Amen!!! Thank you for this post, it helps me talk with the youth pastor I'm interning for this summer.

The gun giveaway seems to have been hyped (I think they are really only giving away one shotgun). And I'm not one way or the other on the giveaway aspect of it. But I think the shooting contest was a great idea.

To me, it relates well to what I hear Mark Driscoll saying and another book I'm reading now "Why Men Hate Going to Church" about the need to fight back against the feminization of the church. Yes, Christian men can use guns/go hunting/etc... and that's fully in line with what it means to be a Christian man. I think there could be a lot of value to something like that, especially in North Carolina hunting country out here where I'm a pastor.

I have a lot of friends involved in the YoungLife ministry that attempts the same "gospel through the back door." I have wrestled with the validity of it. I'd love to hear more thoughts.

This isn't about the biblical validity for bearing arms, hunting, or other "manly" things in general. This isn't about shooting contests at church gatherings. This isn't about the "feminization of the church." This is about the common and unbiblical practice of "bait and switch" evangelism that defines not only youth ministries, but many churches across the board.

It is wrong. Not because of the activities, but of the philosophy and thinking behind it.

To take this a stage further in thought, especially along the "bait and switch" lines, what do you think about the use of a church building for activities that are not directly related to the preaching of the gospel?

Activities such as a mums and babies groups or jumble sales or anything else where the gospel is not being preached.

Are these good uses of church buildings and church workers time?

The church has to brush up against the world and I think that this idea of bait and switch is a way in which people are, perhaps wrongly, trying to brush up against the world to invite the world in to "come see".

Perhaps then the issue is that Christianity is a "go tell" religion and not a "come see" religion and since people are not, on the whole, going and telling they need new and better ways to get people to come and see.

I agree with the concerns about "bait and switch" but we need to be careful that we don't sound like we're against outreach events. The problem is with the style of preaching that goes on at many of these events. I would argue they are a great way to build relationships with people in the community.

Only one shotgun... well, I guess that is the equivalent to only one 6 pack of extra strength larger for the 8 year olds then...
More seriously though, i think that it is fine to use the church building for other events that are not antithetical to the gospel. (It is only a rain shelter after all).
I'm not against outreach events, and I'm fine to make it a pleasant atmosphere in which we share the gospel; it is certainly a grey rather than a black and white area as to when the incidentals (beer, guns, good meal, moms&tots group, comfy chairs to sit in) are just wise ways to ensure that there is no offence but the gospel, and when they become such an attraction to the flesh that it will be difficult to hear the gospel in that situation. I can imagine that with 2 identical events held in 2 different cultural situations one could rightly reach very different conclusions.

Thank you, Leigh, for that pointed question regarding the "go and tell" v. "come and see" perspective of modern evangelism. That really made me think about my basic approach to gospel declaring.

It also prompted my thinking regarding how we tell the gospel to children and teens--do we need to attach it to some other event (like a fun camp) or can't we just commonly, daily, weekly, routinely blend it in with the normal course of our lives and interaction with them (when we rise up, sit down, walk with them in the way)?

We have to guard against the notion that teenagers are merely 'very tall children' incapable of grasping "adult" concepts of sin, righteousness and judgement. We have to remember that they, just like us, are called to repentance because God "has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed..." They will not be excused from that day because they happen to be teenagers.

There are two issues that are being bandied about here. One is a concern with "bait and switch" as an entre for the gospel, the other is startled European sensibilities about the bait.

As to the first, while I've heard a lot of talk about baiting and switching, I'm not completely clear on it. Does it mean we can't give out candy in kid's church? Can't give out ice cream for winning the 3rd-grade Bible memory contest? Or a fishing rod for the "Sparky of the Year" in Awana? Does it mean that if we use a basketball game to bring lost teens into contact with Christians and the gospel that we can't award the winners with McDonalds or even tickets to a local NBA game? If we use a golf outing for the same purpose is it baiting and switching to award a free round of golf to the winner? At what point have we crossed the line into "bait and switch"? To me the line is crossed either (1) when the target group feels betrayed or deceived by the "switch," or (2) when the prize becomes a distraction from the gospel. Probably a free shotgun violates point (2)--at least in my culture. We engage in target shooting at our church men's retreat and the prize is a $25 gift certificate to the the local sporting goods store. But the idea of a modest prize for friendly competition at a church event doesn't seem out of line.

As to jolted sensibilities about American fascination with guns, I can only say that in rural Michigan, shotguns are good, and every boy wants one, the same as he wants a baseball bat, a fishing rod, and a bicycle. The comparison with giving hard liquor to children doesn't compute here. :)

Leigh,
It's a delight to have a member of Twynholm comment on the 9Marks blog, and with such an estute comment about come&see vs go&tell.
Mark,
I like your two criteria:
1) when the switch feels like deception
2) when the bait is a distraction from the gospel.
And the distraction may well be culturally bound.