Why use tracts?

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the truth

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Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.

If God cannot lie. Then he means that every time you spread his word he will honor your efforts and use them for a purpose. No matter how you do it as long as it is not illegal or disrespectful I know of alot of people that think that tracts are ineffective and just a waste of time. My hope is that after reading this if you are one of those people that you will change your mind and be encouraged to pass out tracts. .
Sowing the seed of the gospel.
A student at Jacksonville University in Florida was given a tract. The student crumpled the pamphlet up and tossed it into a trash bin in his dorm. Later, his dorm mate picked it out of the trash, read it, and was soundly saved. He is now a pastor of a church in Florida. “A Christian I met in a home group said his job was raking litter off the Avon River. It was dull, boring work and he often wondered what life was all about. One day he raked a soggy piece of paper off the water and decided it was interesting enough to keep, so he carefully placed it in his bag and took it home. That evening he dried the paper in front of a heater and carefully unfolded it, then he read it . . . it was a gospel tract. He became a Christian that evening.” Richard Gunther
Gospel tracts-how to use them. If Paul meant “by all means,” he no doubt would have used gospel tracts as a means to reach the lost. A Christian book relates the true story of a diver who saw a piece of paper clutched in the shell of an oyster. The man grabbed it, found that it was a gospel tract and said, “I can’t hold out any longer. His mercy is so great that He has caused His Word to follow me even to the bottom of the ocean.” God used a tract to save the man.
Why should a Christian use tracts? Simply because God uses them. He used a tract to save the great missionary Hudson Taylor, as well as innumerable others. That fact alone should be enough incentive for a Christian to always use tracts to reach the lost, but there are even more reasons why we should use them. Here are a few:  Tracts can provide an opening for us to share our faith. We can watch people’s reaction as we give them a tract, and see if they are open to listening to spiritual things.  They can do the witnessing for us. If we are too timid to speak to someone about the things of God, we can at least give them a tract, or leave it lying around so that someone will pick it up.  They speak to the individuals when they are ready-they don’t read it until they want to.  They can find their way into people’s homes when we can’t.  They don’t get into arguments; they just state their case.

Dr. Oswald J. Smith said, “The only way to carry out the Great Commission will be by the means of the printed page.” Charles Spurgeon stated, “When preaching and private talk are not available, you need to have a tract ready . . . Get good striking tracts, or none at all. But a touching gospel tract may be the seed of eternal life. Therefore, do not go out without your tracts.” If you want people to accept your literature, try to greet them before offering them a tract. If you can get them to respond to a warm “Good morning,” or “How are you doing?” that will almost always break the ice and they will take it. After the greeting, don’t ask, “Would you like this ?” They will probably respond, “What is it?” Instead, say, “Did you get one of these?” That question has a twofold effect. You stir their curiosity and make them ask, “One of what?” That’s when you hand it to them. It also makes them feel as though they are missing out on something. So they are.
Perhaps you almost pass out at the thought of passing out a tract. Don’t worry; you are not alone. We all battle fear. The answer to fear is found in the prayer closet. Ask God to give you a compassion that will swallow your fears. Meditate on the fate of the ungodly. Give hell some deep thought. Confront what it is that makes you fearful. Do you like roller coasters? Some Christians want to try bungee-jumping or sky diving. Isn’t it strange? We are prepared to risk our lives for the love of fear-and yet we are willing to let a sinner go to hell for fear of giving out a tract. Ask yourself how many piles of bloodied stones you can find where Christians have been stoned to death for preaching the gospel. How much singed soil can you find where they have been burned at the stake? Part of our fear is a fear of rejection. We are fearful of looking foolish. That’s a subtle form of pride. The other part of our battle with fear comes directly from the enemy. He knows that fear paralyzes. We must resist the devil and his lies. If God is with us, nothing can be against us.
Never underestimate the power of a gospel tract. After George Whitefield read one called “The Life of God in the Soul of a Man,” he said, “God showed me I must be born again or be damned.” He went on to pray, “Lord, if I am not a Christian, or if I am not a real one, for Jesus Christ’s sake show me what Christianity is, that I may not be damned at last!” Then his journal tells us “from that moment . . . did I know that I must become a new creature.”
If you have never given out tracts, why not begin today? Leave them in a shopping cart, or put them in the mail when you pay bills. Then each night as you shut your eyes to go to sleep, you will have something very special to pray about-that God will use the tract you put somewhere. You will also have a deep sense of satisfaction that you played a small part in carrying out the Great Commission to reach this dying world with the gospel of everlasting life. Don’t waste your life. Do something for the kingdom of God while you are able to. Always remember: treat every day as though it were your last-one day you will be right.

Charles Spurgeon on Tracts:
“I well remember distributing them in a town in England where tracts had never been distributed before, and going from house to house, and telling in humble language the things of the kingdom of God. I might have done nothing, if I had not been encouraged by finding myself able to do something...[Tracts are] adapted to those persons who have but little power and little ability, but nevertheless, wish to do something for Christ. They have not the tongue of the eloquent, but they may have the hand of the diligent. They cannot stand and preach, but they can stand and distribute here and there these silent preachers . . . They may buy their thousand tracts, and these they can distribute broadcast.
“I look upon the giving away of a religious tract as only the first step for action not to be compared with many another deed done for Christ; but were it not for the first step we might never reach to the second, but that first attained, we are encouraged to take another, and so at the last . . . There is a real service of Christ in the distribution of the gospel in its printed form, a service the result of which heaven alone shall disclose, and the judgment day alone discover. How many thousands have been carried to heaven instrumentally upon the wings of these tracts, none can tell. “I might say, if it were right to quote such a Scripture, ‘The leaves were for the healing of the nations’-verily they are so. Scattered where the whole tree could scarcely be carried, the very leaves have had a medicinal and a healing virtue in them and the real word of truth, the simple statement of a Savior crucified and of a sinner who shall be saved by simply trusting in the Savior, has been greatly blessed, and many thousand souls have been led into the kingdom of heaven by this simple means. Let each one of us, if we have done nothing for Christ, begin to do something
now. The distribution of tracts is the first thing.”
Just a few Ideas on where to put tracts
 At pay phones In shopping carts In clothes pockets in stores In letters to loved ones With a generous tip even if the service wasn't the best. On seats in restaurant lobbies With fast-food employees, cashiers,flight attendants, cab drivers, and gas station workers. In restrooms  At rest areas  On ATM machines and bank counters  In envelopes with bill payments. Please make sure the bill is on time  In elevators  On hotel dressers for the maid and in the dressers  On ice machines
 On newspaper racks  In waiting rooms of doctors’ offices and hospitals  On seats at airports, subways, and bus stations  In plane seat pockets  Inside magazines  In cabs  In laundromats
At truckstops in the lounge In canisters at the drive-up tellerand in night deposit box In the postage paid reply envelopes you get with Junk mail Mail tracts to families that have just lost loved ones look through your papers obituaries. You can also mailthem to people convicted of DUI or other crimes
Put some in a plastic brochure holder by your door to give to anyone who comes to your door, and as a reminder to bring some with you when you leave the house. In open car windows To people you see waitng in their cars at parking lots. At libraries in books, magazines etc.  If you rent videos put one in the movie you are returning.  Leave them on video games in the arcade
Basically anywhere you go. Just pray that God will prepare peoples heart and open doors before you leave for the day and trust God to do the rest. Remeber it is God who does the saving not us. We are merely planters and waterers.
If God is speaking to you about your lack of evangelistic concern, pray something like this now:
Father, please forgive me for my lack of love for this dying world. From this day forward I
will strive to be a “true and faithful witness.” Please give me the wisdom to know what to
say to reach the lost. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
I hope that this will encourage some if not all to consider tracts. May God bless you.
Taken from the evidence bible www.evidencebible.org

Intersted try
www.fellowshiptractleague.org
www.raycomfort.com
www.chick.com
www.av1611.org
 

Catchup

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Ok...Laugh :D :D :D

I have no idea what a tract is. I assume that they are a message of the Gospel. But is this, like something that we ourselves make up, or something that is already for us to print out and distribute? It reminds me of the Jehovah Witness. Is that what we are talking about?
I liked the idea of just leaving them about. Putting them in with our bills was a good idea too. I know that I should be able to just walk up to an individual and hand them one...but I am not there yet!

:D LOVE
 
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ZiSunka

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I use bookmarkers with scrpiture on them to open the door for talking about the Bible.

I make the markers on my computer and have them printed on glossy paper at Kinko's. Then when I go into places that I know aren't open to the gospel, or even a tract, I can offer the bookmarkers. People often take them. And it sometimes opens the door to talking about God.

I use short, positive verses about the love of God, and I use Publisher to make them colorful and attractive, adding a bit of art sometimes.

One that people often take is:
"Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new person. Your old life has been taken away. You've begun a whole new life."

Lots of folks don't know that they can start fresh in life, but lots of the people I minister to, need a fresh start. That one almost always leads people to look at Christ in a different way.
 
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MyJhongFist

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Originally posted by VOW
Use tracts in your quest to share the Gospel, if you feel compelled to do so. However, please do NOT patronize Jack Chick and his organization.


Peace be with you,
~VOW

Ahh yes. Jack Chick is perfect.

He has his heart in the right place and is doing a great service for the Lord. But that does not make him right all the time.
 
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Tracts are a good deal for sure. God can use anyway he wants. This reminds me of a story I read about a couple in Russia. One day a pastor of a Church there was visited by a couple that wanted to know about God. This was very unusual. The Pasor asked " What made you decide there is a God" They both said " Our thumbs"......"what?"....."Yes it was because of our thumbs. We are both painters and we started talking about our thumbs. We decided that the desigin of our thumbs that lets us hold our brushes in such a way as to make our painting must have had a designer"

You see God knows how to reach people. If they step toward the light......God gives them more light. The couple became devoted Christians and served the Church well.
 
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kern

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I know this is a slightly old thread, but I wanted to make a comment about tracts.

The problem with "tract evangelism" is that there is often no followup. It assumes (in the manner of Jack Chick's stories, for instance) that all you have to do is mention a few Bible verses and scare the person with hell and they will fall on their knees begging for Christ's mercy. It's possible that this happens sometimes, but most of the time people will have questions about Christianity. A tract cannot answer followup questions, and it's unlikely that a small tract will be able to break through X years of stubborn atheism/agnosticism.

So, maybe a tract can be a good start, but I don't much like the idea of strewing tracts everywhere and hoping that people who pick them up will be saved. In my opinion that's not responsible evangelism.

But then again, I'm not an evangelist, so what do I know?

-Chris
 
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kern

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Originally posted by MissytheButterfly
Chris, just because you are not an evangelist does not mean you don't have a VAILD opinion. I think you should give your opinion as much as you want on any subject that you want.

GOD BLESS YOU and here are 2 Blessings!

Heh, thanks. All I meant by that statement is that I have no experience with actual evangelism. So if a person who does says "Actually I find that tracts work very well, etc." then you should definitely believe her over me. My objections are theoretical, not based on experience.

-Chris
 
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I think tracts are good for people who don't have enough integrity or guts in their life to form intimate relationships with the people who need God, but other than that I just pretend I'm just a human being and jump in the pool with the rest of them, basically because I feel I have more in common with the world's sense of community than the ones who think they are doing God's work by making themselves too busy to do it my way I make fun of them like they do, they are drawn to me and as Paul said if I am following God follow me and you will be following Him as well.
 
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kern

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Perhaps. However, a common objection to Christianity by Agnostics/Atheists is that Christians are mindless sheep following their religion because it's easier to do what someone else says than to think for yourself. Also there is a perception that many Christians do not really understand Christianity, they just believe whatever they are told.

Of course this is not true for everyone, but I feel that distributing tracts and then not answering followup questions plays into this belief.

I would say that the way you live your life can be a much more important witness than some Bible tracts. People notice if you don't cuss, if you keep a Bible on your desk at work, if you never say anything mean about someone, etc.

-Chris
 
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GreenEyedLady

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Usually tracks have the churchs phone number on them, if they are published tracts.
Kern, if someone reads that tract and asks the Lord for salvation, what makes you think that God cannt answer all his/her questions? If someone is questioning salvation..then they are NOT ready to be saved.
Tracts are awesome! Every single church should be out there passing them out, or witnessing on the streets!
I couldn't go to a church that didn't care or didn't give much effort to the lost souls.
I like Jack Chick....but thats my opinion.
GEL
 
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seebs

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Originally posted by GreenEyedLady

I like Jack Chick....but thats my opinion.

While I am moderately in favor of tracts in general, Chick's are full of lies and hatred, and I don't consider them a good representation of Christian beliefs. The man is entirely too happy about the idea that people go to Hell, and he's *way* too willing to make stuff up if he can't make something sound scary enough using the truth.
 
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kern

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Originally posted by GreenEyedLady

Kern, if someone reads that tract and asks the Lord for salvation, what makes you think that God cannt answer all his/her questions? If someone is questioning salvation..then they are NOT ready to be saved.

I don't agree with this. I am Christian and I still have questions about salvation and Christianity. If you don't know the answers to people's questions then you can be honest and refer them to sources where they can find the answers, but to simply say "well, you have questions, looks like you're not ready for Christianity" seems very judgmental to me.

Remember that even the Apostles questioned Jesus' teachings until the Holy Spirit came in them! I suppose Jesus should have given up on them?


Tracts are awesome! Every single church should be out there passing them out, or witnessing on the streets!
I couldn't go to a church that didn't care or didn't give much effort to the lost souls.
I like Jack Chick....but thats my opinion.
GEL

Chick's tracts are especially bad. Even if you ignore the anti-Catholic ones, his tracts present the idea that all you have to do is threaten someone with hell and quote a few random Bible verses, and then they will fall down on their knees begging to accept God. And if they don't, you've done your duty, God will punish them. I don't like that message, it's too hands-off for me.

-Chris
 
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Caedmon

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Jack Chick's tracts are sadistic, maniacal, unscrupulous, deceitful garbage.

Then again, they're always good for a laugh. :D

There's a potential problem with tracts. Some people view leaving tracts lying around in public places as littering. It is sometimes seen as an annoying, uncleanly practice.
 
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GreenEyedLady

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Originally posted by kern


I don't agree with this. I am Christian and I still have questions about salvation and Christianity. If you don't know the answers to people's questions then you can be honest and refer them to sources where they can find the answers, but to simply say "well, you have questions, looks like you're not ready for Christianity" seems very judgmental to me.

oned Jesus' teachings until the Holy Spirit came in them! I suppose Jesus should have given up on them?

Kern thats not what I am saying. If someone is questioning God as our Father, then yes, it would be hard to say that person is truley ready to be saved. If that person feels God's conviction then the TRACT is a good thing.
GEL
 
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