Checking New Members for Clarity

                                                                                                                 Vol. XXI, No. 3, March 2008

As a former pastor, I have a high respect for the good intentions of many pastors. However, using yes/no evangelism questions at the end of a service in a highly pluralistic society is woefully lacking. At the end of services we often ask one or two yes/no questions and then present a person to the church with the intention of baptizing him at a later date. We then often leave this person to fend for himself spiritually. God forgive us when we treat people like prizes to be presented by hurriedly presenting decisions at the end of our worship services. A better approach is to affirm the person’s responding to God’s movement in his or her life and then to be deliberate in checking for clarity of the gospel message.

    Will McRaney, Jr., The Art of Personal Evangelism (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, 2003) p. 70