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
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
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!
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!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
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?
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
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 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!
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!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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.
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.
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