Gospel Tract Club Adds New Dimension to Bus Ministry

Many churches use some form of bus ministry to reach into the homes of their communities. The bus ministry has proven very effective coupled with a lively Sunday school program and good adult follow-up into the homes of the children. What starts out as a convenient babysitting service for parents, who would rather sleep in on Sunday morning than go to church, can be turned into an opening to get the gospel into the home.

Gospel Light Baptist Church in Walkertown North Carolina has gone all out on their bus ministry. With 50 buses going out, they bring over 1500 children to Sunday school each week. Over the years the fruit of this ministry includes many youngsters who got saved, grew up serving the Lord and are now full time missionaries and pastors.

But they have added another dimension with what they call the "365 Gospel Tract Club." They have challenged the youngsters who ride the buses to hand out one gospel tract a day.

Everyone who commits to do that and actually follows through for a couple of months is given a free T-shirt with the 365 Gospel Tract Club logo on it and the name of the church. If they continue to hand out their tract a day for another two or three months they are given a baseball cap with the same logo.

Those who faithfully complete a year of handing out one tract a day get to attend a special celebration.

Leaders of the program say that the shirt, cap and celebration are good to get the kids started, but soon the concept of being in the club becomes secondary as they see their classmates, family members and friends gobbling up the tracts and responding to the gospel. They suddenly realize that, with just one tract a day, they can obey the great commission and be soul winners.

One key to the success of the program, say the leaders, is the idea of only one tract a day. If the children were given more than that to start with, they might feel intimidated. But many who started with one a day moved on to more as they caught the vision.

With several hundred kids in the "Club," handing out at least one tract a day, the church has an even greater reach into the community with the gospel.


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