INTRODUCTION
On June 2, 2021, I posted an article entitled “Handing Out Gospel Tracts Can Make a Difference” in which I discussed the advantages of handing out gospel tracts. My June 2, 2021 article was inspired by an April 21, 2021 article by M. R. Conrad entitled “Gospel Tracts Don’t Work: Agree or Disagree?” The link is Gospel Tracts Don’t Work: Agree or Disagree? – Rooted Thinking : Rooted Thinking.
During my recent review of my notebook from an evangelistic preaching seminar (“Essentials of Evangelistic Expository Preaching” offered by the Stephen Olford Institute of Biblical Preaching (now Olford Ministries International) in Memphis, Tennessee), I discovered some notes about the advantages of distributing gospel tracts. This brief article briefly discusses these advantages.
ADVANTAGES OF GOSPEL TRACTS
Any Person Can Do It
Many, if not most, Christ-followers have some reluctance about witnessing to strangers for two basic reasons. First, a Christ-follower may not be confident in their ability to present the gospel or they fear being asked questions they cannot answer. Second, they comprehend the inherent resistance by a stranger to a gospel presentation. Typically, a stranger is going about their business and is not necessarily interested in being interrupted by a gospel presentation.
The advantage to handing out a tract is that all you do is hand out a tract with a brief explanation like “I’d like to give this to you. It is an explanation of God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. If you have questions, my contact information is on the tract.” Handing out a tract is sowing the seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ with essentially no confrontation.
A Tract Sticks to the Point
Most gospel tracts are the product of careful study, writing, and prayer. They are short and to the point so that they stick to the point. Tracts do not “rabbit trail.” Brevity can be an advantage in this busy, microwave kind of world in which people are always in a hurry.
A Tract Does Not Lose Its Temper
Hopefully, a gospel presentation to a stranger will not result in someone losing their temper, but it can happen. Some Christ followers think it is their job to convict a lost person of their need for Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. When there is resistance or no response to their presentation they can sometimes get frustrated and lose their temper. Losing one’s temper is a terrible witness. A tract just sits there and cannot lose its temper.
People Will Read a Tract When No One Else is Looking
For some lost people there is peer pressure that discourages them from reading tract or talking about spiritual issues. Such a person can take out and read a tract when no one is looking. They can absorb the content of the gospel without the negative bias of peer or societal pressure.
People Will Read a Tract When No One Else is Around
It is the Holy Spirit who convicts a lost person of their need for Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Oftentimes, that happens in the quiet that comes with reading the tract when no one else is around. A lost person may better hear God’s voice in silence and solitude than in a public setting where they have many other things on their mind.
A Tract Always Stays with a Person
Yes, some folks throw away a tract, but many do not. Some of the stories in the Conrad article attest to the fact that tracts are read.
A Tract Leads Many People to Christ
As mentioned above, the Conrad article reports instances where tracts led a person to Christ.
Chick Publications website (see the link at Chick.com: Information on evangelism) presents the following testimonies:
“I gave a man a Chick tract at a train station. Several hours later he rang our doorbell. After talking awhile, he got saved.”
“HI THERE! Was read by my son as a joke —scared him silly— he belongs to Jesus now.”
“A friend got saved due to THIS WAS YOUR LIFE. He had been a Satanist.”
“I found a Chick tract in the restroom in high school. I was saved from reading it.”
CONCLUSION
If you hand out tracts I hope this article has been an encouragement. If you don’t hand out tracts I hope you consider doing so. The seed of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ can be sown in many different ways and distributing gospel tracts is one way.
HOW GOD CAN SAVE YOU?
If someone is reading this post and is unsure of their salvation, please read below.
God’s Plan of Salvation
In the beginning, God, who is holy, created the entire universe. As a part of His creative actions, He made humans in His image to know Him. For a while, everything was right between God and our ancestors, Adam and Eve. But Adam sinned, and his sin was passed down to all of humankind whereby we became separated from God. Nothing we could do on our own could bridge that separation so that without God’s intervention, hell would be our eternal destination.
Fortunately for us, in His great love and mercy God provided humankind with the only means of salvation, which is through Jesus Christ who is God’s only unique Son. While retaining His deity, God the Son became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law Himself and taking on Himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever repent and trust in Him for their salvation. Jesus rose from the dead, showing that God the Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us has been exhausted. He now calls us to repent of our sins and trust alone in what Christ did to save us.
If we repent of our sins and completely trust in Christ alone that He died for our sins and rose to life from the dead, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God.
Scripture References: Genesis 1:1, 27, 31; Habakkuk 1:13; Genesis 2:7, 18, 21-25; Genesis 3:1-7, 23-24; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 3:19-20, 23; 5:17-19; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 6:23; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 John 4:10; John 3:16-18; Mark 1:15; Romans 1:4; 4:25; John 3:5-8; 1 Peter 1:3.
“Sinner’s Prayer”
Lord, Jesus Christ, the only unique Son of God, thank You for Your free gift of eternal life. I know I’m a sinner who cannot save myself no matter what I do, and I deserve to spend eternity in hell. But, I know that because You loved me so much, You voluntarily died on the cross for me taking my sins upon Yourself, and You physically bodily rose from the grave showing that Your sacrificial death was sufficient payment to give me eternal life in Heaven. I now repent of my sins and trust alone in what You did for my eternal salvation. Please take control of my life as I now receive You as my Lord and Savior. Thank You so much for saving me. I am now Yours forever! (Scripture references: John 1:1-4, 11-14; John 3:16; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:21-26; Isaiah 53:4-6; Mark 1:15; Acts 16:31; Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9-10, 13; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; John 10:27-29).
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