Last night I saw the RedFrog Crew at a big college party.

“What do you think of them?” a friend asked.

I replied, “I was talking to a [Christian] girl today who said she doesn’t go to parties because she doesn’t like seeing her friends like that.”

“I don’t like seeing my friends going to hell.”

“Exactly! I think the idea is spot on: go where the lost are, where we can serve them, and where culture is both lived out and created. These people need to hear about Jesus, and I wish more Christians would go to parties like this to tell them about Him”

We agreed that we were curious to see what they talked about, so we walked over and started talking to them, not letting on that we were Christians.

“What do your shirts say?”*
“Red… frogs” (Actually, they said Red Frogs Chaplaincy Network)
“And you guys are just giving out red frogs?”
“Yep”
“Do you get paid to do that?”
“No, we’re volunteers”
“Woah! Why do you do it?”*
“Well, we don’t like seeing people get smashed. And it’s a lot of fun!”
“Wait, you do it just to stop people getting smashed?”*
“Yeah – at Schoolies last year we prevented 7 suicides.”
“Who pays for it all?”*
“We have sponsors… Allens donates the frogs…” (oh yeah, he forgot to mention CitiPointe Church, Brisbane.)
“How do you get involved in it?”*
“Oh, through community groups, and churches and stuff.”
“Churches? What churches are you guys from?”*
“Well some of us are from… Hillsong… there are a few from, you know St Barnabus on Broadway?”
I said “Yeah, actually, we’re Christians and-”, my friend continued, “I go to Barny’s.”
We talked about some other things before I had to dash off.

It was a very disappointing experience.

Christians need to bring the gospel to the lost, and we need to do it where they are and in a manner which makes contact with them. But we need to bring the gospel! The gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It’s absolutely fantastic that these Christians are serving the community at parties, but unless Jesus is proclaimed, it is of no eternal significance.

When I asked, as a Christian, “so do you guys come out here hoping to talk to people about Jesus”, his answer was along the lines of “People see that we’re doing a good thing and want to know more”. I pointed out that I had asked for more and still had not heard it connected to Jesus.

Read back over the conversation above and count the number of easy entrances (*) into a conversation about Jesus. We could not have made his job any easier…

On their table, next to cups of water, were brochures titled “Love”. They invited the reader to search for a deeper love than the superficial ‘love’ of the world, but there was no mention of anything spiritual, certainly no mention of Jesus.

There is a lesson here. When ministering in Jesus’ name, as Christians ought do, we must do it in Jesus’ name. Jesus must be named! And as we contextualise the gospel, such as, apparently, the brochure, we must include the gospel! The gospel will always be unpopular. But nothing is gained by forgetting it in order to spread ‘it’ better.

There is no new lesson here. But it is a vivid reminder of an old truth: preach the word. Preach the word.

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