It is one that we go round and round with on our team. In our varied teaching ministries, how often should you present the Gospel? How often should you give opportunity for those wanting to accept Christ to raise their hand? How often should someone pray the sinner’s prayer?
I teach each week on the radio. A few years ago, I began giving a brief Gospel invitation, followed by a prayer for salvation at the end of each broadcast. One day, I met a Christian woman who told me how much she enjoyed the broadcast and said with great enthusiasm: “And I pray the prayer at the end each broadcast!” Not exactly what I had in mind.
This question is maybe a bit more serious in our prison ministry and the detention center. Though we teach many different Bible lessons (right now a series on the parables of Jesus), I find it hard not to ask if there is anyone that would like to accept Jesus as Savior. When I do, everyone raises their hand or jumps to their feet, even though the week before, they all did the exact same thing. Then a member of the team has everyone repeat the sinner’s prayer.
It is a hard question. I don’t want anyone to leave the meeting without having been given the opportunity to make things right with Christ Jesus. And I think that just maybe, the more they make this commitment, the more it will begin to be so in their lives.
Jesus had this frustration with His disciples when he says in John 14, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Repeating the foundational Gospel truths over and over and allowing for renewed commitment, may mean at some point, it will be understood.
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