Recently a friend of mine was speaking with a small group of people; they were asking him questions about various things. One of them asked him what kind of programs and outreach activities he thought would best help a church to reach their community, and he told them that he doubted programs or activities would help them reach their community at all; they seemed surprised.
That was not the “right” answer.
Instead, he suggested they make an effort to disciple their congregation.
That wasn’t the “right” answer either.
They told him that their congregation wasn’t reaching the community because the pastor wasn’t very good at “evangelism”.
He suggested they make an effort to make disciples of their congregation: Wrong again! Nope, churches can only reach the community for Christ when the pastor is really dedicated to “personal evangelism” and gets out there and “brings the people in”.
My friend suggested that if their congregation grew into disciples, they would have a hundred people sharing their faith in deed and action as well as in word, but yes, you guessed it, that was the wrong idea.
His suggestion is too simple, too simplistic, too naïve; nobody will ever do that… Why, his suggestion as it turns out, is pretty much childish. This was a sophisticated bunch; my friend is not sophisticated, he is naïve and childish in his thought about their problem, for becoming a disciple who shows their faith by the way we live, who shares, loves and cares about other people is unrealistic in this modern age, and way too hard. Only a simplistic child would suggest that!
Maybe so…
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3
…or maybe we just prefer things to be way too complicated.
Life Project Blog 
Seems a few have forgotten Matthew 28:19, 20 Pretty straight forward. He didn’t say just pastors he meant this is all beleavers duty.
Exactly When a person reaches a certain point in their growth, nobody needs to tell them to share their faith, instead, you won’t be able to stop them.
The book of Acts is a model on how pastors of the church are to equip members to carry on the work in their absence. The church grows new leaders when the members become active in Soul winning. Members are to become active in church planting not pew sitting. Worship or church service is not for entertainment, but for instructing the saints to reproduce themselves in others.
Reblogged this on Just me being curious and commented:
KAPOW!
Like a scalpel!
In the hands of The Master.
Thank you Don.
WOW!
KAPOW!
Beautiful! Thank you.
🙂
Amazing amazing amazing God is so loud today Thank you Don
This is really great Don…especially for these times when most Christians feel it is the sole responsibility of the Pastor to share the gospel to others. We fail to see that its a command to everyone….and the rewards are also for all.
Amen to that!
One thing about evangelizing that I’ve encountered is that too much emphasis is placed on bringing folks into our churches, rather than sharing God’s love with them first. Jesus didn’t say, “go and bring people to church,” he said to go and preach the Gospel to all people, baptizing them in the Holy Spirit. We are merely laying the ground work for God to draw them to Himself. Once they come to belief, they will be hungry for more, so we need to keep in touch with these baby Christians. Just a thought.
And it’s a great thought!
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Reblogged this on The Bible Stop and commented:
So true. Jesus said to go make disciples. He did not say to go out and evangelize – that comes with being a disciple.
It seems like this message is what God is about in this season of time. I also got convicted by the holy spirit that I’d become so set in my ways as a christian that I no longer cared for sharing the gospel. I used to think that people around me had already heard the gospel and had just decided they weren’t going to listen. A guy asked me once why I hadn’t convinced him to come to my church and I said to him that “at this age, he didn’t need me convincing him that he could’ve made the decision himself”
That wasn’t the answer I should’ve given him. Jesus made the effort to make me feel special to come to the cross and I should make others see that God sees them as special too. Because people are going through a lot that we do not know about, the devil is lying to people and we need them to hear the truth, even christians are being discouraged everyday and losing the battle in their minds. We need to get out there and look for such people and tell them the truth that God has so graciously revealed to us.