Introduction

Our discussion over the past several weeks has been over paradigm shifts for churches.  We have been discussing how churches can navigate the difficult years ahead and experience fruitful ministry.  For an introduction to the discussion, you can go here.  We have evaluated five paradigm shifts that need to take place in churches; today we address a sixth.  This is a shift from the church service to the church people as the means for evangelism.

Churches need to begin to shift from viewing the church service as the chief or main means for evangelism.  Churches today have not been helped by revivalism.  Part of the impact of revivalism in churches today is that far too many church members view evangelism as “bringing your friends to church.”  This was a key part of revivalism—bring your friends to church, they will get preached at, and in many cases coerced into making an emotional decision to walk an aisle and make a “decision” for Christ.  I am not here to evaluate revivalism in this article, but I would note the impact it has had on how many churches view evangelism.

I am not saying that you cannot or should not invite your unsaved friends to church.  But bringing unbelievers to church to hear about Jesus assumes that it is the job of the preacher to evangelize the friends of church members.  I would argue that this is not his job, it is the job of each church member.  Certainly, unbelievers ought to hear about Jesus if they come to church.  If worshipers are worshiping, then the room ought to be full of a focus on Jesus Christ!  Furthermore, wisdom understands that not everyone who claims the name of Christ and joins with a church is a true believer.  But the church service is first and foremost for the declaring of God’s Word to God’s people.  As such, church services can often be confusing and difficult to understand for unbelievers and non-church people.  I think this phenomenon has caused so much confusion that many have “walked the aisle” during a church service without really having a genuine understanding of the Gospel and have prayed a prayer that they never really understood.  This type of “decisionism” has given many a false hope which is often based on the decision that was made or the confirmation of a spiritual leader and not the truths of Scripture.  The last thing we want to do is give unbelievers false hope!

What is the alternative then?  The alternative is to see evangelism as something done not by a church service, but by the church people.  Rather than bringing your friends to church to hear about Jesus, could you tell them?  Why not give them the Gospel yourself?  Church members need to strategically build relationships with unbelievers and build bridges into their lives to bring them the Gospel.  This is especially important in our culture today.  More and more we meet people who have never been to church or never even opened a Bible.  To expect those people to come to church one time, hear the Gospel, and then turn to Christ is a high expectation!  Please be clear: I am not saying that this does not or cannot happen.  Simply that more time is often needed for unbelievers to truly understand and embrace the Gospel.  What they often need is someone to work with them personally and give them the Biblical background they need so that they can understand the message of the Gospel.  This happens best apart from the Sunday morning worship service.  We call this pre-evangelism.  Pre-evangelism is the attempt to give someone the framework they need to understand the Biblical narrative and believe the message of the Gospel.  Pre-evangelism is often overlooked in churches today and is substituted (unfortunately) for the traditional model—invite your friends to church.

Pre-evangelism is necessary today for two main reasons.  First of all, our post-Christian culture.  More and more we encounter individuals who have never set foot in a church building, have never cracked open the Bible, and know nothing more about Jesus than that He was a good moral teacher.  To expect these individuals to come to church, hear the Bible, and totally change their entire worldview in a one Sunday service is a high expectation!  A better model is to have an informal and personal setting where these individuals can interact with the text of Scripture, ask questions, and have their questions answered.  I think churches need to understand that in many cases, those with less experience in church and with the Bible are far more likely to attend a Bible study or to sit over coffee to learn more about the Bible than they are to come to church on a Sunday morning.

A second, and more alarming reason that pre-evangelism is necessary relates to Hollywood, media, and our digital world.  I have read a recent study that suggested that Americans on average watch 3.1 hours of television per day.  The problem with entertainment in our culture today is not that it is inherently evil, but that people today, Americans especially, have been shaped by this medium.  Movies and television are their own unique form of communication, and as such, are very different from the Gospel message as revealed in the pages of Scripture.  The concern here is this: many people in our world today are so shaped by movies, television, and visual media that they are unable to follow linear, rational arguments.  But Biblical Christianity is based on these things!  Some people today may not be able to grasp the logic of “I am a sinner, I deserve death, God sent Jesus to take my punishment, therefore I need to repent and believe in Him for salvation.”  So many people today live in a world where they have no extended discourse that to expect them to be able to all of a sudden follow the logic in the Bible is an unreasonable expectation.  In many cases, they need to be taught to do so.  Much like missionaries in tribal situations need to start in Genesis and give a “creation to consummation” type of Bible teaching, so churches need to take the time to teach unbelievers the framework of the Scriptures and how to follow the reasoning in order for a soul to accept the message of the Gospel.  This does not happen in a church service.  Sermons are mostly logical discourses, and as such can be very confusing for individuals who did not grow up in church.  A shift needs to happen in ministries that desire to reach unchurched people—they need to set aside the “invite your friends to church” model and begin to embrace a model that teaches and expects church members to do the work of evangelism themselves.  This is not to say that one cannot invite friends to church or have a “friend day” once a year, but a more effective model is to train the people of the church to work individually with their unbelieving friends to answer their objections to the Bible and personally guide them to faith in Jesus.  This is discipleship at the grassroots level, and as we discussed last week, this is how church members can take ownership and responsibility for the ministry.[1]

Final Thoughts

Churches that are poised to grow in the next years will understand the need for evangelism outside the church.  This does not mean they do not invite their unsaved friends to church, but that they recognize that attending a Sunday worship service is not always enough, especially for someone with no church background.  Churches that recognize this reality in their culture today will make great strides in reaching unbelievers and non-church people and adding them to the church.  They will shift from viewing the church service as the means for evangelism and instead view it as the means for equipping church members to bring the Gospel of Christ to their own friends and neighbors on the outside so that they can become on the inside!

Questions to ask of your church:

1) Whose responsibility is evangelism?  Do we see it as the pastor’s job to evangelize our friends through the Sunday services, or our responsibility to personally engage them?

2) Do people in your church know how to evangelize?  How is the church actively trying to teach its members to be better witnesses in the community?

3) Do you take the time to work with people to help them gain the understanding they need to believe in Jesus or do you merely give them the facts and demand a response?

4) Who does your church rely on to save souls?  Do you focus on arguing them into the kingdom and an emotional plea, or do you patiently rely on the power of the Spirit no matter how long that takes?

[1] It should be noted that the concept for this paragraph is not original to me.  I was greatly helped in my understanding by a lecture on apologetics I listened to as part of a certification program in apologetics through BIOLA University.  The lecture was given by Dr. John Mark Reynolds and entitled “Christianity and the Problem of Popular Culture.”