The Romans Approach to Reaching the Lost

THE ROMANS APPROACH TO SALVATION

Sitting in the living room of our home one evening, my wife handed me a storage box and said, “If you want experience some nostalgia look through this.”  Out of curiosity I began to search through the items in the box and found Father’s Day cards from my children, notes from my wife and various other things that went back over 30 years.  I also found a small envelope with a 37 cent stamp post marked in 2002.  The return address showed Hallsville, TX 75650.  I removed a  letter and it read as follows:

                Dear Jim,

                                I take great pleasure in writing to tell you of the success my wife & I have had       reaching

                the lost using the Romans Approach to salvation. 

A friend gave me a R.A. Tape in 1982.  Since then the Lord, my wife & I have converted more than 50 souls using it.

I am so thankful for the tape you recently gave me.  I promise it will be used.  I’m so greatful for brothers like you who have the knowledge of God’s salvation plan & the ability to organize it in a way that faith, the love of God, the origin of sin, God’s grace, His salvation plan & Church membership can all be taught by nearly anyone.

My prayer is, may God bless & keep you in all that you do.

In Brotherly love,

Gene Tolar

I have shared the letter just as it was written.  You can listen to the tape that Gene is referring to here: http://campusministryunited.com/Audio/RomansApproachLive.mp3

I am delighted that God has used this study to bring hundreds to Christ.  It is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation.  The study from Romans simply presents the truth in a way that people who are away from God can understand it.  God describes us as clay jars that hold the great treasure of the gospel:  “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)

I pray that God will bless you richly as you explore this study!

Finding God

I have just finished reading a book entitled FINDING GOD by Larry Crabb for the second time. Actually the full title is "Moving Through Your Problems Toward Finding God."  This book is  challenging, encouraging and thought provoking.  We know that Paul put a very high priority on knowing God (Phil. 3:7-11).  He said, this is the "one thing I do" (3:13).  Is your #1 goal in life to "know Christ?"

Consider the following from Dr. Crabb's book:

     To believe Christ (faith), to serve Christ (love), and to wait for Christ (hope): that is what it means to find God.

     But to the degree that you haven't found him, your passions are out of control.  Trust is out.  You want to explain and control; therefore, you reduce mystery to manageable categories and attempt to run your own life without depending on Christ.

     You like to be right. You call it earnestly contending for the faith, and you persuade yourself that you are God's ally in defending truth.  But your angry spirit of smugness and condescension gives you away. Compassion and humility yield to arrogance.

     You long to heal, to relieve pain.  But when that becomes a higher priority than worship, you create a god who suits your humane purpose, and you devote your life to helping people feel better about themselves.  You end up using a false god rather than worshiping the true One.

     You long to connect with the supernatural.  You embrace mystery, fall prostrate before God in humility, and yield yourself to no higher purpose than experiencing him.  But your focus is on experience.  You demand it.  So you come up with methods to get it.  Eventually, you become more caught up with your theology of finding God and the evidence that you have done so than with God himself.

     To every cry from you passion-filled hearts, God replies, "CHRIST."

     Let your passion to explain become a passion to know Christ and all that he reveals through the book that God wrote about him.  Think hard, explore, take risks in your ideas, talk to people about their lives, but never leave the chair by the fire for very long.  Let your work of faith be always to believe he is good.

I encourage you to put Dr. Larry Crabb on your reading list. 





There is a BIG difference beween "What" and "Who."

Are you sharing “What” or “Who”?

Jim and Tony, had both just recently became Christians.  These twin brothers both worked under the supervision of Barry Wilkins, who was the district supervisor for a national insurance company.  They often went on the road together and Jim and Tony had many occasions to discuss the gospel with Barry who had never been immersed.  They introduced me to Barry and suggested that I have a personal Bible study with Barry and his wife Nancy.  I agreed to this plan and asked Barry to give me a call when they were ready (I really didn’t expect to hear back from him!).

Barry did call and asked that I come to their home on a Saturday morning.  We sat down around their dining table and opened our Bibles.  After prayer I got their permission to ask a “personal question.”  I asked, “Have you reached a place in your spiritual life where you know for sure that if you died today that you would go to heaven?”  They both answered that they had, and we started our study of Romans.

When we reached Romans 8:1 which states, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  I asked, “Are you in Christ?”  They both said they were.  I asked, “How did you get into Christ?” They answered, “We invited him into our hearts.”  To which I pointed out, “They may be how Christ got into you, but this scripture states there is no condemnation for those that are IN Christ.  We need to see what the Bible says about getting into Christ.”

Earlier we had read from Romans 6, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4    We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  I asked, “Have you ever been buried with Christ in baptism?”  When Nancy started to process what this meant she left the table and went to her bedroom weeping.

After a period of silence, I asked Barry, “What are you going to do?”  He replied, “I’m just not ready to receive baptism!”  I said, “Barry, I did not come over here to get you to receive baptism. I came over to share Jesus with you.  You are not saying no to baptism, you are saying no to Christ.  Barry responded, “Boy, it’s not hard to say no to baptism, but it is difficult to say no to Christ!”

Barry and Nancy were both baptized the next Tuesday.

My personal faith journey.

MY PERSONAL JOURNEY

I grew up in a family of consisting of six siblings. Two were younger than me.  My dad was 65 years old when I came into the world.  He was 72 when the youngest was  born.  From my point of view dad was a very religious man.  He had served as a deacon in the Baptist Church and saw to it that we were in church every Sunday, and often led the family in devotions of prayer.  The most convenient place of worship for my family was a Methodist Church, so that’s where we attended.  At the age of ten I made a profession of faith and joined the Methodist Church along with my brother who was 12.  This was the beginning of my walk with God.  I cannot remember when I did not believe Jesus Christ was “the only begotten Son of God.”

When I was 14 my dad died leaving my Mom with four children still at home.  Two days after I turned 17 my mom signed so I could join the U.S. Navy.  After two years and four months in the Navy I re-enlisted for six more years.  While home on leave I met a beautiful young lady that I had known of most of my life.  We found that we had a lot in common and decided to get married.  She and her family were members of the Freewill Baptist Church.  With the influence of a Baptist dad and now a Freewill Baptist wife, I decided to be immersed according to the teachings of the Baptist Church. 

I had expressed to my wife that I felt God was “calling me to preach.”  My first attempt at preaching was at the Oak Grove Freewill Baptist Church in 1962.  I had been baptized in the afternoon and attempted to preach at the evening service.  Perhaps, oddly, although I was attempting to connect with God, and had made honest attempts to, there was still this emptiness.  A suspicion that I was not connected.  Even so, I continued on this path seeking to please God by attending church and telling others about my faith.

In 1963, just over a year since I had been baptized to join the Freewill Baptist Church, a friend challenged me on my faith response to God in becoming a Christian.  He was a recent convert in the Church of Christ tradition.  This friend shared with me scriptures such as, Mark 16:15-16 where Jesus told the Apostles, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”  He also shared Acts 2:38 where Peter was answering the question of those that had crucified Christ and wanted to know what to do to have this guilt removed.  Peter said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  This meant a lot to me.  It placed in concrete terms what God was calling me to do, that was, to place myself under Christ’s authority and be immersed.  The blessings promised were “forgiveness” and “the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

This also set me on a path of understanding that was not healthy. For years I interpreted the needs of others in the light of my own experience.  Rather than sharing Christ I shared steps (Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess and be Baptized) that should be followed for a person to become a Christian, the right Church with the right name and the right acts of worship.  This formula was what I saw as the answer for those who needed to be saved. (A note here: God’s plan of redemption is through Christ.  Hearing, believing, confessing and being baptized is the order but Christ is our redeemer, not the steps.)

I had graduated from College with a degree in Bible before I saw the light (John 8:12).  I had discussions with my brother-in-law, Jerry, whenever we got together.  He has a Master’s Degree in English and loves debating.  We covered the steps, the right Church, the right acts of worship and he was not moved.  My brother, John, who is a couple of years older than me got through to my brother-in-law and opened my eyes to the powerless approach I had used.  John presented Jesus to Jerry.  “What do think about Jesus,” he asked.  Jerry responded, “Oh, I believe he lived and died on a cross.” John asked, “Do you realize that he died on that cross for you!”  I could tell that Jerry was sobered by this application.  I asked, “Jerry, do you believe Jesus was buried and raised from the dead three days later?”  He said, “Yes, I do believe that!”  So I said, “Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?”  He answered, “Yes, I do believe Jesus is the Son of God.”  Two of us saw the “light” that night.  My brother, brother-in-law and I went to the little Church where I ministered and baptized Jerry that very night. I know Jerry received the gift of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit just as those on Pentecost were promised in Acts 2:38.

I saw the power of just sharing Jesus that night. 

A request for prayer

Just last month, but thirty-six (36) years ago, I was the Evangelist at the Central Church of Christ in Davenport, IA, and we held a tent meeting that August.  I walked around the seven acres owned by the Central Church, which at that time was a vacant field, and prayed that God would do an awesome work under that tent.  It was under that tent I met Gary Lambrecht.  He hung back at the end of one of our nightly services and had questions about the sermon I had just preached (using a flannel board and flannel graphs to illustrate).  After a discussion of this lesson Gary requested to be baptized.  The next night his wife Zoe was also baptized.  Gary later came to Harding University and got a degree in Bible.  He  now preaches for the Baytown Church in Tampa, FL.

Little did I know that almost thirty (30) years later Gary and Zoe and the Bay Area Church of Christ would connect with my family in a most dramatic and powerful way.  Wes, the youngest of four children, got on drugs at a very early age and remained on drugs for almost ten years.  As parents, Geraldine and I, thought we would never know peace as we struggled with Wes, but the day came when an opportunity presented itself for us to ask our friends in Florida if Wes could leave us and be ministered to by the Bay Area  Church.  That decision proved fruitful.  Wes was "born of water and Spirit" on Father's Day in 2004,  wound up doing a one year internship with the Campus Ministry in Tampa and then came back to Harding where he got a Ministry degree in  2008.  While in Tampa God provided Wes with a wife, Airiel.  They now have three sweet, sweet children and expect a fourth in January 2012.  Wes ministers with the Lake Merced Church of Christ in San Francisco, CA and is taking some courses with the FullerTheological Seminary.

Our God is an awesome God.  Connect the dots.  In 1975 there was a tent meeting where Gary & Zoe Lambrecht became Christians.  In 1980 Wes was born.  In 2004 God used this dedicated, Godly couple (along with others at the Baytown Church of Christ)  to lead Wes to the LORD.

Now, for the prayer request. 

I have been invited back to Davenport to work with and speak to the congregation for a week in October.  This congregation has experienced decline for the last several years.  Back in the 70's well over 200 met regularly at Central. This continued into the 90's.  In Iowa, a state with less than 50 congregations of the Church of Christ, Central was referred to as the "Big Church." Now there are only 70 or so in attendance on Sunday.   That is a drop from 140 less than three years ago.

Please pray that God will be glorified in and through the Central Church of Christ in Davenport, IA.  I will be praying that God will work through me to be a blessing.

I make this request knowing that sometimes God's answers are twenty to thirty or more years in the making!

A Plan for Reaching the Lost through Your Congregation

It has been my priviledge to be around soul-winning Christians in the past. In Davenport, IA from January 1973 through July of 1975 over 200 were baptized. Twelve individuals, for the most part, did the evangelizing although there were many more behind the scenes supporting the effort. At River City Ministry in 2008 there were 76 baptized and in 2009 there have been 86 to date.

If there are going to be consistent conversions where you worship there will have to be a plan to do it. It must be intentional. On purpose. How? First you must "seek." Jesus came to "Seek and save the lost." (Luke 19:10) You need someone to lead this PRIMARY ministry in your church. A person with passion for the lost. A person who is willing to lead by example. For the purpose of this brief article this person will be called the Evangelism Ministry Leader (EML).

Following is an outline that might give you a plan to start:

A PLAN FOR REACHING OUT TO THE LOST


I. Evangelism Ministry Leader (EML)
1. A person who is actively seeking the lost.
2. A person who has proven they can equip others to share the gospel.
3. A collector of contacts
All those that seek benevolent help
Non-members contacted by the hospitality/visitation group
Non-members who are married to members
Special event visitors
Names submitted by members of the congregation
Names submitted by the Office of persons interested in Bible Study.
4. Place each contact in a category
For immediate Bible Study
To be invited to a Growth Group
To be asked into someone’s home are taken out to eat
5. Make sure the office gets information on each contact that is baptized into Christ so effective after-care (discipling) can take place.

II. Team Member(s)
1. A person who is actively seeking the lost.
2. A person who is willing to study with a non-Christian
3. A person who is willing to follow-up after the study when a person is converted to Christ.

III. Congregation
1. Should be urged to “search for the lost.”
2. Will help provide the EML and Local Evangelism Group with contacts for conversion to Christ. 3. Willing to be a “silent partner” in Bible study sessions.
4. Willing to “practice hospitality” with non-Christians.

If you would like a FREE outline of a great Bible Study go to http://www.westcoastwitness.com/ and check out the Romans Approach.

Quote from Larry West in the Christian Chronicle

"We will not convert unless we confront..." "We cannot just be friends with someone...and expect him to come to know what to do to be saved. He doesn't learn the gospel through osmosis." (CC May 2009, page 26)

What a challenge; What an adventure! Living for Christ.

From Oswald Chambers: My Utmost For His Highest. May 15



"That ye may know what is the hope of his calling..." Eph. 1:18



Remember what you are saved for - that the Son of God might be manifested in your mortal flesh. Bend the whole energy of your powers to realize your election as a child of God; rise to the occasion every time.



You cannot do anything for your salvation, but you must do something to manifest it, you must work out what God has worked in. Are you working it out with your tongue, and your brain and your nerves? If you are still the same miserable crosspatch, set on your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.



God is the Master Engineer, He allows the difficulties to come in order to see if you can vault over them properly - "By my God have I leaped over a wall." God will never shield you from any of the requirements of a son or daughter of His. Peter says - "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you." Rise to the occasion; do the thing. It does not matter how it hurts as long as it gives God the chance to manifest Himself in your mortal flesh.



May God not find the whine in us any more, but may He find us full of spiritual pluck and athleticism, ready to face anything He brings. We have to exercise ourselves in order that the Son of God may be manifested in our mortal flesh. God never has museusms. The only aim of the life is that the Son of God may be manifested, and all dictation to God vanishes. Our Lord never dictated to His Father, and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. When we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine to feed and nourish others."

Check out the following video

If you want to understand THE REALITY OF ISLAM and how it is spreading around the world, YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS VIDEO!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU

Revival

I am writing this to sort out my thoughts and feelings about my role in the Kingdom of God. First, I want to be clear with myself: Living for Christ is not about me, it IS about doing God’s will (Matt. 7:21-23). Paul’s assessment of himself and his role before God was apparent to him (Gal. 2:20; Acts 26:16-18). He knew he was an apostle to the gentiles (Gal. 1:1).

My calling is clear to me: I am an evangelist. I was called of God to preach to the lost and bring them to salvation. Whether I am used to share the message or God uses someone else, it thrills me, like nothing else, to see a lost person baptized into Christ. On the other hand, it disheartens me to see many opportunities to share the gospel pass Christians by. This is not a recent “urge,” or a passing emotion – this is in my DNA as a child of God. Everywhere I have ministered God has blessed with many baptisms. In Cabot, AR in 1972 there were sixteen baptisms in a six week period as I caught the vision and burden Paul wrote about in Romans 9:1-4a and Romans 10:1. In Davenport, IA over 200 were baptized in two and one-half years; in Tavares, FL 28 were baptized in four months; in Little Rock there was an average of 40 per year baptized, and now at River City Ministry this year 30 have been baptized; last year over 70. In almost ALL of the many conversions I note here, someone besides me studied with and baptized the folks. Again, this is not about me!

For several years (1982-2003), my evangelistic spirit was numb (dead). I attribute this to several things: the difficulty of working with a divided church, the pressure placed on our family as my youngest son began to use drugs and a daughter chose to worship at a congregation other than the one we were with, and finally my resignation from preaching. All of these things were major distractions. Of course the real source of discouragement was Satan (Eph. 6:12).

Then, my youngest son’s conversion at age 22 was a tremendous source of revival to my spirit. If I died today I would do so praising God for what he has done in my family, with my children and their walk with Him. I say, “Amen,” to John’s statement in 3 John 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

When Wes decided to come to Harding and attend the HSBS Program I was encouraged even more. To find out that he was going to join a team of students and go to California (taking him far away from his mom and dad) I could only praise God! I know there will be other obstacles along lifes way, but right now I am excited about trying to live up to my calling by equipping others to share Jesus while I do the same.

One body

Just Ask!

It has happened again! and again! Wednesday night Anthony Wood met with some folks at the Remmel Church of Christ that were interested in discussing what it meant to become a Christian. Four were baptized. On Thursday at River City Ministry the 30th person was baptized in 2009. On Thursday night Mimi, a New Yorker who is making her home in Searcy, was baptized. The common denominator for each of these is that the gospel was presented to them and they were asked if they had a desire to respond to it. They did!

It still "pleases GOD to save people through the foolishness of preaching."

Tulsa Soulwinning Workshop 2009

The TSWW was well attended this year in spite of having numbers that seemed to be lower than previous years. I would rate the content of the 2009 Workshop very high. The speaker's were challenging in what they shared. The group I was with attended Memorial Drive Church on Wednesday night (heard good singing by several groups, and a good, challenging lesson by Rick Atchley) and again on our way out of Tulsa on Sunday morning.

With that said I also observed a heavy emphasis on social work, that is reaching out to the underserved of society. Since that is an area that I find my ministry with (http://www.rivercityministry.org/) I was in full agreement with us meeting the homeless, near homeless and poor where they are and welcoming them into our fellowship. Having spent a lot of time in an environment where social needs are met (food, clothing, medical needs, shelter, transportation, etc.) I know how easy it is for this ministry to become a substitute for meeting the greatest need of every person, salvation that is found only in Christ!

For several years RCM served thousands of meals, gave away tons of clothing, distributed thousands of dollars in medical supplies and saw few converted to Christ. In the past four years over 200 have been baptized into Christ. What is the difference? RCM brought evangelist in who were intentional about sharing the gospel with the lost. First it was Gerald White, a retiree who was spending his time working with "We Care Campaigns." In his two years at RCM about 60 were baptized. Then Anthony Wood was invited to RCM in the spring of 2007 to be the Evangelist for RCM. Since his arrival over 150 have been brought to the cross and salvation in Christ. His method is to intersect with those that come to RCM much like Jesus did with the woman at the well (John 4).

These conversions came about by simply asking those who come to RCM if they have a spiritual need they would like prayers for. A spiritual discussion follows and the "power of the gospel" does it's work.

My counsel is to 'ask." Just ask. See if those you know have a spiritual need that will lead to you sharing the most powerful message in the world, the message of the cross. (Do you know for sure, no doubt, that if you died today you would go to heaven?) We have that message of assurance, and we can share it.

Staying Fresh and Green (My wife's blogspot)

DO NOT TRESPASS!No one I know actually wears a sign around their neck with that proclamation printed on it in big, bold letters, but many effectively spell it out with their eyes and body language if you dare mention anything about spiritual matters. Their visage can become stone-cold as the lights go out - nobody home here! Must be Mt Rushmore! How and when did broaching the subject of Christianity become an almost punishable offense?The people of the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua do not feel this way (they didn't in the '70s anyway). How very different those brown-skinned men and women were from our country of driven Americans. It was as though the air dripping with sun, the mellow breezes and every rippling blue-green sea was part of their souls - making them bright, open, courteous, and as friendly as if they'd loved you forever. Their eyes sparkled with delight when approached even on the street about the Lord. Their "signs" read: "I'm open; I'm interested; I'm available for discussion!"When offered tracts or any other written materials, almost every man and woman received them with what approached reverence - indeed, obvious appreciation. One lovely single mom struggling to support her children as a maid at our motel, declined my offer of sodas, foodstuffs and toiletries as our group prepared to leave the island, instead asking, "Do you have any books or pamphlets, or anything else about the Lord?"

It's not quite like that here in the U. S. Even when dealing with family the "signs" sometimes loom as big as a billboard on the interstate. I knew my aunt was not a part of any church, so I asked her one day about her faith. Whoa! She blew up at me. She didn't scream, but I could tell she wanted to. After a few minutes of red-faced huffing, she let me know the bottom line: her beliefs were private, locked behind the door of her life, and how impertinent of me to inquire. I - also red in the face but huff-less - slunk home.That, and other similar experiences made me very cautious over the years.

Since I'm not an extrovert and fairly cowardly, it would take me some time to regroup from such encounters. My tendency was, for awhile, to see those "signs" hanging around the necks of all, heed them, and keep my mouth shut. Eventually, however, the days rolled on by and dulled the unpleasant memories; I would stick a toe back out into the shallows, test the water, and move on out slowly.

Did you notice how many times I used the words, "I, me, and my" in the above paragraph?The problem with looking at yourself, other than the fact that you're not looking to the Lord, is that a lot of precious time is lost not only in being afraid of lost people, but also in explaining your hang-ups, failings, and expounding on the psychology of why you're a coward. O, Lord, have patience!

What if the early church family had reacted in the same way when they tried to talk to their aunts?! Can you imagine Paul running out the door and keeping still about Jesus just because a cantankerous old relative spewed on him? Paul did not walk in the light, power, and at the bidding of Paul. He was lost in the Son of God - but supremely found at the same time, carrying the death of Christ around in his body, yet moving in and speaking to a dark world by the Life of Christ in his body. As a result, he knew exactly who and where he was, Whom he was serving, and how he was able to do so - he knew full well and rejoiced that it was not because of his ... anything.

How do we as ambassadors for Jesus Christ break through those forbidding "signs"?"[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire] both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight" (Phil. 2:13). Amplified Bible

Lynn Stringfellow, campus minister in Tampa, shares these guidelines:
1. Desire - to do God's will (not just the part I like).
2. Pray - God will send someone into your life who needs Him (this is a pouring out of the heart for God to work in your life, not just a simple prayer).
3. Watch - For the answer to that prayer (be on the look-out for the person God is sending. Watching is Faith in Action).
4. Identify - Who the person is God has sent into your life.
5. Pray - For an open heart in him or her, and the opportunity to connect.
6. Watch - For an answer to that prayer (again, this is the action of your faith.)
7. Pray - A prayer of thankfulness and dependence.
8. Share - The Good News.

See the dependency upon the Lord? Not that I sit home on the couch watching an old movie and wonder why God isn't sending someone my way, but KNOWING this is God's work and He will lead.

"That with the utmost freedom of speech and unfailing courage, now as always ... Christ (the Messiah) will be magnified and get glory and praise in this body of mine and be boldly exalted in my person, whether through life or through death" (Phil. 1:20b). Amplified Bible
Posted by Geraldine at 6:33 PM

Having a Plan for Sharing the Gospel

Years ago I was introduced to an acrostic that I have used hundreds of times and passed on to others who have used it with success. The acrostic is F O R M. If you follow this you can be into a discussion with a new aquaintance in minutes, so here it is:

F for family. Ask about their family. How many brothers and sisters do you have? Children? grandchildren, etc.
O for occupation. What kind of work do you do? (listen!) Ask other questions about their work: What got you into this line of work? etc.
R for religion. How long have you identified with this denomination? When did you join? etc.
M for message. Here is where you will need to have though out beforehand what you will share. Do you have a messge to share?

Most often I use the book of Romans to share the gospel. Others have used the book of Mark or the gospel of John. I like Romans because you can share enough with a person in one study for that lost person to know what they need to do to be saved.

The important point is to have the message of the gospel in your heart and mind and be prepared to present the gospel when the opportunity presents itself!

Implementing a Plan for Evangelism

With Jesus commissioning the church to preach the gospel to "every creature" (Mark 16:15), you would expect every congregation to have a plan in place to get it done. With fewer than 50% of almost any community attending any assembly of Christians for worship we know that many are lost, so what is our plan? Does your congregation have a plan? Is your congregation working on a plan?

Helping the Local Congregation Become Evangelistic

The following was written by Wes (son) and Jim (dad) Woodell. You can read more of Wes' blogs by going to www.westcoastwitness.com.

Helping the Local Church Become Evangelistic

· Begins with Leadership
Leadership and teaching determines direction. Church leadership must determine that evangelism is going to be a priority and the vision for and high priority of reaching the lost for Christ must be clearly articulated. Evangelism should be brought up regularly in teaching. The goal is to get church members to internalize the message “my mission as a follower of Christ is to bring Jesus to a lost world!” Once a congregation internalizes that message, they’ll make it part of their everyday thinking and conversation – it becomes contagious!
Local evangelism needs the personal and united endorsement of the elders and staff. Jesus, himself, said “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28) All of the elders and staff must endorse and encourage evangelism as a priority this ministry to be successful.
Being “outwardly focused at the spiritual core” must include bringing the lost into the body of Christ, not just into fellowship with the local congregation.

· Leaders must model evangelistic priority
In addition to talking about evangelism, leaders must model what it means to be evangelistic. Church members should see leaders sharing Jesus with others themselves – this is the only way to give your call to be evangelistic credibility. All talk + no action = zero credibility and zero change in your congregation.
There is a difference between “evangelism” and being “evangelistic.” Evangelism is defined as sharing the gospel with a lost person. Being evangelistic is simply saying a word for Jesus that will lead people to open themselves up for evangelism. Every Christian is gifted to do one or the other. Just as some Christians are gifted givers, servers, mercy givers, etc. (Rom. 12:1-7) some are gifted to evangelize. It takes the whole body working together (Eph. 4:16) to build up the body of Christ.

· Evangelists and new converts should be recognized and encouraged
Time should be set aside during corporate assemblies (like Sunday morning) for the people who studied with a new convert to introduce them to the rest of the church. Baptisms should never simply be a bullet point in the bulletin – or, even worse – not recognized at all! Special attention and an extra helping of encouragement should be given to new Christians, and evangelists should be given plenty of pats on the back too.
Many congregations set aside time for baby blessings. Why not give equal time to recognizing those that are born again? This could also be a time for a testimony from the person coming from darkness to light; a time of encouragement to the congregation and others that might be struggling within the assembly. (A message from a life will change a life; a message from a mind will only change a mind.) Rather than have a “professional minister” testify for the new Christian, why not have the new Christian give his own life changing testimony?
o NOTE: Evangelists should be warned about impure motivations. It’s ok to feel good after being recognized for bringing someone to the Lord, but those pats on the back should never become the primary motivator for being evangelistic! Serving God should, seeing someone’s life change for the better should, and carrying out Jesus’ command to reach a lost world in His name should. All glory goes to God, and evangelists must check their motives. Satan will do whatever he can to puff someone up – evangelists must remain humble. There is also a need to recognize that in every conversion, almost with exception, there are multiple personalities that bring a person to the Lord. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them is of equal importance!

· Individual members should be equipped to perform personal Bible studies
If you want your church to truly be evangelistic at its core, intentional steps should be taken to equip members to perform personal, evangelistic Bible studies. The #1 reason most people say they don’t share their faith is because they’re afraid to, and the #1 reason they’re afraid to is because they don’t know where to start. Evangelistic Bible studies give a novice evangelist a starting point. Over time and with additional study, most who regularly practice sharing their faith will come to a point where it’s very comfortable for them, but they’ll never get there without starting somewhere. Ideally, we should all know Scripture well enough to study with someone without a study guide, but most people aren’t there. Thus, church members should be equipped with an effective evangelistic study to serve as a starting point for further skill development.
Start an ongoing class for equipping Christians to share their faith. Get a gifted person to lead a class on Wednesday nights for this purpose. As you raise the visibility of this opportunity the number of interested Christians will increase. Publicly promote this opportunity before the Sunday morning assemblies.
o NOTE: In the past, churches making the transition from being inwardly focused, and non-evangelistic, to being outwardly focused, and evangelistic, have set aside class time on Sunday mornings to take the entire congregation through equipping sessions by training them in evangelistic study. Churches that have done this have had great success. (This is just a starting point and serves best to raise awareness that the congregation’s leadership is serious about reaching the lost!)

· Identify your church’s evangelists, and get them to train other members
Get your evangelists to reproduce themselves by bringing other church members along when they’re studying with someone. This is the best way to help evangelists-in-training overcome the jitters. When going through a study, the person being trained should be required to take notes to hand to the person being studied with at the end. In addition to being useful to the person being studied with, this practice will help the trainee internalize the message of the evangelistic study. The note taker should write legibly, and the person being studied with should be instructed to go home, look over the notes, and write down any questions they might have to be dealt with next time.
· In addition to Bible studies, each member should learn to use their own story to share Jesus with others
Everyone has a story, and stories are meant to be shared. No two stories are alike – all are unique. Some people’s conversion stories are very dramatic (like Paul’s story leading up to seeing Jesus on the Damascus Road) – others are less dramatic, but still very powerful (like the disciples who recognized Jesus on the Emmaus Road). Time should regularly be set aside (once a month or every six weeks) for testimonies to be shared in the assembly – especially those of new convert’s. Unless someone is an experienced public speaker, it would be a good idea for those sharing to meet with a leader ahead of time to structure their testimony in the form of an outline, and it would probably be a good idea to encourage them to go over it a couple of times in advance. Those too shy to share in a large assembly can do it in a small group, but ideally testimony should be shared with as many people as possible (like on Sunday mornings). This serves three main purposes: 1) it keeps the congregation focused on its evangelistic mission because they’re constantly hearing about lives being transformed around them. 2) Its good practice for believers in articulating how Jesus saved them. Their story will be a very powerful tool in their own personal evangelism. 3) People sharing their faith in Jesus publicly are making a profound declaration in front of a lot of people – they’re saying that they’re living their lives according to God’s will, and God will bless that confession and encourage others through it. In addition to that, they’ll be expected to walk what they talk. Because of this, it’s a good idea for new converts to share their testimony in front of as many people as possible as soon as possible.
· Outwardly focused small groups should be part of your evangelistic strategy
Often, small groups will be your initial contact point with outsiders, but only if church members involved are actively befriending outsiders and regularly inviting new people. When a relationship exists, outsiders will often be more likely to attend an informal Bible study in someone’s home before they’ll attend a Sunday service or before they’ll agree to a personal study.
Small group leaders need ongoing training and emphasis on reaching out to the lost. (Luke 14:12-14). Also there is a need for encouraging the spawning of new groups when a group consistently goes over 16 in number of attendees. Almost all the experts say a small group ceases to be a small group when the number of attendees exceeds 12.
· Effective evangelism involves more than simply passion – it involves skill
In his book The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren points out the fact that effective ministry takes more than passion or want to – it takes skill. The same is true of effective personal evangelism. Yes, some of your church members have a gift for evangelism and will be very comfortable exercising it freely, but all of your church members should be evangelistic regardless of their giftedness. That being said, effective evangelism takes a certain amount of skill, and skill must be developed. Skill development takes dedication, time, and, most of all practice! Most of your church members will be incredibly uncomfortable when initially engaging in personal evangelism, but the more they do it the easier it will become. Familiarity brings comfort, and when you consider the fact that Jesus Christ is the only avenue for a lost world to come into contact with the Living God thereby being saved, we as God’s people should be very familiar and comfortable with sharing the Good News with others, and if we’re not we have a responsibility to remedy that! The more experience in personal evangelism a person has the more skill they will develop, and experience only comes with practice. Fear is overcome by allowing the message of Jesus to overflow – share it!

WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR REACHING THE LOST THROUGH YOUR CONGREGATION?

The desire for God to have the lost saved is clearly stated in Scripture (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus came into the world to “save sinners.” (1 Tim. 1:15). Jesus is credited with saying in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” In the KJV the wording is, “…preach the gospel to every creature.” The accepted outline for fulfilling this directive from GOD is Acts 1:8, “…JERUSALEM (your city), AND IN ALL JUDEA (Surrounding County), AND IN ALL SAMARIA (Your State/US), AND TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.” That is the whole world. Have we seriously considered this mandate? Do we have a plan to fulfill God’s call to get the lost saved?
This is submitted as a beginning point. Your feedback and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If you take this plan and implement it with your congregation please share the results. Thank you for your interest in saving the lost!

Helping the Local Congregation Become Evangelistic

The following was written by Wes (son) and Jim Woodell (dad). You can read more of Wes' blogs by going to http://www.westcoastwitness.com/



Helping the Local Church Become Evangelistic

· Begins with Leadership
Leadership and teaching determines direction. Church leadership must determine that evangelism is going to be a priority and the vision for and high priority of reaching the lost for Christ must be clearly articulated. Evangelism should be brought up regularly in teaching. The goal is to get church members to internalize the message “my mission as a follower of Christ is to bring Jesus to a lost world!” Once a congregation internalizes that message, they’ll make it part of their everyday thinking and conversation – it becomes contagious!
Local evangelism needs the personal and united endorsement of the elders and staff. Jesus, himself, said “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28) All of the elders and staff must endorse and encourage evangelism as a priority this ministry to be successful.
Being “outwardly focused at the spiritual core” must include bringing the lost into the body of Christ, not just into fellowship with the local congregation.

· Leaders must model evangelistic priority
In addition to talking about evangelism, leaders must model what it means to be evangelistic. Church members should see leaders sharing Jesus with others themselves – this is the only way to give your call to be evangelistic credibility. All talk + no action = zero credibility and zero change in your congregation.
There is a difference between “evangelism” and being “evangelistic.” Evangelism is defined as sharing the gospel with a lost person. Being evangelistic is simply saying a word for Jesus that will lead people to open themselves up for evangelism. Every Christian is gifted to do one or the other. Just as some Christians are gifted givers, servers, mercy givers, etc. (Rom. 12:1-7) some are gifted to evangelize. It takes the whole body working together (Eph. 4:16) to build up the body of Christ.

· Evangelists and new converts should be recognized and encouraged
Time should be set aside during corporate assemblies (like Sunday morning) for the people who studied with a new convert to introduce them to the rest of the church. Baptisms should never simply be a bullet point in the bulletin – or, even worse – not recognized at all! Special attention and an extra helping of encouragement should be given to new Christians, and evangelists should be given plenty of pats on the back too.
Many congregations set aside time for baby blessings. Why not give equal time to recognizing those that are born again? This could also be a time for a testimony from the person coming from darkness to light; a time of encouragement to the congregation and others that might be struggling within the assembly. (A message from a life will change a life; a message from a mind will only change a mind.) Rather than have a “professional minister” testify for the new Christian, why not have the new Christian give his own life changing testimony?
o NOTE: Evangelists should be warned about impure motivations. It’s ok to feel good after being recognized for bringing someone to the Lord, but those pats on the back should never become the primary motivator for being evangelistic! Serving God should, seeing someone’s life change for the better should, and carrying out Jesus’ command to reach a lost world in His name should. All glory goes to God, and evangelists must check their motives. Satan will do whatever he can to puff someone up – evangelists must remain humble. There is also a need to recognize that in every conversion, almost with exception, there are multiple personalities that bring a person to the Lord. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them is of equal importance!

· Individual members should be equipped to perform personal Bible studies
If you want your church to truly be evangelistic at its core, intentional steps should be taken to equip members to perform personal, evangelistic Bible studies. The #1 reason most people say they don’t share their faith is because they’re afraid to, and the #1 reason they’re afraid to is because they don’t know where to start. Evangelistic Bible studies give a novice evangelist a starting point. Over time and with additional study, most who regularly practice sharing their faith will come to a point where it’s very comfortable for them, but they’ll never get there without starting somewhere. Ideally, we should all know Scripture well enough to study with someone without a study guide, but most people aren’t there. Thus, church members should be equipped with an effective evangelistic study to serve as a starting point for further skill development.
Start an ongoing class for equipping Christians to share their faith. Get a gifted person to lead a class on Wednesday nights for this purpose. As you raise the visibility of this opportunity the number of interested Christians will increase. Publicly promote this opportunity before the Sunday morning assemblies.
o NOTE: In the past, churches making the transition from being inwardly focused, and non-evangelistic, to being outwardly focused, and evangelistic, have set aside class time on Sunday mornings to take the entire congregation through equipping sessions by training them in evangelistic study. Churches that have done this have had great success. (This is just a starting point and serves best to raise awareness that the congregation’s leadership is serious about reaching the lost!)

· Identify your church’s evangelists, and get them to train other members
Get your evangelists to reproduce themselves by bringing other church members along when they’re studying with someone. This is the best way to help evangelists-in-training overcome the jitters. When going through a study, the person being trained should be required to take notes to hand to the person being studied with at the end. In addition to being useful to the person being studied with, this practice will help the trainee internalize the message of the evangelistic study. The note taker should write legibly, and the person being studied with should be instructed to go home, look over the notes, and write down any questions they might have to be dealt with next time.
· In addition to Bible studies, each member should learn to use their own story to share Jesus with others
Everyone has a story, and stories are meant to be shared. No two stories are alike – all are unique. Some people’s conversion stories are very dramatic (like Paul’s story leading up to seeing Jesus on the Damascus Road) – others are less dramatic, but still very powerful (like the disciples who recognized Jesus on the Emmaus Road). Time should regularly be set aside (once a month or every six weeks) for testimonies to be shared in the assembly – especially those of new convert’s. Unless someone is an experienced public speaker, it would be a good idea for those sharing to meet with a leader ahead of time to structure their testimony in the form of an outline, and it would probably be a good idea to encourage them to go over it a couple of times in advance. Those too shy to share in a large assembly can do it in a small group, but ideally testimony should be shared with as many people as possible (like on Sunday mornings). This serves three main purposes: 1) it keeps the congregation focused on its evangelistic mission because they’re constantly hearing about lives being transformed around them. 2) Its good practice for believers in articulating how Jesus saved them. Their story will be a very powerful tool in their own personal evangelism. 3) People sharing their faith in Jesus publicly are making a profound declaration in front of a lot of people – they’re saying that they’re living their lives according to God’s will, and God will bless that confession and encourage others through it. In addition to that, they’ll be expected to walk what they talk. Because of this, it’s a good idea for new converts to share their testimony in front of as many people as possible as soon as possible.
· Outwardly focused small groups should be part of your evangelistic strategy
Often, small groups will be your initial contact point with outsiders, but only if church members involved are actively befriending outsiders and regularly inviting new people. When a relationship exists, outsiders will often be more likely to attend an informal Bible study in someone’s home before they’ll attend a Sunday service or before they’ll agree to a personal study.
Small group leaders need ongoing training and emphasis on reaching out to the lost. (Luke 14:12-14). Also there is a need for encouraging the spawning of new groups when a group consistently goes over 16 in number of attendees. Almost all the experts say a small group ceases to be a small group when the number of attendees exceeds 12.
· Effective evangelism involves more than simply passion – it involves skill
In his book The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren points out the fact that effective ministry takes more than passion or want to – it takes skill. The same is true of effective personal evangelism. Yes, some of your church members have a gift for evangelism and will be very comfortable exercising it freely, but all of your church members should be evangelistic regardless of their giftedness. That being said, effective evangelism takes a certain amount of skill, and skill must be developed. Skill development takes dedication, time, and, most of all practice! Most of your church members will be incredibly uncomfortable when initially engaging in personal evangelism, but the more they do it the easier it will become. Familiarity brings comfort, and when you consider the fact that Jesus Christ is the only avenue for a lost world to come into contact with the Living God thereby being saved, we as God’s people should be very familiar and comfortable with sharing the Good News with others, and if we’re not we have a responsibility to remedy that! The more experience in personal evangelism a person has the more skill they will develop, and experience only comes with practice. Fear is overcome by allowing the message of Jesus to overflow – share it!
WHAT PLAN DOES YOUR CONGREGATION HAVE FOR REACHING THE LOST?

The desire for God to have the lost saved is clearly stated in Scripture (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus came into the world to “save sinners.” (1 Tim. 1:15). Jesus is credited with saying in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” In the KJV the wording is, “…preach the gospel to every creature.” The accepted outline for fulfilling this directive from GOD is Acts 1:8, “…JERUSALEM (your city), AND IN ALL JUDEA (Surrounding County), AND IN ALL SAMARIA (Your State/US), AND TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.” That is the whole world. Have we seriously considered this mandate? Do we have a plan to fulfill God’s call to get the lost saved?


This is submitted as a beginning point. Your feedback and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If you take this plan and implement it with your congregation please share the results. Thank you for your interest in saving the lost!

My introduction to Christ will precede the birth of many who might read this blog: October 1963. Mid McKnight was a popular evangelist who encouraged one on one evangelism in the 60's. Tisdale's charts were a useful tool and the Jule Miller filmstrips were just coming into vogue. People were motivated to actively share their faith, and the Church of Christ was reputedly the fastest growing religious group in America. Since then there has been a steady decline in the membership of Churches of Christ as Christians have moved from proactively (verbally) sharing the gospel to what some call "lifestyle evangelism." As Churches of Christ decline The Church of Christ of the Latter Day Saints has continued to grow, and has even surpassed the Church of Christ as the fastest growing religious group in America. Why? The Mormons continue to go out two by two and share the doctrine of their Church.

The Holy Spirit says to the church, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) It was Jesus who said, "Go make disciples..." (Matt. 28:19-20). Without Jesus people are lost. He is "the way..." (John 14:6), not "A" way among many, and it pleases God "through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe" (1Cor. 1:21).

A lifestyle that is modeled after Christ is important, but our model is not the power of God for salvation, the gospel is (Romans 1:16). As I heard one person say, "If the only way you are trying to lead a lost person to Christ is by your example, you are setting a bad example." Keep in mind that the lifestyle of the Mormons is one that demonstrates a high level of honesty and intergrity. There are also people of Islam that are great moral examples. Living a life patterened after Christ is important, but to save the lost we must share the message. You will not "example" people into the body of Christ.