The Minister’s Workshop: Tooling up for Key 73

Born in a suburban washington, D. C., hotel and nurtured in denominational and organizational offices across the continent, Key 73 passes this month from the hands of its organizers to the local churches. It is the local pastor working with his congregation who will either send Key 73 into orbit or leave it sitting on the launch pad.

Suggestions for local churches are contained in the Congregational Resource Book published by Key 73, available for $3 through Christian bookstores or the Key 73 office (418 Olive Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63102). But the book contains only suggestions and resources. There is no imperative that churches act on any of the ideas it contains, for Key 73—from top to bottom—is a do-it-yourself project with the sole overriding aim of evangelizing the continent. Within that context, pastors and laymen are free to contribute in the way that suits them best.

Many churches are already geared up for the first phase: “Calling our Continent to Repentance and Prayer.” During this phase congregations will be involved with noon prayer calls and a prime-time television special the weekend of January 6.

The noon prayer call is designed as a means for the lay Christian to extend his witness as well as support Key 73. From Christmas Day until the date of the TV special (the program is being placed on stations by local Key 73 committees, and times may vary) Christians are being asked to stop whatever they’re doing at noon each day and pray for Key 73 and the extension, by millions of people, of God’s Kingdom.

For local congregations the opportunities are unparalleled. Backed by heavy media advertising, local churches can declare themselves “prayer places” where Christians can gather each day. Pastors should urge their students and teachers to set up similar prayer times in school cafeterias or wherever they happen to be at noon. Businessmen should be encouraged to use offices for prayer with open invitations for fellow workers to join them. Nurses and doctors in hospitals, construction workers at their sites, salesmen in their stores—the possibilities are endless.

The prayer sessions need not be long and need not interrupt business, since they fall during the customary lunch hour. Some churches are sponsoring special prayer places in public facilities such as airline terminals to enable travelers to participate in the noon prayer calls. Literature on Key 73 will be available at each of the centers.

Key 73 organizers are hoping the noon prayer call will be signaled each day by the sound of church bells, car horns, sirens—anything to call attention to it. However, they agree the initiative for such efforts can come only from local congregations and their Key 73 committees.

The two-week period of official prayer calls ends the weekend of the television special (though organizers hope the prayer will not also end). Like the prayer calls, the TV special is intended for use by members of the congregation.

Individual Christians will be relied on to spread the effectiveness of the program. Designed for prime-time viewing, it is a thirty-minute color documentary outlining the changed lives of nine new Christians in Canada and the United States. Followup will depend on the local churches. Copies of the film are being made available by Key 73 so the program can be rerun at other times or shown to church or school audiences. Also, congregation members are urged to form “viewing parties” of neighbors to see the program and participate in Bible studies immediately after. As with most Bible-study groups, the size should average six or eight adults. Study guides based on the program’s content and tying in with biblical emphasis on evangelism are available from the Key 73 office.

Viewing parties can be of two types, say organizers: committed Christians or non-Christians. For the committed, the program provides opportunities to explore better ways of witnessing under the Key 73 umbrella, while it also presents a unique chance for Christians to evangelize neighbors and friends. By evening’s end, the first group—committed Christians—should have covered various methods of witnessing and its effects (as noticed in the film), while the second group, non-Christians, should have a clear understanding of the Gospel and the call to Christ.

Throughout the whole period, churches can use Wednesday- or Sunday-evening prayer services to share the Key 73 burden and use Sunday-evening evangelistic services for intensified presentation of the Gospel.

Formation of prayer cells can be continued and used to lead into the second phase of Key 73, emphasis on the Bible as the Word of God. Many churches already have active prayer and Bible-study cells operating in the congregation. All that’s needed is to convert operations to a Key 73 emphasis through the first two phases. Bible societies and distribution organizations are already assembling special resource materials for such groups. Phase two will concentrate on evangelistic Bible studies, and again the possibilities are endless; coffeehouse groups for youth, women’s home groups, married couple groups, Saturday-afternoon children’s groups, to name a few.

Along with the study groups, intensive Scripture distribution can be an effective way of reaching homes. (One of Key 73’s main aims is reaching every Canadian and American home with the message of Jesus Christ.) Churches, youth groups, or even individuals can participate a few nights a week. Groups like the World Home Bible League and the national Bible societies have already printed gospel portions for use by such groups. Not to be overlooked, of course, is the opportunity for high school or college students to work through campus clubs (such as Youth for Christ, Inter-Varsity, and Campus Crusade) in distributing Gospels or Testaments to fellow students.

Both phases lead to the third part of the Key 73 program, which centers on Easter and pledges to take the fact of the Resurrection to non-Christians. Much of the third phase will consist of direct evangelistic confrontations on streets, in homes, and on college campuses.

Whatever the plans and ideas, the critical time period has arrived. Unless local churches provide grass-roots support and evangelize in their own communities, Key 73 will be just another dream. It’s time now to do something.—BARRIE DOYLE, assistant news editor, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Sharing ideas across the continent is one way of keeping Key 73 alive in your church. If you have an idea you have found valuable, let us know. “The Minister’s Workshop” can be a sounding board for Key 73 projects and ideas throughout the year. Make yours one of them.—ED.

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