District Cancels Soulwinng Seminar

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by edjen01

i believe part of the problem is the term "soul winning"....like its a contest, game, or something we win or lose. we don't win or lose any souls other than our own.

according to Jesus and St.Paul...if we allow the Spirit to live in us...we will bear the fruit of the Spirit...the fruit of the Spirit naturally attracts people because these things are missing from our world...giving us the opportunity to share the fruit of the Spirit with them and its source.

you do not train a fruit tree to bear fruit...it is a natural result of correct growth. i believe the reason many believers feel the need to attend "soul winners camps"...is because its easier to get hyped-up and repeat actions...then grow. growth is not easy, fast, or instantly noticed...and that is exactly what many believers/pastors are looking for.

I'm not sure I follow everything you're saying, but I do agree that bearing fruit is the natural result of correct growth. Isn't "fruit" the fruit of the spirit, though? Not people converted through evangelism?

I think the church is often stuck in a box, and so I empathize with the efforts of some to break that open. Even if its sometimes overzealous.

Also, one evangelist places an emphasis on community service as an "outreach" program, which is really brilliant, considering that's really what the church should be doing anyway. (Serving the community.) If we would serve people as we were meant to do, it would create natural opportunities to share the Gospel.

As I mentioned previously, many people cloister themselves away from the community, and then expect 1 hour a week on Saturday morning to do the trick. No, what is needed is regular interaction with potential new converts, and no-strings-attached service to those who are in need.

I once mentioned in an outreach meeting that we should try volunteering at the homeless shelter or nursing home, and one woman spoke up and blandly asked, "Well, what would be the point?"

Too much emphasis is placed on numbers, and some often feel that if a conversion isn't imminent, then that person (or those people) are a waste of time.

Currently, our church is involved in ministry with the local jail. Most of the program is focused on offering freedom from addiction classes and anger management classes. However, it DOES create opportunities for witnessing, that we would otherwise lack. The important thing, though, is that you must have the best interest of the inmates at heart--if you only care about adding a number to your church roster, the effort will fail.

People need to feel that the church ACTUALLY cares about them, whether or not they convert. No-strings-attached. Those are the kinds of soul-winning "programs" that I'm interested in (which really should be a lifestyle anyway), and IMO are the only ones that will be effective. People have had quite enough of self-centered religion.

Soul-winning will never be successful if you don't have regular positive interaction with sinners. So...I said all that to say...I think some of the "popular" soul winning evangelists are simply trying to break people out of their little shells and get them into contact with sinners. It seems novel to some, which is why they need training or a "seminar." But it seems like the first church did just that--they were out in public, on the streets, etc.

[edjen01]

I believe that if we focus on correct growth...and produce fruit...personal evangelism will be a by-product.

Yes...the fruit...is the fruit of the Spirit...which is what all those who are born of the Spirit are to be producing. We are not told to produce "souls"....but fruit. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it did not bear fruit...He said that people know we are His followers because our love(a fruit)...not because we have baptized thousands or performed great miracles.

grow the fruit...give it away...and when people partake they will want to have it in thier life...and then we can introduce them to the source. no pressure. no hype.

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by tv1a

Dateline: 03.24.09



If soul winning was my passion, I would not have cancelled the seminar. Even if the speaker cancelled, the least one could do is hold a prayer session and pray for souls. It made me sick that a decision was made to cancel a soulwinning seminar because the headline act wasn't able to attend.

This decision to cancel the soulwinning seminar shows the lack of vision in the Home Missions department. Truth be known, they have no idea how to produce exponential results without smoke and mirrors and bait and switch.

My sister attends the same church as the scheduled speaker. We talked about his sucess. She says his passion is soulwinning. He burns with a fire so hot it attracts people to him like a moth is drawn to a flame. You can't teach that type of passion in a 2 hour seminar. You have to do it.

What is lacking is passion for souls. Some people are too busy being fake to have a passion for winning the lost. People see that and are turned off by the phoniness.

The by product of passion is what happened to our church. Staff meeting went a little long Sunday morning because God begin to move in a mighty way. We were late starting church. When we opened the doors, people were lined up almost a block to get in. Rough estimation, 70% are brand new people. They feel the fire. They sense the passion. They want what we have.

I would like to think whoever was responsible for cancelling the soulwinning seminar would be man enough to step down. One needs to walk away if all they can do is run a dog and pony show. It may look good for a while, but eventually the mess the dog and pony show leaves has to be disposed of.

deleted because it just aint worth it.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by edjen01

I believe that if we focus on correct growth...and produce fruit...personal evangelism will be a by-product.

Yes...the fruit...is the fruit of the Spirit...which is what all those who are born of the Spirit are to be producing. We are not told to produce "souls"....but fruit. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it did not bear fruit...He said that people know we are His followers because our love(a fruit)...not because we have baptized thousands or performed great miracles.

grow the fruit...give it away...and when people partake they will want to have it in thier life...and then we can introduce them to the source. no pressure. no hype.

Right. And if the church is hiding their fruit under the bushel basket, so to speak, they have no one to give the fruit to.

My point is simply that some of these training seminars are teaching just that--get outside your doors, go give the "fruit" away, and souls will be added as a natural result. LOL!!!!

In that regard, many people DO need teaching on how to win souls, because it seems the church has forgotten how to be in the world but not of the world.

[tv1a]

Originally Posted by Ferd

deleted because it just aint worth it.

And this was worth keeping?

[tv1a]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Right. And if the church is hiding their fruit under the bushel basket, so to speak, they have no one to give the fruit to.

My point is simply that some of these training seminars are teaching just that--get outside your doors, go give the "fruit" away, and souls will be added as a natural result. LOL!!!!

In that regard, many people DO need teaching on how to win souls, because it seems the church has forgotten how to be in the world but not of the world.

My point is simply that some of these training seminars are teaching just that--get outside your doors, go give the "fruit" away, and souls will be added as a natural result. LOL!!!!

You don't have to push passionate people out the door. A person who wholeheartedly believes in something will be bold in communicating their beliefs.

In that regard, many people DO need teaching on how to win souls, because it seems the church has forgotten how to be in the world but not of the world.

It's difficult to win people in our circles because we try to turn fruit into nuts. Many of our churches do the bait and switch. They place more emphasis on non biblical opinion than they do the actual Word of God.

Many people need to be taught good people skills instead of the latest "soul winning" technique. You win a person to you, you are more likely to win them to Christ.

I don't buy we need to teach people to win souls. The Bible says after we receive the Holy Ghost, we get the power to become witnesses. The Bible says the Spirit will give us the right words to say at the right time.

A person full of passion will not have a problem letting their light shine. I hate to go back to Vicky Oliver, but that lady doesn't have any new soul winning tricks to pass along. She is successful because she is passionate about soul winning.

No one can teach passion. Passion is caught not taught.

[tv1a]

It is difficult to relate to people when isolation has been imbedded in our minds for so many years. We are taught from the cradle we are better than everyone else because we have "truth" and they don't. It may not have been explicit in many cases, but a lot of times it has been inferred. That mindset is still dominant in many areas. You know and I know many in our religious circles are not ready to leave their religious boxes.

You look at the soulwinners in any church. They are passionate people. They are fired up and ready to storm the gates of Hell.

A question that comes to my mind is whose fault is it that the common man cannot win souls? L-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-I-P.

If the leadership cannot win souls, or "teach" soul winning, there isn't much chance for the common person on his/her own to be able to produce results.

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

I don't know about soul winning coming naturally--at least not in today's church culture. The church has been so accustomed to programmed evangelism and is often so out of touch with the common man that I can see the need for some training and teaching. Maybe to undo some of the mindsets and get a few people out of their religious boxes?

Some Pentecostal people cloister themselves away from the community and even friends or family, and then once a week they want to go out and make a great impression for God? No, I think training and seminars are a good thing. Many people have forgotten how to win souls, IMO.