Harmony of Grace

Christians often seem to focus solely on converting people to Christianity.  Churches host large events or camps, an emotional experience is created, an altar call is given, and people are encouraged to stick their hands in the air or walk to the front if they want to commit their lives to Christ. Someone then counts the number of hands and the church/pastor brags about how many people were "born again" because of their work.  I have been to so many youth camps and worship evenings where hundreds of people have declared their newfound commitment to Christ. I am sure that many of those people took their promise seriously (In fact, this was the way that I first came to faith in Christ), but too often I would see those same people walking away from the Church a week, month or year later. Before I sound like I am generalising, let me acknowledge that there are people doing the hard work of following up with these new converts in helpful ways after events such as these, but all t...

Andrew Neel To this day, I am yet to meet anyone who enjoys receiving promotional phone calls from companies trying to sell their product. Thankfully, apps like Truecaller have stepped in to save the day, informing us if a phone number has been marked as spam by other users. One of my biggest pet peeves is walking past those little stores in the middle of malls and being flagged down by someone trying to sell me a phone cover or screen protector. How often do we try to sell Jesus in a similar way as these telemarketers and salespeople? Does Jesus really need to be sold? What makes us think that Jesus is such an unattractive product that he needs to be promoted in order for others to want to follow him? In Matthew 4:19, Jesus calls his first disciples to follow him and tells them that he will make them fishers of men. Many Christians seem to think that to be fishers of men, we need to try and sell Jesus to others. I don't know much about fishing but I do know that fish...