Des Moines Bible Institute

If you are reading this you certainly have a desire to spread the Gospel. You also realize the power of a good Gospel tract.

You have probably also been turned down before and experienced that discouragement and now perhaps a fear of rejection.

I’ve had thousands of people take tracts from me and also thousands of people turn me down. Through the years I’ve found some practices which work. Allow me to share them with you:

A SMILE IS YOUR BEST TOOL

It’s simple. It’s effective. It’s contagious. And yet, it’s hard for most people to do naturally. What is it? To smile.

I can not emphasize enough that your best tool in giving out Gospel tracts is a big smile with a big, hearty greeting.

We give out many, many tracts at the Iowa State Fair, farmer’s markets, and sporting events. I coach our teams to smile and greet everyone they intend to give a tract to. When someone is about 10 feet from you, say “Well, How are you today? How’s the Fair going today?” Look them in the eye when greeting them and give them a BIG smile. This alone will increase your success rate by seven or eight times.

I’ve seen it first-hand. One particular day I was on one side of the street and my evangelism partner was on the other side of the street. I was getting an 80 to 90% success rate. He was handing out only a few every 20 or 30 people. The only difference was that I was giving people a big smile and warm greeting and he was not smiling and giving people a quiet and subdued “hello.”

Try it and see what happens.

STRIKING DISTANCE

Proximity is important when beginning to engage someone. If you start talking to someone too far away, they have an opportunity to veer away and avoid you. If you start too close, they are already by you or you startle them by engaging them when they are right by your shoulder.

I’ve found that eight to ten feet is a good distance to start engaging someone.

MEMORIZED FIRST PHRASE

What are you going to say when you try to give someone a tract?

If you don’t know, you’ll stumble over your words or say something that doesn’t make sense. This will cause you to have a lack of confidence.

Therefore, I encourage soul-winners to have their opening phrase memorized and use it every time.

Many of our tracts have a fun and attractive front image. So a phrase we use often is:

“Can I give you something fun with a good message.”

We pass out many 100-Dollar-Bill tracts. Thus, we hold at the tract with the money side up and say, “Can I give you something fun…”, then we flip it over and finish by saing, “…with a good message.” And it is fun. Who doesn’t like big fake money. And, it also has a good message.

Once you’ve had success using your memorized, favorite phrase you can try using others.

Some common phrases are:

• “Did you get one of these?”
• “Could I give you something I enjoyed reading?”
• “May I give you something good to read?”

There are multiple ways to start the conversation. Find a phrase you like, memorize it, and practice it with others.

THE OBVIOUS – PRAY

Giving out the Gospel is spiritual work. We are only vessels being used by God. Thus, before you go, pray for God to work. Pray for the people you will encounter. Pray for protection. Pray for God to give you the right words. Pray for people to be saved. Pray.

A GOSPEL CONVERSATION

Giving a tract is great; but having a Gospel conversation is better. Once you are comfortable giving out tracts, you’ll want to become proficient in talking to someone about Christ. Check out the next post coming soon about that topic.