The Guerrilla Warfare of Evangelism in the Post-Modern Culture

I remembered in Seminary I had a discussion among my fellow classmates: "Who will be the next Billy Graham?" Billy Graham has conducted many evangelistic crusades. He would rent a large venue, such as a stadium, park, or street. He arranged a group of up to 5,000 people to sing in a choir and then preached the gospel and invited people to come forward. These people, called inquirers, were then given the opportunity to speak one-on-one with a counselor who clarified any questions the inquirer may have had and would pray with that person. As a young high school student I was involved in the Billy Graham Crusade in Toronto in 1995 as a counselor and a follow-up Bible Study leader. I remember being amazed by the thousands of people coming forward to accept Christ as their personal saviour, and then being part of the follow-up efforts allows me to see the fruits of the crusades.

So who will be the next Billy Graham? Among my Seminary classmates we unanimously agreed that there will not be another Billy Graham in our life time. Time has changed. Culture has changed. From experience serving at Teens Conference and various other evangelistic conferences, we can see the effectiveness of the large altar call in traditional evangelistic events are decreasing. In the post-modern culture, we began to see that Jesus in Scripture did not call people to make a "one time" decision about Him, but to follow Him all their lives. He taught that one mark of true faith is a life that continually confesses Him.

In an altar call at a large evangelistic gathering, we can equate it to the traditional military doctrine of organized conflict where the goal is to crush the enemy in a single battle. The result is easily measurable. All we have to do to measure success at the conclusion of a evangelistic gathering is to count the numbers of souls who came forward. However, one issue I am facing at church is that the congregation have a fear of inviting friends and family to such evangelistic gatherings. 1) A fear of not knowing what the friend will think of you. 2) A fear of how such an invitation to affect the friendship/relationship.

In today's post-modern (don't press your beliefs on me, don't preach to me) culture, the very face of evangelism is changing. The idea of lifestyle/friendship evangelism arises. Lifestyle/friendship evangelism happens in informal settings, where both the followers of Christ and non-believers are comfortable with their surroundings. These interactions are often sprung from friendships or through common interests (sports and hobbies). This is similar to guerrilla warfare where it is a small scale setting by irregulars (as opposed to a badge carrying preacher) on advantageous and comfortable terrain.

As noted above, when Christ calls people publicly, He calls people to "Follow Me" - to follow Him and learn from His lifestyle. Engaging in activities where His followers are familiar and comfortable with (i.e. fishing, dining). We can observe that to gain some of His closest followers Jesus engaged in guerrilla warfare of Evangelism. Whenever He preached to a large group in a formal setting, He quickly moves on and engages in smaller intimate group with those around Him.

I feel that one thing the church feels about lifestyle/friendship evangelism is that success and results are difficult to measure. For example, the basketball team at my church has been engaging in lifestyle/friendship evangelism for the past 5 years. It is difficult to give concrete numbers and figures on how effective the ministry is. However, I strong believes that the Holy Spirit has been working among all the members of the basketball team.

How should the church approach the guerrilla warfare of lifestyle/friendship evangelism? I recently observe an interesting reaction my church's reaction to Ride to Conquer Cancer. This is the second year members of my church were involved with the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Cancer has impacted the church deeply since day one, but how come it took the second year around for this Ride to Conquer Cancer to gain visibility and traction and unite the church together. Celebration. The church celebrated together. We celebrated the results of the ride. Celebration brought together those who usually have no interest in cycling and we were able to celebrate together. The was the wake up call for me in terms of the various lifestyle/friendship evangelism efforts throughout the church. We know through Christ we are victorious in the battle. But how do we know we are moving forward in this spiritual warfare? Celebration. We must encourage each group to share and celebrate the victories of each personal guerrilla warfare of evangelism. This also means that every time enter our personal lifestyle/friendship evangelism, we have the expectation to share this celebration.

In terms of the Ride to Conquer Cancer, many people say it is a huge success for one weekend. 4108 riders, raising over $16.1 million. But if you break down the numbers, 4108 riders equals 0.1% of the population of the GTA. Say 1% if you include all the volunteers and donors. $16.1 million is about $5 per person in the GTA. In the overall picture, these are small numbers. If for instance, for a church event, only 1% of congregation took part, raising $5 per person, will we consider that a success? The what guerrilla warfare of evangelism is all about, we need to celebrate these small successes, and when we raise the awareness to the rest of the congregation, this is where the congregation is united.

Reflection on the Ride

Dancing on the Pedals

You know the feeling. You are riding up a big hill, losing momentum, your legs are burning with from the build up of lactic acid. And you look down toward your bike's drivetrain you see you are on the small crank in the front, and largest sprocket in the back. You heart sinks. You are on you lowest gear - you have ran out of gears - mechanically the bike no longer ease your ride up this hill. It is now completely up to you to get up this hill.

You have two options: 1) get off the bike and walk the bike up the hill. 2) put your head down, get up from the saddle, dig deep into the pedals, ignore the burning sensation in your leg muscles, and dance on the pedals up the hill up till you reach the top.

To outside observers, this dance on the pedal is beautiful. If you follow the Tour de France, you will remember 2003 stage 15 as Lance Armstrong danced on his pedals up Luz-Ardiden. Armstrong crashed at the start of the climb, the fall was caused when Armstrong caught the handlebar of his bike on the strap of a spectator's bag. Jan Ulrich, who was riding just behind Armstrong, avoided the crash, and in an act of chivalry he slowed to wait for the fallen riders. Armstrong quickly re-mounted his bike and caught Jan Ulrich. Immediately, Armstrong attacked the group of riders, none of whom could follow him and he powered his way to win the stage by 40 seconds, on his way to a victory on the Champs Elysees by 1 minute 1 second.

This is the insight the came to me as I climb up Hamilton Mountain toward our Mohawk College camp grounds for the end of day one; a 4.4km climb gain about 100m in elevation. One thing that kept me going is that I knew for those inflicted by cancer, those who we are riding for, that cannot get off the ride in their struggles. They have to find the strength within themselves to dig deep and fight. And this fight, to friends and family observing, this is many many times more beautiful than Lance Armstrong dancing uphill on bike pedals.


Strength in Numbers

Another insight is that I would have never done a ride from Toronto to Niagara all by myself. But it was a joy riding along side the other 4108 participants, crews and volunteers. I've witnessed it many times at church, whenever someone hears the dreaded words: "You have cancer." The community comes together in prayer and support. No one should ever ride by them selves. Strength in numbers.

I love my job!!!

Who would have expected this when I started ministry? And this is only exactly one year into my full-time pastoral ministry.

About to call it the night after a 15 hours work day, and have to be up 7 hours later to get ready to get back to church. Even through all this, I love my job.

At the beginning of last weekend, there was a buzz of excitement. Johnny's first Sunday Sermon - the fruits from the church discipleship and leadership training. Jenny's baptism, as well as Daniel's and two from the Chinese Congregation. This is a special baptism, not just because it was my wife's nor the senior pastor's 4th son's. But it is also because the 4 baptismal candidates are from 4 different age groups, different walks of lives, different family backgroud/situation, different struggles in life, etc. It was the most diverse set of candidates. With only one thing in common - the love of Jesus Christ.

So there was a lot of excitement and expectations for the weekend. As well as the fundraising efforts for Ride to Conquer Cancer is in full swing, for the ride was just a week away. (I've also had quite an experience from the fundraising, but that's another post.) So that's why there's a buzz of excitement.

However, while preparing for the ride, I could never image the purpose for which Jenny and I are riding for would shape my week just before the ride.

Immediately after the celebration of the baptism, came the news on Monday morning of Jim's 9 years battle with cancer is over. The church goes into scramble mode to support Jim's family.

Tuesday morning, news came from Vancouver that one of Jenny's relative's battle with cancer is also over, but we will not able to fly back to attend the funeral. Also not all news is bad, we learn that another relative in Vancouver as given birth to a girl.

Wednesday, first time meeting with a regional manager from Operation Christmas Child. For some reason she was lead to share with me her recently story. In Oct 2008, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. But as of last Friday, her battle with cancer is also over - she is now clear of her cancer.

3 days. 3 cancer related event. Is God telling me something leading up to my Ride to Conquer Cancer?

There were other issues to deal with at church that I will not spend time to disclose here. But how can I complain about long hours and stress when I can clearly see God at work? And I have front row seats.

Praise the Lord!!! I love my job.




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