How Some People Are Using Crossways International's Materials to Reach Others for Christ

In 1983, a highly respected colleague attended a Crossways International (CI) seminar that I conducted. He has taught CI's various courses ever since to thousands of people. We have produced a 20-minute CD in which he discusses how he uses the materials.

When he conducts a new-member class, he leads participants through the 30-unit course titled The Divine Drama®. He states that doing so enables prospective members gain a proper understanding of the Bible's "big story" and the themes that surface within it. They are discipled, not merely added to the membership list.

The courses that he uses more than any other is CI's 60-unit Crossways®. Often, people who have completed that course sign up to do it again. On one occasion, a 72-year-old lady who had taught Sunday school for many years signed up for the course. After she had completed eight units, she came into the pastor's office with tears in her eyes. She said, sobbing, "Crossways is destroying my faith!" He was very concerned and spent 40 minutes discussing the matter with her. Then she said, "Pastor, I am beginning to understand something. I have taught Sunday school for many years, but I have never read the Bible!" She completed the course, and then signed up to do it again and continued to serve as a Sunday school teacher with passion.

What amazes me is one of the methods that my colleague used to reach out to non-members. He would sit at a table in McDonald's with some of CI's basic materials on display. People would ask him what those materials were all about, and he would explain the materials to them. Others would gather around the table, and the discussion would sometimes continue for two hours! Those "searching" people were more prepared to talk in McDonald's than sit in a church pew!

We would do well to ask ourselves, "Do we merely invite our people to sit, stand, sing, say, and scatter, or do we inspire and equip them to study, search, seek, stoop, and sweat?" How much time do we spend getting Sunday school teachers, committee and board members, and parents (above all others) into God's Word in depth? Sad to say, many parents are prepared to practice "drop off" Christianity when it comes to their children's spiritual growth. Their attitude is, "You teach my kids! That's what we pay you to do!"

Note well: Several years ago, the president of a large US denomination pointed out the following statistics: 50% of children baptized make it to confirmation class, and 50% of those confirmed are still in the church when they turn 20 years old. Do the math: only 25% of those baptized are still around 20 years later. Unless we do something to turn things around, within a few decades church attendance in North America will be what it now is in Europe!

New Pope, More Hope

I am impressed by what Pope Francis is saying and showing to the world at large. What he is saying and showing is consistent with his previous ministry in South America. While he served as an archbishop in Argentina, he lived in a simple apartment, traveled by bus rather than in a high-class ecclesiastical limousine, and cared for the poor. He is demonstrating the same pattern of behavior in his new role as Pope. He says he wants to establish a "poor church" that cares for "the poor." In Rome, he has declined to move into the opulent papal apartments, does not wear ostentatious papal vestments, and travels in the Vatican bus, not in the papal limousine. On the Thursday evening prior to Good Friday, he demonstrated the servant lifestyle that Jesus wants His brothers and sisters to embrace: He washed feet!

His action in washing the feet of twelve prison inmates (including two women) impressed me. Although some church officials were unhappy about his washing the feet of the two women (one of whom was a Muslim), we would do well to remember that although on the evening before His crucifixion Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, on another occasion He permitted a woman with an unsavory reputation to wash His feet (Luke 7:36-50).

There is good reason to believe that Pope Francis plans to focus on helping people understand the Real Jesus and reflect His servant lifestyle in all that they think, say, and do. Yes, Jesus invites people to believe in Him as forgiving Savior, but He also calls people to follow and reflect Him as Servant Lord, full-time. I pray that the Pope's mind, message, and manner will make an impact around the world!

Preach or Teach?

When I began graduate studies in the US in 1967, it did not take me long to understand that, in my previous studies, I had been taught a lot about dogma but not much about the Bible’s “big story.” Furthermore, although I had been taught something about how to preach, I had not been taught much about how to teach. Little wonder then that since 1979, I have experienced much joy in heading up the ministry of Crossways International (CI), where the focus is on knowing the Bible’s big story, teaching that big story, and using teaching graphics to help people understand, believe, live, show, and share the biblical message.

When I began graduate studies in the US in 1967, it did not take me long to understand that, in my previous studies, I had been taught a lot about dogma but not much about the Bible’s “big story.” Furthermore, although I had been taught something about how to preach, I had not been taught much about how to teach. Little wonder that since 1979, I have experienced much joy in heading up the ministry of Crossways International (CI) where the focus is on knowing the Bible’s big story, teaching that big story, and using teaching graphics to help people understand, believe, live, show, and share the biblical message.

Soon after launching CI, I read something that has remained with me: “Tell me and I will forget; show me and I will remember; involve me and I will understand.” How often do the Gospels refer to Jesus preaching? Never! Instead, the Gospels refer to Jesus as a teacher, as a rabbi, and teaching about 115 times. It takes about six to eight hours to prepare a sermon and about 15 to 20 minutes to preach it. However, how can a preacher expect people to understand and remember by listening to a 15- to 20-minute sermon that took many hours to put together?

Although we read of Jesus blessing and hugging children, we never read of Him teaching them. Parents were to do that. If Jesus taught adults and played with children, why do the majority of churches today teach children and play with adults? And what do they teach them? Materials prepared for teaching children often contain edited, adapted, “dumbed down” versions of the biblical story. The classic examples of that “editing” show up in materials that deal with the lives of David and Solomon. If we do our homework on 2 Samuel 1 through 1 Kings 11, we find that David was “a political animal” (to quote Jewish scholar, Robert Alter) and that Solomon treated many of his subjects cruelly; among other things, he enslaved them. If anything, David serves as the foil for Jesus. David and Jesus were dead opposites in relation to lifestyle and kingdom–style. What does it mean that David was “a man after God’s own heart”? It means that he was the one who captured Jerusalem, named it “the city of David,” made it his capital, brought the Ark of the Covenant there, and began the practice of worshiping and offering sacrifice in one place—Jerusalem; read 2 Samuel 5:6–11; 6:1–19; ch. 24. However, Jesus attacked the “salvation marketing system” being conducted within Jerusalem’s walls.

Yes, we need to teach children and adults that we are sinners, that Jesus died for our sins, and that we shall go to heaven. However, the Jesus revealed in the Gospels is much greater than the majority of Christians understand. Jesus’ definition and demonstration of God’s kingdom so angered the Jewish religious and political leaders that they had Him crucified.