Over the years I have heard the proliferation of good reasons why people should use tracts as part of their witnessing toolbox. A lot of people that I respect use them as their first preemptive strike. nonetheless, I have always hated them.  I found them cheap and cheesy. (Not just gospel tracts, any tracts or adverts.) For the most part, deep down, I guess I sort of thought people who threw out tracts were just trying to make themselves feel better,  whilst avoiding embarrassing themselves by engaging in the harder conversations. That all changed when I went to London last year!

My mainstream witnessing method is not “cold witnessing” but through my circle of influence.  That is friends, family, work colleagues, casual acquaintances, etc... This is my “oikos”.  This is limiting after a while so my backup is cold witnessing. I do this by targeting people I think will have some time to spend in a deep and meaningful discussion.  That might be people who are relaxing at a park, waiting for a bus, resting on a bench at a Mall or my favourite - in or around their own home.

This is where I have enjoyed some manner of success for my Lord.  But there are areas where I fail Him miserably. They are mostly in metropolitan areas.  My worst failure was in London last year. I spent my informative years in country Australia and the lion’s share of that, on the edge of the Simpson Desert. All things metro are designed to confuse or scare me.  I seem to be the only one in the universe who can’t work out how to use timetables, ticket machines, trams, buses, trains or aircraft!  

When I was in London I went out whenever possible with a group to cold witness.  I couldn’t get a word in anywhere.  People were head down and practically running from one place to another.  There was a bus every 2 and a half minutes at the bus stop. ATM lines were a contact sport. The only people on park/street benches were pickled up to the gills. Everyone had headphones on!  All of my tips and tricks got me nowhere.  The team I went out with used tracts and a big smile.  People took the tracts or ignored them and went on their business without missing a heartbeat.  Astonishingly some people did take one, stopped and looked up!  The tract broke into their closed world.  Probably because they were already open to the topic.  They would happily miss their bus to catch another one down the track.  I was amazed.

The group did not use the tract as a gospel message but as a “Go/No Go” gate to check if anyone was open to talking about the gospel!  This is the piece of the puzzle I had been missing all of this time.

Inevitably the team could have long and meaningful discussions with those that chose to stop and interact.  You could ignore those that did not stop and expend your energy on those that did.  It was there that God taught me the strength of the humble tract and how wrong I was.  It is now in my witnessing toolbox to be pulled out whenever I need it.

If you don’t know where to get some tracts you can get some Free Printable Tracts HERE to try out.

Give it a whirl sometime and see what God does with it.

Cheers 
Macka

PS: If you catch me around press me to tell you the story of my witnessing to some Rastafarians and how God chose to use them to show me how silly I can be sometimes.  It's funny - (well, now).