Door Knocking Question.

I'm dismayed by the fact that if someone dares mention that there might be better ways to glorify God, they're castigated just because it isn't out of some pastor's manual. My pastor's manual is the Bible.

If someone wants to knock on doors, fine. If you want to do street preaching, fine. If you want to do lifestyle evangelism, fine. But base your ministry on the Word and not on what some conference speaker once told you or what your pastor did or what your denomination does.

No wonder the unreached rate in America is worse than most foreign countries

 

Um, I don't believe anyone has castigated you. I certainly wasn't trying to "castigate" you--didn't even mention you, unless the shoe fits. And I don't believe anyone has mentioned a source for any method of evangelism on this thread, whether a pastor's manual, a conference speaker or whatever. (Well, okay, Hope of Glory did, kind of, though Ehud who started the thread certainly did not.)

No offense, but this is not true at all, especially not in Asia, with China alone having a billion people, 95% unreached for Christ. Japan has 126 million, 99% unreached for Christ. Korea is the only Asian country with a sizeable Christian population (46% at last check).

You seem to have happened on a Christian "urban myth." I suggest a book called The Progress of World Wide Missions, by Robert Glover, for the real scoop on this. It's old (1960), but very complete. And not that much has been done since 1960 to reach the world for Christ.

 

Good comment John. BTW, I havent seen you state this directly, but from things dropped here and there... are your John R. Rice's grandson/kin?

 

I am aware of that. I am just responding to general tenor and tone.

Most methods are caught that way. I'm sure you know this. Whether it's Rice, Rick Warren, Bobby Welch, whomever...this is how we get our evangelism methods these days.

I am not demeaning what is going on in other countries. And I'm not about to say that the reached rate is worse in America than say the 10-40 window. However, most people look at the 86% number of Americans who believe in God and think America is just fine. However, the numbers of professing Christians are much, much lower. Some are as low as 20%. The "churched" rate, that is, the number of Americans who have attended an evangelical worship service in the past twelve months, is lower. Do you know what the unchurched rate is in Tennessee, for instance? 85%. In some pockets just in the south, it's 90%, and I've seen other rates in America that venture into the mid 90s.

America is a mission field. That's my assertion. And that's no urban myth. It's reality.

 

Who castigated whom? Were any of my posts guilty of that?

 

No. I just know that methods are defended with great vigor and sometimes venom, and there was a general tone of spiritual superiority emerging about one method and I wanted to squelch it before things got chippy.

 

I know a pastor who spent about 3 years knocking on doors. The church saw no fruit. He then trained his few people to begin naturally sharing their faith. The church has since tripled. Perhaps door-knocking works in some locales and doesn't in some others. What is important is that the gospel is shared Biblically. That's when God works!

 

Yes, John R. Rice was my grandfather. :thumbs: My mother was daughter #2.

Visit my website to see a couple of his handwritten sermon outlines. Also, Chapter One of my book on the website is about him.

 

Do you have a source for your stats? I'm from Tennessee, and an unchurched rate of 85% does not sound right at all.

 

Let me find the hard copy. The link I have to the website at NAMB is not working.

What part of TN are you from?

 

I've lived in Millington, Chattanooga and Murfreesboro. :wavey:

 

John, my son recently moved to Murfreesboro and when I went to visit him a few weeks ago I saw "John Rice Pkwy". I think it was pkwy, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I thought of you and wondered if it was named for your grandfather. Any relation to you?

 

Yep, the road was named after him. That is precisely where Grandpa bought an old, worked out 40 acre farm in 1963 when he moved the Sword of the Lord to Murfreesboro from Wheaton, IL. He payed a ridiculously low price for the farm (my memory says $25,000), and built a modest 3 bedroom house there (now a museum on the Bill Rice Ranch). I-24 was then built right next to his property, with an interchange. I lived there with him in 1978-1979 while working at the Sword and then preparing for Japan. (Then I got married.) When they started building up the area that property shot up on value until it was sold for a million dollars when Grandma died! That money was used half for the Joyful Woman ministries of my Mom and aunts, and the other half for retirement for them. God is good! :type:

 

I spend a couple hours a week knocking on doors. I mostly invite people to church and see if the conversation opens up for anything further. Last week, I spent about an hour in someone's home talking about the gospel. Most times, I spend about 1 minute on people's front porch.

I don't push the conversation or brow beat them into talking.

Door knocking is not real effective but it does help get the word about the church out and present opportunities we might not otherwise have.

 

Wow, this is as close as I've ever gotten to knowing a celebrity!:laugh:
God bless you John in all your work! raying:

 

Okay, Amy, this is why I fled to Japan!! :laugh: (Not really.)

Thanks for the sentiments.

 

This is why I modified my original statement. When conducted this way, it is not detrimental, and different areas might have different amounts of success with it.

My original answer was in response to the way that most door knocking is treated:

Everyone absolutely must do a certain amount, and the way that it is carried out is offensive.

 

That is called laziness. Too many people promote archtiectural evangelism.

You cannot teach from an empty heart.

James says in 1:22, "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves."

Those who do not do, are deceived. That has nothing to do with education.