Door Knocking in the 21st Century

Door knocking for the church is old school.  It is still done by a few old guys who go around telling people they are on their way to Hell, but no one with any social sense is still out there doing it.  At least that seems to be the conventional wisdom about it.  On the other hand kids do it selling stuff from school and no one seems to be concerned about that.  Cute little kids selling candy bars for new playground equipment is different.

I never enjoyed door knocking.  I have done it a few times when to exclude myself would have been to openly declare that I didn’t care about God, but I never volunteered on my own.  I never thought it could be fun.

Maybe I’m getting odd in my old days, but I had a good time yesterday going door to door, particularly in a set of town homes across the street from the school where the church meets.  For one thing it seemed like a legitimate purpose.  Our little group does an annual Vacation Bible School.  We do it in a park and it is a lot of fun.  We were out inviting people to the VBS. 

There are 60 town homes in the complex, and I found people home in 20-25 of them.  I met a wide variety of people, most of them in the younger half of the age range.  I saw a lot of tattoos and nose, ear and lip piercings.  I met people with little kids and those who didn’t have any there, but promised to get the information to nieces, nephews and grandchildren. 

Everyone was friendly, even the ones who clearly were not going to show up.  There were several Muslim families.  One nice lady asked for clarification that it was a “Bible” school and told me they don’t read the Bible, they read the Koran.  Another lady had a simple, one word answer.  It may have been the only English word she knew.  I went through my little spiel and with a big smile she said simply, “No.”  I repeated, “No?” and she said it again, “No.”  I thanked her and wished her well and moved on, but it was as friendly a conversation as I had all day.

And there was the lady with the little girl.  She had just moved in and was looking for a church.  She had already checked out the school across the street because that is where her daughter will be in the fall, but she had no idea there was a church meeting there.  I told her a few things about the VBS and about the church and we exchanged contact information.   She never asked what kind of church it was.  That was refreshing to me.  I will contact her before the VBS and my wife may call her before Sunday.  Maybe I will see her again.

But whether any of them show up, I count it as a worthwhile day.  I believe that I presented Christianity in a good light and I made friendly contact with a number of people who may remember the nice man who stopped by to invite them to VBS.