If you read this blog regularly, you know I’ve never seen a strongly evangelistic church without a pastor who leads them in that direction. With that finding in mind, here are some “evangelistic questions” pastors ought to be asking of themselves:
- “Do I genuinely grieve the spiritual condition of non-believers?” In my opinion, the only way to answer this question honestly is by looking at our evangelistic efforts.
- “Am I so amazed at Jesus that I can’t help but speak about Him?” Too often, our heights of fascination over Jesus are past-tense – much closer to our conversion than to today.
- “If my church members duplicated my evangelistic efforts, would I be pleased with that?” I fear too many not-very-evangelistic pastors would be forced to say, “No – do as I say, not as I do (or don’t do).”
- “How much time do I intentionally spend with non-believers?” It’s tough to be evangelistic when you don’t know many non-believers in the first place.
- “What are the names of the non-believers for whom I’m praying?” A generic, “I’m praying for all lost people in my community” doesn’t typically reflect a real burden.
- “Who’s that person with whom I need to share Jesus, but I haven’t done it yet?” Most of us can quickly determine who that person is.
- “If my church doubles in size, but almost entirely by transfer growth, would I be pleased?” I think it might be easier to answer “no” to that question than it is to genuinely feel that way.
- “When’s the last time I shared the gospel outside my church office?” Intentional evangelism doesn’t wait for people to come to our office; it goes to them.
- “Who am I equipping to do evangelism?” The best evangelistic pastors are not only telling the story themselves, but they’re also training others to do the same – and they can usually name their trainees.
Even if you’re not a pastor, how would you answer these questions?
When Jesus called Simon-Peter and Andrew, they were casting a net into the sea. When he told them, “Come, follow Me, Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.,” he was not talking about fly fishing or fishing with a hook, line, and sinker. When we depict, those engaged in evangelism as solitary fishermen with rod and reel, I think that we get the image wrong. The more accurate image is a third world fisherman standing waist deep in the surf or balanced in his frail boat casting his net into the water. We must venture into the water or onto it. We must take risks. We cannot drowse on the riverbank, a cane pole stuck in the soft ground in front of us.
This coming Wednesday I am planning to go on a prayer walk in the town of Benton, Kentucky. I’ll be praying for the members of my own tiny church as well as the unchurched and unreached people of the community. Please cover me with your prayers.
You got it, Robin. We’ll be praying.
I’m a church member with a heart for list souls. I need to find out what God wants me to do and then do it. I need a direction. Where to start? My pasor is into evangelism but I’m not sure what he does since I am new there. I’m not a member yet but I may join. I just don’t know what he does or how he would answer these 9 questions. Please advise. joneslauri282@gmail.com
Thank you.
I encourage you to have a conversation with him. He might surprise you with his knowledge of the area.