From the Desk of Pastor Trent: The Gospel Tract

The Gospel Tract

I know that this is an odd subject to write about. Not that the Gospel would be odd for me to talk about but the fact I am talking about a piece of paper on a blog. I have always been intrigued by the Gospel tract. In the small church I grew up attending we had a rack of tracts called Chick Tracts. I am certain of two things about my childhood. I watched every episode of Saved by the Bell and I read every tract Chick Publications put out. I would read the tracts when I considered the happenings in the front of the room to not be entertaining enough to merit my attention. I would often read them during a missionaries presentation. Which is ironic on many levels.

Throughout the years. I have had an off and on relationship with the Gospel Tract. At times I have given out hundreds during a month and other times I have given out a few to zero. As I know that I should have never been reading tracts during church I also know I should not go a month without sharing a Gospel tract. It does not change the fact that both have happened.

This medium of sharing the Gospel grabbed my attention the other day. Robert Canfield, the Childrens Pastor at my church, had handed a lady from India a Gospel tract from our church when I walked into the room. Upon seeing the lady I blurted out, as if my mouth had no connection to my brain, “so have you heard I went to India?”. Even though it is true I have been to India and it is something that I would bring up in  a conversation with a lady from India, it was weird of me to ask it in the “have you heard” fashion. As if it was local news or India would call her and give her monthly updates.

As I tried to regain my normal level of “only slightly awkward” the lady began to ask me questions about the church. Are you a pastor? Do you teach here? Did the church send you to India? Which led to answers that to many answers. During the conversation I explained to this nice lady about all the families from our church living overseas. After talking about the church, missions, and my trip to India I could see the ever so come expression on her face that said “why?’.

God sent this lady all the way from India, into our area, introduced her to a lady in our church who taught piano, walked her into a room, gave me a chance to talk to her and the answer to “why” is the same answer to the question of “why” that her face was asking. The Gospel. The answer to these questions was being firmly gripped in her hand in the form of a Gospel tract. Why do we do what we do? The Gospel.

Please, pray for this lady. Please, pray for me. In that moment my appreciation of the Gospel tract was brought to where it should be. It is not just some information printed on a glossy piece of paper that is a good thing for those us in the church to hand out. It is God answering why through His Word to all the “whys” of life!  I do not want my heart to become indifferent to this renewed knowledge of this simple truth.

Rather it is through little pieces of glossy paper (tracts), videos, conversations with friends, conversation with strangers, graffiti, books, status updates, songs, or a blog let’s use all tools available to get the Gospel to every person in this world. By the way.. why don’t you take a second a read this What is the Gospel?

Taken from trentcornwell.com