Who Was I?

I went to church on Sundays (most of the time), hoping for a good uplifting sermon and had the typical stable family life: wife, three children. I didn’t think that I needed anything more in my life or that I was “missing” anything.   A year ago, I would have called myself an agnostic - not knowing what to believe.  I had been curious about Christianity and had plenty of questions about faith and “proving” the existence of God. Over the years, these questions were never adequately answered and I had given up hope that they ever would be or could be answered to my satisfaction. The so called “leap of faith” seemed impossible to me.

The concept of a living God being a presence in my daily life was foreign to me. Jesus was a nice guy, good teachings… but the Resurrection?! Now that was something those crazy Christians believed.  Easter was just another holiday when you got together with family members that you hadn’t seen since Christmas. The Easter egg hunt was more important to me than any thoughts of the living Christ having an impact on my daily life. I didn’t want to be bothered by those hypocritical believers and their rules or their tithing or their singing.

What Happened?

Well, that was a year ago. Really it was my whole life up until a year ago. Why did I change? Under the pressure of my family and some really pesky neighbors, I attended a Sunday service at Godspeed. How can a bunch of people meeting in a school for a few hours every Sunday make a difference in my life? How much is this going to cost me? I hope it doesn’t interfere with any of my other Sunday plans: the couch, the TV (I hope they know that it’s football season).

Well my expectations were not met. There was no tithing bucket in my face. There was no pressure to commit to anything. They seemed actually genuine and happy about their beliefs. What was going on here? These people seemed like me but they had something else. My curiosity was piqued.

The Evidence

After building some surface friendships and general trust, I’d thought that I’d give these Christians a chance to answer my questions about faith and the existence of God. These Christians spent time with me, week after week, patiently answering my skepticism and offering books and resources for my own personal investigation. Without offering all the details of my search, the evidence started to piece itself together. In the category of science, the improbability of Earth evolving independently and randomly to support life, the intricacies of the human body — it all led to my first conclusion that a master designer or God was evident. Next I tackled the religious side of the argument: who was this Jesus? He seemed like a nice guy, good teachings but he said that he was God. What kind of lunacy was this?! His biggest claim was the resurrection, so I started there. Again, to my amazement, the evidence, when examined, supported this claim.

Finally in January, after many Christian books and talks, I reached a spiritual crossroads.  My decision point was not a big dramatic moment - no lightning bolts or thunder. Based on the facts, the evidence, the lives I saw in other Christians and the message that could bring lasting benefits to my life, my “leap of faith” was a small step.  I accepted the free gift of salvation and it changed my life.

Who Am I Now?

I was a die hard Red Sox and Patriots fan growing up. I lived and died by their performances. Bernie Carbo and Carlton Fisk in 1975. Bucky Dent. The 1986 Red Sox. The Bears-Patriots Super Bowl. Finally when the Patriots defeated the Rams and the Red Sox broke the curse of the Bambino, I was truly excited. But this fulfillment faded. I went to work the next day, paid the same bills, dealt with the same traffic. But since becoming a Christian, I have felt a true fulfillment that hasn’t faded. It has actually grown stronger each day that I walk forward in faith.

A year ago, I didn’t think that I needed anything more to fulfill my life. But after becoming a Christian, I quickly realized that I had been missing something. My relationship with my wife (I’ve known her for 24 years) has never been better. I feel better equipped to be a strong leader and father for my children. I have stronger friendships and stronger community with others that I never thought that I would desire. My stress is less and I wake up each day with a new sense of discovery and anticipation. Peace may be the best way to describe it. I still have the daily ups and downs as everyone else but I now tackle life without fear knowing that I’m not in this alone and help and guidance is always by my side.

One final analogy would be to compare our spiritual struggle to a hot summer day. We want to jump into the cool ocean water but have some trepidation. It’ll be too cold, I’m not really that hot, it’ll mess up my hair, etc. Well I’m here to tell you that the water will change your life. Come on, jump in, the water is great!

As he writes this passage to Timothy, Paul is facing the end of his life. He paints a final picture of pastoral ministry for Timothy that he hopes will be enduring.  He focuses on those priorities he knows Timothy will be tempted to drift from and even neglect in the day-to-day pressures of ministry.

Paul calls Timothy to 1) preach the Word, 2) be sober-minded, 3) endure suffering and 4) do the work of an evangelist.  Why did Paul call Timothy to do the work of personal evangelism?  The reason, I believe, is because he knows Timothy’s example in personal evangelism is indispensable to his church’s faithfulness in the work of evangelism.

I wonder what Timothy thought as he read Paul’s letter:

“Don’t I have enough work?  Now I have to do the work of an evangelist too?”

“I just need to find the right guy and then I won’t have to worry about this anymore.”

I have a pastoral gift, not the gift of an evangelist.”

I know I need to change in this area - I’m going to make it happen this time.” (But his guess is that there will be a big push in the beginning and a fizzle at the end.)

Friends: Paul called Timothy to do the work of evangelism because He knows Timothy’s example in personal evangelism is indispensable to his church’s faithfulness in the work of evangelism.

What does this have to do with me? Imagine if on Sunday I told my congregation I hadn’t read the Bible devotionally for a month. How would they feel about the message I was about to share? Or if I confessed I hadn’t prayed to God in over two months? Would their confidence in my pastoral leadership waver? Absolutely! So what happens when I tell them I have not shared the Gospel with a non-believer for a month? Three months? Maybe a year? Would they be as astonished and concerned for my spiritual welfare as they are for the spiritual disciplines of Bible intake and prayer? They should be … God certainly is.

Friends, pastors lead by example. Our example is indispensable when it comes to developing an evangelistic church. Without a consistent example from us, the church will grow complacent in their call to reach the lost. Yet some of the most effective preaching being done today is by pastors who are spending time with non-believers, learning about their lives, hearing their questions and sharing the gospel with non-believers during the week. As these pastors share these conversations with their congregations in their sermons, they are inspiring and equipping the church in how to talk to non-believers about the gospel, and imparting faith for them to do it!

May I suggest to you that what will move evangelism to the front burner in your congregation is often the ‘missing ingredient’ in most churches that aren’t growing in evangelism. What will move personal evangelism to the front burner in your congregation’s ministry is your personal example in personal evangelism. Through your example your church will be equipped and inspired to grow in theirs.

How does a pastor grow in personal evangelism?

First, have a plan. What do date nights, church meetings and soccer games all have in common? Give up. They are all planned ahead of time. Is personal evangelism included? Is it evident from your schedule that this is a priority? If ‘no’, what’s your plan?

What is my plan for personal evangelism?
-    Start small: plan to host non-believers in your home once a month
-    Redeem the time: devote lunch time once a month to go out and share the gospel at the mall or common
-    Make a goal: first, plan to do it on Fridays at the mall, in the evenings.
-    Include others: second, Saturdays during the day do a service project and share.

By transferring these priorities to my calendar, over time I am growing in faithfulness in my daily life. I am slowing down to pursue conversations with others while at the gym, while in Cumby’s, during my son’s baseball games.

Second, practice. Doing evangelism is the best way to grow in evangelism.

“We must expose ourselves to both biblical content and real life context, to knowledge and experience, to training and practice. Too often, there is an overemphasis on content and knowledge at the expense of practical experience. We will do well to pay heed to the words of nineteenth-century English philosopher Herbert Spencer who said, ‘The great aim of our education is not knowledge but action.’ So don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if your conviction level is lagging, you must first work on building your convictions before you go out and do evangelism. No, the best way to build convictions about evangelism is to go out and do it as you are processing the biblical information which fuels your convictions.” (Mark McCloskey, Tell It Often, Tell It Well (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1992))

Third, pursue accountability. “Growth in grace is a community project,” says Tim Lane.

Is there someone in my life who demonstrates faithfulness in personal evangelism? Could I build him into my life to help me to grow? To receive specific encouragement? To be challenged to change? To go witness with?

For me, my friend Todd is that person. Last year, at the conclusion of the Philip Center’s training, my friend Todd suggested we take some time to review what we had heard and come with a plan to ‘just do it’. He suggested we use our lunch times once or twice a month to go out and share the gospel. As time went on, and he continued to grow in faithfulness in personal evangelism during the week, he began to ask if I had the opportunity to share with anyone that week. When I didn’t he would ask what I could do the following week to insure I was spending time with non-believers. What a difference it makes to have a friend who is both inspiring in his example and caring enough to encourage me to keep growing to.

Fourth, pray for a heart for the lost.
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am an in prison - that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Colossians 4:2-4

“The Holy Spirit will move them by first moving you. If you can rest without their being saved, they will rest too. But if you are filled with agony for them, if you cannot bear that they should be lost, you will soon find that they are uneasy too. I hope you will get into such a state that you will dream about your child or your hearer perishing for lack of Christ, and start at once and begin to cry, ‘O God, give me converts or I die.’ Then you will have converts.” (Charles Spurgeon, The Sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon Vol. 22, (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1876), 143-144)

Paul calls Timothy to do the work of evangelism because He knows Timothy’s example in personal evangelism is indispensable to his church’s faithfulness in the work of evangelism.

Friends, God is patient with us. He knows our frame, that we are weak; and He is poised to give us more of His grace to move us along! Paul’s letter to Timothy ends with this encouragement: “The Lord be with your Spirit - Grace be with you.”

God is going to give us more grace to grow during our time together. He will give us wisdom and faith to implement an evangelistic strategy, beginning with our personal example, that will move evangelism back to the front burner of the church we are privileged to serve.

A Challenge given by Bauer Evans (Crossway Church, Plainville, MA) at the Planning for Outreach Workshop, June11, 2009.

Selecting an evangelism leader is similar.  You may be tempted to enlist the gifted evangelists for the job.  They’re the ones who regularly lead others to Christ.  They’re the guys who glance over the gas pump, start a winsome conversation and lead the other guy to faith before they hit the 10-gallon mark.  Our churches desperately need them!  They are gifted by the Holy Spirit to bring men and women to faith far more often than the rest of us.

But they typically don’t make the best coaches.  They can play well, but they don’t usually coach well. Why not?  For one thing, the work of evangelism comes naturally to them, so they don’t need to reflect on their methods of outreach.  They just do it.  For another, they often don’t understand why other people struggle with outreach.  “What’s so hard about all this!” they will often say.  (May God increase their numbers!) Since they don’t understand why it’s hard for others, they don’t make the most patient encouragers.

So when you’re looking for an evangelism leader in your church, look for someone who

• has a passion for reaching spiritually lost people,
• doesn’t (necessarily) easily lead them to faith and
• has an encouraging spirit.

These men or women will make good coaches.  Once you find them, feed them with leadership support to develop their gifts of helping the entire church reach out.  At the same time, free up the gifted evangelists to do their work.  Then celebrate the fruit that God brings!  Let the players play and the coaches coach.

Is your church strong in foreign missions but weak in local outreach?

A reverse missions conference puts the emphasis on “Jerusalem” rather than “the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The desire is not to weaken foreign missions — not at all. After all, the Mission of God involves all venues of the Acts 1:8 mandate. As someone said, “Missions is simply evangelism gone cross-cultural.” But such a conference, if your church holds an annual missions week, can help restore interest in the local part of the Great Commission.

Recently, The Philip Center helped lead a church through this kind of conference, and it went very well. Here are some of the details.

Title: Go Local!

Schedule:

* Thursday: Planning meeting for leaders of outreach small groups
* Thursday evening: Focus Group (click here for more)
* Friday: Church and town leaders meeting. The church provided lunch at town hall and asked the town leaders how the church might meet needs in the town.
* Friday evening: Video of on-the-street interviews about God and religion, followed by a discussion on how to reach spiritually lost people.
* Saturday morning: Men’s, Women’s and Youth Breakfast: “Sharing Your Faith”
* Saturday evening: Dinner and main speaker
* Sunday morning: Services with main speaker
* Sunday after the service: “Where Do We Go from Here?”

An essential element: have someone in place to keep the momentum going from the conference. If the conference is inspiring, be sure that you have someone in the church who can champion outreach and keep it moving forward. And then be sure to provide evangelism training so that those who are inspired by the conference are equipped to share their faith.

I’ve recently read

The authors (both long-term campus ministers) are careful not to reduce the work of salvation to “a psychological phenomenon, an inner event that can be controlled…if we preach the gospel just right” (19). “But just as no farmer would spend all her time scattering seeds, or all his time swinging a sickle, we see such one-trick evangelism as foolish spiritual farming. There are five distinct seasons of growth that we’ve noticed again and again. Realizing this organic way that people make their way down the path to faith frees us to respond to our friends’ particular needs at the time” (21).

I recommend this book. It has helped me to understand those stages of a seeker — and act accordingly. As someone who loves to share his faith, but doesn’t easily see people believe, I need all the help I can get.

I will often have a spiritually-oriented conversation with someone and be disappointed that it didn’t go further. In those cases it’s easy to think “We’ll, that wasn’t very fruitful. I guess that person isn’t open to the gospel.”  But patience in matters of the heart means waiting for God to work, in his timing — and not giving up in the process. It also means looking for ways to build a bridge to the next opportunity with that same person. When we come to the end of a conversation with someone, we should be thinking about the bridge to the next opportunity.

That opportunity can come in many different forms. Maybe you’ve perceived that your friend is in need of special advice. Who can give that advice even better than you? Or your friend may have a hobby or interest that someone else you know has. Do what you can to gently bring those people together. Or maybe it’s a book, a website or an event that would help your friend understand the gospel better.

This also applies to how ministry leaders should think about outreach events. Right from the beginning of the planning process, think about the bridges that need to be built after it’s over. How will you follow up those who are interested? Who is gifted at long-term follow-up? Can you set aside a follow-up team who won’t be involved in the large event itself so they will have the energy to meet with seekers after the event is over?

Building bridges takes into consideration the fact that God works in people’s hearts in his own timing. Sometimes it may mean leaving the conversation about the gospel alone for months and praying for your friend. Come back to it later.

One of the best things we can do is be honest and genuine. If you worry about being offensive, say so to the person you’re sharing with. You might say something like, “You know, we talk about a lot of things, but hardly ever about spirituality or the Bible. It’s really important to me, but I don’t bring it up because I don’t want to offend you. Do you think about this stuff much?”

Or maybe you find yourself in a spiritual conversation and your friend seems to grow uncomfortable. That’s the time to stop and say, “You seem to get frustrated or uncomfortable when we talk about God. I don’t want to make you angry. Can you tell me why this is a difficult topic?”

The theology behind speaking openly and honestly about the gospel lies in the incarnation. Christ became a man so that he could share in humanity with us and through his death and resurrection save us. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).

When we share our faith, we need to remain human — to sympathize with our conversation partner, to understand his feelings and talk about them. So often we try to become a perfect evangelism machine when we share the gospel. And that will likely make us offensive.

So when you’re afraid you might offend your friend by talking about the gospel, say so. Keep the ground of your conversation human and discuss not only the content of the gospel but how you both feel when you talk about it.

Church life seems that way some times. And when it does, it’s time to remember the basics. What is the essence of church life?  In this article, I’d like to particularly address those of us who give leadership to church activities. It’s important that as we busy ourselves in the activities of church life, we also keep an eye on the big picture of the purposes of a church.

Understanding the essence of a thing is very important to me. What is the essence of marriage…of education…of the church? I’m uneasy pursuing activity in these areas of life until I have some grip on what its fundamental purpose is. When the Westminster Shorter Catechism states “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever,” it’s making a statement about the essence of life.

I like what Wayne Grudem says about the essential purposes of the church: “We can understand the purposes of the church in terms of ministry to God, ministry to believers, and ministry to the world.” (Systematic Theology, ch 44. C). The problem is, it’s difficult to maintain these ministries in balance as we seek to nurture healthy churches.

Have you noticed how helium-filled latex balloons deflate in a day? They’re the old fashioned balloons that end up floating just above the floor the morning after a party? But it seems like the shiny Mylar balloons last for decades! The church’s ministry toward the world — our calling to reach non-Christians with the gospel — is like the old-fashioned latex balloon — it deflates faster than the other ministries.

How do we keep the outreach balloon inflated? For starters, we must believe that evangelism is as essential to the church as worship and discipleship. And believing that the purposes of a church include evangelism rests on our understanding that mission is first of all God’s mission, and therefore it is the church’s mission. We go into the world because Christ came into our world. We leave our comfort zone just as Jesus did — taking the form of humanity and becoming obedient to the point of death on the cross. The story of history is the story of God’s work of redemption. That’s why it’s the church’s mission.

Given the multitude of barriers to personal evangelism, church leaders must give a disproportionate amount of attention to outreach. Keeping that balloon inflated as fully as the others will require more input. How is your evangelism balloon? Does it need more air? Keeping it inflated will help you maintain the health of your ministries of discipleship and worship.