There are some great resources around for reaching people with the gospel—books on apologetics like If you could ask God one Question and Naked God—books that explain the gospel clearly, like A Fresh Start and Christianity Explained—and, of course, there are Bibles and Gospels that we can hand to people to check it out for themselves.
All these resources have one thing in common: they expect people to be interested enough to read them. But there are many, many people who do not have reading as part of their natural make-up. Maybe they struggle with reading in some way; maybe they just didn’t come from a reading kind of family. Things in the UK are not as bad as they are in the USA, where almost 60 per cent of adults have not read a single book since they left school. But there is still a huge number of people on this side of the pond who will simply never be reached through handing them a book; they will never open it.
It’s not that these people are unable to read; they will often read magazines and newspapers, and may consume a lot of written material via electronic media—email, text messages and the internet. But the type of reading they engage in is qualitatively different from reading a book.
It’s not that this group is in any way stupid or unthinking. It’s just that they are not tuned into reading—and so will never be reached by books.
Encouraged by churches that work in more urban areas, The Good Book Company has developed a DVD-based evangelistic course that is designed to reach this growing group of non-readers. Tales of the Unexpected aims to share the gospel with non-readers by introducing them to Jesus through his parables. Tales of the Unexpected keeps sessions interesting, with plain language and a DVD used in conjunction with hearing and discussing the Bible passages. It is designed to work in small groups or one-to-one, and can be done in an informal setting in a home. For each parable, there are three short five-minute DVD clips that explain the context and background, explain the story itself, and then apply the meaning of the passage to us today.
Users can opt to hear and watch these digestible segments delivered by either Pete Woodcock or Lizzy Smallwood, or a mixture of them both. Both Pete and Lizzy are down-to-earth people who have lived and ministered in inner-city areas. They are excellent communicators who speak in everyday language. The video is also packed with the testimonies of ordinary people who have come to a living faith in Christ.
Tales of the Unexpected is the first in a new DVD series called Jesus and You, which uses straightforward language to communicate the gospel to ordinary ‘non-book’ people. This first title covers Jesus’ parables of the rich fool, the runaway son, the stay-at-home son and the Pharisee and the tax collector. With only four sessions, Tales of the Unexpected doesn’t require a major time commitment (another feature that was requested by churches looking for evangelistic resources for this group).
Language barriers
Jesus and You uses the NIRV translation to encourage understanding, and biblical concepts are presented clearly on the DVD and in the accompanying booklet. It is part of our Access for All program of producing easy-to-understand resources with crystal clear language. This makes the course suitable for non-readers in general, but also for those who may struggle with the mechanics of reading, or those with English as a second language. We don’t think that language barriers should be a barrier to people hearing the good news about Jesus.
How it works
Jesus and You sessions kick off with a discussion drawn from everyday life. The group listens to a Bible passage read by the group leader, and participants can follow the text in a printed booklet. An optional ‘memory test’ activity helps the group recall what happened in the passage, and the leader asks questions to help everyone think about the passage. A short DVD presentation opens up an aspect of the Bible story, and questions follow. The group can move on to personal application questions. The process repeats as groups work through a passage, and each session ends with a parting challenge from the story. Sessions should take less than an hour to work through.
Why Jesus and You?
We’re excited about the Jesus and You series, because it offers another way to reach people who may not come to a church meeting—people for whom a course like Christianity Explored may be too long and demanding. We hope Jesus and You offers your church new opportunities to draw people to the gospel.
