Featured Literature Evangelism

Thanks for the resources.

 

A 16-year-old boy wrote to tract evangelist John Ferguson, "I praise God for the two wonderful boxes of literature you so kindly sent. It has been received in good condition. The prayerful distribution of this literature has been wonderfully blessed. Many are under conviction. At least eight young persons here have accepted Christ, and Christians have been uplifted by reading the booklets that were passed on from hand to hand" (Sowing the Gospel Seed, by E. Henry Edwards and Faris Whitesell, 1954, p. 31).

Note: Dr. Faris Whitesell (1895-1984) was an old time Baptist preacher who produced some good books on evangelism back in the day. I have his book on the evangelistic invitation.

 

Here are some trenchant quotes about the subject from Literature Evangelism, by George Verwer (Walterick Pub., 1963).

"The nephew of Mahatma Ghandi made this disquieting observation concerning India: 'The Missionaries have taught us to read, but the Communists have given us the literature'" (p. 10).

"It has been stated by those who know that facts about what happened in China before Communism took over, that it was actually the printed page pouring out of the Red presses which made the revolution to succeed in that land" (p. 17).

According to Lenin, "Every Communist must be actively engaged in the distribution of atheistic literature" (p. 17).

"In a tract published by the Arabic Literature Mission is the statement, 'Almost every known convert (from Islam to Christianity) was first drawn through the reading of the written Word'" (p. 21).

 

Sometimes a person who receives a tract will contact the person who gave it to him and get saved. One such in Japan was Habazaki San, whose story I told here in 2006: http://www.baptistboard.com/threads/unusual-soul-winners.3819/

For those who don't want to click the link and search down on the pages, here it is:

"I just got back from dendo (evangelism) with Habazaki San. This guy is my friend, and one of our most faithful church people. He is a bachelor about my age, pretty much ignored by his family and neighbors. But he trusted Christ as Savior after getting one of my tracts. He wrote me a post card with just four Chinese characters meaning, "I want to enter your teaching," then readily trusted Christ as Savior when I visited him. One of the highlights of my whole ministry in Japan was when I baptized him and Ueno San on the same day. Wow, two men at once! It doesn't get any better for a missionary to Japan.

"In the world's eye he is a nothing, a nobody. He did graduate from a junior college, but his job is delivering newspapers. Now in Japan that is a job for adults, and he is proud to be a full employee of the company (as opposed to a part timer). However, it is still towards the bottom of respected jobs in this society. Habazaki San doesn't care, though. He is a happy camper as long as he can do his job, watch some baseball and come to church!

"Anyway, before we got out tracts today I enjoyed his prayer for God to use us and touch people's hearts with the Gospel. Then I enjoyed his attitude of obedience, respect and good humor. He always does exactly what I ask with no complaints or disagreements, and does it with a smile. We didn't find anyone to witness to today, but maybe someone who got one of those tracts will be saved like he was!"

Unfortunately Habazaki San had a stroke several years ago and was no longer able to serve the Lord. But he will certainly have a reward in Heaven!

 

Amen to that, Sister!

 

That brings up the point that having a way to respond is an excellent idea for a tract. The best thing I've seen for that is a postcard sized tract in Japanese that actually had a post card tucked in it for responses. A similar effort actually had the post card as part of the tract, which was on thick paper, and the postcard could be cut off and sent.

The famous John R. Rice tract, "What Must I Do to Be Saved?", has a little form at the end to be filled out and sent to the publisher, and many thousands have done so. I saw some of those when I worked there in the 1970's.

 

Speaking of the "What..." tract, it was translated into Japanese after WW2 and passed out by the millions. Here is the story of one of those tracts, written in a 1952 letter to Dr. Rice by the man who many years later became my mentor ("senior missionary") when I arrived in Japan in 1981.

"Dear Dr. Rice:

Just a short note to tell you how much we appreciate giving out your Japanese tract: What Must I Do to Be Saved?

Last Sunday, while returning from a service in a nearby town, another missionary and I were giving out these tracts on the train. One young Japanese man about twenty-five years of age came to my friend's seat and said he had read the tract through and he wanted to be saved now. He was deeply under conviction and did not mind the other people looking at him as he talked to us.

There happened to be a Christian Japanese teacher on the train and through him I had the happy privilege of pointing him to Christ. He appeared to be genuinely converted. I am sending you his signed decision he gave us....

We are enjoying The Sword immensely. May God bless you and the great work you are doing for Jesus.

Jim Norton
Nagano Ken, Japan"

JoJ note: 29 years later, Jim Norton interpreted for me to win a Japanese man to Christ in Tokyo, just days after we had arrived on the field.

 

I have a lot written down, some from here on the BB. Maybe someday a book will appear.