I am a Christian with a background in well...Christian life, missions, and “seduction.” :) First of all, I think it’s important to point out that all seduction in Christendom isn’t created equally and that “religious missionaries” is as almost as broad a stroke as “irreligious atheists.” In other words, when it comes to the “cross-domain application” of the discipline of seduction, I am not of the opinion that these approaches are the right way. They just happen to be the ways that I’m sure have been observed by this community. Here they are (these are my own words—I’m sure that other more academic terminology are used by Tim Keller, Mark Driscol, John Piper, DA Carson, Matt Chandler, and the like).
Risk-based or the “Turn or Burn” Technique—It’s this approach that emphasizes the risk to not becoming a Christian—hell.
Reward-based or “Heaven Bound” Technique—It’s this approach that emphasizes the reward to becoming a Christian—heaven.
Relationship-based or “Coffee Shop” Technique—This approach tries to emphasize that you and I are both in need of a restored relationship with each other and ultimately God. This approach is often called “incarnational”
Rock-n-roll-based or “Cool Guy” Technique—This approach does much to emphasize the same as 1-3, but does so under the guise that you and I are both cool and therefore you don’t become uncool when you’re are a Christian. This approach is often called “attractional.”
My parents are missionaries to Spain. Thus I have had significant exposure to them, other other missionaries, and conversion techniques in general. Far and away the most popular among those I have been exposed to is #3, with #1 coming in a far second, followed by #2 and then #4.
The one that got a conversion out of me, however, was #1. As a prepubescent boy, I was terrified of getting ‘left behind’ in the rapture and/or being eternally separated from all of my loved ones. (btw, I am now an atheist)
Anyway, probably the most important part of proselytizing is getting to the people who are interested in spiritual things. Door-to-door literature distribution, university campus flyers, open air evangelism, etc.; most of these done for the purpose of getting a handful of leads with which to develop a friendship and relationship with in the successive months.
One selling points of Christianity (specifically Plymouth Brethrenism) was a diligent search in the Bible (and only the Bible) to find spiritual truth. Missionaries would have been quite certain of their interpretations and quite able to back them up with scripture. People want truth and the my parents et al. did a remarkable job of chalking up their religion as truth.
Another was the promise of release from guilt preceded by the deliberate inculcation that one is a rotten sinner. This point centered mainly on the guilt itself, not the fear of punishment. The guilt was created by reflecting on the potential convert’s past life, whether full of actual sinfulness or self-righteousness instead (rarely is a person neither of these), and comparing that to God’s perfection. Usually, potential converts were individuals already of theistic or conversely ecumenical persuasions, so belief in a good God was present.
The argument was such that infractions require punishment and that God is perfect and cannot entertain imperfection. Everyone merits eternal punishment for their sin, yet no amount of punishment is sufficient to make them perfect. This should lead to a crisis where one becomes distraught and convinced of their inability to divert their fate: they are utterly helpless and vulnerable. At this point, the Savior enters the picture, asking for belief and acceptance in exchange for imputation of his sacrifice at Calvary to their account. God sees the convert as Jesus Christ, not as the sinner, and therefore as whole, sinless, and perfect. Guilt flees, and gratitude on the behalf of the convert seals the deal.
Another selling point which was never made explicit was the church as a social group. Of course, churches in general are known to be community gathering places. However, the Plymouth Brethren (aka Assemblies) are a tight lot. In Spain, and also in the US, there usually are one or two about 75 person assemblies per medium size city. Many friendships within the Assemblies are decades old, there is a high amount of intermarriage (marriage outside the Assemblies is generally frowned upon, but the spiritual commitment (and therefore born again status) of the potential mate is the necessary and sufficient condition for the families’ blessing), there are large families (6 children begins to be large--4 and 5 are very common) and practically no divorce, there are camps, retreats, and conferences for the Assemblies, there is at least one college (attendance at Christian colleges is smiled upon, but it is not necessarily encouraged). At any rate, the Assemblies form a small, coherent global network of people that I’m sure is very attractive to the normal human. I have yet to know of any other such community; please let me know if you know of one.
So, conversion works like this: establish the authoritativeness of the missionary, create an emotional crisis, provide the solution which is believed because of the prior establishment of authority, initiate the convert into a well-rounded Christian lifestyle and community.
About the broad brush, I’m well aware. Missionaries and proselytes vary greatly in capability and goals in and outside of Christianity and even theism. It’s a huge area, I hoped a broad call would give something.
Thank you for the break down. It makes sense given what pieces I’ve seen.
How results rather than scripture guided would you say these methods are? (Or is that a difficult question to unpack?)
Do you have any sense as to the relative efficacy and target populations of these techniques? (Especially if there anything surprising going on there—like 30-45 single women are a prime Rock-n-roll based demographic.)
There is scriptural relevance to each of these approaches and any one practitioner of any technique can be overly focused on results. Then, of course, you have to ask the question, “what are results?” or “how do you know when you’ve Jesus-ed someone to the point that they are now a God-follower?” More on the “what are results?” if you’re interested, but not now...
There is definitely generational significance with regard to which approach is more effective. For example: the post-modern, doesn’t really respond to the “I’m a sinner” idea. Since their response would be something like “sin is socio-culturally imposed ideologies and therefore isn’t a religious problem, but more one of culture and context.” Therefore #1 and #2 work less well on the post-modern than than they did on the modern or previous generations, who had to at least deal with the “problem of sin.” The post-modern is more accepting of the idea that, if God exists, then he’s been telling as story of creation-fall-restoration-redemption in mankind and through Jesus. Which of course, lends itself more toward #3.
With regard to #4, let me say that it usually “attracts” anyone who finds the church exclusionary or non-accepting. Usually, though, within a younger demographic (less than 60) only because they are methodologically “hip”—literally using rock-n-roll, rock climbing walls, and mini-circuses to attract the un-churched community.
To bring up my previous comment though, there are definite spectrums even within these four groups—both in their approach and how they themselves define efficacy?
On results vs. scripture based:
If you want to divide it that way, there are a few schools of thought. Some say that God only demands a “best effort,” and the missionary is not personally responsible for the conversion (that’s between God and the proselyte). Others believe that certain people are chosen by God to be converted, and it’s up to the missionary to make that happen. So these missionaries tend to be more results-based, whereas the first category strive for better “technique”. There are obviously a lot of other categorizations that could be made, this is just the first I thought of.
I am a Christian with a background in well...Christian life, missions, and “seduction.” :) First of all, I think it’s important to point out that all seduction in Christendom isn’t created equally and that “religious missionaries” is as almost as broad a stroke as “irreligious atheists.” In other words, when it comes to the “cross-domain application” of the discipline of seduction, I am not of the opinion that these approaches are the right way. They just happen to be the ways that I’m sure have been observed by this community. Here they are (these are my own words—I’m sure that other more academic terminology are used by Tim Keller, Mark Driscol, John Piper, DA Carson, Matt Chandler, and the like).
Risk-based or the “Turn or Burn” Technique—It’s this approach that emphasizes the risk to not becoming a Christian—hell.
Reward-based or “Heaven Bound” Technique—It’s this approach that emphasizes the reward to becoming a Christian—heaven.
Relationship-based or “Coffee Shop” Technique—This approach tries to emphasize that you and I are both in need of a restored relationship with each other and ultimately God. This approach is often called “incarnational”
Rock-n-roll-based or “Cool Guy” Technique—This approach does much to emphasize the same as 1-3, but does so under the guise that you and I are both cool and therefore you don’t become uncool when you’re are a Christian. This approach is often called “attractional.”
My parents are missionaries to Spain. Thus I have had significant exposure to them, other other missionaries, and conversion techniques in general. Far and away the most popular among those I have been exposed to is #3, with #1 coming in a far second, followed by #2 and then #4.
The one that got a conversion out of me, however, was #1. As a prepubescent boy, I was terrified of getting ‘left behind’ in the rapture and/or being eternally separated from all of my loved ones. (btw, I am now an atheist)
Anyway, probably the most important part of proselytizing is getting to the people who are interested in spiritual things. Door-to-door literature distribution, university campus flyers, open air evangelism, etc.; most of these done for the purpose of getting a handful of leads with which to develop a friendship and relationship with in the successive months.
One selling points of Christianity (specifically Plymouth Brethrenism) was a diligent search in the Bible (and only the Bible) to find spiritual truth. Missionaries would have been quite certain of their interpretations and quite able to back them up with scripture. People want truth and the my parents et al. did a remarkable job of chalking up their religion as truth.
Another was the promise of release from guilt preceded by the deliberate inculcation that one is a rotten sinner. This point centered mainly on the guilt itself, not the fear of punishment. The guilt was created by reflecting on the potential convert’s past life, whether full of actual sinfulness or self-righteousness instead (rarely is a person neither of these), and comparing that to God’s perfection. Usually, potential converts were individuals already of theistic or conversely ecumenical persuasions, so belief in a good God was present.
The argument was such that infractions require punishment and that God is perfect and cannot entertain imperfection. Everyone merits eternal punishment for their sin, yet no amount of punishment is sufficient to make them perfect. This should lead to a crisis where one becomes distraught and convinced of their inability to divert their fate: they are utterly helpless and vulnerable. At this point, the Savior enters the picture, asking for belief and acceptance in exchange for imputation of his sacrifice at Calvary to their account. God sees the convert as Jesus Christ, not as the sinner, and therefore as whole, sinless, and perfect. Guilt flees, and gratitude on the behalf of the convert seals the deal.
Another selling point which was never made explicit was the church as a social group. Of course, churches in general are known to be community gathering places. However, the Plymouth Brethren (aka Assemblies) are a tight lot. In Spain, and also in the US, there usually are one or two about 75 person assemblies per medium size city. Many friendships within the Assemblies are decades old, there is a high amount of intermarriage (marriage outside the Assemblies is generally frowned upon, but the spiritual commitment (and therefore born again status) of the potential mate is the necessary and sufficient condition for the families’ blessing), there are large families (6 children begins to be large--4 and 5 are very common) and practically no divorce, there are camps, retreats, and conferences for the Assemblies, there is at least one college (attendance at Christian colleges is smiled upon, but it is not necessarily encouraged). At any rate, the Assemblies form a small, coherent global network of people that I’m sure is very attractive to the normal human. I have yet to know of any other such community; please let me know if you know of one.
So, conversion works like this: establish the authoritativeness of the missionary, create an emotional crisis, provide the solution which is believed because of the prior establishment of authority, initiate the convert into a well-rounded Christian lifestyle and community.
About the broad brush, I’m well aware. Missionaries and proselytes vary greatly in capability and goals in and outside of Christianity and even theism. It’s a huge area, I hoped a broad call would give something.
Thank you for the break down. It makes sense given what pieces I’ve seen.
How results rather than scripture guided would you say these methods are? (Or is that a difficult question to unpack?)
Do you have any sense as to the relative efficacy and target populations of these techniques? (Especially if there anything surprising going on there—like 30-45 single women are a prime Rock-n-roll based demographic.)
There is scriptural relevance to each of these approaches and any one practitioner of any technique can be overly focused on results. Then, of course, you have to ask the question, “what are results?” or “how do you know when you’ve Jesus-ed someone to the point that they are now a God-follower?” More on the “what are results?” if you’re interested, but not now...
There is definitely generational significance with regard to which approach is more effective. For example: the post-modern, doesn’t really respond to the “I’m a sinner” idea. Since their response would be something like “sin is socio-culturally imposed ideologies and therefore isn’t a religious problem, but more one of culture and context.” Therefore #1 and #2 work less well on the post-modern than than they did on the modern or previous generations, who had to at least deal with the “problem of sin.” The post-modern is more accepting of the idea that, if God exists, then he’s been telling as story of creation-fall-restoration-redemption in mankind and through Jesus. Which of course, lends itself more toward #3.
With regard to #4, let me say that it usually “attracts” anyone who finds the church exclusionary or non-accepting. Usually, though, within a younger demographic (less than 60) only because they are methodologically “hip”—literally using rock-n-roll, rock climbing walls, and mini-circuses to attract the un-churched community.
To bring up my previous comment though, there are definite spectrums even within these four groups—both in their approach and how they themselves define efficacy?
On results vs. scripture based: If you want to divide it that way, there are a few schools of thought. Some say that God only demands a “best effort,” and the missionary is not personally responsible for the conversion (that’s between God and the proselyte). Others believe that certain people are chosen by God to be converted, and it’s up to the missionary to make that happen. So these missionaries tend to be more results-based, whereas the first category strive for better “technique”. There are obviously a lot of other categorizations that could be made, this is just the first I thought of.