I grew up in a church setting where evangelism was driven by events. We had Watermelon Sunday and Popsicle Sunday. Old Fashioned Sunday encouraged attendees to dress in pilgrim attire or overalls and bonnets, while Western Sunday meant to come with your cowboy boots on. Western Sunday was a challenge growing up on the south side of Chicago; there weren’t a lot of us who wore cowboy boots and ten-gallon hats with regularity.
Circus Sunday was a big hit. We actually had elephants in our church parking lot. I don’t know who owned the elephants or how they got to our church. I do know my dad and his friends laughed well into his last years, joking about my dad following the elephants, scoop shovel in hand. The thinking was, Have an event, invite your friends, give the gospel, and see what happens.
In some ways it worked. On our big event Sundays, we would see 2,000 in attendance. Our pastor preached the gospel. There were some who believed the gospel and today remain faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
Sustaining the events proved problematic. Like the rest of mass marketing, bigger and better was the cry, “We had elephants last month, what can we do this month?”
I remember airplane and helicopter pilots dropping candy and money from their aircraft to the outreached hands below. One Sunday we watched the skydivers pull the cords on their chutes, landing in the soccer field. That was the draw on Skydiver Sunday. What could top that? Maybe we could have the space shuttle land on our street!
I do not want to completely discredit events intended to be opportunities for gospel preaching. I suppose some might look at Peter’s preaching at Pentecost (Acts 2) as an example of event evangelism. Further, I do not want to discredit the motives behind the events. I believe they were pure. Our leadership wanted to see hundreds of people hear the gospel and be saved from God’s righteous wrath.
The unintended consequence was it taught us evangelism is what happens when you bring someone to an event at your church.
The event is the carrot. The overemphasis was “bring somebody;” missing was, “talk the gospel to your sister, friend, or co-worker.”
I think there is a place for bringing someone to an event where Christ is preached (John 4:29). We have held events at our church throughout the years where the purpose has been to bring someone to the church location where a concert will happen, a youth event will occur or to attend something else we offer. We preached the gospel at the event, and all in attendance heard it. However, for outreach purposes, events are supplemental and not primary because the New Testament emphasis is not on events. The New Testament emphasis for evangelism is person to person, one disciple of Jesus Christ fulfilling the Great Commission to another human being (see three examples in Acts 16).
What Happens at Our Church
Every Sunday our pulpit pastor reminds the church of the responsibility to chase the lost. While we use events to help us in the communication of the gospel to the lost, our primary means of chasing an unbeliever is one-to-one evangelism. We look around us and see who is close by. We see family members. We see co-workers. We see classmates. We see neighbors. We see parents of our children’s friends. These are the people we should chase with the gospel. In the providence of God, our paths intersect. My task and yours as a disciple of Jesus Christ is to live faithfully to Christ before them (Matthew 5:16) and to speak the gospel to them (Acts 1:8). An event may help us, but the primary means by which a disciple chases an unsaved person is through personal one-to-one communication.
As an aid to help you to chase the lost, consider Jesus words to love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40). Who lives next door to you, behind you or across the street from you? What do you know about that person or family? Do you know names? What is the history of the people who live in that house? Are they believers? Are you loving your neighbor? Is the gospel coming from you to the people God has placed immediately around you?
The Great Commission is often this simple: love people and talk about Jesus.
We will continue to have events as a part of our church ministry, though don’t look for elephants any time soon. When we do, I hope you will extend an invitation to lost people to attend. However, our events will not be day-to-day, week-to-week, or even month-to-month. We will chase the lost one person at a time, each of us embracing the responsibility and privilege of declaring the love of Jesus Christ. Our gospel events will be the intentional interactions we pursue with others that lead to giving the gospel.
As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.
Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision