Entertain Them Into Jesus

In late August I will begin approaching pastors concerning the possibility of teaching bible college material in their churches. I am convinced that it is God’s will for me to begin planting CTT (Church Based Theological Training) classes in Melbourne. The problem I am facing is how to promote those classes.

It is very unlikely that a pastor will allow me to immediately begin a class in their church. This is not because they don’t want me to teach a class there. It is because at this time there are very few individuals interested in taking classes. So a lot of my ministry for the first few months will involve promoting the CTT program.

I know that God desires for me to plant classes local Baptist churches. The question in my mind is, “how do I get the people to come?” This same question is asked by pastors around the world on a daily basis. Unfortunately there is not an easy answer to that question. So I began researching different methods used by churches to bring people to services. I hoped that one of these strategies would help me reach out to prospective bible college students.

A popular method used by churches to gain members is entertainment. The church that uses this method will put on a show every Sunday. The goal of each service is to gain some kind of an emotional response. They will make you laugh, cry, and shout for joy in the same service. Many people will continue to attend that church because they “felt good.”

It is easy to see the problem with this method. Everything is geared to get an emotional response. The focus is not on actual transformation of the heart or life. They just want the people to feel good. This kind of promotion will bring in members by the truckload. But a few months later they will either be burned out, or have left the church. The problem with basing your ministry on entertainment is that it gets harder to entertain people every single week. After a while they get bored and leave for the next church that makes them feel good.

I must admit that this method is the one that I am most comfortable using. God has given me a talent for making people laugh. He has also allowed me to have an outgoing entertaining type personality. Most people are frightened about getting in front of large crowds. My greatest passion in life other than preaching God’s word is acting. I just love entertaining large audiences of people, the larger the better. This is not really because I am a great actor. It is more due to the fact that I am totally relaxed in front of large crowds.

If my personality had its way my presentation of CTT would turn into an entertaining combination of stories and jokes. And there is a pretty good chance that I would gain students because of a funny joke or tear jerking story. But those students would come because I made them feel good, or cry. A few months later they will no longer be taking CTT classes. Yes I can still make people laugh during my presentation. But I must make very sure that they are coming as a result of God’s conviction or call instead of an emotional response.