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Three-Door Evangelism

By John and Jean Peterson, Brazil

The heart of every missionary is burdened to share the gospel, but how do you get people to sit down in a chair to be counseled on how to be born again? One answer we found is to use a three-door evangelism display and present it at the local fair in a rented booth.

Three-door evangelism is a method used at fairs and expositions across America. Three years ago, we introduced this method of evangelism here in Crato, Brazil, with great results. We first prepared a wooden, table-sized display that had three small doors numbered 1, 2, and 3. We placed a sign above the display that called attention to it. Our sign said, “Three things God cannot do.” When people read the sign, they were curious: Is there really something God cannot do?

We invited them to satisfy their curiosity and open the doors. When they opened them one after another, they discovered that God cannot lie, cannot change, and cannot take anyone into heaven who has not been born again. It was then quite natural to ask, “Have you been born again?” Most did not know but thought they had not been. The next logical question we asked was, “Well, do you know how to be born again?”

Again, since most had no idea what “being born again” meant, the next question was, “Would you like to know how to be born again? We have some experts here who can tell you how. Come in and have a seat right over there.”

We had four circles of six chairs in our booth, and many times there were not enough chairs for those interested to sit upon. We used special visual counseling booklets to teach the gospel, and at the end of presenting the gospel, we asked the question, “Would you like to pray and accept Christ right now so that you can be born again and can enter heaven?” In a nine-day period at the municipal fair here in Crato, over 1,000 people were counseled and approximately 500 prayed to accept Christ.

We took names and addresses and gave them to the local churches closest to the homes of those who made decisions. The sister of one of our pastors, who had been witnessed to by her brother for many years, trusted Christ. A lady from Bogotá, Colombia, also trusted Christ as did many who were visiting the fair from other cities in Brazil. On the last day, a family of five trusted Christ and the next Sunday attended First Baptist Church of Crato.

Juazeiro do Norte is a city twelve kilometers from Crato and is a pilgrimage city. On Easter Friday, Zion Baptist Church counseled 400 people using the three doors. The seminary students recorded eighty-six decisions in local parks and streets during the annual pilgrimage. Over fifty three-door displays have been made and are now being used in many cities of Brazil. The pastor and people of the Vila Teixeira Baptist Church in Campinas liked the three-door display so much that they made a small model for the members to hang on their wall just inside the front door of their homes so that they could witness to visitors when they came.

The results have been fantastic. The number of people willing to come in and sit down to hear an explanation of the gospel still amazes us. But most of all, it causes us to rejoice to see what God can do when His people are willing to tell others about Christ!