Be Wary of Instant Evangelism

A sermon, maybe it’s a prayer call but people will respond to the word of God.

But us old timers see it almost every week where a dozen or so go up front of the auditorium ang give their hearts to the lord.

And while its not always a stampede to the front its almost like that out of the back door of churches.

A friend of mine boasts he’s seen thousands of people in one night give their hearts to the lord.

Even in good ole America we recently heard the R word being bandied about, The R word? Revival.

Yep, the early days of February, something was happening on campus at Ashbury University.

What started out as an ordinary chapel meeting ended up being a weeklong gathering with what Time Magazine called fervent prayer and worship.

News of the gathering which soon became known as a revival spread globally gaining notoriety on social media and mainstream news.

What was happening to this university in Kentucky where he town was overwhelmed by a rush of media, outside and visitors.

And suddenly there was other universities reporting their own enthusiastic campus gatherings, leading excited Christians to contend this is the evidence of an unprecedented movement of God across the nation

Even here in New Zealand we were hearing about Ashbury from some of our church leaders.

Yeah look, I don’t know what was going on, I really think it’s too late for revival, we are too far down the path towards the return of God, but something obviously did happen, but was a movement of God across the nation.

Jesus gave us a marker for truth when he said in Luke 6:44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.

Question, in Ashbury what were the fruits from the week long pray in at the University.

When the harvest was done, did we hear about hundreds, thousands of lives changed across America.

After all Christians were claiming it as evidence of an unprecedented movement of God across the nation.

Reality it was just wishful thinking, and I am going to be really blunt about these people who witnessed Ashbury.

Yes, there was some form of euphoria happening at the University and then did you note, other universities were reporting they too were seeing something happening, but it was the universities, not the people in the towns, not the people in between, were the streets awash with people giving their lives to Christ,  there was no obvious change in the culture of American people, really what was the fruit from the revival.

Perhaps no American speaks of the hazards here as incisively as Frederick Douglass.

In his 1845 Narrative, the then-enslaved Douglass discusses his enslaver, who had just experienced conversion at a Methodist revival.

Douglass reports his hope that the revival might make his enslaver kinder, or even lead him to consider emancipation.

But it did the opposite, making him “more cruel and hateful in all his ways.”

But for Douglass, the answer wasn’t to reject revival or Christianity outright.

The answer was to point toward the “Christianity of Christ,” a religion characterized by love of neighbour and concern for the oppressed.

We might then carefully embrace the possibility of spiritual awakening even if we aren’t exactly sure from whence it came or where it’s going.

Some approaches to evangelism assume that people are ready and waiting to accept Christ as soon as they hear the message. We give Pastors too much credit.

We all have people we know who have made an instant decision and are still beside you each Sunday but there are many who aren’t.

After Church on Sunday some one may suggest heading of to Macca’s for a feed but when you’ve had it, sometimes you get buyer’s remorse.

Let’s not forget we live in an ‘instant society.’ We’re used to getting what we want almost immediately – from fast food to instant credit ratings.

I would not be surprised to hear we have churches doing fast-food type evangelism leading to quick commitments to Christ.

There’s a tendency for us Christians to presume people are ready to surrender to Jesus the very first time the Gospel is explained to them. This is rarely the case.

Of course, beautiful music and gathered community affect us; there’s a reason why even the most avid secularist is moved at the sight of natural beauty, why we appreciate the well-honed rhetoric of a speaker we also happen to agree with, or why it’s possible to feel moved (as I have been, I admit) amongst a bunch of grooving despots at a Dire Straits concert.

Usually, the person whose going to come next week is the one where the seeds have been sown by someone other than your pastor, John 4:38

Not saying it doesn’t happen but in New Zealand today, it is rare to find someone who is ready to accept Christ on their very first encounter with an evangelist!

And for those who do commit on Sunday, like I said my friend tells me he has seen thousands give their lives to the lord, on the day, but what was the follow up, he said he wasn’t sure, with such a large number its always going to be hard.

In New Zealand we know there’s evangelists like Tauranga’s Jesus Reigns whose outreach ministries are on streets and parks; they are unsure how many hearts have been turned to the Lord, but there creating an environment for people who can.

But like churches, when they follow up, sometimes they find they have been given false particulars, phone numbers and addresses, but it still doesn’t deter them, they’re there next week, but hey for them to react the way they did may have just been the seed being planted.

It means churches and evangelists must follow up on the individuals to ensure the next step they take is towards God but alternatively they must not, and I reiterate this point, they must not forget the members who make up their congregations.

I have witnessed churches who throw everything at newbies, while established members who are looking for true teaching, some meaty sermons become despondent and quietly slip out the back door.

Sometimes newbies are in the congregation, not necessarily for God although its hoped the spirit touches them, but even I can admit going to church as young man in the hope I could impress a girl.

Above all we must, all of us keep in mind what we are about as Christians, In 1 Thessalonians Paul in v 5  For we know, brothers and sister, loved by God, that he has chosen you,

Why did he choose them, choose us because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord,

We want people to accept Christ with power and passion.

It is up to us, for we are the church to ensure these people see us with that same passion Paul spoke about, that they will want to come and worship with you next week.

And dare I say it, it is up to the church organisation, and we should demand that we are equipped in order for us to ensure these new converts that they too are equipped with understanding, with passion that won’t be swayed, and knowledge  of God’s word, his love, his mercy and his sense of justice as they head out amongst the wolves of this world, out into the world of Satan.

Revivals like Asbury’s and even church on Sunday are simply sites of emotional manipulation, where participants are being swept up in charismata that is artificial, designed to induce chill bumps-on-arms responses.

If a revival or your church service is simply the powerful surge of collective emotion, or the product of stagecraft, is it really real?