By almost any metric, the churches in our nation are much less evangelistic today than they were in the recent past. In my own denomination, we are reaching non-Christians only half as effectively as we were 50 years ago (we measure membership to annual baptisms). The trend is disturbing.
We certainly see the pattern in the early church where “every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). In too many of our churches today, the congregations are reaching no one for Christ in the course of an entire year.
The Poll
I conducted an unscientific Twitter poll recently to see what church leaders and church members thought of this trend, My specific question was: “Why do you think many churches aren’t as evangelistic as they once were?”
The responses arrived quickly and in great numbers, both in public tweets and in direct messages to me. Indeed, I was still receiving responses four days after I sent my Twitter question.
The Results
The response was highly informative for me. Here are the top fifteen responses listed in order of frequency:
- Christians have no sense of urgency to reach lost people.
- Many Christians and church members do not befriend and spend time with lost persons.
- Many Christians and church members are lazy and apathetic.
- We are more known for what we are against than what we are for.
- Our churches have an ineffective evangelistic strategy of “you come” rather than “we go.”
- Many church members think that evangelism is the role of the pastor and paid staff.
- Church membership today is more about getting my needs met rather than reaching the lost.
- Church members are in a retreat mode as culture becomes more worldly and unbiblical.
- Many church members don’t really believe that Christ is the only way of salvation.
- Our churches are no longer houses of prayer equipped to reach the lost.
- Churches have lost their focus on making disciples who will thus be equipped and motivated to reach the lost.
- Christians do not want to share the truth of the gospel for fear they will offend others. Political correctness is too commonplace even among Christians.
- Most churches have unregenerate members who have not received Christ themselves.
- Some churches have theological systems that do not encourage evangelism.
- Our churches have too many activities; they are too busy to do the things that really matter.
So What Is the Solution?
I received hundreds of responses to this poll. There is obviously widespread concern about the lack of evangelism in our churches and among Christians.
First, let me hear what you think of these responses. Second, and more importantly, offer some solutions to the challenges. Make certain those solutions include what you can do as much as what they should do. I look forward to hearing from you.
photo credit: people talking in paris via photopin (license)
Posted on February 23, 2015
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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325 Comments
Thom,
I have been pastor at my current church for 16 months. it is over 100 years old. 30 plus new believers have been saved and baptized here, most of them adults, in that time span . Attendance is up, bible study is up, and giving is up. All I have done is preach the Gospel as if no one in the audience is saved. I believe that is what Sundays are for. We have forgotten that in many churches today. I preached through the entire book of John for 1 year and it was one of the best times in ministry I have personally had. I believe we need better understanding of the books of the bible as a whole instead of flipping around from passage to passage.
Thank you for all of your updates, posts, etc.; they are so helpful. I don’t feel alone in my call. You book Simple Church changed my heart and philosophy as much as did Experiencing God.
I am finding that many Christians today do not believe that we serve a God who would send people to hell due to the disobedience of other believers. They feel that if they don’t evangelize, then if God has truly predestined a person, they will somehow come to know Him on their own or by some other means. They feel that God would not send and innocent person to hell. And they are correct, He will not send an innocent person to hell, the problem is, no one in innocent. So instead of reaching the lost of this world, I find most Christians just think God will do it on his own. Seems they forgot that the vine does not bear any fruit, it is the branches that are used to bear the fruit. If the branches all wither up and die, there will be no fruit.
Dr Rainer has reported that only 2% of church members invite an unchurched person to their church. That will keep a baptistery dry!
The church doesn’t focus on the lost or the “true believers” (who live out their faith with passion and zeal for Christ). Most churches focus on the 80-95% of people who aren’t passionate, filled with the Holy Spirit, ready to truly put their lives in the hands of God. So, since all of our focus is on the people who are least likely to share the Gospel, it is not shared. Since our focus is on those who don’t want to evangelize, we don’t have evangelism. Since our focus is on those who aren’t making disciples, we don’t have discipleship.
The shift that needs to happen is to focus support and energy around the core group of people dedicated to Christ, and let the rest follow their example. Instead, the focus is inverted and the efforts are on appeasing the crowd, not on reaching a lost world for Christ. Why else do we have the large buildings and monuments to human organization?
Until pastors and churches get real with what following Jesus is supposed to mean, and focusing the energy and resources around those who are willing to follow, we will have what we have now.
Thank you Thom for your passion for the church and the lost, and thank you Jody Sneed, for hitting the nail on the head.
To try and simplify a lengthy response, I believe that the focus of most evangelism in the past 50+ years has been on “getting saved,” meaning securing your place in heaven, rather than restoring a relationship with God. When the first is the goal, just enough information is provided to get a decision. When the second is the goal, you help the prospect understand the nature and scope of the commitment, and then disciple them in that relationship.
They very well may be saved. God is faithful to His Word, even if we do not understand every aspect of the relationship, but how can we expect people to share that which they themselves may not really understand?
My “trust Jesus” trunk sticker gets positive responses from readers on the highway and in my driveway. A rudimentary way of evangelizing, but who knows how effective.
One’s zeal for and effectiveness in evangelism is directly proportional to the level of his spiritual life. It is because most Christians are lukewarm and complacent that they don’t evangelize. And those of us who do are often not abiding in the Lord Jesus in an intimate relationship with Him, so that we don’t bear much fruit. The pastors bear a lot of the responsibility for this situation because they themselves are not living at a very high spiritual level. Leonard Ravenhill once said that if a pastor is not spending at least 2 hours a day on his knees, his preaching will not be worth a plum nickel. That might be a slight exaggeration, but I believe there is a lot of truth in it.
Leaders in the church are not equipping the saints to do this work. They may not know how to evangelize themselves. They may not know how to equip others to do so. The members are not requesting such equipping. I am taking a four day seminar in becoming equipped myself to evangelize in my area. As I get some experience, I will invite others to join me and help them do the same in their spheres.
Another reason many Christians are unevangelistic: They don’t believe what they say they believe about God, sin, redemption in Christ, responsibility of mission, realities of heaven and hell, etc. If they believed it with their hearts, their lives would show it–not perfectly, but definitely.
Just lack of belief, and apathy I would say. If I don’t really believe or care in eternal life, and souls are at stake why should I tell people about faith in Christ and how to escape Hell.