to persuade.
Another central principle is the focus of the argument, whether it is on the past, present or future. The author mentions that only arguments that focus on the future are relevant for persuasion, because they are the only arguments that can lead to meaningful action. If an argument is focused on the past, it becomes a blame game – trying to apportion who is at fault for the problem. If an argument is focused on the present it becomes tribal, a marker for where peoples alliances are. Any argument that is focused on past or present is therefore doomed to result in zero meaningful action. However, when the argument is focused on the future, it brings people’s minds to bear on what action can be taken and is therefore much more powerful in persuading people to actually do something.
One of the most useful points I found was the addition of a fourth element to ethos, pathos and logos. The fourth element is kairos, which basically means timeliness. It reminds us that a good argument needs to be given at the right time to bring about the best response.
So, is this a book that has anything to offer an evangelist? I would say yes, that the skills of rhetoric are important to apply to our evangelistic conversations so we can find the arguments that will resonate with someone in communicating the gospel. Of course, the underhand tricks that some rhetoricians use do not have a place, but then, they are often damaging to our ethos anyway and of little long term benefit. (On the other hand, it is important to be familiar with these tactics so we can identify and defuse them when we encounter them.) While we acknowledge that it is the Holy Spirit’s work in someone’s heart that is the crucial element in conversion, we must do what we can to smooth the road for someone to make that step, and smoothing that road is what rhetoric, and the persuasion skills in this book do.

I Am Second

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For those of you who haven’t seen it I really recommend you check out I am Second. This website has a variety of testimonies from famous and not-so-famous people who have all come to the point in their lives where, for them, Jesus is first, and they are second. I really liked the stories of Darrell Waltrip (I am second is a pefect tag for a racing car driver’s testimony!) and Brian “Head” Welch from Korn. I am impressed with the quality of the videos and the look of the website. If you want to find out more about the story behind I am Second, Collide magazine have a great article (have a look around the whole site, there’s heaps of good stuff there.)

Forgetting to use God’s gift

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I just read an article that summarises perfectly the importance of using references to movies, songs and culture in our evangelism. It talks about how God’s redemptive story turns up again and again in movies and songs, and how using these references is especially effective in building bridges with unchurched people as these films and songs use their language and they are familiar with them. It reminded me of a similar strategy used by Campus Crusade for Christ in Eastern Europe called Story of the Soul. David Henderson, who pioneered Story of the Soul said that every song or movie or piece of art is talking either about a desire that needs to be fulfilled or a hurt that needs to be healed.

This is also something of what we are trying to do at the moment in Hong Kong. We are starting in developing tools to start evangelistic conversations, like the article says, we have good tools that do a pretty good job of “sealing the deal” but we are running up against more and more difficulties in making connections with students, especially those who don’t have a church background. That is why we are working on tools like short films, and other story-based ideas to initiate conversations with students.