Thursday, June 22, 2017

Creating a Culture of Evangelism

Beloved,

I am firmly convicted and convinced that the church which is most successful in reaching their community is the church whose members are each, individually, as a part of their everyday lives sharing the Gospel with people they encounter.  At a conference I attended in March I heard from a man named Mack Stiles who watched in horror, as did many of us, at the tragedies of 9/11 and the evil behind it.  Mack looked and saw a lost people, hardened in their hearts... so much so that they were willing to slaughter thousands of innocents and feel no remorse over it.  What was his reaction?  Well, like many of us, he and his wife wept.  He and his wife prayed.  The next morning, Mack called his realtor and put his home here in the United States on the market and immediately began planning to relocate his family to the Middle East where he lives to this day and has established a Christian church there and most recently has begun training Arab men who have come to Christ under his ministry to assist in planting new churches in the region!  What a wonderful opportunity God opened to him simply because he was willing to respond to God’s call to proclaim the Gospel.

You may well not be called to sell your home and move overseas, but you are no less called to share the Gospel right where you are planted.  You didn’t choose your home that you live in... God providentially worked it out so that through the means of your choice of a place to live He could plant you in that neighborhood so that you can be a missionary to your neighborhood.

One of the things you have heard me pray for concerning our church is that God would raise up a culture of evangelism among us.  In other words, special outings as a church to share the Gospel are great and we do them, but the main work of spreading the Gospel must be happening in our everyday life!  If we limit our Gospel proclamation to just those times when we do things like go to the local park, college, put on a VBS, etc we will never reach this community!  That day at the conference Mack gave 10 principles for creating and sustaining a culture of evangelism in the church.  I have found them helpful and have tried to implement them where possible in the way I lead this flock.   Please prayerfully read them with your Bible open and feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss them further.  I love you all and remain humbled and thankful to be your Pastor.

1.) The congregation needs to know the Gospel – 1 Peter 3:15
2.) Speak the Gospel – 1 Corinthians 5:11
3.) Live the Gospel – Galatians 2:14
4.) Have confidence in the Gospel – Romans 1:16
5.) Don’t assume the Gospel – 2 Timothy 2:2
6.) Understand Gospel conversion – Mark 1:15
7.) Be bold and clear with the Gospel – Ephesians 6:19
8.) Loving our community – Luke 24; John 13:34 ; John 17:20-21
9.) The Gospel is a spiritual discipline – Romans 10:1
10.) Focus on ministry not programs! Programs are the enemy of evangelism – Matthew 28:19

For more detail on these 10 tips you can read "Evangelism" by Mack Stiles


By: Pastor Jason

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