Tracts Production

“15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace”

That verse is of course from Ephesians chapter 6.

I remember when I first became a Christian that distributing little pieces of paper with a miniature version of the Gospel message written in plain words was one way to preach the Good News.

Before I became a Christian I remember being given a tract once or twice. I have to confess that I read part of them but didn’t really understand what they wanted. I was a good Christian as I thought or a good catholic but the idea of the pure Gospel message was somewhat remote for me.

Later as a young “born again” Christian I was busy distributing tracts. As time went on I have to confess that it has come out of fashion even though printing them and designing them has become so easy.

Recently I tried Ebay for some evangelistic material and clothing and really struggled to find something. There were just a handful of ministries offering their services and some of them at cost as well.

Still I think why not start this habit again. Even if 9 out of 10 tracts are not getting read but who knows maybe one out of 100 will find his way to repentance on account of this type of outreach. More so it is so easy to either produce them yourself or to track down tracts publishers using the Internet.
One of the more famous one is Jack Chick who has produced a lot of comic tracts. You can find him at

http://www.chick.com

Just Google tracts or Printable Tracts and you can find a whole variety of ministries who have produced ready to print tracts.

As far as a War Room Activity is concerned you could start and do a ThinkTank Activity on what tracts are likely to be read in the current climate.

For example in my hometown in Paderborn in Germany a big WW2 bomb which has not exploded has been found. They are now planning a mass evacuation of up to 20k people from their homes as experts will try their very best to diffuse the bomb. In this context it would be an ideal opportunity to write a tract or an “info leaflet” about WW2 bombs.

Here is a suggestion:

The things nobody tells you about unexploded WW2 bombs
– talk about the make up of the bomb
– reasons why they didn’t explode
– the chances that they can explode whilst being defused
– the best ways to protect yourself in case of it going off
– the issues with the pressure wave (i.e. keep windows open)
– and what happens if worse comes to worst and you die
– then talk about the Gospel message

In the current climate in that town you can guarantee that the tract will get read and you can disseminate potentially life saving information at the same time.

Whilst the civil war was on in the Ukraine the authorities in Mariupol a town right at the edge of the civil war area also released a leaflet on how to survive in mortar attacks or is soldiers move into town to fight.
Again this would have been a good opportunity to squeeze in the Gospel and to make it relevant to people.

So how should we write a tract?
Here are some pointers:
– make it relevant
– interesting design
– make it easy to read i.e. no smallprint
– be to the point
– make use of graphics and images
– consider to write a comic tract?
– use software such Microsoft Publisher or similar
– link it with a website should people want to know more

How to distribute them?
Personally I would just leave them somewhere, on the bus, restaurant with a tip, on a table etc. I think people these days are more weary of personal contact yet in some instances this may be the best option to approach someone.

Also it is important to have something on you to just preach the Gospel.
Sometimes people just need a little push to let them know that Jesus cares and that he is there for them. All they need to do is just to call on his name and to let him know.

“So have your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace!”

In other words be ready to share the Gospel at all times. Tracts may just be the catalyst you may need to effectively share the Gospel!

Michael