‘We need a crusade…’ (Now there’s a Christendom term if there ever was one!) ‘… and brochures about the ministry.’
This is what one of our leaders recently told me. In his country, large-scale evangelistic events are still widely popular. We talked about the impact of such programs in a post christendom environment.
- Who would attend? Probably Christians.
- How would we pay for it? We’d have to find sponsors.
- What would be the impact on Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, athiests, and nominal Christians who live in our city? Probably minimal.
- So why do it? Because we need to a crowd to choose our disciples from.
- Is this the New Testament pattern? Jesus preached to large crowds (feeding of the 5,000) as did Peter on the day of Pentecost.
A number of questions surfaced in our conversation such as:
- How did Jesus draw the crowds?
- Were the crowds maintained?
- What kinds of people were in the crowds?
- What was the relationship between the crowds and Jesus’ discipleship ministry?
- How did Jesus relate to crowds?
- Do the stories of the gospels and Acts teach us more about drawing crowds or making disciples?
- How are our crowd-drawing techniques different than Jesus’?
- What were the main lessons that are to be learned from the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and the preaching of Peter on Pentecost?
How would you contribute to this conversation?
I think you’d also have to consider the cultural differences between eras; by setting up tent-crusades in the past, you were teaching people about a religion they had no capacity to learn about themselves. Now, nearly the entire sum of human knowledge is available online; I don’t think such activities would be conducive to progress.
I think you’re correct in assuming this would only draw Christians; such a product is only attractive to people who already accept Christ.
Apparently, in Latin America out-door air preaching events still draw crowds, and not everyone in the crowd is a Christian. However, Nicosia isn’t Latin America, and the Cypriot Government would probably never allow Protestant evangelicals do any out-door air preaching anyway.
The question of ongoing discipleship is vital and important. I was once at a crusade-type event at the community centre in my hometown of Rocky Mountain House. One of the teenagers my age (13 or 14 at the time) came to Christ and got baptised in a dramatic way in front of everyone with jugs of water being poured over his head 3 times. I’ve never seen or heard anything about his Christian faith since. Another time, a friend of mine went up at the altar call at “Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames”, but I only ever got her to come to a few church things, and 14-year-old boys are not necessarily great disciple-makers.
I’ve never brought a friend to a big evangelistic event since.
These big events only work if you actually get people who don’t believe through the doors and if the friends who bring them are actively involved in helping them live the Christian life following the conversion-event. Why not just by-pass the big event and train the Christians in giving coherent accounts of Christianity to their friends?
I’m not sure what I’d say in a circumstance such as yours, but probably something to the effect of the above, actually.
These types of events attract people (the jury’s still out whether they’re effective in helping people find Christ even when well attended) where Christianity is still respected.
Two differences I can see between these events and the NT are: first, that in the book of Acts the apostles went to the crowds rather than advertising for the crowds to come to them. Second, those who listened were attracted to spiritual authority and counter-cultural activity that challenged the powers at be – whether they be political, religious, or even the powers of sin, sickness, and death.
I see this post as having some loose connection with Jon Swanson’s latest “8 Things” post (for which I don’t know how to make a link here…)
“How did Jesus relate to crowds?” He never lost his focus on the needs of individuals. I am always struck with how personal the Sermon on the Mount feels.
Here’s the link I think you were referring to: http://levite.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/8-ways-social-media-can-learn-from-church/
Yes, Jesus seemed to make the crowds (or duties) peripheral and the person central whereas our tendency is to do the opposite. Maybe that’s what he was trying to get across in the story of the Good Samaritan.