Sometimes Churches are accused of being “too evangelistic.”
I’m not sure how you can possibly over-do telling others about Jesus Christ and what His death and resurrection can mean for them if they will trust in Him. Such a decision ranks number one in importance against all other decisions we make in life.
ALL other decisions.
- More important than who you will marry
- More important than what kind of car you drive
- Whether or not you live in a great big house
- Have the right job
- Live in the right neighborhood
- Go to the best college
- Wear the most expensive clothes…
ANYTHING!
Yet some “Christians” complain about “too much gospel.”
To be fair, the complaint is usually lodged by well meaning people at churches who seem to do little else but give the same basic gospel message week after week after week—almost like each Sunday is meant to be a Billy Graham Crusade. But sometimes the complaint is just lodged because…
well…
It’s the party line and seems like the thing “mature” “deep thinking” Christians ought to be saying. There are other party lines as well, like,
- We need to go deeper.
- Modern music is so shallow and repetitive (never-mind that much of it is scripture).
- We should be teaching expository messages.
- We can only use the King James version.
There are plenty more, but this isn’t really about that. The truth is, every church should be giving the gospel and reaching out with the love of Christ to those who are far from God.
EVERY church.
Or they are disobeying God.
Now this doesn’t clear the Bride of Christ (another name for the church) from discipling the believer. That’s also one of Christ’s purposes for the church. But it’s pretty tough to disciple an unbeliever. So, if you want to have anyone too disciple in the first place, you need to be growing primarily by new conversion. A healthy church is like a vibrant eco system with about a third unbelievers (sometimes called seekers), a third new believers, and a third mature believers (BTW, these “mature” believers are never the ones complaining about “too much evangelism.” Those are “immature” believers—some of whom may have been ‘saved’ for 30 years but never really grown up. We need approximately zero percent of these.). That’s a healthy church and a healthy church is a growing church—in every way.
This weekend we prepared for yet another big harvest at Southbrook Church as we called people forward to plant a seed and let that seed represent someone they will bring to Southbrook Church on October 28th to hear a relevant, straight forward presentation of the gospel.
Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds took the challenge. And these seed planters are fully expecting God to cause these seeds to take root in the hearts of hundreds of folks who are presently far from God.
After the service they all took these cups home to pray for the people whose names they wrote on the cups and for whom they planted seeds. Each day as they water and care for the plants—as they watch this delicate little seed grow and blossom they are to be reminded of how God saves us and grows us up into the image of His Son.
And most of all they are to invite these people they are praying for and make sure they get them to Southbrook Church on the 26th. The rest is up to God!
It was a sight to behold!
I’m glad we have a healthy eco system at Southbrook Church.
And I’m thrilled to be the pastor!
See more from the weekend:
