by Servant Mind

Created on: June 14, 2008

There are many methods of conversion, or attempted conversion in the Christian church. Most of these methods are not taught in the Bible. These can range from invitations from a local body of believers, to hell-fire and brimstone evangelistic meetings and broadcasts. Scare-tactics have been utilized by many different agencies in our world but, the Christian church should not be one of those.

I find it hard to look on as "so-called" evangelists paint pictures of doom and gloom to get people so worked up, that they fall out into the isles and come forward for salvation! This is a method that has been used for decades. Despite the numbers involved, the true conversion rate is strikingly small. These men and women are intelligent when it comes to sales tactics. They know it's a numbers game, and numbers mean dollars!

The push to keep the money flowing in, is a large part of the business plan of any big church. It's just simple math; you can't run a business without capital, and you can't keep it afloat without generating new revenue. So, instead of compassion, their goal is commission. New memberships is what they're after. If you got "saved" in the process well, that's fine too.

Somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, we find "Visitation." In the church I grew up going to, visitation was a weekly occurrence. Every Thursday night, a small group would gather at the sanctuary and split up into teams of two. They would pick out a neighborhood, and canvas door to door. While this proved to be a useful tool in broadening the presence of the church in the community, in the end, it was still just another way to acquire more members.

We must remember that Salvation took place some two thousand years ago. The key to converting others is "Show and Tell." I know a lot of you are wondering, "What does a Kindergarten segment have to do with salvation?" It's quite simple, really. The Messiah (who provided the means of salvation) utilized this method everywhere He went! He would walk into a community, see the needs of the people there, and provide for those needs in a loving and compassionate way. Then, once He had their attention, He would teach them the wisdom of His Father. His authority was placed on Him by the Father, and people could recognize that authority, no matter who they were.

Every time He spoke, people would invariable ask Him questions. "What did you mean by that?" "When will the end be?" "Show us the Father." "How can a man be born again?" "What must I do to be saved?"

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