The "E" Word: Five Reasons Why we Don’t Evangelize as we Should (Part 3)

The "E" Word: 

Five Reasons Why we Don’t Evangelize as we Should

(Part 3)

Last week we looked at three explanations as to why the church is less evangelistic today than it could/should be.  They were:

1. We’re not convinced that people need Jesus Christ;

2. Our faith has become “routine”;

3. Our churches have an ineffective evangelistic strategy of “you come” rather than “we go”.

Today’s article will look at two more possible explanations for the lack of evangelistic zeal in the church today.

4. Church members often see the church as a place to get their needs met rather than a place to bring those in need of Jesus  Christ;

This can be a hard pill to swallow, but, we have to ask ourselves what the church is to us – because we are going to act in the church in accordance with how we see the church.  Do we see ourselves as continuing Jesus Christ’s ministry, which he defines in Luke 4 with the following passage from Isaiah:

                                                         

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed…. (18).

                                   

Or are we a club where, “I’ve paid my dues and I expect to have my wants taken care of” – whether that’s in the language of the service, the preaching style/length, the ministries offered, etc.?  If we see it as a place where God’s grace and healing is offered, we will bring others (so they can be healed).  If not (if it’s a club) then we likely won’t (and if we don’t get our needs met sufficiently, we may very well leave and not return).

                           

5. Church members may not be “converted” themselves;

What does it mean to be converted to Jesus Christ?  It means to have him as the center of our lives – his commandments govern our actions – our time, our talents and our treasure is his (not ours) and we’re just here to manage it for him and get him the best return on his investment.

To the degree that we believe this, we will make it a priority to bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (if for no other reason than one of his commandments is to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19)).

To the degree we don’t, we won’t.  Why would we try to bring someone to believe in something that we’re not even fully convinced of?

In the next article we will look at four (relatively) simple ways we can be more evangelistic in our own lives.

- Offered by Fr. Panteleimon Dalianis