Getting Back on Track

If you don't have a clear evangelism strategy, your church will naturally drift inward. If evangelism is just one more thing to do, it won't get done.

Getting Back on Track

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

(Acts 1:8)

Yesterday, I shared Carey Nieuwhof's 5 reasons evangelism has fallen on hard times. I met Carey in January and spent about an hour with him and a few other pastors. He really is burdened by this lack of evangelism in the church today. I have much respect for him. When us pastors shared with Carey what God is doing in our churches, he took notes. He was there to learn like the rest of us.

The last reason he gave for the lack of evangelism today is that many pastors and leaders have given up on sharing the gospel because it is hard, and they are not seeing many results. Nieuwhof said they play a different game because they feel they always lose. There has been a steady decline in church attendance for decades. Some counter their lack of evangelism with "I am just focused on discipleship!" Discipleship is vital, but this is not an either/or matter; it is a both/and matter; we need both discipleship and evangelism. We simply do not have the luxury or right as Christians to ignore the world. Healthy churches have both robust discipleship and robust evangelism; we really need both. Nieuwhof states, "Real discipleship does not happen when a Christian becomes a disciple, it happens when Christians make other disciples." We have some serious work to do.

Nieuwhof also states:

Here's the real problem...

If you don't have a clear evangelism strategy, your church will naturally drift inward.

If evangelism is just "one more thing" on your plate, it won't get done.

And if your congregation isn't equipped, you'll stay stuck doing all the heavy lifting yourself.

One of my concerns is that we have focused too heavily on inviting people to our churches instead of inviting people to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I love inviting people to my church and do it all the time. But that is not the same as sharing the Gospel with people and inviting them to receive Jesus.

The God who calls us to bear witness for His name is the same God who will empower you and I with boldness to, as one person put it, "Tell it often and tell it well."

I am praying for you. Please pray for me that we both would have boldness to declare the name of Jesus to those who do not know Him. It is good news only if they hear it in time!

Partner with us in spreading the Gospel!

Will you help fuel our efforts to spread the Gospel
and equip and empower other Christians to do the same?

Count me in! ▶

Podcast of the Week

Ministering to Pastors & Police, with Rick Randall

Pastor Danny welcomes to the show his friend Rick Randall of Christ Together Greater Austin to discuss ministering to police and first responders, leading a team of pastors, surviving and growing through trama, and more. Rick was a longtime Senior Chaplain of the Austin Police Department and the Director of their Health and Wellness Division, overseeing the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of the officers as well as the civilian employees of the Department. He is the founder and CEO of The Randall Group 911 and currently provides instruction for first responders across the state of Texas in becoming more resilient and mastering the trauma of the emergency services professions.

Listen on your preferred platform: