What We Can Learn From the Last 30 Years of Evangelism
Most of the statistics I share in this blog are taken from 21st Century Christian, and references only the United States. I am confident they are worse than most members of the Lord’s church are aware of.
Currently, we are averaging 10 congregations closing their doors every MONTH! Simple math means we close 120 congregations annually, and the rate of closures continue to accelerate. From 1990 to 2019, 29 years, 1,260 congregations closed their doors. Alarming; 25% took place in three years, between 2016-2019!
One person said to me, “The majority of those members swelled other congregations, so souls were safe.” Even if that was true, the horror that is missing in that statement is that every time a congregation closes its doors, the Light has gone out in that community, and the mission to that community has almost totally died.
I’m certain we could all get together and discuss why this has happened, coming up with a lengthy list of reasons. My answer is very simple. We are not teaching, training, mentoring and equipping the saints to engage the war for lost souls.
Let me present an analogy:
A wealthy business group decides to open up a brand-new warehouse. They do their homework for location, logistics, population, etc. Now fast-forward to the hiring process. They determine they need to hire 150 employees to run the warehouse efficiently. They find their 150 people and in a group meeting, they announce to these 150 new employees, “OK. Everybody get to work. We are going to be a well-oiled machine and proud of our affiliation with the company!”
While most would naturally be excited about their employment, a call to “get to work” doesn’t keep the excitement going for very long. What if the office needs 12 people to run it properly, but 35 people run to the office? Or, the loading dock needs 15 people to load, unload, track inventory and file reports, but only 4 people are there? You get my point. Since the business owners know ahead of time how many employees are needed in every facet of the warehouse, they not only hire accordingly, but they train them to become skilled in their duties!
Using the military would be a great analogy. Do we place people with a deathly fear of water in the navy? One who is afraid of heights in a pilot training course? Or one who is a conscientious objector on the front lines? You understand my point.
While there are many solid, growing congregations in our brotherhood, and we need for them to continue, the statistical decline says there are a small percentage.
The entire, “Bring, Teach, Keep” philosophy is based on the words that came out of the mouth of our Savior in Matthew 28:18-20. The breakdown of evangelism, therefor, is:
“Go (BRING people in contact with Me) into all the world.
“Make disciples (TEACH them what they need to know to be saved).
“Teach them to observe all I have commanded you (KEEP them safe for life).
Jesus gave these three distinctive parts of the Great Commission; BRINGING, TEACHING and KEEPING. These are different, and when working in harmony they complement the others. As a body, we have our specific God-gifted abilities which enables every Christian to have an impact in evangelism. I would suggest to you, we have not understood this. Therefore, we have not taught, trained, mentored and equipped the saints where they believe God has blessed them. Instead, we hear from many of our pulpits and pens that all of us should be out teaching our friends and neighbors. Those hearing these words are being told they are teachers, yet James 3:1 says otherwise. When we send someone out to teach (With no teaching, training, mentoring or equipping), James says we are “placing them in a role which will receive the stricter judgement! If they have no desire, acumen, ability, training or experience teaching anything, we are putting them in a position doomed for failure; their soul is at stake for eternity. What adds to this is their attitude about their role in evangelism is not only not explained to them, but they will most likely conclude they have no role. Plus, if they’re true gift is in reaching out to folks as a bringer, leading them to a teacher, then we are depriving them of utilizing their God-given gift as part of the body.
The whole evangelism model was spoken by Jesus 2,000 years ago and conveyed to us by the Holy Spirit inspired writers. The damage to the church and their communities will begin to be repaired if we begin to teach and mentor ourselves, then those of the flock.
This website is totally devoted to evangelism. It is the result of 40 years of my experience and blessing to have associated with so many wonderful men and women who loved me enough to give me solid counsel. Some of it was very difficult to handle, but they spoke it in love. What a blessing!
As I look around at the glorious nation I have known for 63 years, it has changed dramatically. I’m not talking just politically, but everyday relationships. Broken marriages, families torn apart by addictions, decisions made by friends that have a detrimental impact on their eternity, abortion and so on. My suggestion is that we stop telling the world what we don’t do (We don’t use instrumental music, have women in our pulpits, baptize babies etc.), and begin to show them what we do; we love. No more telling people they’re going to Hell because they have sins and can only be saved by being in the church Jesus bought with His blood. While this is true, it goes against the wisdom of Jesus in Mark 4:33; “He taught as they were able to bear.” Perhaps if we did more genuine listening, developing relationships and kindly offering them the Gospel, we would be seen in a better light, and folks would be more willing to listen to us.
How you receive this blog is up to you. One thing we cannot continue to do is think the church is fine and nothing needs to change; that would accelerate the decline.