A Practice, Not a Program
December 11th, 2007
(By Jesse Johnson)
The following is an article Jesse wrote for our church’s weekly bulletin, Grace Today.
“What does your church do for evangelism?”
I was meeting with a group of outreach pastors from other large churches in our nation. The topic was what our churches do to transform our communities. When the question about what we “do for evangelism” came my way, I knew the expected answer would look like a list of programs. People around the table—many of them from some of the most program-driven, seeker-sensitive churches in the country—turned to me. They were curious about what Pastor MacArthur’s church does to impact our community.
The man repeated, “What does your church do for evangelism?”
“We evangelize,” I answered. As the group laughed, thinking I was joking, it occurred to me that my answer was more profound that I had intended.
At Grace Church, our philosophy of evangelism hinges on the idea that evangelism is not a program. A church does not transform a community through activities and events. In fact, church-sponsored evangelism programs generally do not produce results. Rather, a church impacts its community through the lives of its members. The kingdom is expanded as believers are faithful in evangelism in their individual lives.
All believers are to be active in evangelism. In fact, all four Gospels end with Jesus commanding believers to bring salvation to the lost (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; John 20:21). Jesus’ last earthly words were another repetition of this same command, to bear witness to the gospel (Acts 1:8). It is not an overstatement to say that all Christians should be driven by a love for evangelism. After all, it is our mission in life.
But while all Christians are called to be active in evangelism, not all Christians are equally gifted at this particular calling. Acts 21:8 and Ephesians 4:11 both imply that some have the gift of evangelism and some do not. But God in His wisdom has still called all Christians to evangelize.
Thus, one of the marks of a Christian is a love for evangelism. If you are fearful, evangelism gives you the opportunity to trust God for courage. If you are timid, evangelism gives you an opportunity to trust God for confidence. Christians are slaves to Christ, soldiers in His service, and sons of God. Our master, our general, and our Father has given us our orders: to reach the lost with the hope of the gospel.
As Christians, we love what God loves, and God loves the lost. As we become more and more sanctified, we become more and more like Christ. This growth causes us to grow in our love for those who are still God’s enemies.
Grace Church impacts our community because our members love those in our community. This love results in us reaching out to the lost, presenting the gospel to them, and seeing some of them saved. As we do this, our church grows, and our evangelism results in changed lives. In fact, 2 Corinthians 4:15 says “that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” In other words, the more we evangelize, the more God’s grace extends to our community. And the more His grace extends, the more He is glorified.
Don’t get me wrong—we do have evangelistic programs and outreaches, and we do have structured events. But what has consistently produced more fruit than any program is the faithfulness of individuals who express their love for their neighbors through evangelism.
So the next time someone asks you what our church does for evangelism, the answer is simple. We evangelize.
Amen.
Joy, thankfulness and love for what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us (delivered our souls from death, our eyes from tears and our feet from stumbling, Ps 116:7,8) inspires us and motivates us to evangelism. That intense joy is hard to contain, like the rocks crying out.
As quoted in John Piper’s “Desiring God” chapter 5, by George Muller of Bristol, “I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord… and how my inner man may be nourished…I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it.”
I am still figuring out how to meditate on God’s word, attributes, doctrine, etc., but that deep thinking has made huge strides in my spiritual life and joy.
Glory to God!
It is when we depend on the LORD alone that His Spirit moves the hearts of people.
When we depend on our means and abilities(In that it becomes our idol) we see no “new creation” in Christ.
May the battle always be the LORD’s in our faithful witness. And may we be found workmen approved by the LORD, as good and faithful servants, in sowing the seeds of the Word in truth and love among the lost.
I would simply caution against stating, indiscriminately, that God loves the lost. It is true He takes no delight in the wicked, and that He loved the world so much He gave us His Son. Yet at the same time, He does not love those who live a life of sinful rebellion against His mercies, and therefore He justly condemns them for it.
That should read,
“…in the death of the wicked”
Jesse, I love this article. What was the response from the other leaders at these churches? Did they see the value in what you shared and willing to consider what your church does?
I saw this as a major issue in my church here in Orange County. Not only programs but focus on social justice without the proclamation of the Gospel.
We are called to make disciples of all nations…so not only should we have a heart for evangelims, but also for discipling others and going to unreached people groups who have never heard the Gospel.
Thanks for your article.
Ken
During my time at TMC I have found out that the more I look for the complicated explanation in questions in my mind; the more simplistic the answers get. In other words, answers to questions do not always need to be explained with complexity. Sometimes there are very simplistic answers to questions but the simplicity of those answers are yet profound. Take the expression “Jesus loves me so for the Bible tells me so” for example. A simple explanation of the Love of Christ revealed in Scripture. But, a profound topic to dwell your mind upon…ho do we know that Christ truly loves us? God’s word says so!!! It is that simple yet that so profound!!! WE can take Gods word at face value! WE can take Gods word for what it says. The same principle can be taken to evangelism. Sometimes we just need to take evangelism at face value in the sense that when people as us what our church does for evangelism…we only need to reply “WE evangelize!!!!!”
Ken,
They were surprised, but honestly many of them did not have the same view of missions or evangelism that we hold. For example, many of them see evangelism as inviting people to church and missions as short term forays into Africa. Their hearts are for the lost, but they (generally) don’t have a framework or biblical paradigm to see their calling through. That was my impression.
Thanks,
Jesse,
For the uninitiated, I am very interested to here what Grace Community’s “view of missions or evangelism” and the “framework or biblical paradigm to see their calling through” is. Those are very loaded statements and are very complex. Forgive me for my ignorance, but can you please be more specific.
I’d love to see how Grace Community does/views things differently (in concrete ways). I agree with you 1000% that evangelism is so much more than “inviting people to church and missions as short term forays into Africa.” How does Grace combat that mentality? Would you honestly say that your “framework and biblical paradigm” has been effective in changing the mindset of your people and mobilizing them for day-to-day evangelism? I know Grace has many short-term missions opportunities for its people; is that missions-minded sustained when your people come back from their short stint abroad?
I am thinking through these issues for my own church, but rightfully or wrongfully, large evangelical mega-churches have not been where I have found the most effective answers. In my observation, smaller, more organic churches seem to be more effective in reaching lost. While I don’t have firm statistics, they on a whole seem to grow not from evangelistic efforts, but through transfer growth of the “churched,” and not the “unchurched.”
I appreciate any candid feedback and am eager to learn how Grace approaches/equips/sends out its people for the great commission, especially in their own “Jerusalem.”
Blessings,
Albert
Instead of focusing on man-made seminars on how to win people to Christ and the top-ten list of how-to’s, we should instead focus on the real issue. The issue is that people are going to hell if they are left in their own depraved state without Christ. A sinner must know what he/she is being saved from in order to better understand what Christ really did for them. Of course you don’t want to come off judgemental, but nevertheless sin must be stated in a loving and gentle manner. We are the ambassadors of Christ representing King Jesus. Churches must leave their “approaches” of evangelism and just plain and simply Evangelize the gospel and nothing else.
Albert,
If you hit the side bar “evangelism” you can find some articles I have written specifically on how we reach our Jerusalem. However, I think this article pretty much covers that: we equip people to bring the gospel to those in their communities. While I can’t comment on other large churches, Grace sees transfer growth (people moving into LA and joining our church), as well as substantial growth through salvations. We have multiple baptisms just about every Sunday, and just about all of the testimonies are from those who got saved at Grace.
So, this article was pretty much about how we reach our Jerusalem. You ask if I think it has been effective, and I do. I listen to the baptism testimonies, and I see our Bible studies growing through new believers being added to the body. Our new believer’s classes are filled, and God is adding to our church daily, it seems. You can always be more faithful in evangelism, but I think the people at Grace are very faithful, and the Lord seems to be honoring that.
I’m sure you see “large mega-churches” that do somethings well, and I’m sure there are some crazy “organic churches” out there. The point of this article is that evangelism is something that happens at the individual level, regardless of the church or group that individual attends.
I hope that helps. Thanks Albert,
Jesse
Jesse,
Thank you for your reply. Philosophically, I wholeheartedly agree on all fronts, especially the fact that “evangelism is something that happens at the individual level.” It’s difficult not to. I guess the answers I’m looking for are more tangible. I will take a closer look at the resources on the on the sidebar and see if I can gleam more insight on the Grace’s “view of missions or evangelism” and “framework and paradigm”. Maybe the answer is just simply to read, meditate, and model after Acts.
I’m thrilled that Grace is growing not just through transfer growth. That is, unfortunately, not really the case with my church. Not that we don’t want more conversion growth (of course we do, so do most faithful evangelicals); an honest assessment of our church’s history will show that our efforts have been quite feeble. We seem to be very good at transfer growth and filling a hole in the church marketplace within our community. In full disclosure, my pastors are TMS guys, and we do not “market or advertise,” but it is clear that we have a “brand” that resonates with a certain population of the Christian marketplace.
I enjoy the possibility of dialoguing with you on this subject with you in the future. What is your role at Grace? If you’re willing to indulge me, I caution you that I can get annoying. Stock answers (no disrespect intended), like “we evangelize,” or “we just want to do what the bible tells me to do,” just doesn’t do it for me. I kind of take that as a given.
Finally, I am serious in my inquiry. I’m not trying to engage in debate or argue. I am just looking for tangible ways in which to equip, encourage, and exhort my local church family to fulfill their biblical mandate to take the gospel to Jerusalem and through Jerusalem – the world. I am honestly interested in seeing how Grace approaches this most crucial area.
God bless,
Albert
Jesse,
I have read through your posts on “evangelism.” I have found them to be very helpful. Thank you for directing me there. I also found your email address. I’ll shoot you an email directly.
Albert
Dear Jesse and respondents,
Thank you all for engaging in this dialog, as most in the church tend to have as must interest in the word evangelism as the world has for the word righteousness. Bill bright has shared that only 2% of Christians regularly share their faith with others. Imagine if 100% were being obedient to this calling. We must remember that evangelism is not a gift that some have and others were denied by God to have. Eph. 4:11, and Acts 21:8 are not support verses for evangelism being a gift, as both verses use the word Evangelist, which according to Eph. 4:11 is an office/role by which the calling of the evangelist is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (of evangelism). A substitutionary word for evangelism could be the word Love. Would we consider seeing a hungry person and loving them enough to give him or her bread translate into one that is gifted in feeding the hungry. Jesus called His church (made up of individuals) to feed the bread of life and the water of life to those that are hungry for the righteousness of Christ (Matt 5, John 4). Furthermore, evangelism is not just an individual thing, as the church went out preaching the gospel throughout the book of Acts, and we also read individuals doing so as well. A church should leave it’s manner of evangelism only if it is not biblical. Training churches is what the evangelist is called to do. This is the calling God has placed upon my life, and I am grateful to Him for it, although many do not receive a ministry as well that trains the church to go outside the “safe net” of the four walls of the church building, this however is our call and duty in the Gospel (Matt 16:15, Matt 28:19, Rom. 10:13-15, etc…).
Does God love or hate the sinner, well let’s defer to the Scripture once again, Rom. 5:8, John 3:16, also keeping in mind that God is angry with the sinner (wicked) daily (Psalm 7:11). can God not love those that are lost (Prodigal son) and yet be angry with them at the same time?
My questions to those concerned about this whole issue of sharing our faith with others, is this, Do you evangelize those that you know, and also go out of your way to regularly share your faith with strangers? How often do you share your faith, and what keeps you from doing it more often? If the fear of being rejected by others is what seems to freeze you in your tracts think of this: The worse thing that can happen to you, is perhaps being rejected (unless you live an area where real persecution takes place, then perhaps you could lost your life and be with the Lord in eternity). The worse thing that could happen to the unsaved is they will spend an eternity in Hell. Who has it worse. Let compassion swallow your fears and go seek and save the lost like Jesus did. Then disciple those that some into the fold. Make it your mission to reach and disciple at least one person. One thing you can never do in heaven is evangelize. Will anyone be in heaven because of God working His saving grace through your life, I hope so.
We are all called to the ministry of evangelism and discipleship. they are not gift, but commands given to the whole church. May God strengthen you and give you courage and compassion for the task at hand. Go fishing for souls. You can check out http://www.soulfishingministries.com for some tools to encourage you to go soulfishing for humanity.
Until the nets are filled…
Blessings to you all,
Phil Sessa
I had been trained on evangelism through Way of the Master. It has taken me out of the church and out into the streets where the lost sinners are. I tried to get our church (in Illinois) excited about evangelism but the common answer was this: I don’t have the gift of evangelism so it is not my job to do it.
The pastor was one of the people who said that!! Kind of hard to get people excited when the pastor himself see’s no strong desire to reach the lost. It is a matter of how much do you love God and how much do you love your neighbor?
John MacArthur does a great job of teaching in his church. He edifies the congregation so that they are equipped to reach the lost. That is why so many churches fail, because when all you do is give “feel good” messages, you have not equipped the saints. You have just given them an emotional high. Try going up to a rich person and telling them that God will give them a good life. He won’t see a necessity for it. Now try showing him God’s Law and how he has failed to keep it. Let him see that he is exceedingly sinful so that the message of the cross will make sense to him.
Great post here and some very good comments!
God bless
Brian
As we’d exclaim in Aggieland, “Whoop!”
There’s much talk of “equipping the saints for the work of the ministry,” as there should be. However, there’s not much expectation placed upon people in that regard.
Bravo Brian.
I agree with you and have had the same experience as you have. This is why I make it part of my mission (actually it’s what God has commanded) to equip the saints for the work of evangelism and discipleship.
To: GUNNY HARTMAN
I’m not quite sure what you mean when you write,
“There’s much talk of “equipping the saints for the work of the ministry,” as there should be. However, there’s not much expectation placed upon people in that regard.”
When we say equip people, it is what Jesus did by discipleing people to reach the lost and disciple the saved. People are the only ones we can equip, nothing else. Has anyone taken the time to equip you, and if so are you now in turn doing the same? I don’t know if you are asking for an equipping model to follow or what. If you would like to explain more you are invited to do so.
Until the nets are filled….
Blessings,
Phil
I wonder if Gunny means that many churches have within their mission statement that they believe in the Great Commission but when it comes right down to it, they do not promote it, teach it, or practice it. If that were the case,I can see the point, although, if we are aware that it needs to be done and it isn’t being taught in church then either challenge them on it or find a church that actually fulfills the Great Commission.
Phil wrote:
“To: GUNNY HARTMAN
I’m not quite sure what you mean when you write …”
I thought it was pretty self-explanatory actually, but I’ll try to emphasize: “There’s much TALK of “equipping the saints for the work of the ministry,” as there should be. However, there’s not much expectation placed upon people in that regard.”
Most would affirm the biblical admonition, but the expectation is that the paid staff are to evangelize and the common (wo)man has been dutiful by inviting friends to church, whereby the professional can give them the gospel.
Phil wrote:
“When we say equip people, it is what Jesus did by discipleing people to reach the lost and disciple the saved.”
Praise be to God. Phil, you (pl.) are in the minority, sadly.
I was never equipped as a lad, but (through discipleship, in particular) we equip the saints to share the good news with a lost and dying world.
Brian,
Amen and thanks for the put-back.