Dr. Win Arn was the founder and president of the Institute for American Church Growth. He was also publisher of Church Growth: America magazine. He shared with me once about a study his organization had done with 720 people. Of this group 240 were new Christians who continued to be actively involved in their churches. Another group was made up of 240 new converts who had already “dropped out.” The third group of 240 had had the gospel presented to them but had chosen not to respond positively.
Each person was asked to classify the person who had introduced them to Jesus Christ and the church into one of these categories: TEACHER (one who had used an information transmission approach), SALESMAN (one who had used “manipulative monologue” to convince them), or FRIEND (one who had used non-manipulative dialogue).
The results of the study were very revealing. The vast majority of people who perceived the presenter of the gospel as a TEACHER did not respond positively to the invitation. Those who saw the presenter as a SALESMAN tended to respond but those most often became the “dropouts.” (only 29% had, in fact, remained active). Those who perceived the presenter of the gospel as a FRIEND had responded positively the gospel message and had remained committed to their new found faith and active in their church.
This all suggests to me that if we believe that Jesus Christ and His Church have anything to offer we should offer it to our friends! Soooooooooo. . . INVITE A FRIEND, RELATIVE, ASSOCIATE, OR NEIGHBOR TO CHURCH AND BRING THEM WITH YOU SUNDAY! Or even better. . . INVITE THEM TO JOIN YOU IN SUNDAY SCHOOL OR OTHER SMALL GROUP.
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3 comments:
Great blog Dr. Gary, I think it is also important to let our joy in Christ be outwardly visible to our friends and family and neighbors as well. People genuinly want peace and joy in their lives, but few find it with the way the world operates, when they see it in a believer, they want that in their lives and some will seek that by asking you the questions, where do find that and how do you keep it. And theres the open door to share with them how you found it in Christ, my point is, walking daily with a positive, loving, and caring attitude shows that you are at peace, and you live with joy in your life, and that attitude alone will promt non-believers to come to you wanting what you have, without you even having to confront or come to them with the truth, people by nature want to find out the answers to their questions on their own as opposed to haveing someone approach them, and our daily attitudes as Christians will make them want what we have, PEACE that passes all understanding :-)
Anonymous, I couldn't agree more. That's exactly why "FRIEND" works so much better than "TEACHER" or "SALESMAN." You've said it well!
.......I AM BLESSED.........
I WAS LOST FOR A VERY LONG TIME
I HAD TURNED AWAY FROM GOD,I PUT MYSELF IN A SELFISH SINFULL LIFE
I WAS UNAWARE OF JUST HOW LOW I HAD BECOME.I WAS(SO I MADE MYSELF BELIEVE)HOPELESS,USELESS,HELPLESS.
I DIDN'T KNOW WHICH WAY TO TURN,I FOUND MYSELF ON MY KNEES ASKING(PRAYING)THESE FOUR WORDS......
GOD PLEASE HELP ME,I STARTED MY NEW JOURNEY RIGHT THEN AND THERE ON MY KNEES.HE LIFTED ME,HE LIFTED ME.I TURNED AND WALKED TOWARD GOD
ON THE WAY I'VE GOTTEN A NEW ATTITUDE,A NEW OUTLOOK,A NEW WAY OF LIFE THAT MEANS SOMETHING TODAY
I HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED,I'VE GOT A NEW PAIR OF GLASSES.I'VE TURNED AWAY FROM DRUGS AND ALCOHOL.I AM FREE,FREE FROM THE BONDAGE OF SELF.I AM FULL OF HOPE,I'M NOW A HELPFUL PERSON THAT IS NOT FILLED WITH SELFISHNESS.I AM NOW A WORKER AMONG WORKERS,I AM AN ACTIVE PART OF A FAMILY,COMMUNITY,& CHURCH.I SPEND MUCH OF MY TIME SHOWING OTHERS(LIKE MYSELF)THE WAY IN WHICH I CAME TO THIS BLESSED LIFE------
I GOT HERE BY THE GRACE OF GOD
HE HAS TAKEN A SINNER LIKE ME AND HAS NOW BLESSED ME WITH A PAST THAT
HELPS ME RELATE TO THOSE WHO ARE STILL LOST AND HE HAS BLESSED ME WITH HIS VICTORY AT THE CROSS AND THE WISDOM OF THE TRUE MEANING OF THAT VICTORY AS TO WHERE I MAY SHARE THIS WISDOM CHEERFULLY WITH OTHERS,JUST AS OTHER LIKE MINDED PEOPLE SHARED THEIR EXPERIANCE,STREGTH AND HOPE WITH ME.TODAY I AM TO BLESSED TO BE DEPRESSED;WE ALL ARE!!!!!!!!!
TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY.
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