June 11, 2001

Warren: If you want to catch fish, you can't stay at home
___LAKE FOREST, Calif. (BP) --If you want to be a successful fisherman, you don't look for the most comfortable spot on the lake, said Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Instead, you go to where the fish are, and you make it as easy and attractive as possible for the fish to swallow your hook.
___Warren said the same is true when fishing for men: "Unfortunately, many churches don't take the time to understand the people they want to reach and they don't have a strategy. They want to win people to Christ as long as it can be done in a comfortable way."
___Speaking before 2,500 ministers from 34 countries during a recent Purpose Driven Church seminar, Warren said he learned this principle from his father, who was a fisherman.
___"If there was only one fish in a lake or stream, my dad would catch it," Warren said. "As I got older, I realized his secret: My dad understood fish and caught them on their terms. In contrast, I never had a strategy whenever I went fishing. I'd cast out anywhere in the lake hoping something might bite. While my dad would crawl through brush or get wet up to his waist in order to get to where the fish were, my fishing spots were usually determined by what was most comfortable to me. I had no strategy, and my results showed it."
___Warren said Jesus gave five fishing guidelines for evangelism:
___ Know what you're fishing for. "The kind of fish you want to catch will determine every part of your strategy," Warren said. "Fishing for bass, catfish or salmon requires different equipment, bait and timing. You don't catch marlin the same way you catch trout. There's no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to fishing, and the same is true in fishing for men."
___ Go where the fish are biting. "It's a waste of time to fish in a spot where the fish aren't biting," Warren said. "Wise fishermen move on. They understand that fish are not hungry all the time."
___The Apostle Paul's strategy was to go through open doors and not waste time banging on closed ones, he said.
___ Learn to think like a fish. In order to catch fish, it helps to understand their habits, preferences and feeding patterns, Warren said. "Jesus often knew what unbelievers were thinking. He understood and defused the mental barriers people held. This is the reason he was so effective in dealing with people.
___"We must learn to think like unbelievers in order to win them," Warren continued. "The problem is, the longer you are a believer the less you think like an unbeliever. Your interests and values change. You must intentionally change mental gears when seeking to relate to non-Christians."
___ Catch fish on their terms. Warren said too often cultural differences between believers and unbelievers become barriers to getting the message out. He said for some Christians any talk of "adapting to their culture" sounds like theological liberalism.
___"But this is not a new fear," Warren said. "It's the reason the apostles held the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15. In those days the issue was, 'Do Gentile believers have to follow Jewish customs and culture to be considered true Christians?' The apostles and elders answered with a clear 'No way!'
___"The gospel is always communicated in the terms of some culture," Warren noted. "The only question is which one.
___"The problem with many churches today is that they're stuck in the culture of the 1950s--using bait and hooks that worked in that era--and they're wondering why the fish are no longer biting."
___ Use more than one hook. Warren noted people have a myriad of choices today, yet many churches offer only two choices--take it or leave it.
___"It's not pandering to consumerism to offer multiple times or even styles of worship services," Warren said. "It's strategic and it's unselfish. It says we will do whatever it takes to reach more people for Christ. The goal is not to make it as difficult as possible but to make it as easy as possible for the unchurched to hear about Christ."

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