Faith Simple: Hope Channel Germany Uses New Evangelistic Approach
Jan 23, 2012 15:47
It certainly didn’t appear to be a traditional evangelistic meeting.
The TV studio was turned into a local meeting place with about 50 guests sitting around 10 small tables, similar to the setting in any of the 500 or so remote sites where more than 8000 attended, including about 2000 who are not baptized church members. There was a panel discussion, but no special music performances. And, they showed a “movie.”
Each Wednesday and Sabbath between October 8 and December 3, 2011, Faith Simple aired from the Hope Channel studio near Frankfurt, Germany. Participants watched a video clip about couple realizing how their encounter could change their lives. Their developing story introduced each evening’s topic.
Following the video clip, the two pastor-hosts each presented short sermons on that evening’s Biblical topic. Matthias Müller and Klaus Popa expanded on questions that arose in the video so they could “take the sermon out of the pulpit and into the street” for a real-life application.
Then they and their expert guests discussed the topic in four different online chatrooms with as many as 200 people at once while participants in the studio and in the remote sites discussed the topic in small groups. Afterward, everyone reassembled for Müller’s and Popa’s closing remarks.
“We chose not a doctrinal presentation but a life-issue approach so we could to cover all the important Biblical topics from a personal perspective,” said Müller. “We decided to be personally open and vulnerable, and not be the expert teacher with all the answers.” They intentionally avoided the traditional auditorium-and-pulpit setting.
“This new approach was important in successfully reaching the region’s dominant postmodern mindset with a relevant message,” said Müller. “Members thanked us for the fresh approach telling us that they finally had the courage to bring friends without fear of being embarrassed by an old-fashioned style of presentation. Attendees’ reactions were very enthusiastic.”
The series aired on the region’s number-one in-home satellite service to about 15 million homes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; on a number of local cable networks; and over a popular online TV service. Thousands more watched online. Responses came from around the world.
Here are a few testimonials:
Christiane: You have really achieved something significant by approaching people in an authentic and competent way.
Andrea: Very beautiful, professionally set-up website. My compliments! I wished my Catholic church could do the same.
Anonymous participant in one of the chat rooms: This is the best evangelistic series EVER. My 10-year-old son wants to be invited into your studio.
Gad: Your new perspectives are changing even my pre-programmed thinking!
Katrin: I am learning so much through this broadcast. I am understanding the matter between man and God, and whether it was really by chance or whether God wanted it the way it is.
Elke: Yesterday I saw your live program at 11:30 a.m. here in the USA. My brother told me about the broadcast and that he is watching it in his church. It was wonderful.
