Evangelism the Race to Reach

Evangelism

The race to reach out: Connecting newcomers to Christ in a new century by Michael J. Coyner and Doug T. Anderson (2004) discusses ways of assimilating newcomers to Christ as well as what it means to be a member of Christ's community being given the duty of reaching out to others in the name of Christ. The authors stress the importance of reaching out to newcomers and go into detail about how members of Christ's community can find it in themselves to reach out, in accordance with the gospels, and motivate others to join community of Christ. Though there is much in the gospels about spreading the word of Jesus Christ, the authors question how effective churches are in this age when it comes to recruiting new members. The book attempts to explain just how churches can go about reaching out to newcomers and helping them assimilate to the congregation of Christ.

The book aptly used the term "the race" for how the church should think about recruiting newcomers to the church, but they also state that this race is not one that is headed or ran by one person; rather, the race, using jargon from track and field, should be looked at more like a relay race than an individual one (Coyner & Anderson, 2004, ix). That being said, we need to think about connecting newcomers to Christ as a job that must be done by a team of people working together for the greater cause. Because assimilation is something that doesn't just happen overnight, there needs to be a concerted effort to help aid assimilation. However, the authors note that while there needs to be a high level of teamwork in aiding in assimilation within the church community, there also needs to be certain elements in play (much like there are in a relay race), for example, pacing and practice, handoffs, etc. In this example, the authors drive home the point:

So I worked very hard in my new role. I worked on my speed, endurance, conditioning, and running curves smoothly and evenly -- just like the rest of the team. But I worked especially hard on the handoffs. I worked on precise timing so the baton would be exchanged smoothly and efficiently within the exchange zone, which was absolutely essential to avoid disqualification (Coyner & Anderson, 2004, ix).

Here we can understand that the same type of work goes into a ministry. One can't just run a race without understanding the elements that go into being a successful teammate or understanding one's own role within their team. The authors stress the importance of handoffs here, which is a critical element in the metaphor. Handoffs are critical, according to the book, because the church has to be able to make smooth handoffs "of care, contact, and vital information about the needs, interests, gifts, talents, and passions of the newcomer so that he or she can be vitally connected to God and others" (Coyner & Anderson, 2004, x).

This book is a different kind of book for this specific issue related to recruiting newcomers into the church. It takes a completely different approach than other books that are dedicated to recruiting members to Christ's community, which, in the past, have seemed to focus more on the individual plight. What is so great about this book is that it challenges members of the church to take a more active role in the mission of reaching out to others for the sake of the church and the mission of Christ's word. While it is definitely inspiring, it is also, at the same time, a bit intimidating because we, as people and as church members, are used to placing the duty solely in the hands of the leaders of the church. This book is saying that it is not just the leaders' jobs, but it takes the whole church. This book can help a minister or other types of church leaders to motivate their members and showing them the importance of working as a team. The metaphor of the track and field relay race is a good way to explain how the church should be working as the analogy is quite easy for any individual to comprehend.