Evangelism by the Book

The online dictionary called Wikipedia defines slavery as, “a social-economic system under which certain persons— known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labor or services. The term includes the status or condition of those persons who are treated as property of another person.” For hundreds of years this was the face of our world. Even yet today there are places where people are treated like property.

It’s hard to imagine how it must feel to wake up in the morning and not think, “What kinds of things sound interesting today?” “I wonder what’s playing at the local theater.” “A brisk walk sounds like a good idea!” Most people when they wake up enjoy the time when they can put their day together and do those things that make them happy.

This is not the life of a slave. From the time that they open their eyes, until the moment that they close them in the evening, they are on constant call. They must do whatever act that their master deems necessary for them. Their life is not their own. The Apostle Paul writes, “Once you were slaves of sin, but you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you. Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.” Romans 6:17-18 (NLT) This is the awesome story of salvation.

When someone shares the Good News of salvation with someone who has never heard, it is like setting free a slave. In his book, Evangelism by the Book, Tom Stebbins writes, “Evangelism might be defined as the exciting task of bringing the message of emancipation to enslaved people.” What an exhilarating idea, the thought of setting someone free for life. Slaves on this earth have a terrible life, but our time on this planet is temporary. When one considers setting someone free for eternity by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ it makes it all the more important. The thought goes from 70 or 80 years to eternity.

Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ is worth the effort. The world desperately needs to hear that there is a Savior and His name is Jesus.

Fusion

Is it an accident who happens to walk through the churches front door on Sunday? Could it be that God has a special plan as to who visits and who does not? One should consider the fact that each visitor that every church receives is in fact a gift from God.

God is a giving God. There is no way anyone can out give God. His generosity to man is unmatched. Many churches across the globe pray regularly for God to give them the gift of a guest. For some churches, they pray every single week for God to send them even one guest. If no one new ever visits a church, eventually, regardless of how big the church is, it will die. Guests are a necessity for the life and health of a church.

Follow-up for these guests is crucial. Each church should have some sort of plan as to what they will do to try to connect with that guest once they have left the building. In his book, Fusion, Nelson Searcy says, “Gifts from God are given strategically. God expects us to handle them with the same strategic care. First time guests are gifts full of potential. As God brings them through our doors, our actions can result in changed lives.”

Searcy has it down when it comes to follow-up and assimilation. He actually sends a gift in the mail to every first time guest that visits his church in New York City. He has sent anything from bus passes, to free cups of coffee, to movie tickets. These gifts have value. It is not like sending some dated book with language out of the 17^th century that will find its way to a garage sale in the spring. He sends gifts that people can use. What a wonderful way to let people know that they were appreciated and they are invited to come and visit again.

If a church is haphazard with how they treat guests, there is a good chance that they won’t get a lot of second chances with those guests. If on the other hand a church has a well-thought strategy as to what they will do with their guests, they have a much better chance to see them move from guests to regular attenders to full members of the congregation.

Beyond the First Visit

Often times in the life of a church it will encounter people who come through its doors to visit. Many different things will attract a person to attend a church for the first time. Perhaps the church is in a good location that many people drive past it every day and see it. Good visibility from the road is a tremendous way to attract visitors. Perhaps there is a special event that is happening that has gotten publicity.

The best scenario to consider as a reason that a person came to visit was because they were invited by someone who attends the church. Nothing speaks louder to the community than a satisfied customer.

Once the person has come to the church to visit, the question then turns to, “How are we going to get them to return?” In his book, Beyond the First Visit, Gary McIntosh asks, “Often church visitors report that churches are cold and unwelcoming. How is it that two people can experience the same event and feel differently about it? How can members believe their church is friendly, while newcomers experience an unfriendly atmosphere?”

Each church should have a plan in place for how they welcome visitors into their church. It is not enough to have the doors open for business. It is important that there is someone standing at the door with a smile and a handshake. It is nice to have someone who is familiar with the building so they can explain where the restrooms are and where to go for the worship experience.

Many churches today have people ready to meet first time visitors and actually accompany them to their seats and sit with them. This is a wonderful way to plant seeds of friendship. These couples even offer to go out to lunch with the visitors after the service so that they can answer any questions that may have risen during the morning worship service.

It is easy to sit in our holy huddle and pretend that everything is ok. It is quite another thing to look in the mirror and ask some hard questions. Churches that are able to track their visitors can send self-addressed and anonymous feedback cards to their guests and ask them to report to them about their experience. Those cards are very valuable. One can use the card to better their church to be a more positive worship experience for visitors.

Just because the regular attenders are comfortable does not mean that the visitors are. If a church truly wants to grow and win their world to Jesus, they must intentionally work hard to make visitors feel like family.

Evaluating the Church Growth Movement

Often time’s pastors are running from one appointment to another. They meet with their congregation in their homes; they meet them in the hospitals when they are sick. They meet them when they are ministering to them at church. The question becomes, when do they get involved in evangelism? Pastors are so busy tending to their flocks that they do not have time to add to their flocks.

In his book, Evaluating the Church Growth Movement, Paul Engle says, “Before the influences of church growth, young pastors often focused primarily on programs, committees, office duties, marriages, hospitals, burials, counseling, and a thousand other perceived duties that kept them from the priorities of evangelism, leadership, strategy, and establishing vision.”

All of those duties that Engle mentioned that pastors do to keep busy are not bad things. Each of them are extremely necessary ingredients in a growing and healthy church. It does make one wonder though, who made it a rule that it was the pastors job to lead the programs, to perform the office duties, to visit the sick, to bury the dead? Why is it that it has to be the pastor to do all of this work? The answer is, it isn’t his job.

The word ‘pastor’ is mentioned only one time in the New International Version of the Bible. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:11-12a, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service…” Paul tells us that the job of the pastor is to equip the saints, not do the saints work!

Each pastor has a responsibility to his flock to help them to discover what their spiritual gift is and then to help them to be able to use it. A church that is built completely around one man who does it all can be sure that system will not stand for long. Healthy churches are those who are busy helping its attenders to be all that God created them to be. When this happens, it allows the pastor to focus on those things that he is best to do. Those things like preaching, casting vision, and providing leadership.

Emerging Churches

Why is it that church has become so exclusive? Why is it that one will not welcome a person in the church if they appear to be down and out? This problem is becoming more and more evident in society. Scripture warns against showing favoritism in James 2.

James goes into detail explaining the dangers of discriminating against people because of the way that they look. In his book, Emerging Churches, Eddie Gibbs says, “As an expression of their great love for Christ, emerging churches, as a matter of lifestyle, include the outsider, even those who are different, knowing that the ‘other’ both clarifies and defines the boundaries of their faith.”

Churches that are growing and reaching people for Christ are not alarmed by people who might bring ‘baggage.’ No one is perfect, except for Christ. It was He who said that those individuals who were considered to be ‘more desirable’ wouldn’t show up for the banquet feast, so it is up to the church to go out and bring in the ‘less than desirable’ people. (Matthew 22:8, 9)

It does not take a six digit income to gain entry into heaven. Churches that are desirous to grow and reach people for the Kingdom must bust out of their holy huddle and hit the streets to find anyone who might be willing to accept Christ.

People notice the fact that they are being checked out when they walk into a church. If the congregation is not willing to offer a friendly smile and handshake, there is a great possibility that that guest will not make a second visit.

This does not mean that the church should be condoning on a sin that someone may have in their life, but it does mean that they are called to hate the sin but love the sinner. Churches that practice acceptance are churches that grow.

Leading the Comeback Church

Can the stagnant church thrive again? Once a church has hit a plateau, does that spell finality for the ministry? The answer to that question is emphatically, NO! It has been said that it is easier to give birth than it is to raise the dead, but one must remember that this is not worldly wisdom that is being dealt with. It is heavenly wisdom. God can do those things that man sees as impossible.

In his book, Leading the Comeback Church, David Nixon says, “No one step accounts for the way the church exploded with growth. Sometimes a spark is all that’s needed to ignite the flame of growth. The people were ready. Their willingness became contagious.” A lot of the time, that one little spark is truly all that is needed to get a church back on track. Just like businesses, sometimes there is a hiccup and things fly off kilter. The issue is to try to get the church back on its tracks before it travels too far off course.

The Apostle Paul writes, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” 1 Cor. 3:6 (NIV) Man is obedient to God and does the work that he has been called to do, and when it comes to the area of church growth that is 100% God’s work. Man cannot take credit for this area; the credit belongs alone to God.

There are a lot of different evangelism and church growth ideas that have been tested and tried. Many of those programs have resulted in church growth, but none of those programs were successful apart from God. It was His will for the growth to take place.

Reveal: Where Are You?

In a declining church, the main focus immediately becomes getting more people to attend the church so that it does not close. If the church continues to decline in numbers, then there is a certainty that the end of the church is in sight.

So there is this mad rush to get people to attend. It becomes the ultimate goal for the church to increase our attendance. It becomes a cliché on Sunday mornings, “If we can just get more people here then our church will be healthy again.” Is that the case though? In his book, Reveal Where You Are, Greg Hawkins writes, “When it comes to numbers, we as leaders start to actually believe that attendance is the only thing we need to look at. It becomes a simple equation: increased attendance = people growing.”

There is no question that attendance is a necessity to keep a church alive, but then one must question if a full church is necessarily a healthy church. One would have to step back and determine what the definition of a healthy church is. If the leadership of the above church thinks that a full house is the sole responsibility of the congregation, then the answer would be yes. A full church is a healthy church.

If on the other hand, the definition of a healthy church is believers growing in their faith and winning their world to Jesus that would drastically change the outlook of the health of the church.

It is imperative that each church spend time to determine what their definition of a healthy church looks like. Sometimes when this is accomplished churches are forced to change staff. Perhaps their current pastor is not the one to take them to that level. Perhaps it is a change of scenery. Some church buildings are not suitable for the congregations that occupy them. Many times churches are forced to bring in a third party to help them assess their needs and goals.

Numbers are good, in fact they are one of the main ingredients in a healthy church, but it must be understood that numbers are not the sole ingredient. Each congregation must determine the full recipe for their ministry.

Doing Church as a Team

When a pastor of a small church goes to his Governing Board and asks them to step out in faith and invest $8,000 from their annual budget to fund an outreach event it can be expected that he would see a few eyebrows raised. Most Governing Boards of smaller congregations in America are more concerned about keeping the lights turned on than they are about attracting new people.

Investing money from the budget is a huge step of faith. In his book, Doing Church as a Team, Wayne Cordeiro says, “Leaders develop their gifts by taking risks for God. If everything were a guaranteed success, then why would we ever need faith? We do need it, however, for the Bible tells us, ‘Without faith, it is impossible to please [God]’ (Heb 11:6). We cannot please God by playing it safe.”

It is up to the pastor of the church to convince both the Governing Board and the congregation that existing is not enough. There are many instances in the Bible that explains this fully. The example of Peter walking on water in Matthew 14 is a great example of this. Peter was safe in his seat located on the boat. He had the faith that if Jesus would allow it that he could walk on the water with Jesus. This was a huge step of faith for Peter. None of the other disciples were willing to take the risk and get a little wet. Peter left his comfort zone to accompany Jesus.

Jesus wants leaders to continue to accompany Him. There are many people who sit at home on Sunday morning that do not know that Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with them. If more pastors and Governing Boards would be more willing to leave their comfort zones, there would be more people coming to Jesus. The time for playing it safe is over. It is time to take risks for the Kingdom.

Comeback Churches, Continued...

“My church always has communion on Sunday mornings.” “My church will not allow anyone to sing on the worship team that is not dressed in their best clothes.” “My church will not baptize babies.” Is it possible for two churches to do two different things and both of the churches remain successful? Of course it is possible. It is more than possible. It is effective!

In his book, Comeback Churches, Ed Stetzer says, “The answer is not to make all churches look alike and use the same techniques. The answer is to have everyone seeking the same thing: to glorify God by being an indigenous expression of church life where they are.”

That is one of the beautiful things about church. Churches have the freedom to act and be all that God has called them to be. There really is no true rule about how many hymns should be sung or what translation of Scripture is best. Churches need to understand who they are trying to reach, and from that they develop the needed strategy of how best to reach them.

Every church should be an ‘original.’ Perhaps one would look at Rick Warren and Saddleback Church and say, “I want to share his vision for Africa” or at Nelson Searcy at The Journey in New York City and say, “I want to share his vision for assimilation.” There is nothing wrong with ‘sharing’ a vision. It is wrong though not to have your own vision. One must look at the context of the community in which they live and develop that vision in their own circumstances.

Rick Warren says it this way, “God is like Baskin Robbins. He has 31 flavors and more.” It is nice that in a community people have a choice between a traditional style of worship or a contemporary style of worship. They can choose between liturgy and no liturgy. They can choose between adult baptism and infant baptism. All of these choices have a place in evangelical Christianity. God did not call us all to be vanilla. He allows some of us to be strawberry.

Comeback Churches

Is it enough to show up for church on Sunday mornings? The answer is, no. Churches that just have the philosophy of ‘showing up’ do not last. Another ministry comes along and takes energetic and willing participants away. People follow vision. If there is no true vision, people leave to find a church that has one.

In his book, Comeback Churches, Ed Stetzer says, “Churches are rediscovering the need to focus on the mission of God and be missionaries in their communities.” That is a key when one truly defines exactly what a missionary is and what a missionary does. They do not go into a village or community and try to change everything to be the way that they expect it to be. They come in and analyze what is happening and try to become one of them and share their culture. Then they choose their battles wisely. When the opportunity arises, they share Christ in real and relevant ways that the culture can understand.

This is Biblical. When Paul was in Athens in Acts 17, he was troubled by all of the tributes to false gods. He did not immediately start smashing them to rubble. He complimented the people for their religiosity and from that had an audience to share Christ. Because of the strategy that Paul used, people came to Christ through his words.

There must be something in a community that a local church can ‘build’ on. It is up to each local ministry to discover that issue or item and use it for the glory of God. Missional churches are churches that survive and grow. Those churches without a mission are those that are most likely to suffer.

Where is Everyone?

Walk up to someone on the street and ask them what church they attend and inevitably, nine out of ten people will quickly come up with a church where they ‘belong.’ If that is true then why is it that most churches across America are empty every Sunday morning? “According to the Gallop Organization and The Barna Group, more than 40 percent of Americans surveyed said they attended church in the last seven days. Based on that, between 120 and 129 million Americans should be in worship every weekend.” Rev Magazine March/April 2008

America is not telling the truth. People will quickly take a church as their own when pressed, but when it comes to being a faithful attender, well that is another story. Sure, one could go to most churches on Easter, Christmas, or Mother’s Day and find a crowd, but the other 49 Sunday’s during the year is a different tale.

For many people the church that they confess to be their ‘home’ church is in reality the church where their parents attend or even their grandparents attended. The times when they darken the door is to accompany family for holidays and special events.

Most people that have quit attending over the years will talk of busy schedules or different times and a different culture than when their parents and grandparents attended. They will say that the church is boring, or that it is irrelevant for what they are going through in life.

Today many churches are doing cutting edge type of ministries to draw people back in. Instead of the big empty cathedrals that people once thought of as church, they now have small storefront buildings, or they meet in local movie theaters. That seems to be a lot less threatening of a scenario for people to attend.

It is time for the church to recapture those that claim to be attending the church when really they are not. If the message is not compromised, what difference does it make in the manner in which it is portrayed? It is time for the church to fry up some of those sacred cows that they have been keeping in the freezer way too long!

They Like Jesus But Not The Church

One of the biggest barriers to evangelism that pastor's have today is the fact that most of them are surrounded by Christians and do not have exposure to non-Christians. In his book, They Like Jesus But Not The Church, Dan Kimball says, "It's too easy to get caught in our little church subcultures, and the result is that the only younger people we might know are Christians who are already inside the church."

If Christians are locked into their little cliques, how are they ever going to be able to invite people to church? How are they ever going to win someone to the Lord? The answer is, they aren't. There is always the chance that someone is going to stumble in the door for worship that is uninvited, but the church has very little to do with that. They might have an attractive facility that would draw someone in, or maybe they have a big flashy sign that draws attention. The bottom line though is that those elements will only attract so much attention.

The best advertisement for the local church is satisfied customers. It is adherents telling their world about how God has changed their life, and how the local church has come alongside them and helped them through the storms of life. Changed lives attract attention. For some pastors, the only time they see a potential non-believer is when the UPS guy comes into the building with a delivery. It is way too easy to get stuck in the church environment and not see any outsiders.

Some churches do activities that will intentionally cause their congregation to interact with unbelievers. Public sports leagues are a fun way to get exercise, to build relationships within the congregation, and also to meet people within the community. These are prime opportunities to win people to the Lord and also to build the church.

Again, it is vital to get outside of the four walls of the church facility to see the church to grow and win people to the Lord.

No Perfect People

This is one scary picture, but one could argue that it kind of reminds them of evil. If a person was asked 25 years ago what they thought of when they thought of God, the answer would be very, very different than it would today. People today are afraid of God. He is the picture of hate and discrimination to a lot of people. He is not the God of love and acceptance that He was once portrayed as.

John Burke, in his book, No Perfect People says, "The graphic effect of an evil world has etched a distorted image into people's minds and labeled it 'God.' Leaders must find creative, graphic ways, just like Jesus did, to paint accurate pictures from Scripture of the God who is defined by the word 'love' and whose intentions lead us into life."

Hollywood has not done Christianity any favors when it comes to depicting God. He is either some old irrelevant man who walks around sputtering gibberish, or He is some cosmic clown in the sky. Neither of those depictions is even close to accurate. With what Hollywood has created, it makes it doubly hard for people to be won to the Lord. George Barna says that once a person has their 18th birthday that the odds are incredibly high that an individual who is an unbeliever will ever accept Christ. So now the church has to think of new and innovative ways to present the gospel that dispels the fables that have been created.

God is love. That is one of His natural attributes. The Bible declares God's love over and over all throughout His 'love letter' to us. If people are going to be led to Christ they must first understand God's immense love for man. They must see that God is not irrelevant or scary. With the money that runs through Hollywood, this will not be an easy task, but it is necessary as the church continues to take steps to help the world see God for who He really is.

Making Vision Stick

So I am officially underway with my literature review and thought that this was a good place to start. This little book by Andy Stanley in my opinion is worth it's weight in gold to the pastor of a church. It is short, it is relevant, and it is easy to read.

The premise of the book is the importance to a local church of establishing a vision statement and making sure that the entire congregation, and even community understand what the current vision for the ministry is. What are we about? Where are we going? Who are we targeting?

Stanley says, "One of the greatest challenges of leadership is making vision stick. Vision doesn't have much adhesive. Regardless of how clear I think I've made the vision and in spite of my commitment to repeat it often, someone will inevitably ask a question or offer a suggestion that makes me wonder, 'Where have you been? Have you not been paying attention?'"

As a leader, one may feel that everyone is on the same page as they are. They may continue to do things that speak loudly to those following them that they have a plan. They may even assume that everyone understands what they are trying to accomplish. That does not guarantee that they understand the vision.

There is a major important factor that must be understood. People forget the vision. They must be told clearly and often what the vision is. It is vital that this is accomplished in order to continue achieving the vision.

There are hundreds of churches in this world that open their doors on Sunday morning that do not have a vision. They are open for business and they usually would welcome anyone who chose to worship with them. It is like the old Charlie Brown cartoon where he is shooting arrows blindly in the air, and then he goes and draws the target around the spot where the arrow has landed. Charlie Brown did not really have a target that he was aiming at, and neither do these churches. Those churches typically see little growth and do not have much of a future.

On the other hand, churches who have embraced a vision and who have articulated it well and regularly to their adherents have a much better opportunity to see their church thrive and remain healthy. What is the target? What is the church trying to establish? How is this going to be done? All of those questions can usually be answered by understanding the vision statement of the church.

People get on board with a vision. They give more faithfully of their time, their talent, and their treasure when they understand the vision. People are also more likely to invite their friends and neighbors to a church where they believe in the vision of the church. This allows the church to continue to grow and be healthy. Churches that are committed to making vision stick are a lot more likely to grow than churches that do not.

My mind is zooming this morning...

There is going to be a bunch of different thoughts posted here this morning. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. with my mind already in fourth gear, so here goes...

- Last Sunday I stepped way out of my comfort zone and gave Cornerstone Church a five year commitment. Yes, you read right, a five year commitment. For the past several years I have seen myself as a church redeveloper. (I) have been planning for the past year or so that Boone would be a two year commitment. The church has really grown and I have been thinking through where we would go do this again. God reminded me that I do not make the rules. Cindy and I both feel very strongly that if we left now that the church would really struggle. Understand me, I know that I am not the church, but the work that has been started is not nearly ready to be turned over. So the next step in this process will be for the Lawson's to put a bid in on a home. Keep watching blog for further developments.

- Vision of Cornerstone Church: To create a church that unchurched people would love to attend. (Thanks Andy!)

- I am working on my master's paper. This blog will reflect a lot of the material that I am reading and thoughts that will go along with this. Brian, I could really use your help here. My thesis is, "Does evangelism have a significant role in church growth and if so, in what ways?" Books that I am currently reading are, UnChristian, Leading Comeback Churches, Reveal Where You Are, They Like Jesus But Not The Church, and No Perfect People. Brian, did I mention that I needed your help? Anyone else out there who reads this, Help! Dylan? Help!

- With that being said, I may be blogging more than once a day as I read stuff. If I miss a day or two, come get me! I need to be held accountable.

- Teaching college is going well. I am forging some neat relationships. Buddhism is tough to grasp!

- I have a lot of irons in the fire

- 200 in church last Sunday. Starting a new series this week that I am calling, Finding Your Picture in God's Scrapbook

- As our sweet little Kate would say, Peace out!