Three Ways to Bring About Repentance
Wisdom from Luther, Wesley and Moody.
by Lyle Dorsett | posted 1/25/2006

"Whatever happened to repentance?" Frederica Mathewes-Green asked in Christianity Today (2/4/02). "We live in a time when it's hard to talk about Christian faith at all, much less about awkward topics like repentance … Try telling a person who's been discipled by modern advertising that he's a sinner."

No one has ever liked being called a sinner, she said, but the great revivals in history began when people were convicted of their sin. Mathewes-Green is right—we need a way to help today's listeners to confess and turn from their sins.

Martin Luther, John Wesley, and Dwight L. Moody in their respective centuries found ways to communicate the doctrines of sin and repentance to reluctant people. They transformed churches, universities, and nations with their message.

Their approaches can help us.

Luther's Sin Detector

Martin Luther knew the power of simplicity. He used simple tracts, art, drawings, and even cartoons.

Luther also put together a teaching device that he called a small catechism. Once widely used, the catechism has been gradually abandoned. But our post-Christian culture is beginning to resemble Luther's—biblical illiteracy and confusion over who God is and what constitutes sin.

Whereas the Victorians were supremely aware of their sins, today's culture rejects sin and denies guilt.

Luther's catechism included the Ten Commandments, the Apostle's Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and instruction on sacraments. The Commandments in particular were the mirror into which many people looked and realized, Oh, look how I have offended God. I've sinned.

In the church plant I've recently taken part in, we teach a catechism similar to Luther's. For the children who later walk away from their parents' faith, or for adults who need to renew their own, the catechism they learn here prods their spirits like the prodigal son's memories of home. We deliberately sow this catechism as the seed of future repentance.

I was at Bodleian Library in Oxford, England, researching to write a biography of C.S. Lewis's wife. A woman asked me, "What are you studying that for?"

"I'm a mid-life convert to Christianity," I said. "Lewis and his wife were also mid-life converts, and his writings had an impact on bringing me to my faith."

I asked her if she was a believer.

"Oh, no."

"Have you had any exposure to the faith?"

"I was raised a Methodist, but I have nothing to do with it anymore."

"Since you grew up in the Methodist church," I said, "you must be familiar with the Ten Commandments." I was using Luther's principle of the catechism as a mirror. "Ma'am,"—and I don't know why I picked this commandment—"have you ever committed adultery?" She was shaken. "Don't answer that question. But if you have, because you're created in the image of God, I can't help but believe you're dealing with some deep guilt."

Then I said, "The beautiful thing about my Savior, is that he can clean you and bring you back to God."

It's much easier to talk about sin with someone who was taught a catechism earlier. She looked at me stunned. Her eyes began to tear, and she said, "I need to think about that."