Ends-Justify-the-Means Evangelism?
After awarding my last two Hypie Awards to Team Impact and Team Delta Force, two “strength-ministries” whose promotional strategies I found at least borderline dishonest, I received a mailing this week from the Power Team, which bills itself as “the original strength team” and boasts of “30 years of reaching the lost”. I was pleased to note an absence of the ridiculous overhype employed by the other two ministries; while impressive claims were made, they seemed much more reasonable and much less prone to promise things that should not be promised. I received, in this promotional packet, a number of letters written by pastors, including one penned by a fellow EFCA pastor in Ohio (not in my district), extolling the virtues of using the services of the Power Team. Thank you, Power Team, for not going the overhype route. But I’m not sure I can let you off the hook that easily…
Why? Because there is a different, and likely more significant, issue to be discussed here; Mel has touched upon it in some posts. Where is the line between legitimate means of evangelism and illegitimate ones? OK, let’s first decide that we all agree that there is one; please don’t write and say, “well, there’s no length too far to which we ought not go to win a person to Christ.” Of course there is; free hookers at the church so long as you stay for a 15-minute gospel presentation afterwards is a bridge too far, okay? Now that that horrible illustration is out of the way in order to make the point, the question remains: how far is too far? “One of the most powerful, effective, and impacting presentations of the gospel in the world” is one line found at the top of the Power Team website. “60% of attendees are unchurched”, and there is a “20% average church growth” that comes as a result of having these (no doubt well-meaning) gentlemen in. But do those things justify the whole deal? What does it say about the state of contemporary evangelism strategies when having a bunch of behemoths breaking blocks of brick and bending bars (say that three times fast…) is one of the best ways we can “reach” people? Say what you will about it: the word “gimmick” certainly applies. Is the evangelical church so anemic that it must resort to gimmicks to win people to Christ? Are people genuinely being won? What does it mean to “win” them? Are the professions of faith real? How many of the folks who make these “decisions” are truly following Jesus a year later? What percentage of these folks are effectively and long-term assimilated into the local church? Look, I’m just asking…but I admit, I’m skeptical as all get-out.
Look, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind whatever that people have begun to be sincere followers of Jesus following one of these strength-ministry presentations. None. And I honestly am not a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to innovation; I don’t mind using new means. There’s a lot more that could be said about this, and there are certainly plenty more examples, but the question is this: is this end-justifies-the-means evangelism?
UPDATE: Oops!!! I made the mistake of clicking onto this page on the website. I’ll poll my readers: does this link qualify the Power Team for a “Hypie”?
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This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
8 Responses to “Ends-Justify-the-Means Evangelism?”
The passage which sprung to mind was Phil. 1:15-18:
“Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the Gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”
and Isaiah 55:10-11:
“For as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven and do not return there but water the Earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
I think God will bless the preaching of the Gospel, however tacky that is done.
But I think that the line is crossed when the Word isn’t being preached, and it’s “come to Church and be entertained.”
A couple of examples-
(1) Soccer. Oh dear. Bright idea in some churches- why not have the England matches on widescreen in church? Of course, no-one is going to really think “Well, I could go down the pub and watch it while having a pint, or I could sit around with my mates watching it, but instead I’ll pop to the church and watch it there”. Yet too many ministers expect people will think like that. Tacky. Even worse were those ministers who agonised over whether to move the time of the service if it clashed with an England game (and decided David Beckham comes first), and those who announced goals and scores mid-service. If we dishonour God by saying that soccer takes priority over Him, then He will not honour us.
(2) On a Love Europe congress about 10 years ago, Worship leader suggests we give God a “clap offering”. I keep my hands firmly at my side. When it gets pointed out to me that we clap a pop star or a soccer player, so why shouldn’t we clap God, that proves my point. Don’t bring God down to an entertainment figure. He isn’t a pop star. He isn’t a soccer player. I won’t do a “clap offering” with its overtones of “Thank you for entertaining me, God old boy. You were absolutely spiffing today. Jolly good show. Well done.”
Graham ~ Apr 12, 2006 at 12:29 pm
I’m certainly not the first person to say, what we win people with is often what we win them to. So if as pastors we want to “win” people by wrastlin’ a hog in front of the pulpit by all means “win” them to wrastlin’ matches just be wary of the fact that in our entertainment-saturated culture, people usually expect to see the ante upped. I’m not sure what kind of animal you take on next, maybe a wallaby?
sean ~ Apr 12, 2006 at 12:55 pm
They really are walking the fine line aren’t they!?! At least they tried to qualify their outrageous claims by attaching the the premise “What if” before them. I think that’s a good thing but it could be more deception in the wording.
If you’re grading on the curve (compared to TI and others), it probably doesn’t deserve a Hypie.
Mark Merritt ~ Apr 13, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Good questions on a topic that I confess I haven’t thought of much. Thanks.
I found this post through the Christian Carnival.
Martin LaBar ~ Apr 13, 2006 at 3:28 pm
I happen to agree with Sean. What you win them with is what you win them to. Why can’t we just present the gospel and let them decide or reject? But, church has become a place of ‘extra curricular activities’ It is though God isn’t capable of bringing people to Him through the preaching of the Word. And, so man has to put in His touch- a little help for God, who needs no help from us.
Barb ~ Apr 14, 2006 at 8:03 pm
It’s all about the “we need a hero” mindset of culture. Christians are not immune; it’s a human issue. Our music stars (i.e. FFH, 4Him, Andre Crouch, SCC, dc Talk, all of them), and ministry teams like Delta Force and the Power Team are all reflections of that, as are the superpowered televangelists who claim that if you have enough faith and give enough money, you, too can be rich.
As I recall, Jerusalem had the same problem and demanded that God give them a king. Saul didn’t work too well, though.
Mel ~ Apr 15, 2006 at 8:54 pm
After seeing a bat breaking presentation today, hearing the gospel, seeing people make a decision for Christ and the follow up, I definitely agree with Graham. People at the beach won’t stop for an evangelist with a Bible, but several stopped to see what was going on and to hear the Word. The Web site may sound a bit hyped, but judgment should be left to God – only He knows the hearts…
Jm ~ Jul 23, 2006 at 12:32 am
Very possibly so, JM; of course, my ONLY point was that the web site was (more than ‘a bit’) hyped…thanks for writing.
Byron ~ Jul 24, 2006 at 9:03 am