What Do I Know?

I have some crazy friends.  Just got off the phone with my best friend, John Crissman.  He said, “Gotta go.  Just drove up on an accident.  Need to call 911 and go pray with some people…” You need people like that in your life.

But wait there’s more crazy people in my life.  A few weeks ago Michael Crouch asked me something in our LTG (Life Transformation Group.  Check it out at www.cmaresources.org ).  I am not sure what we were talking about that led to this, but Michael said, “Do you know anyone who does door-to-door evangelism?”  Seth, our other partner fake-coughs and points at me.  Michael asked, “so when do we go?”

Today, we got our act together and headed out.  Before we left, I gave a few pointers, answered a few questions he had.  Here are some basics.  When you go door-to-door during the day, you won’t meet as many people as on an evening or on a weekend.  You’re trying to get out as many cards with your church info as you can.  And you come back later, evenings or weekends, and people remember that you came by.

Michael asked, “does anyone invite you into their house?”

“not very often.  Usually when they do, they are Christians who are amazed and thankful that there are people out there doing visitation.”

I mentioned that we are also trying to form relationships, to look for ways that the Gospel touches a need in their lives (think Paul in Athens, Acts 17).  I like to ask people if I can pray for them, and if they are cool with it, to pray right there on the spot.  It means a lot to people, and it gives you something to talk about when you come back, because you will go back, right?  RIGHT?  RIGHT!

So. We go out armed with some great cards Debbie Perry made us and a pile of tracts that Phyliis Varnado got for me.  Tracts? you say.  Yes.  “Do they work?” you ask.  My response: I don’t do anything that doesn’t work.  It’s why I go door-to-door.  Because it works.  And I took a vow to do it.  All Methodist pastors take that vow. But that's another story for another time.

We find a lot of people not home.  So we leave a card with church info.  We run into a few people who go to the Christian Church.  I meet Sue Wells’ nephew.  Isn’t it funny how Sue fits into so many of my evangelism stories!?

This was a great day because we got the door shut in our faces by someone who claims atheism.  I was glad that Michael got a little taste of how it goes sometimes.

And the best… we run into Craig Melzer, who flings open the door and angrily asks what we are selling.  I don’t know if it shocked Michael, but I think he was happy I knew Craig and that he was just joking!

I find that Michael is really gifted in keeping conversations going on the front porch!  I mentioned that to him, and he says it’s like a recruiting visit (he is a college coach).  He says you just have to get over the jitters.

Michael watches a little.  Then he says, “I think I have the hang of this, let me try.”  At this point, I have a tear in my eye. How awesome is that—he wants into this evangelism gig bad!  And he does really well.  So I just hand it over to him for the rest of the visits.

At the end, we have the best evangelism visit I remember in a loooooong time.  We knock and a voice hollers, “Come in!”  We open the door and there’s a guy on the couch who is surprised to see us.  “I thought you were my friends!”  I said, “we want to be your friends.”  And he invites us in.

Turns out he is from Saudi Arabia, studying at the university.  He has a soccer jersey on his wall that looks like Borussia Dortmund’s, so I ask about it and it is actually for his favorite team in Saudi.  Michael opens up some conversation about faith and the young man says he is a Muslim.  Michael says he has started reading the Koran, and has finished the first chapter, “The Cow,” and the young man is impressed and happy that we care.  We talk a bit about Jesus in the Koran, and I ask if he has read the “Injeel,” Arabic for the “evangel” or Good News.  He has a little bit.  He mentions that “Christians think Jesus is something like God, but Muslims believe there is only one God.” Michael suggested that he read the New Testament to see what Jesus has to say for Himself.  We encountered what I have heard is a common objection Muslims have—that the New Testament, because of translation has been corrupted.  I think we will be back. And we hope to form a great friendship with this guy.  Michael and I have both been impressed by Muslims’ willingness to talk about serious issues—way more than the average Americans.  I wish, in retrospect, that we had not gotten sidetracked on apologetics issues and had been clear about the Good News.  I think we were blown away that we got invited into a house, and that our new friend was so happy to talk.

As we walked back to the church, Michael gave me some grief: “I thought you said we wouldn’t get invited in to anyone’s house.”

So in a few weeks, Michael and I will hit the same streets again one evening or on a weekend, hopefully to talk with pray for, and hopefully get the chance to share the Gospel with some of the people in our town!

Bishop Asbury Speaks

Those of you who know me and those who have read this blog know that often enough I bring up the practice of visiting house to house.  This kind of evangelism freaks people out for a whole variety of reasons we can talk about later.

What I want to bring up here is the vow we take as Methodist pastors.  “Will you visit from house to house?”  All those who are ordained as Methodist pastors get asked this at their ordination service.  We are all supposed to answer “yes.”  And we do.  I visit house to house first of all, because I took a vow to. (The other vows are worth looking at, too.  Again, later.)  I visit house to house because IT WORKS, on a bunch of levels.  Sometimes it brings people to church and then to salvation.  Sometimes I get to pray with people! People I would otherwise never meet, or know the burdens on their heart.

I have noticed from the beginning of my ministry that almost no pastor who vowed to visit house to house does so.  I have asked all kinds of people—other pastors, District Superintendents from various conferences, bishops—and I get a basic response.  The questions are “heritage” questions.  We are acting out an old ordination service, but we don’t need to live into the vows.  Or, for the specific question, “Will you visit from house to house,” I have been told most often that it means the people in your church.

Francis Asbury, one of the two original Bishops of the Methodist Church, died in 1816, 200 years ago.  I have been thinking that this would be a great year to read his journals.  I have read Wesley’s Journal, and it was probably the best thing I ever read about what it takes to be a pastor.  Asbury was the bishop who laid out a vision for the Methodists in the new nation.  Well, finding Asbury’s journal has been a little harder.  I found one on Amazon, but it is only volume 2 of a three volume set.  No biggie, I figured I would start there.

As I was packing to head to Illinois, I picked it up to put in my bag and it opened.  I glanced at random and came across this gem from May 24, 1795: “I spent part of the week in visiting from house to house. I feel happy in speaking to all I find, whether parents, children, or servants; I see no other way; the common means will not do; Baxter, Wesley, and our Form of Discipline say, ‘Go into every house;’ I would go farther and say, go into every kitchen and shop—address all, aged and young, on the salvation of their souls.”

So, there you have it.  Asbury, who knew Wesley well, gathered that visiting from house to house really  means going from house to house!  And not just the homes of your own people.  He cites Richard Baxter, probably thinking of his great book on pastoral care “The Reformed Pastor,” and John Wesley and the Methodist book of Discipline.

All that remains for us to decide is if this practice makes any sense today.  What has changed since 1816, and when did it change, so that visiting from house to house should be neglected?  And if it should be neglected, can we drop it from ordination, because it seems in poor taste to start ministry with dishonest answers to questions that don’t matter.

Or… could it be that in a day when fewer and fewer people come to church, and very few know much about what it means to be a Christian, that pastors should rediscover this to get to know the people who aren’t coming to church, and for whom the “common means” (going to church, growing up in a Christian culture, etc) are not working?

Visitation

I have told this story before, but it will be new to many of you.

In my first church, Dunaway United Methodist, in Trapp Kentucky, I was supernaturally led into the most effective ministry practice I know: visitation. Richard Baxter in a great book, The Reformed Pastor says you should visit your whole parish and catechize them. If you have too many to do it reasonably, hire assistant ministers! Wesley was a keen visitor, believing he could get more done in a 1 hour visit than in many sermons.

Visitation is also for the purpose of finding those who do not know Christ and commending Him to their souls.

Here's how it happened. So there I was, rookie pastor, not sure what to do. I fell back on my mentor, Howard Willen, and his constant visitation that he often took me on. But it went a lot further than I expected. First, I got out a map of Clark County that some of the men in the church gave me. I think Larry Baker actually put it into my mitts. I divided up the county, taking a pie shaped piece that started in town and went down to the Red River. I gave El Bethel church everything east of Rabbittown, and I went as far west as the roads would take me. Four Mile Creek stops you somewhere out there.

As I was leaving Winchester one day, headed back to Trapp, right there at the Sylvania plant, the Lord spoke: “Every house to the county line is mine.”

Wow! I was armed with real power and encouragement, so I stopped at the first house outside of town. I don't remember much. I think I came to another house where the family went to the Christian church. Then, I came to a farm house. I knocked on the door and said I was the Methodist pastor and the man said, “I am glad you are here. My wife needs help.”

She was having a psychotic episode, brought on by the anniversary of the death of her son in the army.

What do I know about such things, other than to pray and talk about the love of Jesus?

She got the help she needed, and though she would battle it again, she started coming to church, and so did her daughter and son-in-law when they were in town. Her granddaughter came quite a bit, too.

You just never know what will happen when you stop by someone's house. Very rarely will someone be angry. Many are apathetic. Many will be touched. And some, they really need Jesus, but did not know where to find Him.

Go!