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During my two-week stay in the States during February I did a good bit of shopping for things you couldn’t get in the States.

However, the majority of these items weren’t for personal use……

They were ministry tools.

Over the years my thinking of ministry tools has changed. In the early years of ministry I would view a tool as something that would directly either teach Scripture, or proclaim the Gospel. Now I view a ministry tool as something that DRAWS PEOPLE and creates opportunities for teaching as well as evangelism.

In other words, a ministry must have a product!

In a perfect world the ministry would be the product that draws people. For instance, the Gospel and teaching of Scripture would attract individuals. Sadly, this just isn’t true since the unsaved are “blinded by Satan” and don’t see why the Gospel is important.

So there must be products….but it cannot be about the product.

A few Sundays ago I shared the tweet below that includes a quote from Charles Spurgeon (you can find the original tweet here).

Spurgeon’s point is the program (carnival) cannot be the only thing that draws someone. The Gospel must be what captures their hearts and souls, otherwise you will just need to keep creating bigger carnivals!

At the same time, there’s nothing wrong with using a program to draw people in so they can hear the Gospel.

One of the “products” I brought with me from Saint Vincent is a deck of Uno cards. The Kids enjoy playing because it teaches them strategy as well as their colors and numbers. And of course, laying down a draw 2 (or even better draw 4) on your friend is always fun!

We do play Uno (usually on Fridays) as a way to bring kids in so we can fellowship together, and develop relationships.

But of course it’s not really about Uno

Uno is simply a tool that allows me to build a bridge into that child’s life. A bridge that will be used to proclaim the Gospel.

Using programs can be tricky and messy because it can easily become the focus instead of the Gospel.

But we must keep developing them

Because ministries need Gospel bridges.