BUILDING AN EVANGELISM EMPHASIS IN YOUR CHURCH

It takes work to have a church focus on evangelism. It is easier to focus on our own programs and fellowship, but that inevitably leads to a self-focused, unhealthy church. We need to build an evangelism emphasis in our churches.

Mark Mittelberg, co-author of Becoming a Contagious Christian and author of Becoming a Contagious Church, was asked by www.buildingchurchleaders.com, “How do you shift people’s attitude from ‘I should evangelize’ to ‘I want to evangelize’?” He answered in part: “Many people are looking for a church that’s alive evangelistically. But pollster George Barna has shown that only one in three churches intentionally trains people in evangelism. We have to raise the value, model it, and teach it. We also have to get all our people through a training course where they don’t just hear about evangelism but practice it.”

Good church plants, which is one of the ministry areas that I am involved in, must be evangelistically minded. It is more difficult to bring about an evangelistic mindset in an existing church. The fifty-year old church that I am currently working with (the other ministry hat that I wear) is seeking to strengthen our congregation in this area. We have begun a study with our adults of Bill Hybels and MIttelberg’s book Becoming a Contagious Christian. Our adults are showing a good interest in this study. We are also planning some events with an evangelistic thrust. In the planning process right now is a showing of Lee Stobel’s DVD The Case for Christ. A local campus ministry at UW Madison is cooperating in this effort with us. Our congregation will invite people from the community to join us for this viewing and the discussion to follow. The campus ministry will invite people from UW. We hope to host similar events in the future.

While the above examples may give you some ideas, the particular activities that your congregation is involved in are not the issue. The issue is building within your church the characteristics of outreach effectiveness. James D. Berkley, in Leadership Handbook of Outreach and Care, presents some characteristics of outreach effectiveness. Here is a sampling:

(1) A Great Commission vision. Matthew 28:18-20 makes clear that reaching people with the Gospel and helping them to grow in Christ is central to the life of the church and carries out the church’s mission of making disciples. You can only reach lost people by “going,” so the church must find ways to go into the world with the Gospel. How focused on the Great Commission is your church?

(2) A strong servant-leadership focus. Qualification for leadership in the church begins with Godly character. 1 Timothy 3:2 says that elders “must be above reproach.” Leaders in your church must have strong character and give themselves to serving others. People will be attracted to a church where Godly leaders work at carrying out elders’ Biblical function of shepherding people in their congregation to grow in Christ.

(3) A mobilized congregation. It has been stated in various ways that 20% of the people in the church do 80% of the work. Effective evangelistic congregations, though, find ways to increase the percentage of people in the church who are involved in ministry. Believers must be encouraged to discover their ministries, and the church must design ministries around the spiritual gifts of its people.

(4) A cultural relevant ministry. Unchurched people today face a great leap in moving from their world to that of most American churches. Churches today must seek ways to be culturally relevant by going into the world of the unchurched if we are going to reach this and future generations for Christ.

The above is just a sampling of the characteristics of a church that is effective in evangelizing. I encourage you to work in your congregation at asking what it will take for your congregation to effectively reach people. Begin with some simple, straightforward training and events that will attract people and enable you to share Christ.