A new gospel tract published by Iron Stream Media seeks to highlight God’s beauty and initiate natural gospel-centered conversations with nonbelievers.
The tract, called “Life’s Story: Brokenness to Beauty,” was created by several contributors and follows a simple outline for users to work through.
Bill Wilks, pastor of NorthPark Baptist Church in Trussville and co-founder of the D-Life discipleship ministry, was one of the tract’s contributors. It begins with creation and continues by highlighting the beauty of our world and how it was broken by sin.
Packaging the message
Following the showcasing of human brokenness, “Life’s Story” moves into showing the reader — and potential teacher — how beloved humanity is by God. Upon this realization, it must be understood that the next step toward salvation comes through “believing in Jesus.”
Each of the four steps of “Life’s Story” cover one part of the gospel story: creation, fall, redemption and restoration. The tract also follows four sections of Romans to back up the claims made about the gospel: Romans 1:20, Romans 3:23/6:23, Romans 5:8 and Romans 10:9–10.
“In the booklet, it uses graphics that are very simple so that people can learn how to draw [the message],” Wilks said. “When we talk about a beautiful world, we have a circle in the booklet.”
Wilks explained that this tract can be presented to a group of believers who want to disciple and minister to others, and he added that the graphics help them remember the message even when they don’t have the tract with them.
Following the depiction of the beautiful world, a crack is drawn in the circle to highlight the brokenness that sin brought into the world.
“Then we say, ‘but even though we’re broken, we’re still beloved by God,’” Wilks said. “Well, then you draw a heart all the way around that circle with the crack in it. … You say that God still loves us (and can point to Romans 5:8).”
To signify restoration through Christ, a cross is drawn through the rest of the image.
“It creates a tract that you can use that has those images professionally done, but it also gives us a teaching tool that we’re training people how, if you don’t have the tract, you can still draw these images on a napkin or on anything, and you can share those little points: beautiful world, broken by sin, beloved by God, believe in Christ,” he said.
“It’s very biblical. It’s very simple. It’s illustrative,” Wilks said. “We’re very excited about it.”
‘Simple story format’
John Herring, CEO for Iron Stream Media, added, “In a time when many in the U.S. identify as nonreligious or formerly churched, the need for effective disciple-making is crucial. This guide helps communicate the gospel in a culture less familiar with the Bible.
“The guide starts with the creation, highlighting God’s rescue mission through Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration. It aims to help people see their personal story within God’s Redemptive Story, illustrating how Jesus fulfills their deepest needs,” he said.
“This tool helps share the message of Jesus by using a simple story format that relates to people’s personal experiences. It makes the gospel easy to understand and relevant, even for those who aren’t familiar with the Bible.”
For more information or to order the tract, visit ironstreammedia.com.
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