“You Better Come Heavy”

by Joe Thorn on February 28, 2006

I was on Southern’s website recently and saw this pic from what appears to be an evangelistic house call. I am not picking a fight over door to door. I just thought the picture was funny. Gee’z, four on one evangelism? The Mormons don’t even comethat heavy. The poor guy looks like a deer in the headlights.

About Joe Thorn

I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, IL, and author of Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. Jen is my wife, and Katherine, Elias, Madeline and Kilian are my kids.

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  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Before villagers come with torches and pitchforks, I think it is great that Southern believes in and practices evangelism. It is known as a very academic school, but I found it to also be quite devotional and practical.

  • http://www.jasonallen77.blogspot.com Jason Allen

    That is a pretty funny pic. You know, there actually have to be more than four b/c someone had to take the pic…laugh

  • http://bobhyatt.typepad.com bob

    Allow me to wave my pitchfork a bit…

    Door to door is quite possibly the worst “method” of evangelism one could use today, other than handing out tracts and holding signs/shouting through bullhorns at public events, of course.

    The confronting of total strangers out and about to enjoy themselves in public is bad, but pestering people at home? “Hi, can I interrupt your family time to attempt to lay a whole new world view on you? It will only take a minute.” Sheesh.

    That’s not evangelism. It’s cold call sales.

    Love for evangelism rocks. Love for people rocks. Put those together and you are forced to come up with something that looks a bit more like friendship and a bit less like selling product (religious though it may be) door to door.

  • http://bobhyatt.typepad.com bob

    Sorry… That came out more serious than I wanted. :)

  • http://www.stevekmccoy.com/ Steve McCoy

    Great pop-culture title Joe, and the pic is a bit frightening. The guy looks like he is a bit stunned and not so happy to see all the Bible people.

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Bob, I was referring to the pitchforks that might come at me for making fun.

    I am in basic agreement with you. In my area, door to door will yield some results, but it also turns many more off to your church. I have seen this first hand. People in my neighborhood who have been “visited” have been irritated by it. And I get that. Families have both parents working, they only get 3 hours together as a family including meal time before the kids are in bed, and they are protective of that time. They should be.

    I think you and I would have a lot in common in this area, but I would like to hear your thoughts. Do you think there is a place for public proclamation at all? If so, what would it look like? If not, do you see the public witness in Scripture as contextual (descriptive over prescriptive)?

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Jason, I am dumb enough to have missed that. Hilarious!

  • http://bobhyatt.typepad.com bob

    I think there is a place for public proclamation.. but it is certainly contextual. Peter talking to a crowd of jewish folks in jerusalem to worship looks totally different than Paul talking to a crowd of greek philosphers… And probably than you or I talking to people today.

    If you can get a crowd, cool. If people will listen, okay. The problem is, in our context today, we’ve all seen too many nutjobs with bullhorns. The people are listening to public proclamation that comes in that way… we need to be more shrewd.

    I think we even need to be more shrewd than “Let’s put on a cool show on Sunday mornings and hope someone wanders in or one of our people gets brave enough/feels guilty enough to invite a non Christian so pastor can have a whack at ‘em”

    I exaggerate for effect, but…

    I think our public proclamation these days looks more like recovering an ecclesiology of servanthood… loving people, feeding them, clothing them, cleaning up the neighborhood. Those are the main types of redemptive windows I see, at least here in my PACNW kind of context. I think (an idea from McLaren’s More Ready Than You Realize) when we show that Christianity is first good we get opportunities to show it is true.

    And more importantly, the Gospel, even in the biblical Gospels comes contextualized, individualized. To a woman caught in adultery, good news looks like someone standing up for her, not condemning her, talling her to quit sinning. To a man who thought he knew it all, it looks like a call to go back to the beginning and be born again, from the top down. To a man who has everything, it looks like a call to leave everything behind. To a short man in a tree hated by all around him, it looks just like friendship…spending time with someone no one else will- having dinner at his house.
    I guess what I’m saying is- if all you have in your tool box is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. And if we define evangelism by a particular methodology, well…

    To me, it’s all public. Some more overt, some less. Some for a community of people, some for one person. But it’s all motivated by love, empowered by the Holy Spirit and pointing to Jesus.

    Sorry for the essay :)

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  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Great words Bob. You and I are on the same page. Especially important to me is knowing the people – which allows us to contextualize the Gospel; meaning knowing where they are at and how the Gospel speaks to them directly. All of this of course strips us of reliance on a formula. It makes the call for a pastor to “do the work of an evangelist” much more than an altar call tacked onto the end of a sermon.

  • http://theram4jc.blogspot.com Joe Kennedy

    Actually, it’s at least six. Someone’s shoulder is barely in the bottom left of the picture. That’s a lot of people. Four came to my house when I first became a Christian in 1999. Three youth and one adult. Gave me cookies. I had no idea they were coming. Never heard of visitation when they showed up. All my paranoia about “not joining a cult” came out when they showed up- I didn’t know what to do. Here’s hoping that guy wasn’t freaked out. (On another note, at NOBTS some big-wigs came in and we had this whole “evangelism blitz” where a lot of students and faculty went around to the ghetto-neighborhoods around campus and evangelized. It was the one time a semester they saw our faces in Gentilly, outside of our cars. Maybe the Houstonian Baptists will do a better job for us.)

  • http://ablakew.blogspot.com blake w

    My church recently did some door to door stuff. I used to do that all the time. I have grown from it. It definitely has its problems, but I went because in my arena there are not many oppurtunities to live out the gospel. Is door to door better than no evangelism?

  • http://bobhyatt.typepad.com bob

    I’m sure you have grown from it, as you would from anything that requires you to get outside comfort zones, pray for others and talk about the Gospel… but your growth isn’t the point of evangelism :)

    “Is door to door better than no evangelism?”

    I think that’s a false dichotomy, Blake.

    There are always plenty of ways to serve a community. It just takes some creative thinking and (for many of us) courage in doing something that is non-programmatic, where there aren’t many rules to tell us what to do next.

    There are peolple to feed, there are low income students who need tutoring, there are elderly people who need a lot of things. One sister church of ours is busy filling in potholes in their neighborhood right now. A lot more fruitful conversations have come out of that effort than all the tract-handing I EVER did. :)

    Read Matthew 25… that’s the pop quiz at the end of history we all have to take. Good thing God gave us a peak at the test in advance!

    Also- I think we (I’m talking to myself here) need to be intensely prayerful about how to share the Gospel in our context. What does Good News look like for the people in my area? A meal and a conversation with someone who believes in Jesus? Maybe. Sitting in an AIDS hospice and praying for/with those who are dying? Maybe…

    (tongue in cheek here) But one thing (I think) the Gospel probably doesn’t look like is interrupting someone in their home during the 4th quarter of the big game so I can give them a Four Spiritual Laws tract. :)

  • http://jakeburgett.blogspot.com Jason

    The dude in the blah-green shirt looks like an old friend of mine from where I used to work. He’s at Southern now, working on an MDiv. Howdy Matt!

  • imonk

    Try this here in eastern Ky. Be met with guns and dogs.

  • http://www.lameworldview.blogspot.com Paul Lamey

    Not only are there four guys at his door but there is a fifth guy/gal taking a pic of the whole thing.

  • http://propheticrhetoric.blogspot.com clint

    Hey all,

    I hate to be the one to say it, but I’m going to anyway, for better or worse.

    Discussing the issue of the relative merits of door-to-door evangelism is needed in some context, but don’t we have a much bigger–and pressing–problem on our hands than this one?

    This problem is called “a largely dysfunctional and irrelevant church.” Question: Why would anyone go cold-calling to sell a defective product? Or to put it another way, Why sell a product you don’t believe in?

    This is the bigger issue, in my book. You are all correct about recovering “servant evangelism” and all, but why would nonbelievers even come to churches that are disunified, out of date and out of touch?

    Until we fix those major problems, cold-calling is the least of our concerns. I’m not gonna invite a nonbelieving friend to a messed-up church. I’m not saying all churches are screwed up today, but heck, from where I sit… a lot of ‘em are. That’s the bigger issue, in my book.

  • http://www.danielrandle.blogspot.com D.R. Randle

    Hey Joe, the Caner/White debate looks like it is going to happen. He talked about it on his radio program on Tuesday. I posted what he said on my blog tonight. Go check it out. Guess the thought of losing the intellectual pit bull title messed him up.

  • http://bobhyatt.typepad.com bob

    Clint- I think you are right… that’s why I believe in planting churches. Easier to start from scratch than turn the Titannic… but you could also look at it this way:

    Just how messed up and disunified could a church be who is focused on leading lives of service?

    I believe that a missional community, praying to be attuned to the needs of the community around them and empowered to serve that community by the Holy Spirit will necessarily have a sense of unity that speaks well of Jesus and makes the sharing of the Gospel a more natural, authentic and less rigidly formulaic thing.

    Just my 2 cents…

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Clint,

    Of course there are bigger problems in the church, but why does that negate discussion about other topics? I come across this perspective every once in a while, and it always seems short-sighted to me, because all of these issues ultimately connect in one way or another.

    If you read my blog, you will see that a wide variety of topics are discussed – from the most critical issues to the most superficial. It’s a blog dude. Kind of a running conversation, collection of thoughts.

    I would also point out that not every church is suffering from being “largely dysfunctional and irrelevant.” Many are, but many are loving God and neighbor and preaching Jesus Christ in exemplary fashion.

  • http://propheticrhetoric.blogspot.com clint

    Hi Joe

    I understand it’s “just a blog dude” but hey, you also need to understand the impact they have too. It does shape understanding and creates meaning for people.

    I’m not trying to come across as the heavy here, believe me, and I am aware that there are churches out that with degrees of health. I am also aware that I may be viewing this disccsion through the interpretation of my own ministry experiences.

    And I agree with Bob that a missional focus is needed in churches, one that actually makes an impact instead of just bothering people. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I think however, that if we keep doing the same old things in the same old way but expect different results we are in for a shock.

    All I’m saying is that without addressing some of the larger issues facing churches today, we may be putting the cart in front of the horse, that’s all. Just a thought dude.

  • http://propheticrhetoric.blogspot.com clint

    Hey guys,

    Just want to say sorry if it seemed like I came off too intense. For me it is very important stuff though.

    I think I need to lay off this blog stuff for a while. I’m used to talking this way with my friends in Portland but have no outlet here in the UK. Later.

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Clint, you are welcome here. You are not coming off too heavy. In fact, I, and most of my readers, would agree with you. Like I said, we are addressing those issues. Seacrh my blog on the term “missional” for example. But we talk about the serious stuff, the trivial stuff and everything in between. And I cannot say that (for example) because doctrinally “justification” is one of the most critical doctrines being debated at the moment, that we should not also discuss sanctification.

    I am very aware of the impact one’s words can make, which is one of the reasons I blog. I Hope you’ll contribute to the discussions.

  • http://www.littlebluealien.com Mike Little

    That is hillarious. Imagine if FOUR Jehovah’s Witnesses came to your door. In my opinion, 2 is boardering on intimidating. The ideal number would be 1.5. :)

  • http://postmoderndisciple.blogspot.com Mike Noakes

    I would probably let them all in and play with their minds. Just because I’m a jerk like that.

  • http://www.provocationsandpantings.blogspot.com Timmy Brister

    I am a Southern student who desires to be passionate about evangelism. My journey in learning to share the gospel began first with going door-to-door. I can remember that I used to make goals that I wanted to see X number of people saved by the end of the year, and used cold-turkey evangelism methods to do that. When the year ended, I saw many people “accept Christ” but it ended at that. Ultimately, I can say that there was little to any “fruit that remains” as a result.

    When I was a student minister, I trained students in sharing their faith door to door. It taught them to be courageous, bold yet humble, truthful yet objective. They handled objections, wept for people’s lostness, and understood that there was a world next door that needed Jesus. Those were experiences and memories that I will never forget.

    But let me say that the greatest lesson I have learned is that effective evangelism must take place through relationships. If you don’t have a foundation of a genuine, loving friendship, the gospel more than like will not take root in their life. While at Southern, I have chosen to not work on staff at a church because I want to be around as many unbelievers as possible on a daily basis, so I chose UPS (where there are about 5,000 around the time I work). This has led to many fruitful relationships, some even leading to their conversion. The great thing about it, however, is that we meet weekly for Bible study and are currently going through Grudem’s Systematic. This could not have happened unless the framework and foundation of a loving, genuine friendship.

    I think that both are viable evangelistic methods; however, it is obvious that one is more effective than the other.

  • http://propheticrhetoric.blogspot.com clint

    Hey thanks Joe for the welcoming words.

    I am very passionate about this stuff because of my own experiences in ministry. I pastored a church that was highly dysfunctional and disunified.

    We finally closed the church down last year, it was so screwed up. But the good news is that out of the rubble came a new church that is doing well, even though I’m not part of it physically anymore.

    So yeah, I’m a little burned, and burned out still.

    However, it seems like everywhere I go, I see signs of a lack of leadership, vision, and direction. It is interesting to analyze churches here in the UK too.

    So I am trying to put the discussion about evangelism into context, even though I know the original posting was done to emphasize the irony of it all.

  • http://joelrainey.blogspot.com Joel

    Joe,
    Actually, I don’t think that guy is a lost person. He looks like an old doctoral classmate of mine. That’s the problem with doing evangelism in Louisville . . . you’ll end up witnessing to a guy who has an M.Div. from Southern Seminary! :)

    And you guys better hold down all the criticism of “door-to-door” evangelism before Ergun Caner shows up!

  • http://www.fenderpooh.blogspot.com Aaron

    I haven’t read all the comments, so I don’t know if someone has already said this or not. Forgive me if this is redundant.

    I am a student at Southern Seminary, and I think it may be possible that the picture is of a servant evangelism project. I don’t know this for sure, but I do know that Reaching Out Louisville (the once a semester event where the seminary community as a whole is invited to participate in evangelistic activity) has servant evangelism projects. With that many people at one house, it seems more likely to me that this was a group of people offering to do some kind of job, like raking leaves or something.

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