When I was in the Boy Scouts, I heard a story about a leader who wanted to get the 'perfect tent for all occasions'.
When he arrived at the shop and described all he wanted the tent to do, the salesman said he had the perfect tent to meet all those needs. He opened his catalog and showed him a picture of a circus tent — sturdy, rugged, waterproof, high ceiling with plenty of room for growing teenagers, suitable for all occasions.
Obviously, no scouting group wants to carry a circus tent on a backpacking trip, so the leader recognized he would need to focus on finding a tent that would meet their needs for most occasions.
The same is true for tracts. There is no perfect tract for all occasions.
When selecting a tract, there are three key questions to keep in mind:
- Will this tract communicate clearly?
- Is this the tone I want to use?
- What do I want the reader to do?
You might think the obvious answer to #3 is that you want the reader to repent and receive Jesus as their Saviour. And that is a good goal. But is it the goal of THIS tract?
Many people have been helped by considering the Engels Scale. It says that there are many small steps in coming to faith in Jesus. Very few people are prepared to jump from 1 to 10, so we need to select tracts that will start where they are and aim to move them up a couple of steps.
I live in a muli-cultural community where many of my friends are Hindus, Buddhists or Muslims. Many of my tracts are designed to help move person to Step 5, where they decide to investigate the claims of Christ. The Holi Tract leads them to a page where they can receive a regular series of emails going through the Gospel of Matthew. It is my hope that at they read these emails they will come to faith in Jesus.
The tract I've worked the most on (Bi-lingual editions of the Four Spiritual Laws) was written an audience where most people agreed with the first three laws. These people were at Step 6 or 7. This tract was designed not only to bring a person to a personal commitment to Jesus, but also to help them establish good habits of growth, including regular Bible reading and fellowship with other believers in church. This tract was designed for discussion, rather than something to be left in letterboxes.
The village edition of The Four Spiritual Laws, was designed for people at Step 1 or 2. It starts with a definition of God as the one who created the world. It then introduces the concept of the fall and how that affected all people.
I put all the bi-lingual editions of the Four Spirital Laws online so that you can use them whenever it is appropriate. This website is still in draft form, so if you see any errors please let me know so I can fix them.
Let me pray for you:
Lord Jesus, continue to lead us to materials that are helpful for the people in our community. I pray that we will strive to be good communicators who care deeply about the people we interact with, showing them Your love and Your message of salvation.
This week I also posted some conversation starter tracts for you. These were designed to help people see that the Bible is relevant and can make a difference in their life. Your discussion with a person about the content on this card could lead naturally to a Discovery Bible Study where they disover for themselves what Jesus has done for them and what it means to be a disciple (follower) of Jesus. More about Discovery Bible Studies later.