Pluck and Plop Evangelism OR Flip and Flow Evangelism

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What’s your approach to evangelism and disciplemaking?

Dr. John DeVries, founder of Mission India introduced me to the concept of “pluck and plop” evangelism.

It’s the most common form of evangelism practiced in the West. It’s also the main reason not a single county in America showed a net increase in Christians in the past thirty years – despite all our “frantic” attempts to share the Gospel. We practice “pluck and plop” evangelism instead of “flip and flow.” We concentrate on winning individuals to Christ, attempting to pluck them out of their natural neighborhoods and to plop them into our “mission compound,” thus sterilizing them. (Why Pray?, p 104)

I think that many Christians and most churches have adopted this “pluck and plop” approach. The focus is on individual conversion to Christ that results in separation from relationship with others who don’t know Christ.

Instead, Christians need to live the gospel within their neighborhoods and existing relationships. As a person responds to the gospel, doors are “flipped” open so that the gospel should “flow” in.

People are not merely isolated individuals to be won to Christ one at at time. A person is always part of a social fabric. A person has a home, relatives, friends, and neighbors, all who influence each other. (p 107)

Don’t tear people out of their spheres of influence. Be praying that the gospel will penetrate their oikos. “We should always be praying for their home, their family, and their sphere of influence.”

Families are God’s natural channels of communication.

For Reflection – Describe the neighborhoods you move around in. Have you ever thought of praying for them as a whole, or are you prayers limited to the individuals within them?

Consider praying for the whole neighborhood! Look for doors that God flips open that allow the gospel to flow through natural relationships.

Avoid extracting people from those family relationships.

Read more about the dangers of Extractionalism.