THE MATHEW STRATEGY - INTRODUCING ALPHA
“Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them.”
Luke 5:27-29 NLT
Recently, the church sent me and two other AOM leaders to Malaysia for an Alpha Conference. For those of you who are not familiar with Alpha, it is an effective evangelism tool used by so many churches around the world, which is similar to the Mathew Strategy above. I was touched especially by the testimonies of people who came to know Jesus through such strategies. One testimony that moved me the most was by a guy who had just come out from jail after many years for a very serious crime. He didn’t want to hear anything about God but he went to Alpha because he felt it was non-threatening for him. But in such an environment he had many of his questions answered. He was born again, filled with Holy Ghost and eventually had his mother saved because of him as well. It works.
Here is what we see from Mathew.
Mathew has just encountered Jesus. He wished the same for his unbelieving friends. But he probably knew they would have many questions which he didn’t know how to answer. So, what did he do? He just threw a party at his place and invited all his ‘unsaved’ friends to come. He also invited Jesus to be the guest of honor. So his friends came because Mathew invited them, and besides, who says no to a free party anyways? But here was the catch. Jesus would be the talk of that party. Those complicated questions would be answered, clear explanations would be given, all this happening in a non threatening environment - over food. That’s exactly how ALPHA works as well.
Having said this, I wonder if any of us would be willing to be a Mathew. The church is ready to fully support. All we need to do is step up and show our willingness to invite our friends from school, work and around our community. The church will help with all the support needed to make it work. You will be surprised at how many of your classmates, school mates, workmates and neighbors would end up loving God the way you do.
Let’s step up. Let’s be Mathews.
If you would like to do this... let me or any leader know and we will discuss the way forward.
Blessings!
Bro. Tarisayi Sibanda
