Linking and feeding
Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.’ John
21:17
by Carl Wieland
First published in
Update–Australia
October 1996
Some time back, I was in a large church ready to do a creation talk in their evening
service. The pastor, sitting next to me, slipped me a routine, preprinted card of
instructions for visiting speakers. While I fully understood their need for such
guidelines, it unfortunately meant that we would not be able to properly promote
our Creation magazine.
After the service, the church leaders, thrilled with the message, asked about my
coming back again in future years. I gently explained to them that we would
then really want to be allowed to promote the magazine; otherwise we would think
it wiser to allocate precious ministry time to a situation which allowed the message
to go out more freely.
They seemed to think that my concern was simply that we had lost sales revenue.
One said, ‘Don’t worry, we will be very generous to your ministry.’
And their unusually generous cheque was certainly more than any proceeds from lost
magazine sales.
But I had to point out that whatever the sum, it would still not overcome the problem
for next time. I was able to explain that our real concern is using precious
ministry time in the most powerfully effective way to reach into the community;
a strategy I call linking and feeding.
What do I mean? And what is it that is so important about getting people subscribed
to the magazine? Please reflect on what Andrew M. wrote to us recently:
‘Changed my life’
‘… it is a brilliant magazine … my mouth was agape
on reading this magazine for the first time in April last year, lent to me from
an uncle. I was astounded at the ease with which the theory of evolution
can be discredited…. Your magazine has led me to put my trust in Genesis
1–3 as a literal account for the first time. Indeed it has also chased
away doubts in regard to other occurrences in the Old Testament. (I had already
resolved doubts regarding the New.)’
Notice how he had it passed on to him from someone else. He continued:
‘I don’t know if I could concisely express in words what an important
need this magazine is fulfilling. I am so happy to have come to believe that
God created Adam in time just as I sit here writing. (I have always thought,
“If Genesis 1–3 is not literal or historical, and later happenings in
the O.T. are, then somewhere, a line must be drawn where history ‘kicks in’.”
Of course, such a thought troubled me and caused doubts, because such a line is
a very unsatisfactory way of rendering the Bible believable. And the drawing
of such a line does not gel with the way the first few chapters of Genesis are written.
Where could one put it?) Your magazine has encouraged me with integrity and
rigorous scholarship to see that all of Genesis is true (in particular 1–3).
‘It is marvellous and a privilege to have such ready and sturdy evidence
against evolutionary theory and the very destructive idea of the earth having been
around for millions of years. (I had always thought (used to think) that carbon
dating methods were accurate and fool-proof. Therefore when I had doubts about
the Bible because of the ‘proven’ millions of years, I would hit a brick
wall or a dead end. Thank you for enlightening me.)
‘P.S. This magazine has changed MY life.’
So what I mean by the linking and feeding strategy is that we go out there
to church after church, meeting after meeting, but not just to please listeners.
A vital part is then, having shown people the importance of the issue, to encourage
magazine subscriptions, so that they link on to our mailing list.
Pipeline
Once that has happened, we see it as if a pipeline has been established into the
community through that person.
Then the feed part begins. Every quarter, as the magazine hits postboxes,
we are effectively feeding this life-changing, faith-strengthening, witnessing ammunition
down those many pipelines. At the same time, that family will get our Prayer News,
book specials offer sheets and so on, which means that even more information is
feeding down that link to be able to
diffuse out into the community (the way Andrew M.’s uncle shared it with him).
The feeding goes both ways, of course—the outreach is fuelled and
fed by the fact that a small percentage of those so reached become (like you) donating
partners of the ministry. That in turn helps us go on linking and feeding
in an expanding cycle. In the process, a tremendous amount of blessing occurs.
Surviving at university
For instance, Helen G. writes:
‘Three years ago when my daughter was studying sixth form biology, I knew
she would get a big dose of evolution, but I had no scientific information, only
faith in God’s Word, to counter this.
‘The Christian bookshop had virtually nothing on the subject—I ended
up a getting one boring technical book which sat on the shelf. Somehow I heard
about you [generally, this is through someone who has been ‘linked and fed’]
and have found your books and magazine very helpful.
‘My daughter is now doing a second year science degree, and is confident that
the world is God’s creation, and can see the flaws in the thinking of her
tutors who push evolution. Her friend, also doing second year science at university,
was sure that evolution was correct. After reading Stones and Bones she
has changed her thinking, and now sees it as a theory with flaws.’
You can see how it spreads. Isn’t it exciting to consider that this
is happening around the world to literally tens of thousands of people, through
linking and feeding!
Many people think we should be out there battering away at the education system,
or the politicians, or the media. However, such top-down attempts (all of
which have been tried, in the USA, many times) are far less effective in the long
run. How did the great British revivals of the past happen, which caused momentous
social changes? By person-to-person contact, the spreading Holy-Spirit–guided
flame which ended up reaching into the parliament of the most powerful nation on
earth.
By CSF’s [CMI's] materials changing the hearts and minds of people within
‘God’s
army’, the Church, these become part of an ongoing, spontaneous, pulsating
outreach which is:
-
Far more active than anything man could ever coordinate; and
-
Able to penetrate into places which would fiercely resist a frontal assault—e.g.
public education.
State (government) schools
For example, the lady who wrote the above letter has a husband who teaches in the
State school system. He is now using our materials in his school with great
effect! An anonymous survey after the showing of one of our films showed that:
‘there were 5 “don’t knows” and 20 or so “believed
creation is the most likely explanation” and no “evolutionists”.
With another class they are doing a unit on myth and legend so he was able to show
The World That Perished video, using Noah’s Ark as an example of
something that seems to be a myth until the facts are examined carefully.
The teens were amazed at the size of the Ark and were asking a lot of questions
… What a powerful tool this information is in the hands of an experienced
teacher in the State school system.’
(Yes it is, if a believer. What would be the point if it were compulsorily in the
hands of an anti-Christian teacher, forced to teach something they didn’t
believe in? It would become twisted out of recognition, and would be used
against the Bible and Christianity, not for it. Changing hearts and minds
in order to change the laws works better than the other way round.)
Notice how those we have been linking and feeding then feed others.
Some tell us that they have become inspired to begin to teach religious education
at their local State school. Recently, a young man in his first year of science
at university told Warwick Armstrong that he had become a Christian at high school
in this way. His Scripture teacher (a product of link and feed) had
given the class evidence for creation and against evolution, just at the time they
were being taught evolution at the school. He said that this was what directly
led to his conversion.
Over 110 countries
Backed by your practical and prayer , there have been many major outreaches in recent
years affecting thousands. Because of the linking and feeding approach,
many of those thousands were then enabled to reach out to others, both Christian
and non-Christian. (Our research indicates that at least four people get affected
by every copy of Creation magazine which we print.)
Without any organised lobbying by any creationist groups at all, the State Board
of Education in New Mexico recently [mid-90s] voted 13-to-1 to eliminate all references
to evolution in its standards for science education in public schools! This
is heartening, although parents can expect a bitter fight as the forces of evolutionary
paganism are bound to lash back hard. However, notice how it happened all
‘by itself’ through parents and others whose backbone had been strengthened
by these powerful materials.
Just think: because we now print tens of thousands of each issue, we can be sure
that some part of each issue is read by at least 100,000 people—probably closer
to double that number! Think also how important it is to strengthen the faith
of thousands of Christians—how much more they will be emboldened to witness
and to share the truth of the glorious gospel.
We heard recently of a missionary to Japan (where the struggling church is having
huge problems because of evolutionary doctrines) who came across Creation
magazine. She had been teaching the churches theistic evolution, but now she
says she has repented of her error and is trying to repair the damage.
Keith and Cynthia B. write that this ministry is:
‘doing a fantastic job of encouraging Christians (and others) in their beliefs
to understand and learn the facts of creation (and the Bible) which a majority of
Christians are confused about. We have both been Christians all our lives
and known a lot of Bible stories and laws. Evolution being ‘ear-bashed’
during school was sometimes confusing some of our beliefs … We look forward
to reading more of your books, etc. and will aim to “spread the good news”.’
Isn’t it wonderful how God can use a few dozen people scattered around the
world to affect thousands who affect thousands more? All because you help
keep the wheels turning on an effective, continually churning ‘machinery’
which keeps on linking and feeding as we grow.
We are deeply convinced that overall, ‘l & f’
is one of the most effective ways for Christians to be involved in evangelism today.
You may not be a good witnesser (most of us aren’t), but the person you get
‘switched on’ to this creation ministry, so that we can link and feed
them, may be. Or they may know someone else who knows some non-Christian just ‘waiting’
for this information in order for God to ignite the spark in their heart.
In fact, the magazine often ‘does the witnessing for you’. Mark A.
told us that a non-Christian boarder in their house was recently ‘caught’
reading Creation magazine, and has actually used information in one of
its articles in an assignment. Mark says, about his efforts to witness to
this man, ‘Praise God we are [now] getting somewhere.’
Saved
Finally, there is the letter from Alf M., who wrote simply because he was concerned
about his subscription having possibly lapsed. Calling Creation magazine
‘wonderful’, he said, almost like a throwaway line at the end, that
‘my lending, of the magazine to a number of friends has resulted in several
of them being saved.’ What greater incentive could there be for us to
carry on, linking and feeding, linking and feeding, in an ever-expanding
cycle, keeping the wheels grinding, whatever the opposition. Thanks for praying—thanks
for helping—thanks for being a special part of all this.
Related article
| Anthony P said “Thanks for your … website, it’s really easy to navigate and it is a massive bonus to be able to read back-issues of your magazines … without your ministry I probably wouldn’t be a Christian today. Thank you so much and keep up the good work.” So help us do just that!  | | |
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