Missionary Methods
An old book that lays out the differences between the ministry of Apostle Paul and our modern church ministry —including mission.
One thing that I found interesting in this book is the discussion on Paul’s preaching principles. Paul was preaching the doctrine that encouraged repentance. Looking at our modern ministry, both in Churches and in the mission field, I definitely agree with Allen’s assertion that “we tend to think that the duty of the Church is rather to Christianize the world than to gather out of the world the elect of God into the fellowship of the Son” (70). Allen was right! It seems that we have forgotten the basic doctrines of Christianity and ministry has turned to a task of counting numbers every Sunday. We have turned away from preaching the word in its fullness and replaced the pulpit with \'circuses\' to attract people.
Is it not the Lord himself who draws His people to Himself?
This should be assuring that our labour won't be in vain. But our duty remains the same to bring out the Gospel of Christ undiscounted!
Reading this book took me back to the time when I discussed with friends and our professor years ago, when I was told not to “shine too bright” and not to be “too salty”. When the light is too bright it is painful in the eyes, and when there is too much salt in your dish, it won’t taste good. That was how they reasoned the argument. I could see that this tendency has crippled and affected Churches and the way we do evangelism. We are hesitant in our approach, questioning the sufficiency of Scripture, and busy figuring out new alternatives.
We are familiar with the cliché: “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary” that has been wrongly attributed to Francis of Assisi. This slogan probably summarizes our unwillingness to verbally preach the Gospel today, not because the “deeds” proclamation works best but because we are afraid of hurting anyone’s feelings with the truth that we are sinners and deserve hell. We are afraid of offending people and justify our cowardliness by quoting such cliché.
