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Engel’s Strategy Classic: Men, the Message, and the Media
By chris | January 28, 2008
From the 1975 classic “WHAT’S GONE WRONG WITH THE HARVEST” by James Engel
Men, the Message, and the Media
The Calderofles are just two of the more than 40,000 people who live in Rollingwood. Probably no more than 20 percent of these 40,000 are Christians, judging at least by church-attendance figures. So the tasks of proclamation and persuasion are far from finished.
What must be done to reach the community? This question looms large in the deliberations of First Church and, in one way or another, in most of the other churches in the area. One church, for example, is about to carry out a door-to-door Bible distribution plan in cooperation with a Bible society. Another is planning to present a series of evangelistic messages by its pastor over radio station WTLT. Still others are considering neighborhood calling and canvassing. The only problem is that seldom, if ever, have these churches considered a cooperative strategy that could make a demonstrable difference on the community. Each seems to be aiming its own little garden hose at a forest fire. Tom Bartlett learned to his sorrow at the second meeting he attended of the Rollingwood Ministerial Fellowship that interchurch cooperation stops pretty much at the point of pious statements and an occasional community service offered at Christmas or Easter.
To one degree or another Rollingwood is a good example of the picture throughout the world. Consider, for example, the situation in Japan. Only about 1 percent of 107 million people profess to be Christians, and, although the church is growing, it is not keeping up with the increase in the population. 1 In Japan there are 43 denominations that have more than 1,000 members; 140 Protestant mission agencies with 2,400 individual missionaries; several major interdenominational broadcasting agencies; and a Christian literature ministry consisting of 90 publishers, 25 major presses, and over 70 bookstores. Yet, seldom has there been any real attempt to develop a unified strategy utilizing the strengths of the various groups in such a way that their individual distinctiveness is maintained while they make a genuine contribution to a virile, cooperative outreach. The need for such an outreach is increasingly being recognized, however, and a number of significant steps are now underway.
Let’s face it: the Great Commission cannot and will not be fulfilled unless the individualistic and even separatistic tendencies of evangelical Christians are lowered with the objective of mounting a multiple-church, multiple-media strategy. Do not read this statement as a plea for the ecumenical movement —rather, it is a plea for unity without union, without compromise of what each fellowship perceives the biblical imperatives to be.
Some may object to the above statement, but is there any other alternative? Can we escape the fact that after two thousand years the harvest is yet to be gathered? Hardly! It is time to combine our resources, which at best are all too limited, and concentrate our firepower so that it can make a real impact.
A multiple-church, multiple-media campaign must not be based on program orientation, or the mistakes of the past will only be repeated. Furthermore, a properly conceived adaptive strategy will require a formalized process of planning enriched and guided by the Holy Spirit (Prov. 16:9). There are always three foundations for an adaptive strategy: (1) experience — especially when rigorous attempts are made to learn from past successes and failures; (2) intuition — that “sixth sense” that enables some decision-makers to decipher facts and arrive at the core of the issue; and (3) research. Research is usually the one base that is neglected, but this oversight can be fatal in a world of rapid change. Indeed, all three bases are required if we are to comprehend the tasks before us.
What are the steps in a research-based, multiple-church, multiple-media strategy?
These should be familiar to the reader by now:
- analysis of the environment
- assessment of organizational strengths and weaknesses
- determination of measurable goals
- determination of the strategy (message and media)
- execution of the strategy
- measurement of effectiveness
- evaluation (post mortem)
Many of these concepts have been discussed in the preceding pages, but there will be an obvious difference between the analytical rigor required to lead one person to Christ and that required for an entire segment of hundreds or even thousands.
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