Learn By Example

1/29/13                      Junior              about 20

Occasionally while witnessing I run into people who attend other locations of my own church, and I know they sit under the teaching of pastors who clearly proclaim the Gospel week after week.  But is something missing?  I have to wonder when the church members I meet are unable to articulate the Gospel for themselves.  One such person was a young man named Junior who attends another location faithfully and serves on the worship team there.  I was out to witness with Brenden, from my church location, and we ran into Junior on the sidewalk, not knowing he was from the other location.  When asked about his hope for salvation, Junior could only speak of his church involvement on the worship team.   During the first ten minutes or so of our conversation I asked questions about his beliefs and not once did he mention Jesus until I finally reminded him of Jesus’ foundational role as God’s sacrifice for our sins.  How could this be?  Is Junior really a believer?  This confusion is very common, even among members of churches that emphasize the Bible rather than tradition.  I have a theory about why this happens.  Young believers take after church leaders, and too often their leaders are not teaching them –by example – to take the gospel into all the world beginning with the streets and marketplaces all around them. Instead, they just learn to go to church meetings! A well-known saying says “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”  Early in Jesus’ ministry, Jesus sent out his disciples two by two to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven – something He had already demonstrated.  The disciples had heard the Gospel proclaimed to them; they had seen Jesus engaged in ministry proclaiming it to others, and now it was time to do the work of proclaiming it for themselves.  Do our pastors include teaching and learning by example as part of their mentoring “programs”?  That’s what Jesus did!