by Jim Reimer
Would you go into a tent at a Fair that was offering dream interpretations, spiritual readings and encouraging words?
More than 50 people did during the July 1st Canada Day celebrations at the Rotary Lakeside Park in Nelson BC. The tent was called Joseph’s Tent of Dreams sponsored by our church, Kootenay Christian Fellowship.
We felt it would be good to engage the culture with words and concepts they could understand to present the gospel of Christ. We had more than fifty seekers enter our tent in an eight hour period, which we called Joseph’s Tent of Dreams. We were surprised and delighted at the response we received from individuals hungry and seeking for spiritual realities. By abandoning the Christian dialect (Christianese) we were able to share the gospel of hope, forgiveness, and love in terms that people were open to and could understand.
We offered people three options: Dream Interpretations, Spiritual Readings, and Encouraging Words. From the moment we set out our sign, till we closed the booth; people were waiting to see us. When they came into our booth, we would hear their dreams and encourage them. One lady in her early sixties, had nightmares since she was five years old. She had gone to doctors, psychiatrists and spiritual healers, all to no avail. We were able to share with her the scriptures, the love of God and prayed with her.
Another young girl gave us her story and after we ministered to her, she accepted Christ as her Savior.
Another lady wanted spiritual readings done. We asked her for a moment, during that moment we sought the Lord for a message for her. A silence ensued for about a minute and then she began to tell us about all the powers she possessed. She claimed she could heal people, tell their future, and various other things. Suddenly I felt God prompt me to ask her if she felt like she was in chains and darkness was hanging over her head. She almost flew out of her chair, leaned across the table and with hope in her voice exclaimed that is exactly how I feel! We then proceeded to tell her that there are two powers, one brings chains and darkness, and the other brings light, love and freedom. We offered to pray with her to come to the “true Light” sadly she refused. However, she now knows there is a difference.
Most everybody we saw, we sensed were drawn closer to Christ as a result of this unique approach to evangelism.
God is calling this culture by awakening a spiritual hunger within their hearts. We need to respond to this hunger. This is what characterized Apostle Paul’s success. 1 Corinthians 9:22 “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” He quoted from the poets of the culture, he used language that people understood, and his ministry was punctuated with the power of God. That is exactly what we endeavored to do in Joseph’s Tent of Dreams. When we engaged people with language they could understand we had amazing results.
Coming away from this event, I realize that if we want to see a harvest of souls in this culture, there are three things we need to do:
1. Engage in Training to reach people of this culture using “whatever means” to win people to Christ.
2. Increase Corporate Prayer, as only when we pray TOGETHER will we see the manifestation of the grace of God.
3. Try New Methods to fulfill the great commission in response to the prevalent Spiritual awareness in our modern day culture, often referred to as the New Age movement.
Personally, I am challenged to be better at engaging our culture, speaking into people’s hearts, and seeing the manifestation of God’s power in a tangible way. We felt totally out of our comfort zone, but God came through!
We are committed to learning more and putting into practice methods that are effective in reaching people. What ways has God led you to engage the culture you are in that stretched or challenged you?
Jim Reimer is the Lead Pastor of Kootenay Christian Fellowship in Nelson, BC and an Elder in FCA Canada. He is also the host for this year’s FCA Canadian Convention from October 22-24. If you have any questions or thoughts about this outreach or this article you are welcome to reply in the comments or email Pastor Jim directly.
