By Jon Walker

Purpose Driven Church Conference (DVD)

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 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 you're 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 during a Purpose Driven Church seminar, Warren said he learned to go where the fish are from his father, who was a fisherman:

"If there was only one fish in a lake or stream, my dad would catch it," said Warren. "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 and that Saddleback grew from only four members to over 22,000 by using this simple strategy.

1. Know what you're fishing for …
"The kind of fish you want to catch will determine every part of your strategy," said Warren. "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."

Warren noted that when Jesus sent his disciples out on their first evangelistic campaign, he clearly defined the target. Matthew 10:5-6 (NIV) reads, "These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.'"

2. Go where the fish are biting …
"It's a waste of time to fish in a spot where the fish aren't biting," said Warren. "Wise fishermen move on. They understand that fish are not hungry all the time."

Warren said sometimes unbelievers are more responsive to spiritual truth than at other times. He said the Apostle Paul's strategy was to go through open doors and not waste time banging on closed ones. Don't focus your efforts on people who aren't ready to listen, said Warren, adding, "There are far more people in the world ready to receive Christ than there are believers ready to witness to them."

3. Learn to think like a fish …
In order to catch fish it helps to understand their habits, preferences, and feeding patterns, said Warren. "Jesus knew what unbelievers were thinking," noted Warren. "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," appealed Warren. "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."

Using church advertising as an example, Warren said most of it is written from a believer's viewpoint, not from the mind-set of the unchurched. He asked, "When you see a church ad that announces 'Preaching the inerrant Word of God,' who do you think that ad appeals to?"

Warren said he considers inerrancy of Scripture as a non-negotiable belief, but the unchurched don't even understand the term. "If you're going to advertise your church, you must learn to think and speak like unbelievers," said Warren. "The spiritual terminology that Christians are familiar with is just gibberish to the unchurched."

4. Catch fish on their terms …
Warren said too often we let 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," said Warren. "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," said Warren. “The only question is 'Which one?' No church can be culturally neutral. It will express some culture because it is composed of human beings."

"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," said Warren.

5. Use more than one hook …
Warren said 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," said Warren. "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."

Growing churches offer multiple programs, multiple services, and sometimes even multiple locations, added Warren. He said they realize it takes all kinds of approaches to reach all kinds of people.

"Jerry Falwell calls it 'saturation evangelism:' using every available means to reach every available person at every available time."

-Purpose Driven®-

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. ©Copyright 2004. Used with permission. All rights reserved.