Podcast Episode #305
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Evangelism in the church is waning, so today we cover 10 questions you can use to determine the evangelistic health of your church. Also, the “bee-line to the cross” quote is Spurgeon after all.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- Relational evangelism without a gospel presentation is not really evangelism.
- Once you move people to an outward focus, they stop thinking about themselves as much.
- Many people don’t pray for lost people by name because they don’t know anyone outside their holy huddle.
- We should be praying for eternal issues as much as (if not more than) temporal issues.
- Becoming evangelistic requires getting outside of your comfort zone.
- When you’re a good evangelistic leader in a church, you’re probably leading outwardly.
- Small groups should be one of the most evangelistic tools a church has.
- The priority of the leaders will become the priority of the church.
The 10 questions we cover are:
- Are members more concerned about the lost than their own preferences and comfort?
- Is the church led to pray for lost persons?
- Are the members of the church open to reaching people who don’t look or act like them?
- Do conflicts and critics zap the evangelistic energy of the church?
- Do small groups and Sunday school classes seek to reach lost persons within their groups?
- Is the leadership of the church evangelistic?
- Do the sermons regularly communicate the gospel?
- Are there ministries in the church that encourage members to be involved in evangelistic outreach and lifestyle?
- Have programs become ends in themselves rather than means to reach people?
- Is there any process of accountability for members to be more evangelistic?
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Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Who Moved My Pulpit?
I am totally convinced that the second question is the key question. In my experience for several years now corporate prayer for anything has become a thing of the past. In my mind when churches don’t pray in community it means that they are depending on themselves. With evangelism and all other ministry, if churches are not praying corporately, not much that has eternal value is going to happen. Programs and methods have value only if they are birthed in prayer and inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Number 6 and 7 the pastor is trying to be evangelistic and is preaching the Gospel, but our church do not seem to be concerned about the outside world. They seem to be satisfied with who they are. Our association has a prayer team that came to our church to pray for the church and our people were invited to come join them and no one showed up.
Allen, unfortunately, in my experience, this is very typical.
I in my 74th year, seem to resonate more and more with the meaning of Rom 8:29 …”God destined us from the beginning to be conformed to the image of His Son…” as us followers being out among ‘publicans and sinners’ with ‘The Bread and Water of Life’ and not being largely ‘consumers’ each Sunday or at each conference or guest speaker that comes along. The clue is in Jesus’ early disciple recruitment days, when He said to the boys- ” Follow me and I will make you ‘fishers’ of men”
One would have to conclude today, if we are not ‘fishing for men’ we are not following Him!
people are no longer concern about the salvation of their soul but the desire for riches