golden contacts

I heard a story recently by a retired colleague of mine in pastoring. He was sharing how one particular time a couple of young Mormon Missionaries knocked on his door. He invited them in and carried on a conversation with them. For some reason (not sure if the weather was bad and he felt sorry for them or not) he and his wife invited them to stay for a meal.

Somewhere in the conversation it came out that these young men had discovered a "Golden Contact" that very day. My friend inquired as to what this meant. The young men responded that this was a person who had been so interested in what they'd had to share that the person committed to becoming a member of the Mormon church that very day.

My curious friend then asked these fellows, "What kind of contact am I"? Their reply was, "A dud"! As you can imagine this didn't give my friend's wife the warmest of feelings after making these guys a meal.

I talk about this not to harp on Mormons, but to illustrate the typical approach of many church efforts across the board to evangelize. Although usually done less blatantly, the success of most church evangelism is considered reached when it leads to more people becoming members of that church.

Maybe the idea of "Golden Contacts" needs to be broadened. Any opportunity to serve and bless others in the name of Jesus is truly a "Golden Contact" irregardless of whether it builds the Church institution or not.