Charles Brammall on ministering to the entertainment industry through his ENTER ministry, finishes his story by asking us to seek an “endgame.“
The wonderful Gospel conversations God gave us with entertainment people were manifold. But sometimes they were missing something important, which is something called an “Endgame”. That is, an opportunity to decide to surrender to Jesus straight away at the end of our chats about Him. An Endgame is the opportunity to ask the person you’re chatting with whether they’d like to make a response right now to the offer made by Jesus that they’ve just heard.
Would they like to put their trust, reliance and dependence in Jesus now? They may not, but that’s fine! We’re just trying to discover the people who are part of God’s people, and who will therefore come out of the woodwork when they hear his Word. People who would like to surrender to Him, but who just need that little bit of a nudge to get over the line. That is an “end game”- giving them the opportunity.
Or would they like to investigate further?
Or are they still trying to live life their own way without Him?
If they would like to surrender to Him now, we can then guide them through the kind of prayer they could pray to become a Christian. Without an endgame like this, there is a sense in which we haven’t shared the whole Gospel with them. It won’t always be possible to do this, but I am often remiss in not even trying to reach this point in the conversation, and I must. I have begun praying to incorporate an endgame into my conversations more often. Because the Gospel itself is a call, Acts 17:30-
“… In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands(underlining mine) all people everywhere to repent.”
To see an example, there are some endgames at the end of short Gospel summaries like “Two Ways to Live”, and John Chapman’s “God, Man, God, What if I Do? What if I Don’t?”. Also Colin Adamson’s “5 Cs” schema, and CH Spurgeon’s “The Wordless Book” (through which my wife Chiquit and I both surrendered to Jesus).
In my fear (and sometimes fatigue at the end of a long conversation), my natural inclination is not to try diligently enough to bring things to an Endgame, a close (which in reality is a Gospel opening!). And it is hard work. Sometimes it can feel a tad pushy, but we know that there will be people out there who are among God’s chosen (Ephesians 1:4),
“For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.”
When these dear ones hear His irresistible call by His Spirit, their hearts will soften, their minds and eyes will open, and they will respond to Him with joy. But an endgame won’t be pushy. It is pastorally sensitive, relational, nuanced, gentle and contextual. It’s just a commitment of the evangelist to finding out whether the person is at the point of wanting to surrender to Jesus or not. God might have been working in their lives for many years through other people and brought them to this point. We never know, and 1 Cor 3:6-9 Paul says
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now the one who plants and the one who waters are equal… For we are God’s co-workers.”
I want to push myself in this area of Endgames. Because the result could be an eternal opportunity. Or a lost one. Incidentally, if you are currently using a Gospel summary that doesn’t have an endgame, pinch one from another summary. Or memorise a different summary. Or just make up your own. There are no rules. My current version consists of a hybrid of “The Wordless Book” and the last two pages of the old “Two Ways to Live”:
“So in the end there are only two ways to live:
Our way
- reject God as ruler
- live our own way
- condemned by God
- facing death and judgment
Or God’s new way
- submit to Jesus as our ruler
- rely on Jesus’ death and resurrection
- forgiven by God
- given eternal life
So, which way do you want to live?
Which way are you living at the moment?
Would you like to make the change?
The first thing to do is simply to talk to God. You could pray something like this:
“Dear God,
Thank you for sending your Son to die for me so that I may be forgiven. Thank you that he rose from the dead to give me a new life.
Please forgive me and change me so that I may live with Jesus as my ruler.
Because I know that I am not worthy to be accepted by you. I don’t deserve your gift of eternal life. I am guilty of rebelling against you and ignoring you. I’m sorry, and I need your forgiveness.
Amen.”
I once met a car parking attendant at the old White City Tennis Centre at Weigall Sports Centre at Paddington, and we chatted about the Gospel. I finished with an End Game, and he chose to surrender to Jesus right then and there, so we prayed together. He had had much contact with Christians over the years, and our conversation seemed to be the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle. We swapped numbers, and said goodbye, and I rang him several times, but he didn’t answer. Thus, “successful ”End Games don’t always lead to a genuine change of heart. All sorts of things could be at play, including wanting to get me off his case. Please pray that he will have taken his conversation with the LORD seriously.
A friend and I were approaching people sitting on the Library Lawn at UNSW and asking if they’d like to chat about Jesus for a few minutes. Oh people who’ve asked me if they can chat today. One lady said, “Oh, okay! You may as well sit down. You’re the fifth people who’ve asked me if you can chat today!” I think God’s trying to tell me something. I think He’s fencing me in!” God is clever, and gracious and merciful.
ENTER Still Going?
Does ENTER still exist today? Legally and financially no, but its Spirit lives on. In about early 2014 Rev Tim Clemens was planting a church in Green Square in Inner Sydney, “Grace City Church ”. It was aimed at all creative people (not just entertainment people). He asked if he could pick my brains about how to reach creatives with the good news, and we chatted and I passed on everything I had experienced, and our MO and raison d’etre. I hear the church is going well.