Issues that Hinder Evangelism

Evangelists, we need you, your gift, and your ministry. Please don't fail us. Revive us again. Revive us again!

Issues that Hinder Evangelism

Mass Evangelism

In earlier days of our Movement, preachers started churches with evangelistic preaching crusades. This Movement was begun and carried by preachers. The primacy of this ministry has only been called into question as churches have grown and specialized ministries have developed. This is a major challenge for evangelists because they are called to preach.

Our appreciation of the gift of the evangelist is being diluted by our appreciation for other good things. But we should never forget that God called evangelists to preach: "How beautiful...are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings" (Isaiah 52:7). Other ministries are important, but God has ordained preaching as the primary plan for proclaiming the gospel.

Part of the influence of the primarily pastoral orientation is that the emphasis has changed from evangelism and revivalism to church life. This is normal when a movement goes from no churches to 12,000. Church life is very important; but if you have it without evangelism, you follow traditional denominational history and lose a primary commitment to evangelism and missions.

The cutting edge of ministry is preaching to the pagan. The cutting edge of evangelism is winning the lost. If a movement loses that and picks up the secondary concern of training and discipling, then it begins to slide toward denominational stagnation. We build Bible schools and produce students who will teach in the schools and pastor the churches, but evangelism will begin to fall away. If evangelism is not a burning foundational commitment that runs through the ranks, then everything else will grow stale.

Are some pastors satisfied to build their own churches by emptying others, largely ignoring the unsaved? It is normal that we would have a growing emphasis on the church, but it produces challenges and potential problems for the issues of evangelism and church planting. Tent crusades and other strategic evangelistic outreaches have fallen off dramatically. They happen almost incidentally or occasionally. Evangelistic campaigns must be strategic, committed to do whatever it takes to reach the pagan and to touch their lives with the gospel. This must be at the very heart of the church.

Church marketing has largely replaced personal and campaign evangelism. Ads in the paper, radio programs, or other marketing strategies have replaced grassroots evangelism. There is a place to tell about our church, its location, and its ministries; but if that replaces evangelism, we will reach only a limited audience. We would be much better off to simply win the pagan, train them up in Jesus, walk them through Sunday school, get them baptized, and make good Christians of them, instead of transferring disgruntled pew-sitters.

Things are changing. Our churches and Bible schools are full of people who came into the church only recently, 10 to 15 years ago or less. They came out of other churches or have been recently converted, and they don't care about our history. What they need and want is something for today—something to which they can be committed.

Pastors and churches have fewer general spiritual revival emphases. They have been replaced with special interest ministries. General spirituality has been replaced by the mall mentality and its niche-marketing philosophy. There is a proper time to address the issues of life—drugs, divorce, teen violence—but ultimately, those things pale in light of the more important issues of being a Christian, called to be a person of God. Somehow our evangelists need to be tapped for a portion of this ministry that only they can produce.

God exists to call us unto himself. He calls us to His program. We need to have a transcendent vision of a God in heaven meeting people on the earth. Our cry should be: "God, have Your way."
Evangelists have a PR problem. The word televangelism is a negative term. It pictures in people's minds a certain image. That's an awful thing to labor under. I call evangelists to change this image.

The evangelist ought to be held in high regard as a prophet of God who is winning souls. Within our Movement, we need to view evangelists as street-level soul winners or prophets.

I emphasize 2 Peter 2:2 that says many will follow the sensuality of false prophets. Sensuality is that which appeals to the senses. False prophets appeal to the sensual dimension, and many follow that sensuality—things that can be seen, the spectacle that can be observed.

If God has called you to preach, don't get caught up in this sensational stuff. God will create a spectacle if He wants to. It might surprise you too. God honors the faith of sincere seekers. Evangelists must make a renewed commitment to the Word as the primary plan of God to reach the world.

Challenge to the Evangelist

Identify your gift.
If you are called to preach to the pagans, then come to grips with your identity. If your are called to stir revival in the church, then understand it, accept it, and get with it. If you're an itinerant teacher, cultivate your gift.

Cultivate your gift.
Read. Study. Attend conferences. Support your gifts with prayer, fasting, and seeking God. Play less and pray more.

Prepare as if you were preaching to 10,000.
Prepare your next message that way. If you took the meeting with 25 or 125 as seriously as you would a Friday–night sermon at General Council, your ministry would escalate in its effectiveness.

Get organized.
Keep a schedule. Otherwise, your days will just ooze away. Ministry is a battleground, not a playground. Pick a goal; work incessantly toward it; do whatever it takes to succeed. If an evangelist structures one or more detailed plans for reaching the lost or reviving the believers, then he or she can come to a pastor with a plan. When the evangelist has a plan, he or she can say to a pastor: "What do you want to get done? I am here to help you."

Become the kind of person this Movement cannot survive without.
Don't just admire the great evangelists; study and imitate them. Call people to imitate your model of spirituality. Be exemplary, the embodiment of spiritual reality, and deal out your life to the people.

Conclusion
Your role as an evangelist gives you an agenda. You are on a mission to win the lost at any cost and revive churches at any sacrifice. Fads may come and go, but real ministry is always the same. While some of our strategies may need to change, people have always been and always will be saved through the foolishness of preaching. So preach the Word.

Would somebody please be a preacher of the Word and preach the Word of God to a church that needs revival? God ordained this evangelistic gift. It was His idea. It will function. He will empower it.

Evangelists, we need you, your gift, and your ministry. Please don't fail us. Revive us again. Revive us again!Source : enrichmentjournal.ag.org

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