The "E" Word: Three Reasons Why we Don’t Evangelize as we Should (Part 2)

The "E" Word:  Three Reasons Why we Don’t Evangelize as we Should

(Part 2)

If we look at any organism, we see that the health of that organism is very much tied to the reproduction of that organism – both on a “micro” level and a “macro” level.  On the micro level if the human body (for example) doesn’t continue to produce new healthy cells, the body will die.  On the macro level if human beings as a group don’t produce more human beings, they will go extinct.

The church is no different.  The continued life and health of the church requires reproduction – in this case Christians producing more Christians (i.e. evangelism).  Where this isn’t happening, we can only logically conclude that there is a lack of health (and extinction in on the way?).  In this article I’ll examine three reasons that churches may be less evangelistic than they could be.

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

 In John 14, Jesus makes a very strong claim about his role in salvation: I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me (v. 6).  We notice in this verse that there is no qualifier – Jesus never says, “except for….”  Which means that Jesus is the only way into the kingdom (there is no other road in).

Do we believe this?  Or, as we clergy will often hear, do we believe that “all religions lead to the same place” (I’ve heard this many times)?  And if we do believe that last line, we need to know that that’s not what the church teaches, nor is it what the Bible itself states.  Everyone needs Jesus, because He’s the only road to the Father.

2. Our faith has become “routine”

 If you’ve seen children on Christmas day, you’ll know that every toy is exciting when they first get it.  But, as often happens, as time goes by, the excitement level also goes down.  This can be the case with our faith and with our evangelism.  When we first become converted to Christ, we want to learn and pray and read and talk about our faith all day long (just like the kid on Christmas morning), but as time goes by, we can come to see our faith as just one more event in the calendar – one more thing to get done that week.  What we need to do is consciously strive to keep that flame burning in our hearts for Jesus Christ through the spiritual practices of the church – prayer, fasting, reading the scriptures, etc.  If we aren’t living the faith daily, there’s little hope that we will have the grace or the interest to share it with the world around us.

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

 The gospel is rather clear that one job of a Christian is to go out and spread the gospel to the world: 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my [Jesus’] witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

This applies not just to the individual Christian, but to the church as a body.  The “you come” strategy isn’t wrong, it’s just not enough.  Our churches need to be places where everyone feels welcome.  But we also need to be places where no one feels comfortable unless they are sharing the gospel with the people in their world (i.e. “we go”) – their neighbors, their co-workers, their friends.

How comfortable are we in sharing (or not sharing) our faith with the world around us?  In next week’s article I will reflect on three more reasons we aren’t as evangelistic as we could be.

- Offered by Fr. Panteleimon Dalianis