Are Tracts Effective Witnessing Tools?

and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

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Verse 17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't "hear" a piece of paper, which is wholly my point.

Aibrean said:

Verse 17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't "hear" a piece of paper, which is wholly my point.

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Good... now your focus is not on being honest or frank in response, but whether you have given proper consideration to an important issue. Without proper consideration, a person can end up being an adversary to foundational principles on Christianity, which irritates people.

When the apostle Paul wrote Romans, the printing press was not yet invented. No one used tracts, as the technology was not present yet to make them possible. That took another 1400 years. However, just as Christ and the apostle Paul used what was written 1400 years previously in the Old Testament to find universal principles that could be applied to a much later developed culture in setting out the New Testament, so we too in this day and age can apply universal Scriptural principles to the cultures we live in during modern times. For instance, the bible has no reference to computers (except maybe symbolically in end time prophecy events), but that does not mean that we cannot use a computer to evangelize, if we are consistent with overall biblical principles. In fact we should, just as Christ and Paul tried to be current with the culture they lived in.

I'm just being honest, but I am basing my opinion on a great deal of bible study. Without having a firm Scriptural basis, I would not express an opinion.

Someone shared the 4 spiritual laws with me that were on a CCC tract. An old bald guy that headed up Campus Crusade for Christ was concerned that a drunk like me was in a relationship with a nice young Christian girl on campus. So he took me out for "coffee".

7 years, and a lot of heartaches, later I finally took that message printed on the tract seriously. The tract (or the old guy) did not save me, but God & Jesus Christ did! And I firmly believe that someone's prayers, somehow, had something to do with all of it. Thankfully, the young lady and I parted and she married a nice Christian man, so I did not drag her with me in my foolishness of 7 years.

Now, I am the old guy sharing the Word with 20-something year olds via tracts. They are a tool that God can use.

MZS said:

Someone shared the 4 spiritual laws with me that were on a CCC tract. An old bald guy that headed up Campus Crusade for Christ was concerned that a drunk like me was in a relationship with a nice young Christian girl on campus. So he took me out for "coffee".

7 years, and a lot of heartaches, later I finally took that message printed on the tract seriously. The tract (or the old guy) did not save me, but God & Jesus Christ did! And I firmly believe that someone's prayers, somehow, had something to do with all of it. Thankfully, the young lady and I parted and she married a nice Christian man, so I did not drag her with me in my foolishness of 7 years.

Now, I am the old guy sharing the Word with 20-something year olds via tracts. They are a tool that God can use.

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Amen, thanks for sharing.

Wow, I have seen some rather disturbing responses in this thread....I believe 100% God can and will use them ! Heck, the tracts have God's Word printed right on them ! That is powerful !!!!!

I will go about my life handing out tracts when I can..,, At this point I am mainly leaving them in public places, and letting God do the rest.....Every little but helps...

UPDATE:

I'm a cabbie, and I will sit outside a busy popular hotel.....Well I use the bathroom sometimes every hour, and have been leaving various tracts in there.....Well it seems almost every one I have left is getting picked up, and not thrown out either !!!! I've been checking the trash, lol......

I even heard one guy praying with someone on his phone just outside the bathroom in the hotel lobby !!!!

PRAISE GOD !! GOD IS GOOD !!!!

I think they can be effective, for one, I think they are great conversation starters that bring the conversation to talking about Christ. And they are also useful because it can give people something to think about, and they can come back to reading them later after the conversation is over. But I don't think you should use tracts to replace talking to people.

I have just spent a whole summer of evangelism sharing tracts in my country! I use all sorts - Living waters tracts, and gospel outreach tracts, and million dollar tracts (NZ version)

Most of the time I used to just leave them where people sat regularly. Even that was hard at first.

Now toward the end of our summer I gained the confidence to hand them out to people. It is much easier when they are folded and relevant to something happening! E.g. We gave out 190 St Patricks day tracks outside 4 Irish pubs on the evening of St patricks day. It was amazing, so many people didn't know what St Paddy stood for but were blown away when they realised he was a missionary to Ireland sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the very people that took him as a slave as a child.

We have just had the Cricket World Cup in NZ so we gave out a couple of hundred tracks labelled "The Test" with a New Zealand silver fern on the front, which takes people through the Law and gospel.

Since then I've brought Living waters iPhone tracts, which people absolutely love (they are funny on one side, then they go into the gospel on the other side) and which I leave on the bus and on seats.

It has been fun, but it does cost a little bit (I think I spent about $300NZ on tracts over 4-5 months). But think about all the seeds!! My own father found a tract on a bus when he was 16 and became a Christian 3 years later..which led to him marrying my mum and becoming a pastor!

Never underestimate these bits of paper & card

I got hooked on chick tracts. Couldn't get enough of them. I could read them privately and i found i had to agree with everything they said and they made me thirstý for more information about God. I loved their art work and couldn't ever throw them away.

terryjohn said:

I got hooked on chick tracts. Couldn't get enough of them. I could read them privately and i found i had to agree with everything they said and they made me thirstý for more information about God. I loved their art work and couldn't ever throw them away.

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I always have liked Chick tracks. We use them at Christmas and other holidays.
The comic format keeps their attention.

As much as I want to see tracts succeed, they usually do not at least in countries like the USA. I once gave a tract to an athiest friend, she would not read it (before I became a Christian). Tracts have good intentions but are usually ineffective as they do not foster relationships and they often tend to be more confrontational and brash than necessary to explain the gospel. Yes, I know that the gospel has its tough parts.

If a tract is promoting wrong beliefs, doctrines, and outright lies, then it isn't a Christian tract, but an instrument of Satan. Unfortunately, a lot of tracts I've seen are in this category. Chick tracts actually help turn people away from God.