This will be a complete waste of time.
This is my brave prediction for 2007.
In 2007 The Impact World Tour (IWT) will hit Perth. IWT neatly encapsulates everything that I have learned about evangelism that fails. It is completely about entertainment over and above relationship.
IWT is evangelism by entertainment. It attempts to make Xy cool by association. If you had a friend invite you along to see a band who espoused the values of a nudist colony would you then join that nudist colony? Probably not, not even if that band was incredibly good. Cool by association just doesn't work, this is how advertising works and we have become so advertising savvy that even the advertisers don't try this, the latest "It's a Big Ad" Beer campaign is a good example.
A IWT representative admitted that evangelism (which I suspect is really evangelism by entertainment) will not work on people under the age of 18. Not only does it not work but it communicates to regular church goers that when it comes to evangelism the best thing they can do is give money to the experts.
Don't get me wrong I have no problem with Xn Art, but this is something different. This is Art viewed purely as a tool.
Pop Quiz...
When Jesus fed the 4000 did he
A) Tell the crowd it will all happen again next week only this time everyone should bring a friend
or
B) Go to the other side of the Lake and spend time just with his small group of disciples
The basis of evangelism, discipleship and love is relationship. We don't need to spend money we need to spend time. If you spent four years discipling four people, and then they went out and did the same then all of Australia would be Xn in less than 50 years just from your one group. This is why Jesus spent his time with the 12 not the 4000.
I have known people who become Xns at these kind of events. One was a dancer who had a broken tendon and could never dance again. Someone prayed for her tendon was healed. For her the hype of the night lasted about 6 months and so did her faith.
Relationship is more important than Entertainment. I could go on but this post is too much of a rant as it is. Thanks if you have read this far.
This is my brave prediction for 2007.
In 2007 The Impact World Tour (IWT) will hit Perth. IWT neatly encapsulates everything that I have learned about evangelism that fails. It is completely about entertainment over and above relationship.
IWT is evangelism by entertainment. It attempts to make Xy cool by association. If you had a friend invite you along to see a band who espoused the values of a nudist colony would you then join that nudist colony? Probably not, not even if that band was incredibly good. Cool by association just doesn't work, this is how advertising works and we have become so advertising savvy that even the advertisers don't try this, the latest "It's a Big Ad" Beer campaign is a good example.
A IWT representative admitted that evangelism (which I suspect is really evangelism by entertainment) will not work on people under the age of 18. Not only does it not work but it communicates to regular church goers that when it comes to evangelism the best thing they can do is give money to the experts.
Don't get me wrong I have no problem with Xn Art, but this is something different. This is Art viewed purely as a tool.
Pop Quiz...
When Jesus fed the 4000 did he
A) Tell the crowd it will all happen again next week only this time everyone should bring a friend
or
B) Go to the other side of the Lake and spend time just with his small group of disciples
The basis of evangelism, discipleship and love is relationship. We don't need to spend money we need to spend time. If you spent four years discipling four people, and then they went out and did the same then all of Australia would be Xn in less than 50 years just from your one group. This is why Jesus spent his time with the 12 not the 4000.
I have known people who become Xns at these kind of events. One was a dancer who had a broken tendon and could never dance again. Someone prayed for her tendon was healed. For her the hype of the night lasted about 6 months and so did her faith.
Relationship is more important than Entertainment. I could go on but this post is too much of a rant as it is. Thanks if you have read this far.
2 comments:
Probably a bit much to call it a complete waste of time :)
I was less than enamoured with it initially and it is not my cupr of tea at all, but have a chat with Geoff Westlake who is a key player in the mix.
i believe he is working with the team to ensure that it is ONE part of a whole approach to discipleship here in Perth.
There may be hope for it...
Hello hamo and g-lo,
Thanks for the comments.
How about if I said one of the most inefficient ways to spend 1.5 million dollars? ;) I'm guessing that given this sort of money Geoff wouldn't be thinking "let's spend it like this"
Now I am more than happy to be proved wrong on this.
In cases where big events work I think that often they only serve to give people an dead line with which to tell their friends about what they believe. So people basically share their faith (and how they live it out) with their friends and then the event happens. I think the Sydney Evangelical way of doing things is a good example of this, but without the 1.5 million dollar event. They have rather “bring your friend along to a guest speaker that will explain Xy events” which similarly serve to give people a “dead line” as such.
An alternative might be for every church in Perth set aside two weekends in February 2007 where congregations chose a speaker (someone they knew and trusted to be good) to explain Xy and then every Xy spent 2006 doing a course on sharing their faith with their friends?
I’d be happier with this as a half way compromise between evangelism by entertainment and evangelism by relationship.
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