Is handing out gospel tracts a good way to reach people for Christ?
I love passing out Gospel tracts. It is a very good way to get a short Gospel message in someone’s hands. I try to have some tracts with me wherever I go. I leave them in restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes, and will give them to people I meet. I am very careful to read the Gospel tracts I give out so that I am sure of its message. I want to make sure it gives a clear and simple message of salvation. As I’ve quoted before, the Apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:5 – “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” Do the work of an evangelist. “Evangelist” literally means a “preacher of the Gospel.” We are not all evangelists, but should all do the work of an evangelist. As believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, we should all be involved in preaching the Gospel to the lost. One way to do this is by passing out Gospel tracts.
That being said, I also want to point out that the use of Gospel tracts should never take the place of sitting down with someone and having an earnest talk with them about their need of the Lord Jesus Christ. To spend time with a person, to develop a relationship with that person and show him or her from the Bible that they need to be saved is, and will always be, the preferable method of witnessing for Christ. This, as led of the Lord, is the most effective way of leading precious souls to Christ.
I feel certain that more souls have been won for Christ in a one-on-one conversation than have ever been won to Christ from the pulpit. The true evangelist will go to the people. He or she, with a burden for souls, will meet them where they are and seek to show them the way of salvation. I have witnessed to the lost and left a couple of Gospel tracts with them so they can continue to have the Gospel in front on them. So, while Gospel tracts are a valuable tool for the evangelist, we must not limit our evangelistic efforts to passing out tracts. Let us all be open to the leading of the Lord to show us how we should minister the Gospel to others. The methods will be different under different circumstances and times. Whatever the method, we can be sure of its effectiveness according to Isaiah 55:11 which says, “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.”