19 October 2000 Editorial:
Do the Work of an Evangelist #1

Pr. Larry Kirkpatrick

The next few editorials will (in all likelihood) center on evangelistic issues (and may not be as "editorial" in some cases). The start of our Collision With Prophecy meetings in East Carbon is imminent, there is still a forest full of things that need to be done. We squeezed this meeting in now just before the holiday season and have been forced to rush our preparations. If you've frequented this website, then you may recall that the first CWP sermons began to show up on the site as far back as June. Nor have all of the meetings yet been completed. But we are getting there. But what is there to say about Adventist evangelism?

A lot.

I've been blessed to have participated in evangelism for several years in several meetings and formats. But what I've seen has not always been what it ought to have been. Here are a few issues:

Some Issues in Evangelism

Last-Minute Surprises. One evangelist I know dropped the "Spirit of prophecy" teaching on his converts overly close to the end of the series (I will avoid specifics on some of these because the enemies of our faith would prefer to capitalize on the specifics). I mean very, very close to the end of the series. I want to tell you, that if the approach I speak of had been used with me, I would have rose up and left the meetings, perhaps never to return. If you are weighing joining yourself to a church, the ethical practice of that community of faith must be just. You cannot wait until the very end and suddenly start dropping unique teachings or lifestyle readjustments into the pot. People should be ready, clear, and sufficiently at peace with their decisions and commitments. It is evil, and I don't care who does it, it is evil to share the precious message we've been given with folks and then needlessly antagonize them at the end with last-minute surprises that they will resent. Many will still join us at that point, but they may harbor some resentment for the way they were manipulated in the end. Is it any wonder that many eventually drift out the back-door?

Baptizing the unprepared and untested. If you start with the premise that you are going to baptize as many as possible and that they'll get the details later, you're in trouble. Baptizing the unprepared and untested is unfair both to your church and to the candidate. If you tell them only in the last moment about Ellen White, or about jewelry, or unclean meats, tithing, etc., people may not have time to fulfill the Bible command to "count the cost" of following their Lord. If they are still counting the cost when they step into the water, there is a problem. Maybe they won't be at church the next Sabbath. Or ever. But the baptism has doubtless been counted. From an institutional mindset, it is the baptism event that justifies poor practice. It is a subtle idolatry of numbers.

Misrepresentation in Advertising. Our meetings are usually pitched to the public as prophecy meetings. And to a greater extent than others that is probably true. But do four or five talks on prophecy out of a 20-30 meeting series make it a prophecy series? When you do this you muddy the waters for those of us who will come behind you and actually preach a prophecy series. But it is not simply unfair to us, but especially to the Adventist family, whose reputation you are adjusting. Don't do a "prophecy" series as a thinly veiled excuse to teach the institutionally enshrined 27 fundamental beliefs. Tell them what you really are going to talk about.

Give a prophetic presentation of the third angel's message. Don't stop at truly advertising what you are going to actually talk about--give the Seventh-day Adventist message. Friends, I have nothing against the 27 fundamental beliefs. I believe them, I teach them, nor do I baptize anyone not believing them and committing to live them. But our message is not the 27 fundamental beliefs. It is a prophecy-based third angel's message. Prophecy is what we should not only lead with, but what we should close with too. While the 27 are not opposed to prophecy, let's be honest--they are not all prophecy in the expected sense. In fact, a look at our fundamental beliefs as they evolve from 1872, to 1931, to 1980 shows an easily discovered shifting in our emphasis away from being a prophecy movement and toward institutionalized church. The 27 do not define Adventism; at best, they are the white picket fence surrounding the house containing the precious truth of our message. It is the implications of Adventism that most especially define what we are. And the implications are not often focused upon. The implications (God vindicated by a people who have--through His power--stopped sinning) disturb the waters. They make us unlike other churches. They are not approved.

Weak presentation on the sanctuary. One series I was in, the evangelist gave one talk on the 2300 days, and handed off to the guests three thick Amazing Facts study guides and an element out of a Daniel Seminar to them at the end of that meeting. This was all the instruction they ever received on the sanctuary and investigative judgment before being baptized. This is irresponsible and evil. Come on.

A recent Net evangelistic series (Net98) was especially weak on the standards. We, doing the field work were the ones who had to go out and really present issues like jewelry and how to keep the Sabbath, etc. How we regret the weak approach we experienced there.

Some Potential Solutions

I don't want to sound overly harsh. We must all admit, there are numerous ways to go wrong in doing an evangelistic meeting. But here is a potentially helpful thought. See what you think:

If the work we understand the Lord would have us do is to be a living prophetic movement preparing people for heaven, and not simply a slightly unique church trying to get baptisms, this will be overtly reflected in the methodology we bring to doing the work of an evangelist.

The above represent two very different goals. One is to get baptisms; the other is to prepare people for heaven. I like the way the Oxford dictionary defines a movement: "Body of persons with a common object." Fundamentally we need to become a movement again, our common object being to prepare people for heaven according to the Lord's directions and not only by whatever seems to be practical or expedient. The ethical witness of how we treat those who give us a hearing is going to affect how they hear what they hear. If we seem like just another bunch of salesmen making merchandise of the gospel, we will be detected and will see them retreat from us in disgust.

Are we twinkies (a phrase coined by a friend of mine when we were at one of our colleges where a giant SDA-owned bakery makes every kind of unhealthy cup-cake type snack-product) or an end-time people rationally going about our Father's work? Are we institutionalist Adventists, or movement Adventists? Our actions tell the story.

Next week I want to tell you about how we've sought to approach some of these problems and design them out of our evangelistic approach. I wanted to get into that this time, but my time is up. I must go back out onto the streets and hand out fliers as we did yesterday. If I can, I will open up a new section of the website under the "District" column called "East Carbon Evangelism" where you can follow some of the developments as we work. We plead for your prayers. This week I shared some issues, but the next few I hope will present positive solutions. We have started with a blank page and rethought the processes of evangelism. We are still learning and experimenting. You might say that in part, our work is in alpha or beta stage. Yesterday when we were out there I can tell you this: leading with the prophecy aspect opened the doors for us with many young people. Those we are perpetually told are turned-off by prophecy were anything but. One fellow, when he saw that one of the message topics would be "The Sealing" was overjoyed. "That's what I've been wanting to learn about! he said. Friends, those who fault us for giving an authentic Adventist message are utterly out to lunch. The world is hungry for it. It is more than time for it. May God bless and help us, and light a fire in the desert.