Thoughts on Evangelism
"Saint Preaching" - Jorge Ingles, 1475-1500
We attended church services in Cincinnati last Sunday before returning home to Bozeman. It was our second time at this church-we visited a year ago during our last trip to Cincy. Not much had changed since a year ago, which is not necessarily a good thing for a church.
Perhaps it is because this church is in trouble that the minister chose to focus his message on evangelism. Specifically, he focused on the importance of each parishioner inviting their friends to attend church with them. He even went so far as to suggest that it was a sin if you didn't invite unbelievers to church.
This bugged me - not because I feel guilty for not inviting my friends to church (which I typically do not), but because I'm not so sure inviting someone to church necessarily equates to evangelism.
It all comes back to the question: who is church for? In recent years, the rise of the "seeker-friendly" church with its praise bands and topical sermons has offered the viewpoint that church should be for the unbeliever - afterall, didn't Jesus say the sick are those who need the physician? There's certainly something to this, and minds much greater than mine seem to have settled comfortably on this position. The impact has been far-reaching, with churches that in no way resemble the Willow Creeks or Saddlebacks of the world emulating their tactics in an ill-conceived attempt to achieve growth/success.
It all seems pretty straightforward - if evangelism implies bringing folks to Christ, then one would expect successful evangelism to result in more people doing the things Christians do - such as going to church on Sunday mornings. So it follows that evangelism done poorly - or not at all - must be one reason for the church that languishes. I cannot argue with this.
But I can argue that it does not necessarily follow that increasing the number of folks in church on Sunday morning equates to evangelism. In the case of evangelism, I believe church attendance is a symptom, not a cause.
Why do we go to church? To worship. To learn more about our faith. To fellowship with other believers. How many folks who are not believers have any interest in these things? Why should they?
I'm not suggesting that the non-believer cannot find Christ in a church on Sunday morning. I'm just saying that if that unbeliever happens to be in church on a Sunday morning, it's because God is already working on them. You see, evangelism happens long before the unbeliever's first church visit. It happens as believers move about in their daily lives, ready to give an answer for the hope within them - and it may have precious little to do with an organized church service.
When do people seek out God? Is it when things are going great? When life is one big party? Not in my experience. It's when things aren't going so well - when the invincibility of self-reliance wears thin - that we seek someone or something greater than ourselves. If I can provide a word of encouragement, of friendship, during these times, isn't that evangelizing? Until someone is seeking God's face, an invite to church is nonsensical, isn't it? Why would they go a second time, even if they agreed to visit once? And I don't think the answer is to sanitize the service so that it's less curious or offensive to the uninitiated, to make it "friendlier."
No, I think church is intended for the believer. Evangelism is something that happens outside the walls of the church. Am I wrong here? I'd love to hear your comments.


