A few weeks ago, I took all three of my boys to a Lowell Spinners baseball game. It was Star Wars night so of course we had to go. I was looking forward to spending time with the boys and some friends we were meeting at the game.
When I walked up to the stadium, an older gentlemen handed me something. Right away I knew what it was, it was a gospel tract. If you don't know what that is, let me explain. A gospel tract is a little booklet that explains the Gospel message with some verses. Then it asks if you want to make a decision for Christ. There was a time when I thought Gospel tracts were great, but my views on them have changed over the years. This particular one gave me more reassurance that my change in views was right.
The front cover of this tract stated, "What do you have to do to go to Hell?" The words were surrounded by a black background with flames all around. My first thought was, "Why are you assuming I'm on my way to hell in the first place?" I was a little offended by this tract and I'm a Christian. Besides that, I'm a pastor of a church!
I understood the intentions behind the man giving out the tract. He was trying to reach people for Christ and I totally respect that because that's what I want to do too. But, just because we are trying to reach people for Christ does not mean the methods we are using are good.
My problem with handing out tracts without any kind of interaction (especially ones that talk about hell before Jesus) is that this kind of "evangelism" is impersonal and not effective at all. There was a time when I thought handing out a tract to someone was doing evangelism. I thought I was building the kingdom of God by handing out these little pamphlets. But, is that the kind of evangelism the Bible teaches us to do?
Jesus commanded his followers to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). To make disciples takes personal interaction. It takes more than handing someone a Gospel tract. Now, I'm not saying that God cannot use Gospel tracts to lead people to him; I have heard stories of that happening. But, if we are just relying on handing out little pamphlets, then we aren't making disciples.
To make disciples takes time spent with people. We can use Gospel tracts, but only after we have built a relationship with someone first. We can give them a tract to read and then set up a time to go over it with them. This is discipleship. I don't even want to be handed a piece a paper from someone I don't know. My immediate reaction is to throw it away.
We are designed by God to be with other people. God designed discipleship to be personal not impersonal. So, if you are handing out your tracts thinking, "I have done my evangelism for the kingdom today." I have some news for you, you haven't. Probably 99% of those tracts you handed out were thrown away.
We have to further. We have to step out of our comfort zones. It's easy to not interact with people; interaction is the tough part. But, you will see more fruit for the kingdom through interaction as opposed to handing out pamphlets and never saying a word.
