Tag Archives: evangelism

On a crisp late summer morning recently, I made a discovery about myself.  I was exiting the front door of my humble abode when I noticed a slip of paper sticking out of the mailbox in my peripheral vision.  I pulled the slip of paper out of the mailbox to find it was a religious tract.  Not just any tract mind you, but a ‘How will you spend eternity’ tract.  The modern equivalent of a ‘turn or burn’, ‘repent or be sent’ message.

Now I must confess that everything in the tract was the truth.  And yet despite the truthful nature of the tract, I hated the slip of paper.  And it occurred to me that I hate all religious tracts in general as well.  This realization for me is a substantive departure from what I used to think about this subject.  I used to be all in favor of them.  I used to like them.  I used to think they were an invaluable tool in reaching the lost.

And as I stood there in my driveway, staring at the piece of paper; I knew I could never look at tracts the same way again.  I’m not sure how long this change in my head and heart has been brewing.  It must have been coming for some time, and my conscious brain is only just now catching up to this.  The reasons I hate tracts, I discovered there in my driveway are many.  This tract in particular was endemic of the problems I have with them in general.

The premise involved in this tract, and tracts in general, I think are hopelessly flawed.  It assumes that someone can be persuaded too make a life-changing decision from the information contained in six detail panels on a total of both side of a sheet of paper smaller than a three by five card folded neatly three times.  There just isn’t room to have a substantive enough dialogue in this format for this to occur.  This format provides for no more than a few hundred words at most, less if there are any graphics involved.  Can someone be convinced to come to Christ from this?  The Bible says that with God all things are possible, so I have to assume the answer is yes, but in the vast majority of cases, it is highly doubtful.

The size and space limitations of this tract lead to another issue I have.  They are by and large truthful, but the format restrictions prevent any substantive discussion of any issues.  As such, tracts can only present a brief summary in a highly condensed format.  The format restrictions and summary nature means we are treating God like so much condensed soup.  The vast gulf of information is left out of this process virtually guaranteeing that an informed decision is impossible.

The theology that drives these things is in my view also troublesome.  Most commonly it is entirely a works based salvation that is being expressed.  This form of theology is something minimizes the role of grace in the life of the average believer.  It reinforces the role of self in terms of ‘getting things done for God’ as being important.  And in the opinion of many, myself included, it is a very egocentric almost narcissistic perspective.  This perspective seems to almost believe that if they work hard enough the grace freely given to them can be earned in some way, which isn’t even remotely possible.

The tone of most tracts also really bothers me as well.  Most of them tend to operate from a condescending perspective.  They tend to treat the reader like an idiot or a recently awakened coma patient with no memory.  Neither of which is an effective method of getting the point across.  Who wants to willingly read a document filled with condescension?  Who wants to be talked to like they’re a mental midget?

The tone is also usually absolutely negative.  This negativity can and often does create hostility on the part of the target audience.  It can reinforce all of the stereotypes regarding people of faith, that we’re arrogant no-it-alls mostly.  It also creates a division of us and them.  Can a highly condensed summary document of a few hundred words filled to the brim with negativity and condescension really overcome another divisive hurdle?  I find it highly doubtful.  And I am quite dubious of any claims to the contrary.

Given the flaws of the tract format, one cannot help but come to the conclusion that this is a tool that isn’t effective anymore, (assuming it ever was).  One cannot help but ask the most logical question at this point.  If tracts are not an effective tool, then why are they still used at all?  If its time has come and gone, why still use it?  The most proximal answer can be found in the form of evangelism that usually underpins those that use tracts.  The approach is quite often a shotgun method.  It assumes that if something is done often enough for a long enough period, it will hit someone receptive and be helpful.  This approach is horribly ineffective, most cases the response rate is less than one percent.  Comparatively speaking, any marketing firm whose main method of marketing got a less than one percent favorable response rate, wouldn’t be a marketing firm very long.

There is also a view that a low response rates are fine, because this tool is planting seeds for future germination.  Given the problems with this format, I can’t see how anything could germinate after having been exposed to this tool.  In fact, if anything, the use of this tool makes the work of true evangelism harder rather than easier.  It hardens hearts to the message and stiffens the resolve of the un-reached against any future contact by God to them.

Given all that I have said to this point, one might reasonably conclude, that I believe that the tool that is a tract needs to go the way of the dodo bird.  And that is a fair inference to make, as I do believe that the current construct is broken beyond repair and longer functions as intended.  And as a stand alone tool it is worthless and useless.  If however the tract were to jettison the entire existing construct, is retooled to rid itself of its negative traits, it could function as a device that supports a more effective tool.  Say using it in concert with a service evangelism project, or as a starting point for a proper dialogue in an appropriate setting.  It might even be possible to use it in concert with a real effort at evangelism.

What the tract needs to become is a supporting device.  It needs to embrace brevity to carry simpler messages that can actually entice someone to want to know more.  We need to realize that it is the starting point for discussion, not the place in which the entire discussion can take place.  The negativity, condescension, arrogance, problematic theology, and divisive nature all need to go away.  They should be replaced with a positive message, filled with humility, an event level tone, and an inclusive nature. We should see it as a mechanism to entice a believer to want to know more.  The current format doesn’t do that and ends up in our waste stream nearly as fast as toilet paper.