Shotgun Evangelism?!?
"So, how do you get men into church?" That really is quite the question, isn't it? And, its also one I've heard about a "bazillion" times. But, I believe that it is a question that in reality, widely and tragically, misses the mark. For some reason in the American version of Christianity, getting someone into church, or even going to church in general has, for all intents and purposes, become the target, the primary objective, or the end-all goal. And yet, I dare you to show me that in Scripture.
According to the Gospels, how many times did Jesus, or any of His disciples for that matter, go around trying to get a representative of some "target demographic" into the local synagogue? Or, according to the Book of Acts, how many times did the Apostles make their singular focus that of trying to pester someone into some local Church down the street for a weekly worship service? Go ahead and look, check your concordance, read every version you can find, study and parse the Greek, the reality is, whatever you do and wherever you look, you just won't find that approach. Why?!? Because Jesus' focus, and the focus He instilled in His followers, wasn't on getting people into an existing institution, or even any particular building, gathering place, or assembly of people. Jesus approach, interestingly enough, was much bolder than that, it was much more manly, much more in your face, and definitely much more aggressive.
Jesus focus, and the reason He came in the first place, according to Luke 19:10 was "...To seek and to save that which was lost." And, in order to do that, the Scripture tells us that Jesus consistently and intentionally went to where the people he was trying to reach... were. He then invaded their space and invited them into a relationship with himself. And, specifically speaking, as a means of reaching men, Jesus went to where men were in their workaday worlds and everyday lives, invaded their space and their places of isolation, and then called them out and into a fellowship with himself and with a motley band of brothers that was thick with that which the heart of man needs and longs for most.
Believe me, I'm no genius, but what I've found is this... if you can find how Jesus reached men in the Bible, and if you can see that it worked for Jesus and that it was what Jesus actually did, you can be certain that it can and will work for you. Peter did the same thing, and so did Paul, and so did all the rest of Jesus' followers. Why? Because "the Jesus way" actually works, and Jesus' followers were intent on doing what they had seen Jesus do. Why? Because, everything Jesus did, He did for a reason. And, who better to teach us how to reach men, than the One who first reached out His hand and formed man from the dust of the earth? In fact, it is my personal belief that it is in part because of how we were originally made as men, that the "outside" is literally inside the heart of all men, innately. Thus, if that is true, the reality is that if you want to get men into church, you've got to 1) Go to where men are, 2) You've got to call them out and into the place and/or the man they truly most want to be, and 3) You have to speak the language of the brotherhood that the hearts of men long for.
The first organized ClayShoot I ever attended was hosted and organized by a next door neighbor who had become a close friend of mine named Donnie Hoover. I had first met Donnie when I had gone over to his lawn-mower shop business (which was right across the street from the parsonage) shortly after we had moved in. I had gone over intending to just quickly introduce myself to him as his new neighbor but ended up having a pretty lengthy conversation with him. I really began to get to know Donnie though one day after he just showed up to help me and some church guys with the roofing of the parsonage garage. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that since he had been in the roofing business formerly, he was there to make sure we did it right. And, from that point our friendship grew, our families got close, he and his family gave their hearts to Jesus, our families did a home group together and he really began to want to be more and more involved in the life of our church. One day, he even came to me with an idea and asked if he could put together a church ClayShoot. Though I loved the idea, I had never done one, and wasn't really sure how or if it would work. Donnie said, "Just trust me, it'll be great!" So, I did, and it was better than great, it was awesome. I was stunned by the overall attendance, the number of non church affiliated men, and the overall outcome. Every man there, literally not only had a blast, but they also felt the brotherhood of godly men, and the fellowship of faith in a non-church, outdoor setting. Since then, I do ClayShoots twice a year and I am always amazed at how God uses them to speak into the lives of men.
"So, how do you get men into church?" You don't. You take the church to where the men are and to where they want to be, and you speak the gospel to them in the language of men. And, what you'll find if you do this, is that through real friendship, real brotherhood, and real relationship, and real opportunities to be with other men in a godly setting where other men have chosen to be, the Holy Spirit speaks through you and into their lives, and the real Jesus that you live for, that you love, and that you exemplify will become the Jesus they also want in their lives as well. Then, at some point in time, you look that man that has become your brother in the eye and say, "Would you like to pray a prayer with me to invite Jesus into your life?"
