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Media Does Not Automate Response in Outreach
By chris | April 15, 2008
While coaching a missionary to Western Europe a few years ago, I had a coaching conversation that went like this:
The missionary showed me a catalog with gospel tracts in various languages. “Do you think these tracts would be good for the refugees I will be serving? They are three cents each. I was wondering if they are a good deal.”
I looked at the catalog and then told the missionary, “I am sorry, I can’t tell you if they are good or not. I need more information about the people you will give them to. For example, I need to know if they know how to read. It may be that you hand these out to people who can’t understand them. Also, I would want to know what the tracts say. They are not translated in this catalog. It could be that even though the refugees can read, the message might not relate to them at all”
The missionary looked at me stunned, “Yeah, but they are only three cents!”
It was as if the missionary felt the media should be effective just because it existed. Not everything you find in a catalog, at the bookstore, or available from one of the “flagship” churches is a good thing. And despite the low price, the tracts could be a waste of money. It only makes sense to understand more about the refugees, learn more about what their needs are, and find or develop media and messages that speak to where they are emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Merely throwing around slips of paper in someone’s mother tongue is not evangelism.
Turning that illustration back on us, most churches that are ineffective in ministry have the same mentality as the missionary. They look to marketing promotion to bail out bad strategy.
Topics: Missions |