An interesting outreach tool

Hubby and I saw a Mennonite couple — on my birthday, over the summer — on the way to the cinema doing their part for Christ’s mission. They were nearly a stereotype: he wore a beard and suspenders; she, a plain dress and a “sin sifter” bonnet, trying to distribute something.

I had to have what they were giving out.

Rather nice: a CD entitled Secure in Jesus, with a little copy of the Gospel of John (without comment or leading directions) added. The singing was a set of pleasant typically-Free Church gospel tunes, with a little spoken sermonette halfway through.

A tad frumpy, but would have been welcome enough if I were already sympathetic to the kind of churchmanship and had a CD assisted commute. But then again, the Mennonite image is hardly hot hot sex sex.

A more stylish (but fully self-integrated, of course) church might try a version of this outreach. Music style goes far to targeting the populations you want to reach, and religious music has more genres than ever before.

By Scott Wells

Scott Wells, 46, is a Universalist Christian minister doing Universalist theology and church administration hacks in Washington, D.C.

7 comments

  1. Lucky you! My encounters with Mennonites are usually restricted to Western Maryland, and Derek’s hometown–where I don’t walk away with Free Church gospel tunes, but shoofly pie and pumpkin rolls!!

  2. Dear Readers, please note–the Derek I speak of is not the Derek who posts here. One is my boyfriend, the other is my male friend and colleague, and they are not the same person, though colleague Derek did once receive an email that had been intended for not-yet-boyfriend Derek. An embarassing addressbook mixup; thankfully, the letter itself was innocent.

  3. Just got a cd in the mail from a local Baptist Church – addressed to ‘resident”, — ‘Christmas Classics: Old and New”
    apparently localy produced Cd – not a CDR. Havent played it, but the idea sounds good —

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