Bob Hayton asked several questions worth pondering. I'll distill his questions down to two for us:
1. Is there a line we can cross where good promotions become bad, and exactly where is that line?I'm going to tackle question #2 first, and in the next post, I'll talk about question #1. First, let me share yet another story from the life of reglerjoe, and then I'll give you two principles I've developed over the years by God's grace in the school of hard knocks (and no thanks to my alma mater).
2. When we use promotions, are we circumventing the Holy Spirit's work, or are we just helping?
Long ago, in the heydays of my Bible college life, my church's bus ministry was having a "Spring Program". For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, a "program" is a period of several weeks wherein there is expended a great deal of money and effort in order to increase the church's numbers (attendance, salvations, baptisms, etc.)So, here's some things I've learned the hard way: First, no promotions or prizes should ever be given for salvations and baptisms. I'm sure many would make the list for "no promos" much longer, but I think we could all definitely start here. We shouldn never, I repeat, never promise the unsaved any material gift if they'll get saved. Nor should we entice new converts with prizes if they'll get baptized. And in case you're wondering, it does happen, as I've just illustrated.
During this particular program, my bus division ( a division is several bus routes organized geographically) was emphasizing an increase in baptisms. Every Sunday night after church, all of my division's bus captains would meet with a man who was both a very successful bus captain in the division and also a college staff member. The purpose of the meeting was so he could ask us how many baptisms our route had that day, and if any bus captain reported a big fat ZERO, the staff member would systematically rip off the captain's face in a verbal tirade. In short, the pressure was on to produce baptism numbers.
Fast forward to the following Sunday morning...One of my bus kids is in line to be baptized. A wave of relief runs through me. I have evaded the face ripping! I produced a number! But to my dismay, I find later that he escaped! He wiggled out of line! I intercepted the prospective baptizee making a mad dash for the snack vendors.
"What are you doing?" I asked. "You're supposed to be getting baptized!"
"I don't want to," he replied.
"Well..." (I was searching for a good reason to convince him to get in the water.) "You can't just get in line, give them your name, and then leave. They're going to be looking for you. You have to go back in line and get baptized."
"I'll do it for a dollar," he said. He knew what he was doing. Smart kid. He knew I wanted him to get baptized more than he wanted to get baptized. And most of all, he wanted a Coke and a candy bar for the long ride home.
"Fine. I'll give you a dollar after you get out of the baptistery. I'll be over by the buses." The deal was done. I paid a kid one dollar for getting baptized.
Trust me, I have regretted that moment for years. I did indeed escape the face ripping that Sunday night, but I sold out a child's spiritual wellbeing for one dollar...and worse - for the sake of my pride. Of course, his mom caught wind of what had happened. He told her that I offered him a dollar if he would get baptized. And although he was the originator of the transaction, I did give him a dollar for getting baptized. She never let him ride the bus again. Can't say as I blame her.
But I'll take it a step further: we should never award ministry workers with prizes for leading people to the Lord or getting converts in the baptistery. This happens quite frequently, and even regularly, in some very large IFBx circles. In my opinion, this practice promotes sloppy soul winning and reckless baptizing (again...as I've just illustrated). I can't help but say to those workers: "Verily, you have your reward." You can kiss heavenly rewards goodbye if your motivation for being a soul winner is to win a trip to Six Flags, or to save face in a contest. Suddenly, salvation and spiritual growth have become a work of ministry workers and not the work of the Holy Spirit. Any ministry that engages in such a practice while affirming the need of the Holy Spirit in regards to salvation and sanctification is speaking out of both sides of its mouth.
Let me add that the churches that engage in this practice illustrate what happens when methodology is allowed to determine theology - to such, the Holy Spirit's work in salvation is not so much the drawing of the unbeliever to Christ, but more the empowering of the soul winner to be a better salesman...er...to be a more effective soul winner. So many soul winners bulldoze their way through a Gospel presentation, feverishly working to get more numbers to win the contest, and giving zero heed to whether their listeners (or victims?) are truly convicted of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the attitude is "I've prayed for the power of the Holy Spirit for 10 hours this week...so these people have got to be saved because I'm just so Spirit-filled!" In a way, these soul winners are more fatalistic than any 5 point Calvinist ever thought of being! Like a blind man running head-long off of a precipice, they plunge themselves and their listeners into an evangelistic freefall, hoping the Holy Spirit will work it all out at the bottom. Instead of letting the Holy Spirit do the work, they want the Holy Spirit to "pick up the pieces."
So, in answer to question #2, I believe promotions can, and often do, circumvent the Holy Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment