If we are to speak honestly and with integrity concerning local and world evangelism, we have to ask ourselves the following questions about our churches:
- How many doors of homes and businesses have you knocked on?
- Do you knock on doors weekly or monthly?
- Do you have a regular and ongoing classes on outreach and evangelism?
- How many times per month are you preaching the Gospel outside your building, in the market places, town squares, etc.?
- How much of your annual budget is spent sending out its own evangelists and missionaries?
- Is the summation of your mission and evangelism work simply ”tithing” 10% of your Church’s revenue to foreign missionaries?
- Do you share, in an active and practical way, the Apostle Paul’s passion for reaching all the world with the Gospel?
I’ll make no guesses or assumptions about your honest answer to these questions. I will, however, make an observation. America would be in a much better state, culturally and spiritually if a fraction of evangelical churches prioritized these things.
Do you know how and why some churches grow and some churches decline here or in your local cities and towns? I’ll give you one word…
… SCANDAL!
Churches here, and I’m sure elsewhere, grow while some decline is mainly due to church-hopping, transient Christians, that have been hurt, wounded, devastated, ignored, maligned, and forgotten by well meaning spiritual leaders. Many brothers, sisters, and families leave churches due to scandal and abuse. If more churches were outwardly focused on reaching the world, we’d have much less of the world and scandal inside churches.
The Barna Group has polled hundreds of unchurched believers and has determined that nearly 3,500 people per day exit church never to return! The age group polled were from 14 to 33 years old. The number one response was that they left church due to a lack of connectedness!
Herein lies the proof that far too many inwardly focused churches obsessed with millennialism, prosperity, and emotionalism, rather than Kingdom of God outward expansion, eventually self-destruct, producing devastated and retreating believers, longing for an exfil.
Is it time for people to church-exit what church has become in America? No, I think it’s time for churches to exit its self-absorption and get busy evangelizing its own communities and beyond. For all you futurists out there, the Kingdom of God is here, now, and will expand with or without you.
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” – Romans 2:7-11
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
A church without a mission is nothing more than a religious country club!
Call To Courage 