Church Leaders, Let’s Talk About and Do More Intentional Evangelism

I sat in an empty conference room going through church files. One box contained hundreds of leads from a long-gone Tuesday night outreach program. I called in a couple of deacons.

“What should we do with these?” It may be the dumbest ministry question I’ve ever asked.

“I don’t know. We haven’t done this program in years.”

Rather than creating a plan to follow up with some of them, the files went back in the box. The box went back on the storage shelf. God transitioned me from that church many years ago. I wonder if the box is still on the shelf.

One of the biggest problems in churches is a lack of evangelism. I understand we use different words for the action of sharing the gospel. If someone is consistently proclaiming the good news but does not use the word evangelism, then I don’t want to get in the way with an argument about the particulars of the Greek term, euangelion. However, I can’t help but notice the decline of intentional evangelism in churches. We pastors say “evangelism” less, and at the same time our churches are doing less evangelistic work.

The vast majority of churches are not effective evangelistically. This truth is hard because of what God desires of His church. The church is not a destination for crowds but rather a vehicle to take gospel-sharing people to the ends of the earth. Evangelism is falling off the radar for many churches.

The solution is simple: Church leaders must show the way by being more intentional about evangelism and talking about these efforts. We need to say and do intentional evangelism. Read More