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"The report of my death was an exaggeration." - Mark Twain, 1897
Well, with all due respect to Mr. Twain, the report of the death of door-to-door witnessing is not an exaggeration. But don't tell the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. Let's keep it our little secret. After all, the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons are deluded enough to waste much precious time with this out-dated practice. They are sending out approximately 560,000 full-time missionaries and spending about 1.3 billion hours witnessing per year. Every Wednesday, 500 new Mormon missionaries report for 3 to 9 weeks of intensive training at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. Crazy, huh? Of course, they are converting 2,000 to 3,000 people per day (75% out of Christian churches). The Mormons are building nearly two new churches per day while the JW's add 45 new congregations per week. But, really, what a waste of time. They are living in the past. Door-to-door witnessing, as we all know, is just not effective in today's society.
Well, anyway, that's what I've been told. I've heard pastors call it radical, ineffective, and no longer a valid way of spreading the gospel. So, we sit. But, is that the truth? How are we coming to the conclusion that it's a waste of time? Through experience? By reading it somewhere in a book? Are the seminaries teaching this? Probably not. We have almost zero experience upon which to draw any conclusions. I don't believe that Christian seminaries are addressing the issue, at all, and I don't personally know of any literature proclaiming this, although it probably exists. I think we are reaching this conclusion largely because of our own discomfort with and, dare I say, laziness concerning door-to-door witnessing. Regardless of how we are reaching the conclusion, the question is, is it true? Is door-to-door witnessing a waste of time?
Well, I used to think so. Really, though, I never gave it any thought at all as, during my first 35 years of church attendance, the subject was NEVER mentioned. No, not even once. I just never had occasion to ponder the question at all. So, what happened? What possessed me to ever start knocking on doors? (Maybe possessed is an inappropriate word but some may think otherwise.) Really, it isn't important why I started doing this and, if I tried to explain it all, it would take up the rest of this article. Let it be sufficient for me to say that, at the age of 35, a life-threatening situation arose in my life that forced me to take a hard look at what I was doing with my allotted time here on this earth. When the situation abated, I knew, if I was going to do something, I had but a short time (we all have but a short time). This being before Concerts for Christ or Luke 4:18 Ministries, I had little idea what, exactly, to do. So, the least I could do was knock on a door and tell them about Jesus. (Sounds kind of 1960ish, doesn't it?)
Not having anyone tell me what a waste of time it was, I proceeded to knock on my first door. I can't say that I was shocked at the response I got because I didn't expect any certain response. Remember, no one told me that there would be a bad or a good response. The first door I knocked on was answered by a lady in her late 60's that did not go to church but was very interested in God. We talked for about 45 minutes (and several times since). The next door was a shut-in who had very few visitors. She greatly appreciated my time spent with her. Another one, that first day, was a young lady living with her boy-friend. When I announced that I was there representing God, she immediately broke down and began to weep, confessing that she was in trouble and mixed up in unethical activities. I prayed with them all and many more that day. I remember thinking that (1) the church was missing a great resource for effectively reaching people and (2) the world was in tremendous pain and looking for help. Point 2 was the true motivational force driving me. I think the extent of the world's pain was what impressed me the most. One of the reasons for effectiveness can be found in the motive behind what we are doing. If we are motivated by church attendance or notches in our belt, we will be less effective than if we are motivated by the fact that the world is in tremendous pain and looking for help. The former is selfishness and pride, the latter is love, God's kind of love toward the world.
I have, since, knocked on literally hundreds of doors. The response has been amazing. I have had many, many weep before me. Many have unashamedly poured their hearts out. Some have unloaded on me for the "sins" of the church and their mistreatment at our hands. Many are carrying the results of gross misrepresentations of God. I've seen a lot of tears, prayed for a lot of people, comforted a lot in pain, and answered a lot of questions. I've challenged, consoled, and debated. I've hugged, listened, and corrected. I've tried to show God's love and compassion to all that I've met. He is the one I'm representing and they are the ones that need to see HIM. He loves them and they must be made aware of that fact. I've had three doors slammed in my face and, yes, I've prayed the sinner's prayer with a few. All the while, pining for the day that the church wakes up and smells the coffee. Knowing that, if we had an army of Christians doing "out-dated" and "radical" door-to-door witnessing, we would change the world. People are unbelievably hungry and we have the bread of life. They are extremely receptive to our message. They are shockingly honest if they find us worthy of their trust. If we love them the way God loves them, we will be effective. And, we will do whatever it takes.
Now, was this a toot-my-own-horn article? This wasn't my intention. If you perceived it that way, pray that I'll get over my foolish pride. It is meant to be a look-what-can-be-accomplished-if-we'd-give-it-a-serious-chance article. I'm weary of people who have never done door-to-door witnessing proclaiming it's ineffectiveness. It's not too late for your church to get active. But, someday it will be too late. Now is the time to act but you've got to be serious about it and the church leadership MUST get behind it. The flock follows the shepherd. If the shepherd has no use for witnessing, neither will the flock. We must give up our comfortable Christian fried-chicken lifestyle. This is asking a lot. God gave his all because he so loved the world. We asked a lot of Him and He asks a lot of us. Pray about it. If we can help in any way, let us know. The only reason door-to-door witnessing is dead among Christians is because we've killed it.
Hey, let the cults have 'em.
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