Greetings …
As I read through this topic area of Evangelism I experienced memories, deep frustrations, mixed emotions
and laughter .... :wink: :wink:
***Warning --- Allan will probably nip at me --- :wink: too long ... but then again some Church experiences
I have had ( although shorter than I had originally made ) might be interesting to some ... :laughing:
I have been there done that ... a lot --- In bible college days I was very actively involved in street
evangelistic efforts ( getting more than enough complaints from others that went .. concerning how to
present the various Tracts -- from 4 spiritual laws and others -- how to hold the Tracts in the proper way
how to engage with those on the street walking by ... sheeeeeeeeesh .. how to make sure the key goal
of "getting" people "saved" was the top priority ... )
I have also been on missionary stints here and there too ... to other countries
I also recall how other students told me that their personality "did not fit" with Evangelization :unamused: :unamused:
At that time I felt very perplexed with this comment ...
Yes, sending someone a 500 page "Tome" (as in Leo's Tome -- :laughing: :laughing: ) and almost killing a printer?
good hyperbole ... I used to give printers the same treatment printing out various items...
although I switched to Toner rather than Ink cartridges which would inflict too much collateral damage :laughing:
Those Chick tracts and other leaflets .. and burying street intersections with them after being tossed
indiscrimately away as soon as a little distance from those Zealous Evangelistic teams happen to come by..
And if it rained or sprinkled then the intersection would become a "bloody mess" ( UK slang I think )
And altar calls... endless altar calls... remember Churches with the "show & tell" from S. American
Crusades filling "football" (american - soccer) Stadiums full of people ... including the Billy Graham
Crusades ... and how "sanctified" bible college saints would make jokes of Oral Roberts being ..
with his telephone calls with a 9' ft Jesus etc... or the "farting" Preacher on Youtube or other sites..
Schuller and his "Holy Cathedral" and the craze in Calif. for various styles of Churches...
I recall being at "doodling on the whiteboard" to indoctrinate all of us with "umbrella" church
family living along with those "moralistic stories through the characteristics of animals"
(bill gothard who unfortunately had more than enough family turmoil in later years )
or Faith healer seminars -- really ironic too .. I happen to be sitting in the front row ...
(eager beaver me in most of my classes or church seminars or workshops )
He was rather really popular at that time -- forget who now :laughing: :laughing:
during a pause between the Vaudville antics one of the participants asked what was
seemingly a really awkward question or two ... most of the audience did not observe
what eager beavers in the front row could witness ... :wink: :wink:
Suddenly, from rapturous saint like features to :smiling_imp: personage -- he gave military orders
to others to have this participant quickly "removed" from the seminar ... :wink:
which was truly shocking to me as one of the eager beavers sitting there ...
While at Episcopal Church bible study groups -- I was labeled "Conservative !"
While at 4 Square, AG, pentecostal churches or Bible Baptist et al.. I was labeled " Liberal !!!"
with the leader yelling to the other members "Circle the Wagons !"
Within a black/white Church ( rather fascinating I always thought ) I strolled nonchalantly
towards the pulpit ( mistake #1 ) then waited patiently for the pastor to smile while greeting
his flock of parishoners hanging around ( mistake #2 ) then approached the pastor
with -- I really liked your sermon but I have a few questions (mistake #3 ) :wink: :wink:
Ahhhhh the sudden facial change once again ... :unamused:
While there were still some lurking around -- he retorted "Questions ? Questions !!!?"
sonny did ya know where Questions come from ? did ya know who was the originator of Questions ?
uh let me guess .. Augustine? Pelagius? Calvin? Melanchthon? Tyndale? Erasmus? uh ok Huxley?
Bultmann? Harnack ?
fortunately for me these were only voiceless grins ... (otherwise super mistake #1)
He thundered at me ... from the Devil ! Satan ! the serpent in Genesis 3 !
well shucks .. I decided he was not in a saintly mood and exited stage left as soon as
the cheerleaders were fondly giving him applause ... :wink:
This does not include various episodes while in Seminary where I was called a "dead chicken
in the middle of the road " within the Apologetics class ... after listening to the hearty
laughter from the rest of the class.. I decided to remain silent for a few moments (minutes) <img src="/uploads/default/original/1X/15680453330e74f929b585a237613f0bdf61e069.gif" width="15" height="17" alt=":mrgreen:" title="Mr. Green"/>
Later in the class with appropriate "timing" raising my hand to one of the professor's queries..
I asked with acuity & confidence " May I resurrect my dead chicken in the middle of the road?"
not much laughter but a lot of giggles and chuckling from the class...
I also remember going to U of W (Seattle) to engage in debates with Evolutionary enthusiasts,
Political activists, Philosophizing gurus et al.... in the beginning when I was a "fresh"man ( 1st year)
I got knocked down unceremoniously quite a few times ... then back to the "books" and study harder !
I recall those Church movies with the "end times" -- with those who left via "Rapture" and the Hellish
turmoil for those who were "left behind" ( pun for "you who must not be mentioned" ) :laughing:
Outside when I would see a similar atmospheric condition -- e.g. Clouds in the same formation
with the Sunlight shining through the clouds in the same way .. feeling like --- omg! will the Rapture
take place during this moment !??
One of my first Missionary sermons went rather well .. until I got too much enthusiasm for extending
the sermon causing numerous heads in the audience to get afflicted with the "nods" (drowsy heads
after listening to sermons for extended amount of time )
A Sermon preached in a tiny Bible school entitled " I have a Dream !"
did not cause any mass demonstration or disturbance during the Sermon itself...
since Asians are really polite -- especially during Sermons that are controversial, boring, or
have any tendency towards making anyone lose face ..
I have seen enough interpreters or translators deftly & quickly altering the English
so that the ensuing reaction or response from the audience would be smiles, amen !
even applause -- e.g. You sinners are going to fry in the sulfur & brimstone that awaits
You in Hell !!! >>>> Today I am excited to be here and preaching in front of such a dignified
group of Church members!!!
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
(historical context for my sermon -- the asians and westerners although supposedly filled
with the loving kindness, grace, forbearance of true Christian Saints really had a lot
of struggling discrimination towards each other -- basically separating themselves in
different buildings and so on .... so I took King's address and modified it for a sermon
e.g. I have a dream ! that ....
Evangelism for the lost ?
I am very aware of famous Missionaries ... that gave their lives for preaching to many
different tribes, aboringinals, Elliot in S. American jungle, Brainerd for American Indians
Taylor for those within the Middle Kingdom ... Stanley for Africa et al...
I am also well acquainted with Finney, Spurgeon, Moody, the so called Great Awakenings
Sunday, Warfield, Whitefield, then Graham and many others ...
The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian theology, by which every person could be saved through revivals. It enrolled millions of new members in existing evangelical denominations and led to the formation of new denominations. Many converts believed that the Awakening heralded a new millennial age. The Second Great Awakening stimulated the establishment of many reform movements designed to remedy the evils of society before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.[2] wikipedia ....
I have noticed within more than enough posts here in this Forum to mention a Kingdom???
Since I have not taken a long time to understand it better ..
and there are different nuances to it too ...
some posters have mentioned that through the spreading of the Gospel
Society at Large ( N. America? Globally ? ) which be changed & transformed into a Millenial
Reign of Christ ? whether pre-Mill, post-Mill or even something different ...
I have very often thought --- IF the NT text (multi-valent) pre-supposes that eager beaver
Christians will most certainly engage massive Evangelization of the Lost (whoever they might be )
then how does this apply to a post-modern World ?
Finney's preaching ( for those curious I have read enough articles about him )
really scorched his listener's ears with more than enough fire & brimstone ( enough to melt
your marshmallows for deliciously made s'mores )
Along with many other famous preachers of those "Times"
Even TV preachers -- even prosperity gospel preachers --- even famous pastors
of huge Churches ( that unfortunately sometimes got embroiled with scandals
Jimmy Swaggart told off the AG Church -- Tammy Baker and her shoes & shopping )
Even with David Yonggi Cho and the 4th dimension .. or CBN with Pat Robertson's
(sarah palin type comments ) weird blurbs at times ...
Also within Asia there are those who are famous as well...
What has this to do with Evangelism ? or the coming Kingdom ?
I lived in Taiwan for 22 years .. there are enough pastors graduating from bible colleges
or seminary ... there has been at times a big push for reaching the Whole Island ...
there are different kinds of Churches there too .. including True Jesus Church and the
Local Church (Witness Lee ) along with other New Age .. Religious groups
However, the total Church growth for the past 50 years has changed very little ..
the total % of people connected to any fringe or pseudo Christian Church has been
less than 2% of the total population ....
There were stories in the past of the phenomenal church growth within the Middle Kingdom...
bible smuggling days.... et al...
However, although I have not digged into any of this for a long time ..
I have noticed in the past year or so .. that HK (Hong Kong) although there is a well known
Baptist Univ (which might go along with enough Christian Univ in the States that also
go along with various political entities )
I have seen various evangelistic teams putting on street shows to attract an audience
then after this -- engage in the typical "You are going to Hell if you do not believe in Jesus"
or "God loves you .. so you should believe and accept .... because you are sinners "
Calling an Asian a "sinner" whether in English or any Asian dialect just does not cut the mustard
in my life experience over here... And those who attempt to use the KJV with its 1611
style English is .. well.. er .. um... like trying to have everyday people appreciate,
understand and enjoy listening to wen yan wen ( (文言文)) which is very difficult to
understand for modern day Asians...
Thus I do not observe or notice that Euro, N. America or SE Asia will be dramatically
changed or transformed into some kind of Society that will appreciate and embrace
N. American church style living ... with the anticipated corollary of the cultural milieu
or the Introspective Conscience of the Western mindset ....
Besides, even the Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox will most likely never merge
with each other let alone the RCC ... :wink: :wink:
even though the technical aspects of their Theologies might reach some agreement
the Liturgies, Church traditions & customs will continue to have extreme difficulty
to assimilate within their flocks... .
SE Asia will continue ( along with other parts of Asia including India as well )
to proceed along with their own ethno-cultural identities blended with typical
Westernized Consumeristic addictive behavior ...
I am often amazed and baffled with those who consider Evangelism to be crucially
and undeniably significant & vital to one's Christian living experience ... yet
also embedded within the current ethno-cultural identity of living within a
Modern .. Post-Modern -- or pining for the fields of the "Golden Age" of Revivalism
with the result of ---- a intense cognitive dissonance towards
the Virtual Ocean ( as large as the Pacific Ocean so to speak ) of those who
have not yet been actively reached to listen to the Gospel spoken by another person ...
It is true that there has been a Global mass media presentation of various aspects
of the Bible reaching as many as possible ... via TV shows, News or Religious programs
During the HK Book Fair I noticed that the booths for the Buddhists (others) were quite large
compared to the Churches of HK ... The Mass Media presentations were really attractive
in presenting the Moralistic quintessential ideas along with purity of mind & behavior
whereas in contrast to what I observed with the Churches of HK (various groups )
concerning the preaching of this or that famous Preacher (with the Moralistic pinings
for the fields ) along with prosperity preaching -- good living ( as in affluence et al. )
or the Calvinistic approach ... seek fire insurance today !
There was a good sized room filled with well decorated flowers, aroma therapy aroma
The projected video presentation was filled with Classical Chinese music
( which by the way I enjoy listening to .. except for the Buddhist kind which repeats
various chants and so on ... kinda of like listening to Gregorian Chants :wink: :wink:
moving (emotional tugs at hearts & minds ) renditions of quintessential purity
brotherhood of mankind --- full of kind hearted inter-personal behavior etc ....
Full of Creative Artistic compositions which make Marketing seem alive & well even here...
:wink: :wink: :wink: (however, talk about "bait & switch " wow.... )
It still perplexes me deeply as to how, or when, or using what message , or style of message
or who to expect to present the Gospel to such a tsunami of so called lost "souls"
By the way --- I have zero intention of goading anyone to jumping into the Mission field
via some "introspective conscience of the Western mindset filled with guilt "
In fact, if UR is on target .. then it certainly becomes a "Mystery" how this gigantic
mass of people will be ushered into a coming Kingdom .... whether 1000 years in length or not...
Besides, Sherman wanted to go to Asia to Preach .. however was told not to go ..
which is very fascinating to me ... :slight_smile:
( meaning -- quick thot -- God did not wish our eager beaver Sherman to behave
as a typical Westerner and get into more trouble than it would be worth to get into ... )
I have tried to help & support many a would be Evangelistic Mission type individual or team
to better understand the socio-cultural mindset over here .. with responses
we are God's Marines so be it ! yeah right ... sure... next ... :unamused: :unamused: :unamused:
So after a long winded post ...
What is this coming Kingdom within UR or this Forum ...
How does UR relate to the huge tsunami of Asians who have a more attractive
package to purchase over the typical stir-fry of ECT or other variations of the after life
---- <img src="/uploads/default/original/1X/15680453330e74f929b585a237613f0bdf61e069.gif" width="15" height="17" alt=":mrgreen:" title="Mr. Green"/> <img src="/uploads/default/original/1X/15680453330e74f929b585a237613f0bdf61e069.gif" width="15" height="17" alt=":mrgreen:" title="Mr. Green"/> hi Allan if you made it this way ... congrats !
all the best !