Counting Conversions, pt. 1

In our church newsletter was a list of individuals who recently made a decision for Christ. That's exciting! It isn't about bragging or displaying a trophy on the mantle, but rather so you can celebrate along with them. However, this has caused me to wonder and ponder this whole idea of reporting decisions.

We see it often: A church holds a revival, or a special play or concert, and then claims hundreds or even thousands of decisions for Christ. A sports ministry claims 5,000 decisions in one year. A movie leads to 12,000 decisions in a month. A crusade reports 1,800 decisions in one weekend. I've even read where one man's ministry claims to have influenced over one million decisions for Christ. Really? I'm impressed…I think.

Maybe I'm being too pragmatic, but are preachers more persuasive today? Are we creating an environment that's more conducive for people to accept Christ? Have our methods of evangelism improved so dramatically over the past century that our success stories now dwarf the efforts of some of history's greatest missionaries? Consider this:

William Carey, who is known as the father of modern missions, was in India for seven years before he baptized his first convert.

David Livingstone, who pioneered medical mission work, served eight years in Africa before seeing anyone converted.

Adoniram Judson, who is believed to have been the first missionary sent from North America, was in Burma six years before he saw one person come to Christ.

Hudson Taylor who immersed himself in the language and culture of China, waited ten years!

With that bit of information from church history, how can we explain the fact that a group of students on a week-long mission trip, claiming hundreds of converts, end up being radically more effective in initial outreach than the most well-known missionaries in church history? Were the missionaries of the past simply not smart enough or passionate enough to come up with innovative and culturally relevant outreach techniques? Was God not moving then as He does today? Could it be that there is really some massive revival going on today, that wasn't going on during the greatest century of missions?

Or could it be (and I think it is) that Christian ministers and missionaries of past centuries looked at lasting conversions, where as today we're more concerned about counting immediate "decisions".

Next week, I'll explain. Here's a hint – it has something to do with fruit.