Tim Samoff wrote in this article about the Billy Graham crusade that is taking place this weekend in his hometown of Kansas City. While he was writing in reference to attending the crusade versus other events in the area, he did make this statement:
Something tells me that not many “unsaved” go to see Billy Graham anymore. I just pray that God will use this crusade to reach a few people here in KC who don’t know him yet.
that triggered these questions:
Is the day of the Christian mega crusade over?
Do more Christians show up for Billy Graham Crusades than non-Christians?
I feel that the answer to both these questions is a forthright ‘YES”
I really believe that the mega Christian crusade is coming to an end. I know about Luis Palau, Greg Laurie’s Harvest crusades, and the many small circuit tent evangelists that still hold crusades throughout America. However, I believe that the shift is going from mass crusades with ‘follow-up’ to one-on-one personal interaction and friendship development with relationship via discipleship. People want authenticity and want to see the Christian lifestyle at work in people’s lives before making a decision to serve Christ. Crusades in the past have come and gone and the Christian churches placed way too much emphasis on them to mass-save the people in one giant sweep instead of directly reaching out to their neighbors and their co-workers.
I really believe that more and more people that are going to the Graham crusades are people who are already Christians and are coming to see Mr. Graham just to say they saw Mr. Graham in person. In many Christian circles, advertisement is usually done from within the ‘Christian Bubble’ of Christian radio, Christian tv, Christian bulletin boards in the Christian bookstore instead of advertisements in secular newspapers and on secular television. There are some advertisements in the secular realms but it is usually one ad in prime time or many ads at 3 AM in the morning. With this mentality, we end up re-evangelizing ourselves the majority of the time.
The time is coming where relationships will be watched and observed more than we will ever know.
Good thoughts (thanks for th link)… I wonder, though, what can be done to reach large numbers of the “unsaved” — those big crusades used to (and maybe still do for the time being) really work. If the days of mass evangelism crusades are over, is there another way that we can acheive the effects that Billy Graham did over the course of his life-time? (Like his style or not, he did change this world.)
Tim:
I enjoyed the style of the Billy Graham crusades. In fact, when I discover that they are on television, I usually watch them and I love to hear George Beverly Shea sing. If anyone has come close, maybe it’s the Harvest Crusades that Greg Laurie has done or the ones that Luis Palau are doing right now.
Many people I know are doing the relationalship evangelism with one-on-one friendship that becomes discipleship if the unsaved get saved while some people I know do these ’spiritual block parties’ where they have a neighborhood wide cookout and try to talk about God over a cookout.
Maybe we are in the era where God is wanting quality of his followers over quantity of people saved because we have equated quantity with anointing?
Hmmmm…… Good thoughts to ponder. Thanks for your comment.
Interesting thread …
Disclaimer: I work full-time for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). Having said that, this is my opinion, not endorsed by BGEA:
I think the era of mass/stadium/crusade evangelism is over, but that method will still continue and be somewhat effective in reaching parts of our culture (and other cultures, internationally) for years to come. The reason: Because a major impact is the mobilization and training of churches and lay people to do personal evangelism in conjunction with the mass evangelistic event. A major success story out of every BGEA crusade is how divisions are broken down between denominations and churches and how God breaks through with unity among believers in those cities, rallying around an event like a Crusade. That’s no small thing.
But mass/stadium/crusade evangelism is just one expression of evangelism. Personal/relational evangelism is another. Workplace evangelism is another (tied closely to personal/relational, but in the locale of the workplace specifically). Internet evangelism is another (using new technologies to create communities and communicate the Gospel). I think there’s huge room for more Alpha/Off The Map-style conversational evangelism to break out, esp. in postmodern/post-Christian cultures like the U.S., Canada, and Europe (i.e. counting conversations not commitment; belonging before believing; etc.).
So Billy Graham will have at least two more Crusades (LA next month and NYC next year) Lord willing, and Franklin Graham will have quite a few Crusades next year. Greg Laurie, Luis Palau, and others will also continue holding Crusades. Crusade evangelism will continue, but it’s a smaller piece of the evangelism pie than it used to be. And that’s OK. The times they are a’changin’ …