The purpose of this blog is to stimulate thinking and exchange ideas. The theme is church planting evangelism. What’s that?
Simply, it’s evangelism in the context of church planting that leads to
disciples in spiritual families.
My
observation has been that the 5 most common mistakes in church planting
evangelism are:
1. Church planting suffers when evangelism is only the first stage of the church plant.
Often evangelism is the focus initially in church
planting because there is no church and no other way to grow the church but
from then on it goes downhill as we get caught up caring for new
believers. Evangelism is not a stage but
the lifeblood of the church (Col. 4:4-6).
When church growth is lagging behind the first question to ask is, “How
are we doing in our evangelism.”
2. Church planting suffers when there is only one
evangelistic approach.
We
see a diversity of means and methods used by the early church. The Scripture talks about making use of every
opportunity (Col
3. Church planting suffers when
we rely on the trained and the gifted.
The
trained and gifted should be equipping every believer for witness. Kenneth Strachan of the Latin America Mission
tested this theorem in Evangelism-in-Depth programs in many countries in the
1960s and 1970s: Movements grow in
proportion to the ability of the church to mobilize all members in the
propagation of its beliefs. (Strachan 1968)
We need to teach and train every Christian to be a witness.
4. Church planting suffers when we major on plans and programs.
“People
don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Most studies show that the greatest influence
in people coming to Christ is the life of a friend or family member. If we equip Christians to share their
testimony and point people to Christ in the Scriptures, the evangelistic
potential of the church is greatly multiplied.
If we stress programs some people feel excluded and we spend a lot of
time in strategy sessions. Programs make
great supplements but poor substitutes to personal evangelism.
5. Church
planting suffers when the basics are neglected.
Prayer
and the Scriptures are the Biblical basics when it comes to evangelism. Kendall and
Grady (1992) list prayer ministry as the number one factor for effective church
planting. Surely this is because church
planting is spiritual ministry and spiritual battle and our human efforts are
useless without them. Learning to
listen to God, intercede for others and use Scripture to point to the Savior
are the fundamentals. in church planting evangelism. Many new ideas can be attempted. The question
is: “How do they incorporate these fundamentals?”
“Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks up at the clouds will not reap… Sow your seed in the morning, and at the evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” Eccl. 1: 4,6
May the Lord keep us sowing until He returns.
Reference: Kendall and Grady, Evangelical Missions Quarterly Seven keys to effective church planting. October 1992:366-373
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