Ideas For Evangelism - Way of Life Literature

ministered to. The music might be very pleasant but itrarely if ever produces conviction and holiness.Everything is done ritualistically “by the bulletin,” andthere is little or no spiritual power.This should not be the case, and part of the problem isthat people do not come to church for the right reason.Hebrews 10:25 says we are to come together in theassemblies to “exhort one another,” not merely to beexhorted.The case of Philip Mauro reminds us of the importanceof reaching out to visitors in the services. Mauro was afamous patent lawyer who argued many cases before theUnited States Supreme Court. He grew up Episcopalian,but by age 45 he was a skeptic in regard to religion. Inthe spring of 1903 he attended a church service almost byaccident, and it changed his life. Following is the story inMauro’s own words:“Certainly I was thoroughly discontented,desperately unhappy, and becoming more and moreeasy prey to gloomy thoughts and vague,indefinable apprehensions. . . . Life had no meaning,advantage, purpose, or justification; and the powersof the much-vaunted intellect seemed unequal to thesolution of the simplest mysteries. The prospectbefore me was unspeakably dark and forbidding.“I strolled out in my usual unhappy frame of mind,intending to seek diversion at the theatre. Thispurpose carried me as far as the lobby of a theatreon Broadway and caused me to take my place in theline of ticket purchasers. But an unseen hand turnedme aside, and the next thing that I remember was avery faint sound of singing which came to my earsamid the noises in Eighth Avenue, near 44th Street,fully a mile away from the theatre.“There is no natural explanation of my beingattracted by, and of my following up, that sound.