- A safe house for the people in trouble?
- Kind of a spiritual fort in an ocean of cultural craziness?
- A gasoline station for the soul?
- A gathering place for believers?
- A place for singing and preaching?
- A cool place for weddings, showers and funerals?
Actually, the church is many things to many people. Your image, whatever it may be, sets the priorities which determine the church’s actions.
If, for example, you think the church is a safe house, then you believe it’s main goal ought to be comfort and security. A fort suggests strength, a gathering place means meeting social needs, singing and preaching speaks of religious ritualism, and weddings, etc. casts the church in the light of present material needs only. None of these images fully capture the church Christ conceived.
More than anything, the number one job of the church is to reach out to the world of the lost. If this mission gets distorted or lost, we will marginalize ourselves. In fact, a church that does not consider evangelism as its primary objective, fails its founder! Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. Bethlehem of incarnation, Gethsemane of consecration, Bethany of ascension, and the upper room of empowerment all revolve around evangelism.
Evangelism is vital to the life of the church . Picture a gigantic conveyor belt. New people come into our churches through salvation, move-ins, and newborns. But people are also constantly leaving due to job transfers, retirement, sickness and death, spiritual failure, or people just being people. All of us work to maximize the gain and minimize the loss as much as we can. Every church, however, has this challenge. When the loss is greater than the gain, the church suffers decline. In order to simply maintain the status quo, equilibrium needs to exist at both ends of the line.
Evangelism means growth . On the other hand, when the gain is greater than the loss, growth ensues. As obvious as this seems, we still spend too much time at the wrong end of the line, trying to slow down or stop the loss. Let us do what we can, but not to the neglect of the main focus of the church—-evangelism! Actually, evangelism is the healthiest kind of growth the church can enjoy.
Evangelism works . Farmers often suffer bad years because of drought, flooding or blight. Never once, however, do they doubt the natural cycle of spring, summer and fall, sun and rain. Amazingly, God’s people often lose faith in evangelism, as though God capriciously retracted His plan for building His church. Outreach still works. So do revivals, visitation programs, Home Bible Studies, mail-outs, Sunday School contests, canvassing campaigns, and every other effort to reach people. Despite the occasional drought, the evangelism still means growth. Maybe the soil needs to be reworked, the timing adjusted, or the methods changed, but the seed and the plan remain true.
Evangelism feeds on inspiration .
The joy of the prospective bride inspired
Jesus to suffer through the agony of the
cross. Likewise, all of us must become
overwhelmed with the joy of evangelism.
Motivation for evangelism can undergo
erosion, but seeing and hearing some
faith-building testimonies and anointed
messages can get it back. Don’t wring your
hands and shrink back into a corner. Go
somewhere, read something, talk to somebody
and get an injection of inspiration. Move
aggressively into the field. The souls are
there. Jesus promised it.
By J. Mark Jordan
