"We will do anything short of sin..."

Last week and this week our pastor made the point: "we will do anything short of sin to reach others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Thoughts?

Like hanging out in bars to strike up conversations while drinking O'Doul's?

My pastor has said it too. He didn't mean it. :)

I don't know. It just seems like something preachers say.

quote: "Like hanging out in bars to strike up conversations while drinking O'Doul's?"

Funny you should mention that. The pastor said that when the church first started he DID have a bible study in a bar. He went to the restroom and the guy in the stall next to him started asking him questions about why he was reading the Bible in a bar.

By the end of the night, that guy was saved and is still actively serving in a church.

"I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." 1 Cor. 9:22

Who was it, C.T. Studd? Don't know, but whoever it was said he would rather live within a yard of hell than within the sound of a chapel bell, saving men.

Go into a bar and read the Word? Yes. Is it risky? Might someone call your good "evil"? Yes. Do it anyway.

I love it! While my remark might have been a bit tongue-in-cheek, I appreciate Christians realizing that the life of truth is on the inside, not just in outward appearances. Jesus was in the bar, looking to see His Word take effect.

And Jesus was accused as a sinner on a regular basis for hanging out with the "wrong" people. Your pastor was a great servant- wearing the armor of God, able to go where the unprotected should not.

Being s tad cynical, I would say that the motto of many "seeker centered" churches might be "we will do anything short of pray to reach others for Christ."

But if there really is prayer and an uncompromised gospel is proclaimed, I can give a pass when things are done that are not exactly to my liking if the goal is to reach the lost. It's not about me after all.

Interesting thoughts.

You might notice that Jesus was respected as a teacher. He didn't just "hang out" with prostitutes and tax collectors. When he visited them, He always had a Word from God to them. He was always in control and purposeful in all of His encounters. He didn't just hang out and say a bunch of jokes, and people didn't say, "Jesus sure is a cool dude! He's just like us!" No. When Jesus left a place, people either said, "I want to follow Him and learn from Him", or, "I want to kill Him for what He said."

If we are salt and light to the world, we will have an impact on the world, instead of becoming one of them and losing our flavor.

May God be pleased to make us the aroma of Christ to the world - the fragrance of life to God's elect, and the fragrance of death to the unrepentant. (2 Cor.2:15-16)

I think Christians put a taboo on too many places when it comes to this subject. It is because Christians have boxed themselves in because many places are not of 'good report' type of thing. The important thing is to not go into it like a religious zealot. Whatever it is you do go to it and find a way for people to come to you and don't be over zealous in going to them otherwise it is a turn off to the max. I have been in bars and in the hood. Be real, be genuine and someone is going to be interested.

I do not agree with this attitude or quotes used by preacher here. I might be attacked here but I want to tell what I believe. I will do what God wants me to do to for the sake of his Gospel rather than do something that I think will work. I am not against preaching in Bars or strip clubs. William Booth used to send his Salvation army recruits to prostitutes. They pay to be with them alone and in that time they discuss gospel with those ladies. How about that?

I believe if God has called someone to do such a ministry for prositutes then go ahead. But just because William Booth did that, I do not want to visit very other prositutes. I have my own calling, I want to do what God wants me to do. May be it was the Pastor's calling to go to bars. But he cannot generalize it and say, do whatever to save others. Even Paul did not ask others to be like him, he just explained his testimony.

The same William Booth did not break bread with wine or Juice in his Church because it reminded many of his ex-alcoholic addicts to taste alcohol again. We should never generalize our calling and appy to others.

I don't disagree with what you are saying Sree. If God is not behind what we are doing, then it is not going to work- at least not how God intends.

I think perhaps the issue is whether it is ok to "lure people in" using seemingly worldly means, when the intent is to hit them with the gospel once they are "in."

I don't know about luring in. I do know about going out. Plenty of testimonies of God's saving grace exist where the preacher/proclaimer of the gospel went into dark places of ill repute to deliver the word of God to the lost.

What's Missing In Ch ch? ur may yet be the preference of church people but it is not NT going.

I'm with you Sree about holiness, and I see holiness when a man braves the elements of the world and stands in the hostile places to say Jesus is Lord, come to Him. If a man is enticed to his own lusts in such places, he should avoid them; let us mortify self and our lusts and love the ones God would save through the foolishness of preaching the gospel enough to take it to them.

Have more sinners been saved after coming to a church or by being preached at on a street corner (or elsewhere)?

I don't know the answer for sure although I expect I know it.

TMK -- I'm certain you're right.

I've never met a person who told me that they were saved from street corner preaching or tract distribution. And, I never inquired if they'd ever been witnessed to in the street or given a tract if they did tell me how they were saved.

This gives me an idea for another thread on "tell us how/when you were saved". I'd love to hear our stories on that.

QUOTE: I've never met a person who told me that they were saved from street corner preaching or tract distribution.

I know someone who was saved from a tract his roommate was going to throw out. He rescued it, read it, and was gloriously saved! I just share that because it's been so encouraging to me to hear stories like that--ones that you don't often hear.

I do agree with your sentiment, though, that we need to GO to them, not always just think that handing them a piece of paper means their blood is off our hands.

I met a man who told me that he was saved because God used a street preacher to bring him to Christ.

The issue is not whether a person might get saved by listening to a street preacher or reading a tract- of course they might; God can use a fortune in a fortune cookie to bring someone to conviction if he wants to.

The issue is what is most effective; and I believe the local church is a monumental force to be reckoned with if it is firing on all cylinders. I would argue that the number of people saved in church far outnumbers by many multiples the number saved outside of a church.

But for some reason the local church seems to get a bad wrap, and I guess I get a little tired of it.