Greetings,
As I write, it is Memorial Day in the US and many are getting together with others as vaccination rates rise and infection rates fall. I expect our upcoming Independence Day will bring more and larger gatherings.
The World Health Organization defines a mass gathering as “a planned or spontaneous event where the number of people attending could strain the planning and response resources of the community or country hosting the event.”
By this definition, an exodus of refugees could be a “mass gathering,” if an involuntary one. But many are music or sporting events, political rallies, or religious festivals. Check out the top 10 human gatherings in the world, only half of which are religious (Largest.org). A few in the US include the Gathering of Nations, Hobo Days, and the Burning Man Festival.
What do these have to do with evangelism? Everything. These events are expressions of identity or belonging. Even the extreme introverts will watch from a distance and say, “That’s my people, team, or group. This is where my loyalty lies!” Remind you of anything?
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10).
Blessings,
Pat