Soul Awakening Part One
by guest blogger Geoff Gordon
Within InterVarsity we have spent a number of years now trying to perfect the art of reaching seekers. Evangelism has been a front burner issue in New England for almost a decade. Yet despite the countless hours given to planning and hosting seeker events, leading "gigs"(God Investigation Groups), and equipping students in personal evangelism, the number of conversions in our region has remained relatively flat. Perhaps there are some fellowships that could be more intentional about their outreach, but on the whole, our low numbers are not due to a lack of evangelistic effort. Innovation and creativity in evangelism will always be critical to the mission, but what we need is not so much a “new and improved” method for reaching seekers, but a more holistic way of thinking about our strategy. Seeker events serve people in the later stages of the conversion process. We need to think just as creatively about serving people in the earlier stages. Many of the students on our campuses – probably most – are not consciously seeking spiritual truth or experiences. They aren’t asking the questions that go with the answers we’d like to give them. More than a clever and relevant way to hear about Jesus, they first need to wake up to the fact that they have a soul.
Within InterVarsity we have spent a number of years now trying to perfect the art of reaching seekers. Evangelism has been a front burner issue in New England for almost a decade. Yet despite the countless hours given to planning and hosting seeker events, leading "gigs"(God Investigation Groups), and equipping students in personal evangelism, the number of conversions in our region has remained relatively flat. Perhaps there are some fellowships that could be more intentional about their outreach, but on the whole, our low numbers are not due to a lack of evangelistic effort. Innovation and creativity in evangelism will always be critical to the mission, but what we need is not so much a “new and improved” method for reaching seekers, but a more holistic way of thinking about our strategy. Seeker events serve people in the later stages of the conversion process. We need to think just as creatively about serving people in the earlier stages. Many of the students on our campuses – probably most – are not consciously seeking spiritual truth or experiences. They aren’t asking the questions that go with the answers we’d like to give them. More than a clever and relevant way to hear about Jesus, they first need to wake up to the fact that they have a soul.
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