Share the Faith, Share Your Faith,
Share Jesus
October 2006 by Pastor Nabors |
Recently I met with some PCA pastors and elders and we spoke about our presbytery and our denomination. We discussed churches that were growing, reaching the Hispanic population, and the statistics of growth in our own denomination. Each year our PCA congregations are supposed to report their statistics concerning membership, baptisms, how money was spent, etc. This gave rise to some thoughts about evangelism.
When you subtract all the people who died in the PCA last year, or who left for other reasons, from the amount of folks who became Christians, we grew by about 75 people.
Now remember, a lot of the World War II generation is reaching the end of their life span. Many of their generation became Christians, and church members. They are going to heaven in large numbers these days. It takes a lot of new believers to replace the folks who are no longer with us. This does not mean we did not take in new members, but we count people differently when they join the church. Some folks come by transfer of letter from another congregation, some come by "reaffirmation of faith," and some come by "profession of faith." This latter group is made up of those who are new Christians and those whom we baptize.
Something else you should know about the PCA, and about many Christian churches in general, is that most congregations did not see one person become a Christian in the last year (or at least that they reported or took in as a member). There are churches involved in evangelism which see people come to faith, but they don't bring them into the church. Most of the large churches that are taking in many members are growing by "transfer growth." This means that a new church, or a new pastor, or a new building, has become attractive and folks leave where they were attending and join another church. Some of these folks have moved several times within the same city.
There are congregations which are now stressing no formal membership, and there are many believers who have decided to purposefully not be a church member of any congregation. The churches which see the most "professions of faith" that lead to membership are new church plants, and (catch this) churches that still have their founding pastor. It seems to me that the idea of mission, and pursuing the original vision of a congregation, is one of the things that gives it drive to pursue new people all the way to membership.
At New City we have programs and ministries that continually seek to bring the Gospel to people and to call them to follow Christ. We do a lot of this in our summer programs, but our members also continually witness to their fellow workers, students, relatives, neighbors, and friends. Not all of us, and certainly not all of the time, but enough that every year we do see people praying to receive Christ, and every year we see people joining our church by "profession of faith." But we do not see enough people becoming Christians, and we do not see enough new Christians getting baptized or joining the church. I am thankful for each one, yet I am desperate for one more, and one more, and one more.
Let me share with you what I think are some basic principles about evangelism and church membership.
Without people coming to personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of their sins, and becoming followers of Christ so that their sins are forgiven, they are lost. Not only are they lost but they will not go to heaven, and in fact, are in danger of eternal damnation.
How can they become believers unless someone tells them about Jesus? This does not happen by intuition or osmosis. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The Gospel must be compellingly communicated and backed up by a creditable life of the communicator and the Christian community.
People need Jesus, and they need someone to tell them about Jesus. After being told, people need to be called and challenged to believe in Christ and to follow Him. We usually see this happen by people praying and confessing their sins to God and asking Jesus to save them. Evangelists call it "closing the net." CAUTION: We are not talking about pretence here, or of ritual or any human activity that assumes salvation due to some physical or emotional act. We are speaking of a sincere faith that God works in people's hearts so they actually do come to Christ.
Jesus taught us that people need to make this public commitment to Him by being baptized and by being taught. The New Testament reveals to us that God created the Church, particularized in local churches, to which believers should belong and to which they should be accountable. It is in this place that discipleship takes place, by forcing us to live in a multi-generational setting and under authority. It is in this place that we teach the next generation to fear the Lord. Jesus said, "he who does not gather with me, scatters."
Here are some generalizations: Most Christians do not share their faith in a compelling manner, if at all. Many Christians have shared their faith at one time or another, usually in a group or as a group, usually when they were younger. Many Christians feel a certain measure of guilt that they do not share their faith more often. Some Christians are so defensive about evangelism that the closer they get to it the more they criticize those who do it, and no method or program is ever good enough. There are many Christians who pray for the salvation of their children, their relatives, and people they come to know. Many Christians seek to have someone else share the faith with someone they care about, usually at an event of some kind. Many Christians feel it is too artificial to share their faith with strangers. Many believers feel that since they do not have a "dramatic" testimony they have nothing they can say to non-Christians that would excite them about the faith. Some Christians simply hate the embarrassment and the feelings of rejection they will experience if someone refuses to listen, or worse, mocks them for trying.
Here is another principle: The Devil is a con artist and any excuse will do to keep you from opening your mouth, sharing your faith, sharing Jesus, and calling on others to follow Him.
Every Christian ought to know how to tell someone else how to become a follower of Christ. If you don't know how, learn. If you don't know how to learn, ask any older Christian to teach you. If he or she doesn't know how, then I want to see both of you in my office. Call for an appointment.
-Pastor Randy Nabors
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