There are rumors that continually circulate that tracts do not work. The rumors are false. Tracts do work.
Tracts work because they are easy.
It takes work and a lot of courage to stand up and preach in front of a crowd. It takes even more work to write books, create websites, or travel as a missionary.
Handing out tracts is easy. It can be done for little money and in the comfort of your own community. Below is a demonstration of perfect technique. It is the only training you will need.
Place tract in hand. Extend hand. Smile.
Tracts work because they speak for you.
Tracts are so easy that they work even when you are not handing them out. You may not be speaking, but if you have tracts on a table next to you they are screaming at people walking by.
Sometimes people will come up and talk to you because of the tracts you have laying around. This happens a lot at the fair. Boy, that is easy fishing.
Tracts work because they are inoffensive.
Although provocative tracts are needful to grab attention, and sometimes a spark is ignited, written words are normally less offensive than words spoken to someone’s face.
Preaching is needed, and God uses the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe, but when it is not the time or place for vocalization, tracts work very well, especially when given with a smile.
When dealing with sensitive information like someone’s sin, death, church, and tithe, sometimes it’s easier to read about it than hear it. People are less likely to reject a letter than they are to reject a preacher. Hey, that’s where we need a tract!
Tracts work because they never forget.
When we are doing Bible study, it is common to have great spiritual thoughts, and then when we try to express them to someone it comes out as a mess or we forget. The beauty about writing things down in a tract is that you will always have the words there when you need them. Simply pull out the tract needed for that situation and you have a reference and a resource to give to someone else.
Don’t know what to say? Say, “here, read this,” and hand them a tract.
Tracts work because they are shorter than books.
The Bible is a long book and it takes a long time to read and study. Tracts work because people read them. It might be no coincidence that the epistles written to the church today are no longer than written tracts.
It is amazing that some of the same folks who discourage handing out tracts encourage purchasing this or that author’s book and handing it out to all their friends. What makes them think that more people will read a longer book over a shorter tract?
Don’t have time for a book club? Grab a tract.
Tracts work because they are cheap.
It would be financially prohibitive to hand out a book or magazine to everyone you meet. Since tracts are cheap they can be mass produced and mass distributed, even if many choose not to read them. Tracts cost pennies. Tracts make sense.
The most popular reason behind the rumor that tracts don’t work is that some people throw them away. Stories are told of fairgrounds littered with paper tracts after a booth where people have thrown them down in neglect or apathy.
Though the “horror stories” of seeing all my tracts on the ground have never been realized when I have passed them out, this is exactly the advantage of the tract. It is small and cheap, and can be discarded without much cost. In contrast, handing out a DVD to someone who uses it as a coaster has cost you a lot more.
Tracts work for everyone.
In non-religious uses tracts are also known as flyers, brochures, and business cards. These are printed in bulk and passed out all the time!
No one ever says that passing out business cards is too forward, or that brochures are ineffective at spreading information. People pass out their own ‘tracts’ all the time in the form of flyers and yard signs for their favorite politicians. Why don’t Christians?
It has been only recently that religious tracts have fallen out of fashion, because Christians do not take doctrine very seriously. Not too long ago in history, tracts were the best way to discuss and debate theological issues.
Tracts work because they deliver the right message.
Words are necessary to preach a message. If spoken words are not available, written words work. The problem is that we hardly ever have the right words at the right time. Here is where tracts are useful.
Tracts can be made for many different occasions and topics. Gospel tracts can be clear and succinct drawing from the most pertinent scriptures and explanations before a conversation even starts.
They can be written beforehand so that you need not be distracted or diverted from the right words. Tracts will always stay on track.
Tracts work, but they require workmen.
Perhaps the reason you have never seen tracts work is because you have never made them available to those around you. The tool is worthless without the workman.
There is nothing easier than standing behind the written words and letting them do the speaking for you.
Article Index Published: August 15, 2015
Last Modified: April 26, 2021