Frogs and Lizards

I found this analogy from the Good Book Blog quite helpful, (not sure I'd have the courage to call the congregation 'lizards' from the pulpit of though!)

Evangelism is an intrinsic part of any healthy church. It’s part of gospel community. It shapes our gospel teaching. And perhaps it’s helpful to outline two potential approaches to evangelism a gospel-centered church can have: frog-centered, and lizard-centered.

FROGS AND LIZARDS

Frogs are very good at catching flies with their long tongues. They stay on their lily pad, waiting for that fly to come close.

Lizards are not so good at catching flies. But they move around. They see more flies, and some they catch.

There may be a lot of biology-related holes in this analogy (if there are, blame the Lausanne Conference for World Evangelisation 1989—that seems to be where it was first used). But it’s a helpful way of thinking about evangelism... 

A JOB FOR PROS?

Could it be that often we (consciously or subconsciously) think of evangelism as a job for the pros, the people who work for the church? They’re great at explaining and defending the gospel—they have long tongues!

Problem is, the pros don’t get around that much. They’re not in the workplaces; not at the school gates; not in the sports clubs. That’s where the lizards, the ordinary church members, are. They come into contact with a lot more flies (non-Christians) than the professionals.

Every day, the church membership can be seeking to evangelise far, far more people than the church leadership ever can—particularly in a time when cultural reasons for contact with church leaders... are fading.

Read the full article here.