New ways to share the gospel

Giving and receiving tracts is as old as the printing press. Martin Luther made good use of the excitement over the new Gutenberg press to distribute tracts that spoke of being saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

Today, our basic message is the same. However, for many, our audience is very different to Luther’s time. With figures in Australia and New Zealand demonstrating an increasingly secular society, where Christianity holds second place to those who claim ‘no religion’, we can no longer presume that people know who Jesus is or what his life, death and resurrection means for us.

I love receiving a tract from Lutheran Tract Mission (LTM). The tracts remind me that I am loved by a gracious God. You don’t need to convince me of the hope I have in Christ. LTM tracts are edifying and inspiring for Christians to give to fellow Christians. I thank God for the messages for many and varied occasions. We all need reminders of what God has accomplished for humankind. But what tracts can I give people with little or no idea who Jesus is?

I am delighted to bring to your attention a new range of tracts housed under the ‘Exploring Christianity’ category. So far, 12 of these ‘Mission-Edge’ tracts have been produced. You can identify them by the small red cross on the front cover.

I can give these tracts to my friends and family who are curious about the Christian faith and even a little sceptical. Aimed at Gen Z and Gen Y (18 to 44 years), I love the title ‘You do you’ and recognise that ‘God, hope and mental health’ is particularly relevant in our society. The age-old question of the place of science and faith is wonderfully explored in ‘Has science replaced faith?’ and ‘How green is the Bible?’

Check out the range at www.ltm.org.au, but more importantly, use these tracts as a conversation starter. I’m confident that the Spirit can work in the heart of your friend so that they too can recognise that ‘Spiritual but not religious’ sounds a lot like Jesus.

Dr Tania Nelson is one of several writers of the Mission-Edge tract series.