Evangelism
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Jesus said:
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
(Mark 16:15-16 King James Version)
Where is your evangelism? Why is your church not evangelising? You don’t do it; you don’t believe in it! Evangelism is basically preaching the Gospel to the sinner. It is the outreach wing of the church to warn sinners, save sinners and cause numerical growth in the church. It is snatching souls from the fire of hell:
“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
(Jude 1:23)
Much of the church today will not evangelise. Instead, they turn the church into a centre for “reaching” sinners. They make the church sinner friendly and worldly and in some cases a nightclub. God never said to do this. This is the modern church growth phenomenon. The assembling of the church together is for the believers, for fellowship, to feed the sheep, to teach and encourage the Christians. It is for the Christians to grow, learn and become mature, to be guided by church leaders who help keep them on the right path as they make their way to heaven. Evangelism is a ministry of the church to bring sinners into the kingdom. The assembling together is not to revolve around accommodating sinners but is primarily for the fellowship of the believers. Today’s contemporary church has got it all wrong. They think the church is all about getting more sinners in the door, and therefore they make the church worldly and inviting to sinners. Yes, this will produce larger meetings but the church will be worldly and have the wrong focus. The bizarre thing is this: many modern churches are very concerned about “church growth” but evangelism is virtually non-existent.
And we don’t need the nightclub church with strobe lights either. Many of us got saved out of that mess and we don’t need to go back into it. It is wicked! Many of today’s modern churches cater towards sinners and worldly Christians. What have you done to God’s church? Why not do it God’s way? God is against your worldly churches! They are lukewarm; Jesus said that He would spew you out of His mouth:
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
(Revelation 3:16)
God is the God of evangelism. He wants the church to evangelise. The evangelist is one of the leadership gifts given to the church in Ephesians 4:11. God wants to convert sinners to Christ and not merely get them through the door into a building. Our goal is not to fill church buildings, but to save souls.
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
(Romans 10:14-15)
Why aren’t they evangelising if they are so concerned about lost souls? The truth is, they are not. They are concerned about the size of their church, and that’s it! Filling churches with unbelievers and saving souls from damnation is not necessarily the same thing.
The early apostles went to the synagogues and town centres to preach to unbelievers. People believed and a church was planted. Once that church was set up, the saints were not evangelised every Sunday. No, they were taught the word of God while the work of evangelism continued outside the local church assembly.
The main thrust of evangelism is to be led by apostles and evangelists to preach the gospel among the unsaved people. Of course, evangelism can also be done through witnessing to work colleagues and so on, but nowhere does it say to alter the house of God so that the primary focus is getting more people through the door. This is church growthism, not evangelism.
The church is for believers; evangelism for unbelievers! The focus should be the church within the four walls and the unbeliever outside the four walls.
God’s children are the top priority at the meeting house. The modern church runs things their way and not God’s way. They have abandoned evangelism. Pastors are not so concerned about souls but numbers, and there is a difference. The focus is on filling buildings instead of adding to God’s Kingdom. Filled buildings are success according to men, but God wants people truly in His Kingdom, and then for the converts to grow in the things of God, with the rest of the church. But some will say, “but, you need to get them in first and then get them saved”. Sorry, where is your Scripture for that?
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”
(Ephesians 4:11-13)
Note this: there are five leadership gifts given and four are for ministry to Christians while one is dedicated to evangelising the unbeliever. This means that a lot of effort is to be put into church life and looking after and ministering to the saints. The saints need a lot of work done in them to bring them to maturity and get them ready for the coming of Christ and heaven. Meeting at church is for the believer and that should be the focus. It is a special and holy time between God and the brethren. It is not evangelism.
Side note: Apostles are used in leading evangelism also, and evangelists can also be used to minister to the church.
It’s not because the pastors and churches are so concerned about the lost. If they were they would evangelise the sinner and do it God’s way. Truth is, they are not evangelists but church growth strategists, and God does not have any of these!
Much of the church has rejected evangelism. Some say it doesn’t work. That is for God to decide! He commands; we obey. He directs; we follow. He orchestrates; we serve. If God’s way doesn’t work then nothing will. Some will even mock and criticize those that do street evangelism, but evangelism is God’s way to make the church grow. This is a very disobedient church doing things their way instead of God’s way. Turning God’s house into a worldly place and at the same time mocking and sneering at evangelists that are out doing the job God’s way. People want to be more sophisticated than that, but God has chosen the foolishness of preaching:
“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”
(1 Corinthians 1:21)
God will use some rough-edged street evangelists while some modern polished effeminate pastors he will utterly forsake! Stop your sneering!
So how do you evangelise? By preaching the Gospel to the sinner. Many of these wicked churches don’t even preach the Gospel anyway. They preach inspirational messages and water down God’s word. No preaching about hell, or sin, or God’s anger at sin, no second coming and no judgment to come. It is all seeker-friendly, and that God is not someone to be feared, but is just all-around loving and accepting, which is not the Gospel.
God says, “warn the wicked” (Ezekiel 3:18-19). These pastors won’t do this!
There is the spirit or the anointing for evangelism that God has given (as with all of God’s anointed gifts). It is sharp, clean, and explosive. An evangelist is a great gift. Why are so many churches growing, but yet they don’t evangelise? Something is wrong!
The churches are full of sinners and starved, raggedly sheep, instead of healthy, growing, on-fire Christians. The church should be a holy powerhouse for God, not an amusement park, nightclub, funfair, social club, or educational course.
“How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.”
(1 Corinthians 14:26)
Various believers are to take part in the church meeting, (not just the pastor, or so-called “worship leader”). Numerous believers take part bringing in different aspects, but never unbelievers. It is a believers meeting. It is possible however for unbelievers to come in and get saved that way, but the focus on the church meeting is the believer.
“But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.”
(1 Corinthians 14:24-25)
Some of the modern pastors have said to the Christians from the pulpit (or stage), “it’s not about you!”, implying that the church meeting should be wholly focused on getting more numbers through the door. Such men are wolves in sheep’s clothing and not of the Lord. Yes, it is about you! That is, the church meeting place is about the Christian and his welfare, spiritual growth, nourishment, and development—God says this. Jesus said to Peter, “feed my sheep” (John 21:16-17).
Many times, you have to confront the sinner about their sin and idolatry. Sinners need to know that they have broken God’s law and that they are in danger of hellfire. The modern seeker-friendly church is non-offensive, watered down, and compromised. No conviction and no power.
Evangelists have a particular leadership gift for evangelism but you don’t have to be an evangelist to get involved in the work of evangelism. Ask the Lord, and He will lead you in playing your part in evangelism. God will honour evangelising done in His name. Perhaps you could start by purchasing some Gospel tracts and start giving them out to people.
God has given the apostle, prophet, pastor, and teacher, as well as the evangelist for the perfecting of the saints. If this is the case then the brunt of church leadership and the work of the ministry goes into maturing of the saints, which shows the importance and need for such effort among the Christians. That said, at least one gift is dedicated to evangelism showing the importance of not leaving this undone either.
The lord adds to the church. We obey what He asks us to do. We don’t set ourselves up as church growth experts—only He is that!
“Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
(Acts 2:47)
The truth is that God loves His church, His sheep, His children, and is all about looking after them and making them all that He wants them to be. He has placed leaders over them (not the world) to feed, and nourish, and love and protect them. The false pastors have got it all wrong. They’re ambitious, selfish, hungry wolves destroying the church of God. Paul warned:
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
(Acts 20:28-30)
Some church outreach has become so watered down that there is nothing left. Once upon a time, I was walking around a certain town. That day a certain evangelical/charismatic church was doing outreach in the town. They were not preaching nor passing out Gospel tracts, but giving out cups of hot chocolate with marshmallows in them. This is not evangelism and this will not save anybody. The reason for this type of outreach is to take the offence out of the Gospel message. We cannot dilute God’s message but only deliver the message.
Some may be ashamed of the Gospel or afraid they may look foolish, but the Bible says the following:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
(Romans 1:16)
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
(1 Corinthians 1:18)
“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.”
(Matthew 10:32)
“But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
(2 Timothy 4:5)
Happy evangelising!
