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.
More from Thom
325 Comments
I would agree with the first 4 and if you read those 4 sum up the rest in some form or other. We had a pastor’s meeting the other concerning this very same issue and what we noticed about our congregation is that, we don’t know how to market the transformation God has to offer because even in ourselves we are unsure of how to show others what God has done for us. The early church were expert marketers because they were able to show everyone around the transformation God had done in their lives without preaching it verbally. If we can get show that transformation it would be no problem for others to follow. The world is seeking answers that only God can provide and we should be the instrument he uses.
#5 and #7 are big ones in my experience. One of the most common complaints I hear from Christians is “my needs aren’t being met”. If it’s all about your needs, then maybe your focus is in the wrong place.
Good day,
God is listening, I’m from Quebec.
Someone from our church as translated this blog. Surprisingly, our pastor brought a message, about evangelism, the Sunday before (February 22nd). At the end, out of 60 adults, present that morning, maybe a third advance to praise and pray. So we see that there’s a will…but no action yet. We are about 60 members and between 5 and 10 brothers and sisters evangelize every week. Our hope is to bring the majority to go out this spring to start anew in our town of Châteauguay. Some of us are praying for a awakening, spread the word God has made some miracles in different awakening throughout time. There’s no excuses because we heard someone talk about Jesus otherwise we wouldn’t be His church. Or in it. Think about the lake of fire… Who would you like to be in it. Be careful with your response, I believe that we love God AS MUCH AS the person we dislike the most.
Claude Papillon
Brother in Jesus
many church goers don’t have Christ in their own lives nor do they believe the word of God. There is a false spirit that cause people to think that they are right with and serving God when in fact they are serving false gods.
After getting ignored and bludgeoned in the church for using tracts, I obtained JesusIsLord.org in January of 1996. One time a pastor said to me, “I thought a large organization would have that website.” The whole idea of the web is an individual can have the same presence as a large organization. So a technological innovation allowed me to exercise my gift and call throughout the world. If the church is broken and it doesn’t want to be fixed, God has other options. Every time I hear a pastor say, “You don’t have to use the Four Spiritual Laws,” I think now nothing will happen because they have not provided anything to replace tracts. If you don’t like tracts, why not just keep quiet and don’t discourage those who are actually doing something? I ask people I meet questions. So I find out they are devastated and alone as Mom just died. I find out they can’t sleep at night due to things that they observed. There is an open door for a caring listener with the gospel of hope. Just start smiling and talking with people and maybe have something to give to them they can take home and in a quiet moment see what else you have to say. I had to go to school to learn html code. I’ve put a gazillion hours into my websites. I think of the man in India translating books into the several languages of India. If he could do it with a lamp, I can do it on a screen.
Praise God for you’re obeying.
Claude
I don’t know why anyone would have a problem with using tracts. I give them out often. I always tell people a good gospel tract should be (1) scripturally sound, (2) appealing to the eye, and (3) concise. My personal favorite is probably Billy Graham’s “Steps to Peace with God”, but “The Four Spiritual Laws” is a good one, too. One of my seminary professors used to say, “God uses tracts. Do you?”
I find in the church I am in, there is a great disconnect between the much older church and the much younger neighborhood. The congregants raised their children in church to become the current generation of leaders, but those children moved away pursuing families, education and jobs. That has left a vacuum of leadership, energy, and passion that we have been unable to fill. And for the many leaders who held positions for 60 or 70 years, they are weary.
Into that context is a simpler truth, that in their day and age, evangelism wasn’t taught because it wasn’t necessary. Everyone in town was part of a church somewhere. The growing need for evangelism and avenues for social connections were missed as their children moved away.
I am not sure entirely what the perfect solution is, however I think of going back to basics. For an example… every believer should know and be equipped with some essentials. Like WHY they should share? This is our fathers heart and His plan ( Acts 2: 9; Mat. 6: 10), not something we drew up in a back room one day. Every believer whether they are a day old in the faith or 50 years in the faith needs to know WHO they should share with? So our role is to help them discover the persons of peace (The person who God is clearly working on and is receptive… Mat. 10/ Lk 10), in their ‘Oikos’ (or Houshold/ Sphere of influence). Help others discover who they already know thats FAR from God in their home place, work place or place of passions. Then we need to help every Christ follower know WHAT to say when they go to them? We should equip them with a simple Gospel tool. There are thousands of them out there, but we should perhaps do better at not over-resourcing our disciples because it can easily create incompetence, confusion and lack of obedience overall. If we give them a simple tool and expect obedience and hold them accountable, the chances are greater they will use it. Also teach them their story in under a minute… Our testimonies are great ways to sift for spiritual openness… Every believer needs to know that if they stumble upon a person of peace and they receive Christ, HOW then do you disciple them? Well, assuming we agree on the principle that ‘less is more’, we teach them some simple basics… that are reproducible. The days are passing where we firehose all our seminary knowledge in a crammed hour hoping our student/ new disciple will leave being changed. Perhaps giving a new believer one or two nuggets about prayer and expect obedience and that he/she knows how to teach those simple nuggets to someone else, rather than teach them a thousand things about prayer… lets let new believers discover his/her walk with God in time… after all it is God who causes knowledge and understanding anyway. Lastly, how do we help every person know how to answer the CHURCH/ COMMUNITY question? As I am discipling someone I meet, one or two things can possibly happen… because of the relationship built, they come back with us to church. Or perhaps these individuals or personas of peace are well connected, and maybe even sharing with their friends as we want to help them answer these basic questions too… In the scriptures we see modeled by Paul, that new believers equal new churches… Maybe every bible study has the potential to become a healthy church… that does not mean every one will though. Either way we can let God build His church, as it says in Matthew 16 and we can focus on making disciples who make more disciples in Matthew 28. I don’t think this is the only way… however I know people can follow patterns and creating a simple pattern might aid to reproduction. Giving people the basics and expecting that they be able to teach others the basics allows every person, male or woman, young or old, new or older believer, get in the game and make disciples…
The answer is ministry. Service.
The attitudes mentioned can grow in a person or church that is isolated. But any true Christian will be activated when they actually see and interact with people who need Jesus.
God’s love inside us will break out hearts for the lost when we are around them. But we can keep our hard hearts by isolating ourselves from our community.
What needs does our community have? Do students need tutoring? Do people need food? Do people need financial planning help? Do people need counseling? Do people’s houses need fixing?
When we serve others, God’s love flows through us to them. It makes it really hard to have a hard heart.
When the pastor takes time to intentionally train his people in evangelism and regularly models evangelism for them, most of these concerns fade away. The approach set out in Coleman’s Master Plan of Evangelism works well for this purpose.
Unfortunately, I think many pastors have become slactivists. We weep and wail, bemoaning the sorry state of evangelism in the local church, but *do* little to change things.
The old, “it’s the pastor’s fault.” play. Sorry, Steven, that’s a cop out.
The pastor has a role in equipping. No doubt about it. Ephesians 4 spells it out clearly “train God’s people for works of service.” However, the Great Commission is made to every Christ follower, from pastor to pew potato.
If I had a dime for everytime I heard someone blame the pastor rather than taking responsibility … well, I wouldn’t need Guidestone! 🙂
Kevin, I am the pastor and this is no cop out.
I absolutely agree that the Great Commission applies to all believers. Unfortunately pastors (generally) do no better in evangelism than the average church attender. Next time you participate in an ordination council ask the candidate when they last led someone to Christ, outside of the church … watch how they squirm.
Of course, exceptions exist, but I stand by my claim. A pastor who takes time every week to intentionally train men in (and model) evangelism will see his church grow. This means the pastor must actually go find lost people and share the gospel while the person he trains watches.
Kevin raises a fair point: it’s not always the pastor’s fault. If you’ve been fortunate enough for people to follow your example in evangelism, that’s great, but not all pastors are so fortunate.
>However, the Great Commission is made to every Christ follower, from pastor to pew potato.
The pastor is the example.
How do the people learn to evangelize, is the pastor neither teaches nor models it?
How do the people learn to evangelize, when the pastor has not converted anybody in the last decade:
* Converted, as in, led somebody who was _not_ raised in a Christian environment, to Christ;
* Not converted somebody from Lutheran to Methodist, or from Episcopalian to Presbyterian;
* Not converted somebody who was raised in a Christian household, who embraced Islam, back to Christianity. However, even that is more significant, and important, than converting an individual from Salvationist to Baptist;
* Not converted a cold, or luke-warm Christian, to being an on-fire Christian;
It seems you’re putting an awful lot of expectations on your pastor. Has it ever occurred to you to examine your own heart?
>It seems you’re putting an awful lot of expectations on your pastor.
The issue is “How do the people learn to evangelize, if the pastor neither teaches nor models it?”
{ [I had a typo in my original statement: “is the pastor” should have been “if the pastor”. }
If the congregation, as a whole, is to engage in outreach/evangelism, then they need to know how to do so. What the pastor does, has a tremendous influence on the congregation.
In contemporary times, the low hanging fruit is converting Richard Dawkins, or any of the Four Horsemen of Militant Atheism, to Christianity. If the preacher is unwilling to do that, then the congregation won’t do it. If the preacher is willing to harvest that, then the congregation will do so.
If that is “putting an awful lot of expectation” on the pastor, then so be it.
If the preacher is unwilling to set the example, then the congregation won’t have converts, but merely people that are transfering from elsewhere — which is what the bulk of new church members are, and have been for the last two or three decades.
At this point, somebody will no doubt jump up, and point out that the entire book of Acts is about outreach. And it is. There is a difference between reading about a subject, and doing it. An individual can struggle alone, learning how to apply what is found in Acts, and the Pauline Epistles, in doing outreach. Or they can skip the stage where everything they do is wrong, by having somebody show them how to do things correctly.
As Dr Kennedy wrote in the preface of _Evangelism Explosion_, paraphrasing, “I had a degree in Divinity, but did not know how to lead people to Christ. If it wasn’t for this old preacher, taking me with him, on his visits, I would not have learned how to lead people to Christ.”
If the congregation has both an evangelist and a preacher, then the evangelist can be model, rather than the preacher. Either way, it still requires somebody for the congregation to use as an example to follow.
Thanks for the post, Dr Rainer. I know the comment thread is long, so I’m a bit late to the party, but I hope to have some interaction from the couple of thoughts I have.
First, I wonder if the increase of Calvinism among Southern Baptists should be considered alongside the decrease of evangelistic effort?
Second, I think it is worth exploring what “being evangelistic” looks like. If it is to be understood in harvest crusades and revival meetings of the 19th and 20th centuries, I fear we might have a distorted understanding of what effective evangelism looks like.
Charles Finney began using what we understand as the “altar call” or the “invitation” as a tool by which to proclaim the gospel and compel hearers to repentance and conversion. While few if any of us today use Finney’s “anxious bench,” the altar call remains a standard procedure and a recognized part of a pastor’s evangelistic tool kit in many churches today. The invitation, understood and practiced this way, is central to later tent revivals and evangelistic crusades.
Large net crusades and revival meetings were an effective way at the time to get the gospel message to the masses. Charles Fuller eventually used the technology of radio to increase the reach. Today, the internet, satellite communication, and other technology continues to make the gospel available to more of the world than ever before. However, the appeal to a decision of repentance and confession remain.
My questions are are these: These methods make converts and produce baptism numbers, but do they make disciples? I ask because I think the missing elements here are a recognition of the variation of conversion experience, and the consistency of personal relationship (community) in NT evangelism.
While Jesus is the only way by which salvation comes, does everyone’s conversion happen in the same manner? Paul was converted in a blinding light and in a powerful instant. However, with Jesus’ original disciples, we see more of a gradual unfolding with the actual point of conversion being hard to nail down. Were they converted at the point of following, at Peter’s confession, after the resurrection, at Pentecost? Did each disciple convert at the same time? What about Thomas? It seems our standard evangelism metric accounts for the Pauline experience, but not so much for that of the others.
In addition, we find conversion in the NT linked to relationships with people. As Tim Keller once said, “You find Jesus by being found by people who have found Jesus.” Such relationships involve patience, conversations, questions, steps forward and steps back. Again, something hard to measure.
While many in the church today and even in this comment thread lament the decrease on revival meetings and crusades, I would respond by pointing out that such a decrease puts the responsibility of the Great Commission back where it belongs; not on the paid pastor, guest evangelist, traveling teacher, or impersonal and indirect communicator, but on each person called, saved, and commissioned to “Go” – Matthew 28:19.
Given that “evangelism” is a multi-faceted process involving proclamation as well as personal conversation, the point of conversion as well as the process of conversion, perhaps we need a conversation on how to better define what we mean by being evangelistic in today’s culture.
What do you think?
In 1961 J. I. Packer wrote a slim volume titled Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. The main point in his book was that while God is sovereign in matters of salvation, we are not excused from proclaiming the Gospel to all people groups. God works through those who formally preach his Word and those who informally share their faith with others. They are his instruments. Packer is a theologian in the Anglican Reformed tradition.
The knowledge that he was God’s instrument in the salvation of others greatly humbled George Whitefield who preached the Gospel to the very day he died. Whitefield was a Calvinist. While explicitly affirming God’s sole agency in salvation, Whitefield freely offered the Gospel, offering an invitation to accept Christ at the end of every sermon.
A number of the leaders of the eighteenth Century Evangelical revival were Calvinists. Charles Simeon who was a contemporary of the Arminian brothers John and Charles Wesley devoted a life time to recruiting, mentoring, and sending out young men as missionaries. Simeon was a Calvinist.
To suggest that the growth of Reformed theology in the Southern Baptist Convention is behind the decline of evangelism in that denomination not only shows a lack of familiarity with evangelical Calvinism and Reformed Baptists but points to a willingness to scapegoat a part of the denomination for a problem that is denomination-wide.
If you taken the time study the history of the Baptist movement in English in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, you should be aware that Reformed theology has been a theological strand in early Baptist congregations as well as Arminianism. Reformed Baptist were known as Particular Baptists; Arminian Baptists, as General Baptists. Southern Baptists have their roots in the English Baptist movement, not continental Anabaptism.
Reformed Baptists have as much a place in the Southern Baptist Convention as Arminian Baptists. Trying to blame them for the problems of the denomination is unhelpful.
A lot of factors explain why Baptist churches are not evangelistic as they were fifty years ago. Reformed Baptists are concerned about this development as much as Arminian Baptists. If God has chosen the local church to be an instrument of his salvation, why are the local church disobeying God?
What we are seeing is the spread of a spiritual disease affecting the heart. The will follows the heart and thoughts and actions follow the will. It is not a spiritual disease arising from Baptists’ theological differences. It is a disease that is related to the condition of the heart.
The Southern Baptist Convention is historically Calvinistic. James P. Boyce, the founding president of Southern Seminary, was a staunch Calvinist. So were Charles Haddon Spurgeon and William Carey. Some people to Calvinism to unscriptural extremes, but people do the same with Arminianism. Some of the greatest soul-winners I’ve ever known have been Calvinists. I’m not a full-fledged Calvinist myself, but it’s unfair to blame them for the decline in evangelism. That’s just a convenient scapegoat.