32 Sermon Illustrations on Great Commission

Sermon in Minor Prophets series. Jonah and foreign missions.

1. Historicity of Jonah.

2. Jonah shows God's concern for whole world.

a. Jonah was narrow and selfish.

b. God had to break him.

3. Application to Christian foreign missions.

a. We must go.

b. We must care.

4. We cannot run away from God.

a. We must obey him.

b. We must know his true character.

5. God stills delivers people today.

#1420

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Sermon on need for foreign missions. Matthew 28:18-20

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MISSION FAILURE

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I. Disappointment of a missionary family.

II. Mission important to Jesus.

A. Parable about missions. Luke 12:16-24

B. Great commission. Matt 28:19-20

III. Mission is always resisted.

A. Arguments against mission.

B. Resistance for Adoniram Judson.

C. Great fruit of the mission movement.

IV. Resistance in Ledgewood.

A. Hard for us to focus on anything beyond our church.

B. We need a challenge.

C. Do we really believe in the value of the gospel?

V. Our challenge.

A. Support missionaries: pray, write, give.

B. Be a missionary: go.

#3447

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One of the more heroic stories to come out of the Korean War

involved a young sergeant by the name of Gardolibov. He had

been engaged in the severe fighting on Heartbreak Hill. When

the shooting had subsided, a rescue team was dispatched to the

area to aid the wounded. The sergeant was found dying, but they

discovered something very unusual. Although his hands were

paralyzed, he had clenched between his teeth the two ends of a

communication wire that had broken. In that moment when one

would expect his every thought and concern to be directed toward

his own needs, he was still doing what he could to keep the

messages going through. He was faithful unto death! Many

so-called "soldiers of the cross" are put to shame by his noble

example. Sad to say, when the going gets rough, the demands too

great, the sacrifice too costly, or the shame of the cross too

much to bear, they desert their post and flee back of the lines

where it's more comfortable and secure. Some even go AWOL.

When I was working in India, I went to a place near Poona. On

Saturday night, when I entered the hotel dining room, I found

seated at the same table with me a naval officer, an infantry

major and his wife, and a sergeant major and his wife. When the

conversation started, the naval officer said: "Why don't these

missionaries stay at home, and mind their own business? You can

get all the converts you want at a rupee a head." I replied,

"Suppose you were ordered to take your battleship to

Constantinople tomorrow, and I was to ask you why you didn't

stay here and mind your own business; that there was no sense in

going to Constantinople." The man's eyes flashed fire as he

said, "I would tell you to mind your own business. If we are

ordered to go, we must go, even if every ship is sunk, and every

sailor killed." I said to him, "Quite right, my friend; and I

have marching orders from the Divine Government to go and preach

the Gospel to every creature, and the primary question is

whether I am going to obey the last command of my Lord."--Dr.

Robert P. Wilder

There is no greater interference with a Christian's ability to serve God than the need to earn, in order to pay and buy.

In America today, we live an average of 18 years longer than we did 100 years ago and have at least one-third more disposable income per family. An observer from 100 years ago would be amazed by the improvement in living standards and the amount of leisure time technology now provides us.

According to Barna Research, about 40 percent of Americans are born-again Christians. So it seems clear that Christians ought to be spreading the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world much better than they are presently doing.

The simple truth is that most American Christians are too busy to be involved in fulfilling Jesus' Great Commission, as recorded in Mark 16:15. Many have grown complacent and comfortable with God's blessings and have forgotten Jesus' mandate.

Because God asks for obedience rather than demanding it, many Christians have simply ignored the very reason for God's blessings: to glorify Him and to honor His commandments.

THE REASON FOR THE BLESSINGS

God calls every Christian to spread His Gospel to all parts of the world. But, like Esther (see Esther 4:14), every believer must decide either to be used of God or to be bypassed and allow another to be chosen instead. Most Christians would never refuse to do God's will; it's just that the timing is not right. So they allow the urgent things of their lives to overshadow the important things of God.

We sing, “America, America, God shed His grace on thee.” Well, He has! God has blessed us so richly. There is enough money in North America to fund all the Christian work in the world if the people of God would just give. The desire to give may be there, but most American Christians are so caught up in making money, buying bigger and better things, and paying for the things that they already have, that they have lost their focus on the unsaved world.

In a real sense, the Gospel has become shackled because money needed for worldwide ministry is tied up in personal debt and large monthly payments.

GOD'S KINGDOM

The very best investment a person can make is an investment in the Kingdom of God. The Lord admonishes us not to worry about material possessions, and instead, “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

While American Christians today have a greater abundance available to them than any previous generation, there has never been a generation of Christians so caught up in worrying about their possessions as ours.

However, it's not the material things that cause the difficulties; it is materialism, which is a matter of heart attitude. Materialism simply means that a person is more dedicated to accumulating material things than in serving God. The evidence of the lives of most American Christians reveals that this generation is dedicated to materialism. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).

The admonition to “seek first the Kingdom of God” is given by the Lord as a contrast to worrying about material possessions. God's people need to understand His principles of finance so that they can be free of debt and the worry that accompanies debt in order to help fund the spread of the Gospel worldwide.

Once Christians become financially free of personal debt, they will have a greater abundance for which to fund the Gospel's outreach to the “remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

OWNERSHIP OR STEWARDSHIP?

Giving so that God's servants can take His message throughout the world is an outward material expression of a deeper spiritual commitment, and an indication of a willing and obedient heart.

That's why making such a commitment is almost impossible unless Christians take the first step in becoming financially free by transferring ownership of all material possessions to God. This means money, time, family, material possessions, education -- even earning potential for the future. We must be willing to transfer ownership of every material thing in our possession to Him if we truly want to be financially free.

Once we recognize that God owns everything and all blessings come from Him, our role as managers, or stewards, becomes evident. If we view ourselves as owners and not managers, we'll look at every other aspect of our lives the same way. Each of us will see himself or herself as the person in charge, but that can change quickly in the face of circumstances beyond our control.

However, if God is the owner and we are simply His stewards, we need only to be concerned with how best to manage His possessions. In so doing, money is no longer our possession, it's God's possession, which we hold in trust. And because we will have to give an account of how well we managed His material goods and possessions, we must, to the best of our ability, use the money as we feel He would use it and in a manner that pleases Him.

As stewards of God's possessions that have been entrusted to us, believers must ask whether God would be pleased with our stewardship or with the way that we have spent His money.

Would God be pleased with His steward indulging in material excess, while His servants who are taking His Gospel to the far corners of the earth are in need? Would God be pleased with His steward using His money to satisfy personal selfish desires at the expense of the unsaved? Would He be pleased that His stewards all too often choose to fulfill their own directive rather than to fulfill His Great Commission? If you need help with these questions, the answer is “No!” to all three.

WHOSE KINGDOM?

You can make no greater investment than an investment in the Kingdom of God. But so many Christians are so far in debt that they cannot even begin to honor God's mandate, although they might truly want to.

Nevertheless, debt is a mountain that can be overcome -- one step at a time. Step number one is to give all possessions to God. Step two is to manage His possessions in a way that pleases Him, in accordance with His principles of finance. Once debt has been brought under control, you can join in liberally funding the Gospel throughout the world.

God has shed His grace on us in America, so don't allow the urgent things of this society in which we live to overshadow the important things. Whose Kingdom are you seeking?

America's evangelical Christians are facing a critical testing-time in the 21st century. Among the most important of the tests we now face is the future of missions, and our faithfulness to the Great Commission. At a time of unprecedented opportunity, will our zeal for world missions slacken?

Just as doors of opportunity are opening around the world, the church seems to be losing its voice. A virtual re-paganization of Western culture is occurring, indicating that the failure of the American church is evident at home as well as abroad. What is the root issue?

At base, the issue is a failure of theological nerve -- a devastating loss of biblical and doctrinal conviction. The result is retreat on the mission fields of the world and regression on the home front. Since the middle of the last century, the mainline Protestant denominations have been withdrawing from the missionary enterprise, some even declaring a “moratorium” on the sending of missionaries charged to preach the Gospel. Among these denominations, the total missionary force is now a fraction of that during the 1950s, and many of those who remain on the fields have been assigned duties far removed from conversionist witness.

This loss of theological nerve is a fundamental failure of conviction. Put bluntly, many who claim to be Christians simply do not believe that anyone is actually lost.

The essence of this belief is universalism, the belief that all persons will be saved, whether or not they have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Universalism presents itself in many forms, including modern inclusivism, pluralism and relativism. In its boldest and most honest form, it is the absolute declaration that all persons will be saved (if indeed there is anything from which to be saved). By this account, all religions have an equal claim to truth which underlies the “religious” character of humanity.

In its more romanticized forms, universalism is the belief that God would not actually sentence rebellious human beings to eternal punishment, in spite of what He reveals in Holy Scripture. These persons believe in a God of their own devising, and not the God of the Bible.

Universalism also presents itself in a naive form, in which Christians refuse to deal with the issue and simply declare no position or conviction on the issue. Their stance betrays their lack of conviction and even compassion. Their conscience is uncluttered by concern for the lost.

The believing church down through the ages has steadfastly resisted the universalist temptation, because universalism is so directly opposed to the clear teaching of Scripture. The Bible presents Jesus Christ and His atoning work as the only means of salvation, His Gospel as the only “good news” for a lost world, and the Gospel as the global mandate of the Church.

There is no room for universalism -- whatever its form -- in evangelical churches. By rejecting the finality of Jesus Christ and the integrity of His Gospel, those who promote universalism are witnesses to another gospel -- demonstrating a perversion of the Gospel as the Apostle Paul had warned.

Given their commitment to the Gospel, could evangelical Christians allow universalism to make inroads into their ranks? There are signs that this is now well underway. In the evangelical academy, some are advocating views well in line with the liberal Protestant arguments of the mid-century. The challenge of pluralism has found many evangelicals with weak knees. The pattern of evangelical compromise is also evident in those who seek to reduce the unique claim Christianity makes to truth, and also among those who promote the idea of a second opportunity for saving faith after death.

The pattern is not restricted to the academics, however. The most dangerous trend may be found in the pews of evangelical churches, where more and more Christians are willing to reject or compromise the uniqueness of Christ and His atonement, citing the apparent “sincerity” of those who worship other gods, or no god at all. Many American Christians seem increasingly reluctant to believe that their unsaved neighbors will go to hell. The urgency of world missions is a strange concept to a generation seemingly preoccupied with feel-good religion and self-help courses.

Where will the church stand? A report released just a few years ago indicated that only a third of the participants at an Urbana missions conference (bringing together thousands of college-aged evangelicals) indicated a belief that “a person who does not hear the Gospel is eternally lost.” As one missionary veteran responded: “If two-thirds of the most missions-minded young people in America do not affirm the lostness of mankind, the Great Commission is in serious trouble!” Should these trends remain unchecked and uncorrected, the missions cause -- and the church itself -- will be in serious trouble indeed.

This is, as the late Carl F. H. Henry advised, a time for evangelical demonstration. Our words of support for the missionary cause are meaningless if we do not produce a new generation of bold, courageous and committed Christian missionaries. Let us make our convictions clear. Evangelical Christians must take our stand for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has made atonement for our sins. In a day of pluralism, we must point to the only Gospel that offers salvation. We must learn again to define the true Gospel in terms of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This is the sum and substance of the genuine Gospel -- and the true Gospel is always a missionary Gospel.

________

This column was adapted by Baptist Press from Mohler's website at www.albertmohler.com, and first appeared on November 10, 2004.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #26926]

The word “go” is often de-emphasized in the Great Commission, John Marshall observed. Going disrupts retirement and threatens sought-after comfort and ease.

But the Great Commission can be fulfilled only by all Christians obediently going, Marshall, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri, said during New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s chapel service where more than 100 were commissioned as missionaries.

That principle of going, Marshall said, was first modeled by the disciples.

“For the 12, go became the manifesto governing their lives,” he said. “These were folks just like you and me. They had jobs, interests and hobbies.”

Two thousand years later, the manifesto to go still governs the lives of believers, Marshall said.

“The directive is still the marching order for all believers,” he said. “It is the defining edict of our lives. We are not afforded the luxury of influencing only those people who happen to come our way.”

Marshall compared the idea of exchanging “go” for “come” to a hunter waiting in his or her kitchen for a duck to fly through. Expecting non-believers to come instead of Christians to go and tell the Good News, he noted, is also like a farmer standing at the fence summoning the crop to pick itself. Both hunters and farmers will have little success unless they pursue and engage their harvest.

“We too have to move, overcome inertia and draw near to sinners where they are. The Gospel is not carried by ‘come’ or by osmosis,” Marshall said. “It is only carried by ‘go.’ The picture is almost as if it is a parcel that has to be picked up, carried and delivered, not only locally but also globally.”

For that reason, Marshall said, geography must matter to each Christian. He suggested that Christians keep a map of their city, state, country and world and that they organize a way to learn more about and pray for those areas.

Most Christians run into problems at the point of fostering a concern and burden non-Christians around the world, Marshall said. The first problem involves misunderstanding the call to go.

“I promise you, when you preach the Great Commission or you stand and talk about it, 95 percent of the people in your pews -– and I’m being conservative with 95 percent –- interpret go as meaning go and stay,” he said.

Marshall said hearers immediately tune out the message because they think to themselves “Oh, he’s talking about missionaries.” However, that is a misinterpretation of the mandate to go. While very few Christians are called to go and stay on the mission field, Marshall said all Christians are called to go on short-term mission trips.

“The Great Commission is not given to mission boards. It is not given to conventions. It is not given to associations. It is not given to the local churches. It is not given to Sunday School classes,” Marshall said. “These are all support groups existing to help individuals, including pastors and staff members, to whom the Great Commission is given.”

He used his own church as an example. For Second Baptist Church, true change came eight years ago when members began to realize that the Great Commission was given to them as individuals and not just to the church staff or a few leaders. From this foundational realization, Second Baptist has grown into a remarkably mission-minded church.

Christian obedience to the Great Commission also breaks down when believers develop a worldly hunger for comfort and ease.

“Most believers, taking their cue from unbelievers, think superficially,” Marshall said. “It is incredible how the people in our pews actually think they want comfort and ease. They really believe that the reason you retire is so you can take it easy. Where did that come from? That’s a secular, worldly idea.”

While going on a short-term mission trip to China, South America, another state or across town defies the rules of comfort, Marshall pointed to several cases in the Bible when people found their life purpose in doing what seemed most dreadful.

“The life you’ve always dreamed of lies in the mission you’ve always dreaded,” the pastor said. “Before the Damascus Road experience, what do you think the one thing Saul of Tarsus would have said would be the last thing he’d ever do? Become a Christian.”

Before Peter’s vision of the animals coming down from heaven, he would have never considered associating with Gentiles. Paul, Peter and many others found fulfillment only when they surrendered everything to God, Marshall said.

“As long as you have something in your life that you’ll never do, you’re not yielded to God and God cannot bless you,” he said. “Life has to be yielded totally and completely.”

Speaking to the pastors in attendance, Marshall said it is their responsibility to remind church members that worldly comfort should not be their goal.

“We must get in their faces and say to them, ‘You were not made for contentment. You were not made to be happy. You were not made to rest on your laurels. You were made to go, and in that you will find your contentment and your joy,’” he said.

The only way for Christians to prove their concern for lost people around the world and across the street, Marshall said, is to systematically and constantly go on short-term mission trips.

“We’ve got to deliver the living water in person,” he said.

*

Now facing its third millennium, the Christian church faces a moment of great historical importance and opportunity. The modern missionary movement is now over two centuries old. Looking back over those years, it is clear that God mobilized His people to make great strides in taking the gospel to many parts of the world.

This missionary movement has seen the evangelization of millions of persons representing thousands of ethnic and cultural groups. The Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages and dialects. Over the last several decades, new areas of the world have shown a remarkable response to the gospel, and the continent of Africa may now be the center of the world missionary enterprise. In fact, the last half of the twentieth century saw an enormous evangelistic response throughout the Pacific Rim and the African continent.

Today, the Christian church faces new challenges. Without exaggeration, we can point to the twenty-first century as a new era in Christian missions, and recognize it as a vast new opportunity.

Looking at Christian missions today, we may be seeing the birth of a new missiological movement. This new era in missions will build upon the accomplishments of the last 200 years, but it must also be adapted to the new realities of our world context.

The most important dimension of any vision for world missions is a passion to glorify God. From beginning to end, the Bible declares that God is glorifying Himself in the salvation of sinners, and that He desires to be worshipped among all the peoples of the earth. The impulse of the missionary conviction is drawn from the assurance that God saves sinners, and that He is glorifying Himself by creating a new people through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have the glad opportunity to glorify God by declaring the Gospel to all the peoples of the earth.

As John Piper has stated, “The deepest reason why our passion for God should fuel missions is that God's passion for God fuels missions. Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God's delight in being God.” In missions, we share God's delight.

Pioneers such as William Carey gave birth to the modern missionary movement. It was Carey's sense of evangelistic passion, set upon a clear foundation of biblical truth and confidence in the gospel, that compelled him to leave the safe confines of England and go to India. The full harvest of William Carey's ministry will be known only in eternity. Most Christians are aware that he served for many years without a single convert. When many missionaries would have returned home or moved to greener pastures, Carey stayed and invested himself in India. He translated the New Testament and built bridges to the people of that great nation.

Since Carey's time, thousands of missionaries have left homes and families to take the gospel to the remotest parts of the earth. Reviewing the history of the missionary movement, it is clear that great gains were made for the gospel. At the same time, every generation has left its own imprint on the missionary task, and each generation is blind to some of the cultural baggage it takes along with the gospel. At the height of the missions movement in the Victorian era, it often seemed that missionaries were just as intent on Westernizing native peoples as in evangelizing them. A new awareness of the global context and respect for native cultures should lead us to be careful to preach the gospel rather than Western culture.

The new vision for world missions is directed toward the reaching of people groups rather than nations. Missiological focus upon the nation-state is a remnant of the nineteenth century, when nations were conceived as singular units and national identity was paramount. This paradigm was long out of date by the end of the twentieth century. Christians now recognize that there are thousands of distinct people groups, each identifiable by culture, language, and social structure -- and they are not always divided neatly by political boundaries. Each of these people groups represents a distinct missiological challenge, and each must be considered in its own right.

While it is likely that churches and denominational gatherings will continue to celebrate a parade of the flags of the nations, the reality is that each of those nations includes a collective of various people groups desperately in need of the gospel -- people groups often dispersed throughout the globe.

This should bring a new humility as well as growing urgency to the church. So long as we were able to count nation-states in terms of missionary saturation, we could see a tremendous advance and what seemed to be a constant march of progress. When people groups are taken into consideration, however, we can clearly see that the greater challenge still lies before us. This means that the Christian church must develop cultural understanding and sensitivity, as well as linguistic and cultural dexterity, in the task of preaching the gospel to unreached persons.

This new vision for world missions is also remarkable in the fact that much, if not most, of the energy is coming from grassroots Christians rather than from institutional structures. Perhaps the greatest missionary advance among American churches is seen in the widespread participation of Christian laypersons in missionary trips and short-term mission projects. Churches that encourage and support this hands-on approach to missions will bear testimony to the powerful impact it has upon the participants and upon the missionary commitment of the entire congregation.

Today's Christians are looking for an experiential participation in the missionary challenge. They draw great excitement in hearing from missionaries, but even greater commitment by being participants in the missionary movement themselves. Because of this, this new vision is also congregational in its focus. Individual congregations are taking up the missionary challenge, and measuring their own faithfulness by the number of missionaries sent around the world from among their own members.

Much of this new vision is flowing out of reports from the 10/40 window -- that portion of the world between latitudes 10 and 40 degrees, where most of the world's unreached peoples live. This focus on the Great Commission has led to a mobilization mentality that holds great promise for the future of the Christian church.

One missionary leader has defined this mobilization as “all of God's people reaching all the peoples of the earth.” That motto sets the issue clearly. This generation must be committed to see all of God's people together reaching all the peoples of the earth without regard to race, culture, economic reality, or geographical or political obstacles.

Over the past half-century, America has seen several generational transitions. As the new millennium dawns, the Baby Boom generation is now in mid-adulthood, and some are heading toward retirement. The GI generation that built so many of the great institutions and provided leadership in our denomination and churches is now reaching advanced years, though many in this generation continue to be active participants and well-known leaders. Behind the Baby Boomers are coming “Generation X,” the “Busters,” and the “Millennials.” How will these generations mold the missionary movement of the future?

This generation demonstrates a readiness to take on new challenges and to go where no previous generation has yet taken the gospel. They have been born into a culturally diverse world, and they are gifted with skills in intercultural communication. They are impatient with the cultural isolationism of previous generations. They see no political boundaries to the Gospel. They are ready to cross political borders and see no limitations on the Great Commission. Where previous generations wanted to SUPPORT missions, this generation is determined to DO missions. Incubated in an experience-driven culture, these young Christians are not interested in missions by proxy.

This new generation holds great promise, but it also demands urgent attention. The church needs to mobilize the energy of these younger Christians and deploy their gifts in cultural translation and adaptation. Nevertheless, this generation has inherited a dwindling deposit of doctrinal and theological understanding. Our churches and seminaries must quickly be about the business of grounding this generation in biblical truth, even as they are mobilizing for world missions.

In all likelihood, these new generations will establish a missiological pattern of long duration. We may well see a tidal wave of participatory missions unlike anything seen by the Christian church since the first century. Finally, it is up to the church both to release their energy and to ground their convictions.

Our vision for world evangelization is an important barometer of spiritual and theological health. A vibrant commitment to Christ leads to a passion for the Gospel. A grand embrace of God's truth produces an enthusiasm to see God glorified as His name is proclaimed to the nations. It is time for a new generation to lead -- and to point the way.

*

It came and went quietly, but the human race just passed a significant milestone:

On Feb. 25, at 7:16 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the world’s population reached 6.5 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It happened less than seven years after the number of people worldwide reached 6 billion. That total, in turn, was reached only 12 years after the 5-billion mark was surpassed. The new count of 6.5 billion is more than twice the size of the population in 1960 -- and four times the number of humans alive at the beginning of the 20th century.

Global population is not speeding toward the huge, unsustainable masses some demographic doomsayers have long predicted. But it continues to grow. The 7-billion mark will be reached in 2012, according to forecasters. More than 9 billion people will walk the earth by 2050, they estimate, before the global total begins to level off.

A few trends and specifics:

• On average, 4.4 babies are born each second.

• Most population growth continues in the nations of the global South and East.

“Virtually all of world population growth now takes place in developing countries,” reports Carl Haub, senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau. “Europe now has more deaths than births each year.... The few developed countries that still have more births than deaths -- such as the United States –- owe much of their growth to immigration from developing countries.”

• The poorest countries continue to have the highest birthrates. Women average five or more children in countries where per capita annual income is $1,000. In contrast, mothers bear an average of two or fewer children in nations where per capita income tops $12,000.

These numbers have many social and political implications. In the spiritual realm, however, the most urgent message for Great Commission-minded Christians is this: Our evangelization task is unfinished. Mission researchers tell us that, at most, one in every 10 people on earth is a born-again follower of Christ.

The regions of greatest population growth -- and, often, greatest physical poverty -– also tend to be the regions with the greatest concentrations of spiritual lostness. Case study: West Africa, a major focus of Southern Baptist missions this year. Malaria, AIDS and other diseases are widespread there. Life expectancy is under 50 years. Malnutrition is high; literacy is low. Half of West Africans live on less than a dollar a day.

More than 350 of West Africa’s 1,612 people groups have no access to the Gospel. Half of the region’s entire population of 287 million is unreached (less than 2 percent evangelical). The Wolof people of Senegal and Gambia, for example, number nearly 4.7 million -- with fewer than 100 evangelical believers. The 30.3 million Hausa people, the region’s largest unreached group, are less than 1 percent Christian. International Mission Board missionaries currently work among only 52 West African people groups.

South Asia is home to 1.45 billion people. That includes the more than 1 billion people of India, a nation that will overtake China as the world’s most populous if growth trends continue. In all of South Asia, evangelical Christian believers comprise less than 2 percent of the population.

In recent years Southern Baptists and other Great Commission groups have made enormous progress in engaging (assigning missionaries, plans and resources to reach) all the world’s unreached megapeoples –- those with more than 1 million members. Now they are focusing on engaging the hundreds of untouched groups with populations between 100,000 and 1 million.

“But ‘engaged’ doesn’t mean ‘evangelized,’” stresses International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin. “Our goal is for every person to hear the Gospel. How can they respond unless they have heard?”

The church has many God-given ministries, but giving the lost the opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus remains our top priority. According to Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, the way to accomplish it is very specific: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (peoples), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I commanded you....”

“We have had a tendency to dilute the Great Commission to mean whatever we do in missions, evangelism and ministry,” Rankin observes. “(But) in the Greek language, ‘make disciples’ is one word; it is an imperative verb and the object is ‘all peoples.’

“God’s heart and mission is that all peoples know Him. Our mission can be no less.”

In a lost and chaotic world of 6.5 billion, we need the clarity of God’s mission more than ever.

________

Erich Bridges is senior writer with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

We call these words of Jesus the “Great Commission”: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

But what makes the Great Commission so great?

It’s great in its responsibility

Every follower of Jesus has the responsibility to share Jesus everywhere he or she goes. Jesus tells us in Luke 14:23 that we are to “compel them to come in....” This word translated “compel” means to urge upon, to press.

In Acts 18:4, the apostle Paul “persuaded both Jews and Greeks.” The eternal destiny of souls is at stake and God has given His followers the responsibility go and tell.

It’s great in its reach

We will never meet a person whom God doesn’t love nor want to save. Red, yellow, black, brown and white, they are all precious in His sight. The apostle Peter said it this way in 2 Peter 3.9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but for all to come to repentance.”

As pastors and churches make plans for the summer, for instance, don’t forget to include opportunities for sharing Jesus. In their book “Why They Stray,” Steve Parr and Tom Crites report that 75 percent of adult Christians say they accepted Christ before age 16, according to a national survey they conducted. “Research has shown that people are more likely to accept Christ as a child than they are as an adult,” Parr and Crites write. “Some have reported that the probability of a person experiencing salvation in adulthood is only 6%.”(1)

They go on to urge, “[G]et strategic about sharing the gospel with children in your mission field.” In other words: Go after the souls of boys and girls while their hearts are still tender toward the things of God.

What is on your church calendar this summer for reaching children for Jesus? How about Vacation Bible School? What about children’s camp? Is a children’s summer sports camp a possibility? What about a children’s fun day? Every church can provide something, regardless of size, to help introduce children to Jesus. God forbid the children in your community echo the words found in Jeremiah 8:20, “Harvest has passed, summer has ended, but we have not been saved.”

It’s great in its results

The results are making disciples and equipping them to live godly in Christ Jesus, which includes sharing Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 4:19: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Here He gives us a command and a promise. The late evangelist Vance Havner said, “Jesus takes the disciple and makes not a depository but a dispenser out of him, and through him reaches others.” He goes on to say that “fishing for souls proceeds following the Savior.”

We can fish without following Jesus but we cannot follow Jesus without fishing. We fish to the degree we follow Jesus. Or as Havner said, “Soul-winning is a product of discipleship.”

Responsibility, reach, results -- keep in mind these simple yet profound words that remind us of the Great Commission and, indeed, its true greatness.

________

1. Steve Parr and Tom Crites. Why They Stray (WestBow Press, 2015), p. 40.

I am often amused when I hear myself identified as an expert in any area. If I am a perceived expert, it is because I have had the wonderful opportunity to listen to thousands of people over the past few decades. They are the experts; I am little more than an interested reporter.

Though much of this information could be regarded as dismal, my ultimate assessment is not that pessimistic. I believe in the God of miracles. If my conclusions focused on human ability and goodness, I would have little hope. But my conclusions presume the God of creation is on His throne.

For now, in this list of 10 reasons we have not reached the unchurched, let us focus on what is wrong. Let us look with stark honesty and candor at the ineffectiveness of many American believers when it comes to sharing their faith. And in coming weeks, let us look at reversing the trend through God’s power.

1. Spiritual lethargy. One of the main reasons many Christians do not share their faith is simply explained by the word disobedience. Spiritual lethargy takes place when we fail to obey Him. The problem for many Christians is that they are not growing spiritually, and lack of spiritual growth inevitably leads to a diminished desire to share Christ with others.

2. Growing inclusivism. One of the faster-growing belief systems today is pluralism (all religions lead to God). A variation of pluralism called inclusivism is a dangerous doctrine that is gaining momentum in many American seminaries, Christian colleges and churches. This view affirms that Jesus is the only way of salvation, but he can be found in other “good” religions. There is a subtle but growing belief among many Christians that somehow “good” followers will make it to heaven outside of a true Christian conversion. Our message will fall on deaf ears if this belief persists and grows.

3. Growing disbelief in hell. At one time, this was a view held almost exclusively by unbelievers. However, recent books by those claiming to be evangelicals have brought this discussion front and center. Those who truly have a desire to reach the unchurched have a burden to see people in the eternity of heaven, but they also desire to see them escape the wrath of an eternal hell. Denying the existence of hell undermines the urgency of placing one’s faith in Christ.

4. Busyness. Perhaps one of Satan’s most effective strategies is to get us so busy that we fail to do that which is such a high biblical priority. We can be deluded into complacency about the lostness of humanity around us. The unchurched are waiting for you to tell them about Jesus. They need to be on your to-do list. What priority do you give to reaching the lost?

5. Fear of rejection. In research on this subject, I found that only one in four unchurched persons will be resistant to faith discussions. But nearly four out of 10 of the unchurched will be receptive to your concern for their eternity, and more than one out three will simply be neutral to your attempts. Simply stated, fear of rejection is unfounded. The few people with an antagonistic attitude are not rejecting you personally; their anger is merely a reflection of something in their past. Fear of rejection is an often-used excuse by Christians for their failure to witness. And it is just that: an excuse.

6. A desire to be tolerant. The message of the Gospel, in some senses, is intolerant. The one true God insists there can be no other gods. He is a jealous God and leaves no room for other gods. In the post-modern culture of 21st century America, Christians should know the criticisms of intolerance will come. The great concern is that many Christians are unwilling to take a narrow view because they do not want to be labeled as intolerant. But Jesus never wavered in His insistence that He is the only way to the one and only true God.

7. Losing the habit of witnessing. Some Christians have been very active in sharing their faith with the lost and the unchurched. But, for a myriad of reasons, they get out of the habit, and it no longer becomes a priority. Witnessing, like prayer and Bible study, is a discipline. It is a habit to learn, to retain, and, if lost, to regain.

8. Lack of accountability. Programmatic evangelism in local churches is sometimes denigrated because it is seen as a “canned” approach to witnessing. But one of the strengths of many of these programs is that some inherent system of accountability is built into the program itself. Accountability is likely to engender more witnessing attempts to the unchurched. Attempting more evangelistic encounters creates a habit of witnessing that then increases our zeal for evangelism.

9. Failure to invite. When is the last time you invited an unchurched person to church? When is the last time you offered to take a person to church, or, at the very least, meet him or her at church? It’s a simple gesture, yet so few Christians do it.

10. We go to churches that do not reach the unchurched. We only reach one person for Christ each year for every 85 church members in the United States. That is a frightening and terrible ratio. One of the key reasons we do not reach the unchurched is that many Christians in America are members of churches that do not reach the unchurched.

I’ve covered 10 of the most common reasons Christians fail to obey the Great Commission. This list is not exhaustive, though. In God’s power, however, we can reverse this trend and reach the unchurched in America.

Converting people to another religion is illegal in Nepal, but missionaries are willing to risk prosecution to spread the Christian faith.

________

“Victory to Jesus,” Korean pastor Pang Chang-in cries as he blesses a new church in the village of Jharlang, in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The congregation of the newly converted raise their hands in prayer. Most are from the indigenous Tamang community, who used to follow the Lama faith, an ancient spiritual practice. In Pang’s eyes the Tamang people are “poor financially and spiritually”. “So, a miracle takes place and the whole village converts,” he says.

Missionaries, many of them South Korean like Pang, have helped build one of the world’s fastest-growing Christian communities in Nepal, a former Hindu kingdom and the birthplace of Lord Buddha. Most of the surge in Christian numbers in Nepal is from among members of the community who call themselves Dalits - traditionally at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy - or from indigenous people. They may believe in miracles as Pang suggests, but for them conversion also offers a chance to escape entrenched poverty and discrimination.

Pang has overseen the opening of nearly 70 churches in his two decades in Nepal, mostly in Dhading district, two hours north-west of the capital Kathmandu. The community, he says, donates the land and Korean churches help pay for the construction. “In almost every mountain valley, churches are being built,” Pang claims. That may be an exaggeration, but there’s no doubt there has been a huge increase in the number of churches all over Nepal in recent years. The latest data from the national Christian community survey says there are now 7,758 churches in the still overwhelmingly Hindu country.

And South Korea is behind much of this transformation. It has become one of the world’s biggest missionary-sending nations - only a couple of decades after it started deploying them - with more than 22,000 abroad, according to the Korean World Mission Association. Driven by the zeal of the born-again, Korean missionaries have become known for aggressively going to, and sometimes being expelled from, the hardest-to-evangelise corners of the world.

Nepal is now a secular state, and the 2015 constitution enshrines religious freedom. However, an anti-conversion law that came into force in 2018 means anyone convicted of encouraging someone to change their faith faces up to five years in jail. “We are always working with the anxiety and nervousness we feel from the anti-conversion law,” says Pang’s wife, Lee Jeong-hee. “But we can’t stop the spread of the gospel because of this fear. We will not stop saving souls.”

The couple used to be bankers. Lee Jeong-hee says it was her husband “who first received God’s calling [and] shortly after God beckoned us to move to Nepal”. When they arrived in 2003, a Hindu royal family was still on the throne. “I was shocked to see so many idols being worshipped,” says Pang. “I felt Nepal was in desperate need of the gospel.”

Five years later the 240-year-old monarchy was abolished following a decade of civil war, and a coalition government came to power, declaring Nepal a secular republic in 2008. “This began the golden age for missionary work,” declares Pang. He and his wife are part of a community of around 300 Korean missionary families currently in Nepal. In Kathmandu the Korean community is largely clustered around the southern suburbs of the capital.

None of the congregation are officially missionaries. They’re on business or study visas. Some run restaurants, while others have registered charities. In the weeks we spent with the Korean missionary community, Pang and his wife were the only ones willing to speak openly. “I’m open to sharing what God is doing in Nepal,” says Pang.

He doesn’t view their work as breaking the law, because in his mind they are not openly proselytising or baptising. “Our missionary work is not just about us. God is doing the work. We’d like to show how God works through us to create miracles in Nepal,” he says.

The Christian community makes up less than 2% of Nepal’s population - Hindus account for about 80% and Buddhists 9% - but census data reveals its growth. In 1951 there were no Christians in Nepal and just 458 in 1961. But by 2011, there were nearly 376,000 and the latest census estimates the community is now around 545,000.

“It’s spreading like wildfire. The cultural identity is at stake. The fabric of the national unity is at stake,” argues former deputy prime minister, Kamal Thapa. He views the Korean missionary work as an “organised attack on the cultural identity of the country”. “Missionaries are working behind the scenes and exploiting the poor and ignorant people and encouraging them to convert to Christianity. This is not a case of religious freedom. This is a case of exploitation in the name of religion,” he says. He is lobbying for Nepal to return to being a Hindu state. He supported the introduction of the anti-conversion law and would like to see it being enforced.

It’s only Christians who have been charged under the law, but no-one has been convicted. Cases have either been thrown out due to a lack of evidence or defendants have been acquitted on appeal. There are currently five active cases, according to the Nepal Christian Society. Charges against four Koreans, including two nuns, were dropped in December.

Pastor Dilli Ram Paudel, who heads the Nepal Christian Society, was one of the first people to be questioned under the law. He was accused in April 2018 of bribing people to convert, something he strongly denies. Charges against him were also later dropped. “We’re accused of converting people, but that power is not in our hands,” he says. “If it was, I could convert my mum. She is 92 - I can give her money, I can pray for her, but I can’t convert her because conversion should come from Jesus.”

He comes from a devout Hindu family and was ordained a Hindu priest “like 21 generations before me”. In his 20s he went to study in Korea and that’s where he was introduced to Christianity. “I was alone and friendless,” he recalls, “and then some people gave me a Korean Bible in the Nepali language. Somehow they found the Nepali language one.” He read it in one night and “found my creator”.

“Does it seem funny and not believable? Well, that happened to me,” he says with a smile.

On his return he was ostracised by his family. “They said Christianity was a foreign religion [and] some people said that I was mad, that I had lost my memory,” he says. It has taken time for him to be accepted back into his family and community.

Each year more than 2,000 Nepali students travel to Korea to study. A Korean missionary who spoke on condition of anonymity says they try to connect with local churches in Korea. “Doing evangelical work within Nepal is a challenge. So we have alternative ways,” he says. “Our mission is to convert - as Pastor Dilli Ram Paudel was a Hindu priest when he was younger - any souls we can, so we must remain under cover.”

Pang and his wife help run a seminary school in Kathmandu. There are around 50 students currently studying. Korean church donors mostly cover the cost of their education and board. One of them, 22-year-old Sapana, comes from the remote Tamang village of Singang. “My father loathed churchgoers, as he believed we shouldn’t forget our traditions,” she says.

It was her uncle who introduced her to Christianity when she was gravely ill. She claims she was healed after converting. “I wanted to live for Jesus. Someone finally loved me,” she says.

Sapana graduated from the seminary late last year. She now plans to return to her mountain village “to slowly grow and push youth to be part of the church”. “I will go to new places and spread the message of Jesus to those who have not heard it before.”

Pang Chang-in admits the spread of the gospel “can clash with existing religion and culture”. But his view is that this “culture shock is unavoidable”.

________

Additional reporting by Rajan Parajuli and Rama Parajuli

I am often amused when I hear myself identified as an expert in any area. If I am a perceived expert, it is because I have had the wonderful opportunity to listen to thousands of people over the past few decades. They are the experts; I am little more than an interested reporter.

Though much of this information could be regarded as dismal, my ultimate assessment is not that pessimistic. I believe in the God of miracles. If my conclusions focused on human ability and goodness, I would have little hope. But my conclusions presume the God of creation is on His throne.

For now, in this list of 10 reasons we have not reached the unchurched, let us focus on what is wrong. Let us look with stark honesty and candor at the ineffectiveness of many American believers when it comes to sharing their faith. And in coming weeks, let us look at reversing the trend through God’s power.

1. Spiritual lethargy. One of the main reasons many Christians do not share their faith is simply explained by the word disobedience. Spiritual lethargy takes place when we fail to obey Him. The problem for many Christians is that they are not growing spiritually, and lack of spiritual growth inevitably leads to a diminished desire to share Christ with others.

2. Growing inclusivism. One of the faster-growing belief systems today is pluralism (all religions lead to God). A variation of pluralism called inclusivism is a dangerous doctrine that is gaining momentum in many American seminaries, Christian colleges and churches. This view affirms that Jesus is the only way of salvation, but he can be found in other “good” religions. There is a subtle but growing belief among many Christians that somehow “good” followers will make it to heaven outside of a true Christian conversion. Our message will fall on deaf ears if this belief persists and grows.

3. Growing disbelief in hell. At one time, this was a view held almost exclusively by unbelievers. However, recent books by those claiming to be evangelicals have brought this discussion front and center. Those who truly have a desire to reach the unchurched have a burden to see people in the eternity of heaven, but they also desire to see them escape the wrath of an eternal hell. Denying the existence of hell undermines the urgency of placing one’s faith in Christ.

4. Busyness. Perhaps one of Satan’s most effective strategies is to get us so busy that we fail to do that which is such a high biblical priority. We can be deluded into complacency about the lostness of humanity around us. The unchurched are waiting for you to tell them about Jesus. They need to be on your to-do list. What priority do you give to reaching the lost?

5. Fear of rejection. In research on this subject, I found that only one in four unchurched persons will be resistant to faith discussions. But nearly four out of 10 of the unchurched will be receptive to your concern for their eternity, and more than one out three will simply be neutral to your attempts. Simply stated, fear of rejection is unfounded. The few people with an antagonistic attitude are not rejecting you personally; their anger is merely a reflection of something in their past. Fear of rejection is an often-used excuse by Christians for their failure to witness. And it is just that: an excuse.

6. A desire to be tolerant. The message of the Gospel, in some senses, is intolerant. The one true God insists there can be no other gods. He is a jealous God and leaves no room for other gods. In the post-modern culture of 21st century America, Christians should know the criticisms of intolerance will come. The great concern is that many Christians are unwilling to take a narrow view because they do not want to be labeled as intolerant. But Jesus never wavered in His insistence that He is the only way to the one and only true God.

7. Losing the habit of witnessing. Some Christians have been very active in sharing their faith with the lost and the unchurched. But, for a myriad of reasons, they get out of the habit, and it no longer becomes a priority. Witnessing, like prayer and Bible study, is a discipline. It is a habit to learn, to retain, and, if lost, to regain.

8. Lack of accountability. Programmatic evangelism in local churches is sometimes denigrated because it is seen as a “canned” approach to witnessing. But one of the strengths of many of these programs is that some inherent system of accountability is built into the program itself. Accountability is likely to engender more witnessing attempts to the unchurched. Attempting more evangelistic encounters creates a habit of witnessing that then increases our zeal for evangelism.

9. Failure to invite. When is the last time you invited an unchurched person to church? When is the last time you offered to take a person to church, or, at the very least, meet him or her at church? It’s a simple gesture, yet so few Christians do it.

10. We go to churches that do not reach the unchurched. We only reach one person for Christ each year for every 85 church members in the United States. That is a frightening and terrible ratio. One of the key reasons we do not reach the unchurched is that many Christians in America are members of churches that do not reach the unchurched.

I’ve covered 10 of the most common reasons Christians fail to obey the Great Commission. This list is not exhaustive, though. In God’s power, however, we can reverse this trend and reach the unchurched in America.

A lady once criticized the evangelism methods used by Dwight L. Moody, the famed 19th century American pastor, to win people to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In response Moody replied, “I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?” Moody’s critic answered, “I don’t do it.” Moody quipped, “In that case, I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”

Like Moody, I would rather be a criticized personal evangelist than a non-evangelistic critic. Sometimes another’s critique of our evangelism is biblically warranted. At other times critical comments about our evangelism discourage us without cause. Perhaps the evangelistic enterprise would be served best if before 1) we critique and/or question the evangelistic practices of someone else, and/or 2) our evangelistic practices are critiqued and/or questioned by someone else, we sternly look ourselves in the mirror and say, “I question your evangelism!”

What questions might a believer ask himself in order to assess his evangelistic practices? In “Tell It Often–Tell It Well,” Mark McCloskey offers three essential questions every believer should ask himself in order to assess his evangelism and its methods biblically. In addition to McCloskey’s three questions (which are enumerated first in the list below), I suggest five additional questions. A believer’s response to each of these questions assists him in discerning 1) whether or not someone else’s critique of his evangelism proves warranted, and 2) what aspects of his evangelism fall short of the biblical ideal and need adjusting.

Concerning your practice(s) of evangelism:

1. Does the New Testament teach it?

Evangelism finds its origin in the New Testament. A believer who assesses his evangelistic practices should begin by ensuring his evangelism conforms to the evangelistic doctrines, instructions and principles found in the New Testament. McCloskey offers a few follow-up questions that frame the context of this particular question for personal evangelistic assessment. These questions include the following: “Is my approach to evangelism grounded in theological convictions regarding salvation, the Gospel, and evangelism? Is it grounded in the certainties of God’s plan to redeem a lost creation, the lostness of man, and responsibilities of our ambassadorship?” Because it serves as the authoritative and foundational source for evangelism, the New Testament must inform the reasons for and way(s) in which a believer evangelizes.

2. Did the first century church demonstrate it?

The first-century church initially received the Great Commission of our Lord, who passed it down to all ages of His church. For this reason a believer interested in assessing his evangelism should consider the philosophy, practice, and pattern of the apostolic church. To assist someone in this dimension of his evangelistic assessment, McCloskey suggests the following supplemental considerations: “Has my philosophy and practice of evangelism been modeled by the first-century church? Have the theological realities that drove the first-century church to proclaim the Gospel with boldness and sensitivity caused me to develop similar patterns for communicating my faith?” Biblical evangelism results from one’s evangelistic consistency with the philosophy, practice and pattern of the early church.

A personal evangelist faces temptations to adopt worldly, even sinful, standards in order to gain a hearing and become relevant. Nevertheless, he must be convinced that an evangelistic lifestyle incorporates a lifestyle of biblical holiness. While not every evangelistic approach practiced today can be found in Scripture, an evangelistic practice consistent with Scripture conforms to its standards of holiness, as the first-century church practiced it.

3. Does it work?

While a believer should evangelize with all excellence and purge ineffective practices, McCloskey has something else in mind here. He frames the intended meaning of this assessment question by offering another: “Does my philosophy and practice of evangelism make me effective in getting the Gospel out to as many as possible, as soon as possible and as clearly as possible?” In other words, does what you believe about evangelism encourage or hinder your practice of it? No matter how “biblical” someone perceives his beliefs to be, any belief that deters him from evangelizing inevitably will lead him to deter others from evangelizing.

4. Does it ground itself in the authoritative command of Jesus found in the Great Commission?

McCloskey suggests we ought not to ask ourselves, “Why are men not coming to us?” Rather we must ask ourselves, “Why are we not going to men?” Though many symptoms prevent us from going to men with the Gospel, they all result from disobedience to Jesus’ authoritative command in the Great Commission.

In his day William Carey confronted such disobedience when he published “An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.” He contended that all believers have a duty to obey the Great Commission of our Lord.

Evangelism is not the result of mere coincidence. Evangelism rarely occurs when someone relegates it to a pastime activity. Evangelism ensues when a believer in Jesus Christ submits himself to the authoritative command of Jesus and disciplines himself to make disciples.

5. Does it demonstrate urgency considering the reality of heaven and hell?

Concerning the reality of heaven and hell, evangelism can be described in terms of two, opposite extremes -- either lethargic or urgent. Though most evangelicals identify themselves as believing exclusivists, those who exercise a less-than-urgent kind of evangelism appear as practicing universalists. If heaven and hell really exist and someone’s eternal destiny in one or the other depends on whether or not he repents of his sins and believes in Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection for salvation, how then will he believe and be saved if he does not receive the Gospel by means of evangelism (cf., Romans 10:14–17)? An unbeliever will not be saved on the basis that we have heard and now believe -- he must hear the Gospel of Christ in order to believe! Therefore, ensure that you exhibit an urgency to evangelize as many as possible, as soon as possible and as clearly as possible.

6. Does it consider the role of the Holy Spirit?

According to the Bible, a personal evangelist and the Holy Spirit cooperatively partner with one another in the evangelistic enterprise. Evangelism that fails to depend upon the Spirit of God has a tendency to become manipulative. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit does not evangelize on His own apart from the evangelistic witness of a believer. Rather, He assists a believer in the proclamation of the Gospel to an unbeliever. For these reasons a personal evangelist should rely on the evangelistic role of the Holy Spirit in preceding (e.g., Acts 10:19–22; Acts 8:27–35), empowering (e.g., Acts 1:8;Acts 6:10), and emboldening his witness (e.g., Acts 4:8–13; Acts 4:29–31), as well as convicting an unbeliever of his sin and need for Christ (e.g., John 16:8–11) and sealing him for salvation after he hears the Gospel and believes in Christ (e.g., Eph 1:13–14).

A believer who evangelizes without utilizing a helpful technique may experience frustration. However, a believer who evangelizes without depending on the Holy Spirit will find failure.

7. Does it incorporate the Scriptures?

The previous assessment questions appeal to evangelism that incorporates a biblical model derived from the New Testament, the practice of the first-century church, and the Great Commission. This question, on the other hand, helps a believer assess the extent to which he includes the Scriptures in his Gospel presentation. Hearing the Word of Christ is prerequisite for biblical faith (Romans 10:17). Evangelistic proclamations in the New Testament overwhelmingly incorporate the Scriptures (e.g.,Luke 24:14–32; Acts 2:14–41; Acts 3:11–26; Acts 4:1–12; Acts 7; Acts 8:4, 35; Acts 13:13–49; Acts 16:25–32; Acts 17:10–13; Acts 18:5, 28; Acts 20:27; Acts 26:22–23; Acts 28:23–27). When he evangelizes, a personal evangelist often summarizes the Gospel in his own words or in the words of someone else (if he utilizes a witness training model). Whether he uses his own words or the words of another, a personal evangelist should ensure that his evangelistic proclamation incorporates and structures itself around the Word of God.

8. Does it call for a decision?

A personal evangelist does not evangelize merely to convey information about Jesus. Rather, a personal evangelist evangelizes in order to call people to faith in Jesus. An evangelistic presentation must include a call for decision for at least two reasons. First, evangelistic presentations recorded in the New Testament include a call for unbelievers to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation and to repent of their sins (e.g., Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:14–15; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; Acts 14:15; Acts 26:20). Second, unbelievers do not know how to respond to the Gospel apart from receiving instruction through an evangelistic invitation (e.g., Luke 3:10–14; Acts 2:37; Acts 16:30). For these reasons, ask yourself, “Does my evangelistic proclamation emulate those recorded in the New Testament?” Also ask yourself, “After I present the Gospel to an unbeliever, does he know how he can receive the Gospel?”

Though not an exhaustive list, the previous eight questions can assist believers in both evaluating and articulating a biblical philosophy of evangelism.

Now facing its third millennium, the Christian church faces a moment of great historical importance and opportunity. The modern missionary movement is now over two centuries old. Looking back over those years, it is clear that God mobilized His people to make great strides in taking the gospel to many parts of the world.

This missionary movement has seen the evangelization of millions of persons representing thousands of ethnic and cultural groups. The Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages and dialects. Over the last several decades, new areas of the world have shown a remarkable response to the gospel, and the continent of Africa may now be the center of the world missionary enterprise. In fact, the last half of the twentieth century saw an enormous evangelistic response throughout the Pacific Rim and the African continent.

Today, the Christian church faces new challenges. Without exaggeration, we can point to the twenty-first century as a new era in Christian missions, and recognize it as a vast new opportunity.

Looking at Christian missions today, we may be seeing the birth of a new missiological movement. This new era in missions will build upon the accomplishments of the last 200 years, but it must also be adapted to the new realities of our world context.

The most important dimension of any vision for world missions is a passion to glorify God. From beginning to end, the Bible declares that God is glorifying Himself in the salvation of sinners, and that He desires to be worshipped among all the peoples of the earth. The impulse of the missionary conviction is drawn from the assurance that God saves sinners, and that He is glorifying Himself by creating a new people through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have the glad opportunity to glorify God by declaring the Gospel to all the peoples of the earth.

As John Piper has stated, “The deepest reason why our passion for God should fuel missions is that God's passion for God fuels missions. Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God's delight in being God.” In missions, we share God's delight.

Pioneers such as William Carey gave birth to the modern missionary movement. It was Carey's sense of evangelistic passion, set upon a clear foundation of biblical truth and confidence in the gospel, that compelled him to leave the safe confines of England and go to India. The full harvest of William Carey's ministry will be known only in eternity. Most Christians are aware that he served for many years without a single convert. When many missionaries would have returned home or moved to greener pastures, Carey stayed and invested himself in India. He translated the New Testament and built bridges to the people of that great nation.

Since Carey's time, thousands of missionaries have left homes and families to take the gospel to the remotest parts of the earth. Reviewing the history of the missionary movement, it is clear that great gains were made for the gospel. At the same time, every generation has left its own imprint on the missionary task, and each generation is blind to some of the cultural baggage it takes along with the gospel. At the height of the missions movement in the Victorian era, it often seemed that missionaries were just as intent on Westernizing native peoples as in evangelizing them. A new awareness of the global context and respect for native cultures should lead us to be careful to preach the gospel rather than Western culture.

The new vision for world missions is directed toward the reaching of people groups rather than nations. Missiological focus upon the nation-state is a remnant of the nineteenth century, when nations were conceived as singular units and national identity was paramount. This paradigm was long out of date by the end of the twentieth century. Christians now recognize that there are thousands of distinct people groups, each identifiable by culture, language, and social structure -- and they are not always divided neatly by political boundaries. Each of these people groups represents a distinct missiological challenge, and each must be considered in its own right.

While it is likely that churches and denominational gatherings will continue to celebrate a parade of the flags of the nations, the reality is that each of those nations includes a collective of various people groups desperately in need of the gospel -- people groups often dispersed throughout the globe.

This should bring a new humility as well as growing urgency to the church. So long as we were able to count nation-states in terms of missionary saturation, we could see a tremendous advance and what seemed to be a constant march of progress. When people groups are taken into consideration, however, we can clearly see that the greater challenge still lies before us. This means that the Christian church must develop cultural understanding and sensitivity, as well as linguistic and cultural dexterity, in the task of preaching the gospel to unreached persons.

This new vision for world missions is also remarkable in the fact that much, if not most, of the energy is coming from grassroots Christians rather than from institutional structures. Perhaps the greatest missionary advance among American churches is seen in the widespread participation of Christian laypersons in missionary trips and short-term mission projects. Churches that encourage and support this hands-on approach to missions will bear testimony to the powerful impact it has upon the participants and upon the missionary commitment of the entire congregation.

Today's Christians are looking for an experiential participation in the missionary challenge. They draw great excitement in hearing from missionaries, but even greater commitment by being participants in the missionary movement themselves. Because of this, this new vision is also congregational in its focus. Individual congregations are taking up the missionary challenge, and measuring their own faithfulness by the number of missionaries sent around the world from among their own members.

Much of this new vision is flowing out of reports from the 10/40 window -- that portion of the world between latitudes 10 and 40 degrees, where most of the world's unreached peoples live. This focus on the Great Commission has led to a mobilization mentality that holds great promise for the future of the Christian church.

One missionary leader has defined this mobilization as “all of God's people reaching all the peoples of the earth.” That motto sets the issue clearly. This generation must be committed to see all of God's people together reaching all the peoples of the earth without regard to race, culture, economic reality, or geographical or political obstacles.

Over the past half-century, America has seen several generational transitions. As the new millennium dawns, the Baby Boom generation is now in mid-adulthood, and some are heading toward retirement. The GI generation that built so many of the great institutions and provided leadership in our denomination and churches is now reaching advanced years, though many in this generation continue to be active participants and well-known leaders. Behind the Baby Boomers are coming “Generation X,” the “Busters,” and the “Millennials.” How will these generations mold the missionary movement of the future?

This generation demonstrates a readiness to take on new challenges and to go where no previous generation has yet taken the gospel. They have been born into a culturally diverse world, and they are gifted with skills in intercultural communication. They are impatient with the cultural isolationism of previous generations. They see no political boundaries to the Gospel. They are ready to cross political borders and see no limitations on the Great Commission. Where previous generations wanted to SUPPORT missions, this generation is determined to DO missions. Incubated in an experience-driven culture, these young Christians are not interested in missions by proxy.

This new generation holds great promise, but it also demands urgent attention. The church needs to mobilize the energy of these younger Christians and deploy their gifts in cultural translation and adaptation. Nevertheless, this generation has inherited a dwindling deposit of doctrinal and theological understanding. Our churches and seminaries must quickly be about the business of grounding this generation in biblical truth, even as they are mobilizing for world missions.

In all likelihood, these new generations will establish a missiological pattern of long duration. We may well see a tidal wave of participatory missions unlike anything seen by the Christian church since the first century. Finally, it is up to the church both to release their energy and to ground their convictions.

Our vision for world evangelization is an important barometer of spiritual and theological health. A vibrant commitment to Christ leads to a passion for the Gospel. A grand embrace of God's truth produces an enthusiasm to see God glorified as His name is proclaimed to the nations. It is time for a new generation to lead -- and to point the way.

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I am often amused when I hear myself identified as an expert in any area. If I am a perceived expert, it is because I have had the wonderful opportunity to listen to thousands of people over the past few decades. They are the experts; I am little more than an interested reporter.

Though much of this information could be regarded as dismal, my ultimate assessment is not that pessimistic. I believe in the God of miracles. If my conclusions focused on human ability and goodness, I would have little hope. But my conclusions presume the God of creation is on His throne.

For now, in this list of 10 reasons we have not reached the unchurched, let us focus on what is wrong. Let us look with stark honesty and candor at the ineffectiveness of many American believers when it comes to sharing their faith. And in coming weeks, let us look at reversing the trend through God’s power.

1. Spiritual lethargy. One of the main reasons many Christians do not share their faith is simply explained by the word disobedience. Spiritual lethargy takes place when we fail to obey Him. The problem for many Christians is that they are not growing spiritually, and lack of spiritual growth inevitably leads to a diminished desire to share Christ with others.

2. Growing inclusivism. One of the faster-growing belief systems today is pluralism (all religions lead to God). A variation of pluralism called inclusivism is a dangerous doctrine that is gaining momentum in many American seminaries, Christian colleges and churches. This view affirms that Jesus is the only way of salvation, but he can be found in other “good” religions. There is a subtle but growing belief among many Christians that somehow “good” followers will make it to heaven outside of a true Christian conversion. Our message will fall on deaf ears if this belief persists and grows.

3. Growing disbelief in hell. At one time, this was a view held almost exclusively by unbelievers. However, recent books by those claiming to be evangelicals have brought this discussion front and center. Those who truly have a desire to reach the unchurched have a burden to see people in the eternity of heaven, but they also desire to see them escape the wrath of an eternal hell. Denying the existence of hell undermines the urgency of placing one’s faith in Christ.

4. Busyness. Perhaps one of Satan’s most effective strategies is to get us so busy that we fail to do that which is such a high biblical priority. We can be deluded into complacency about the lostness of humanity around us. The unchurched are waiting for you to tell them about Jesus. They need to be on your to-do list. What priority do you give to reaching the lost?

5. Fear of rejection. In research on this subject, I found that only one in four unchurched persons will be resistant to faith discussions. But nearly four out of 10 of the unchurched will be receptive to your concern for their eternity, and more than one out three will simply be neutral to your attempts. Simply stated, fear of rejection is unfounded. The few people with an antagonistic attitude are not rejecting you personally; their anger is merely a reflection of something in their past. Fear of rejection is an often-used excuse by Christians for their failure to witness. And it is just that: an excuse.

6. A desire to be tolerant. The message of the Gospel, in some senses, is intolerant. The one true God insists there can be no other gods. He is a jealous God and leaves no room for other gods. In the post-modern culture of 21st century America, Christians should know the criticisms of intolerance will come. The great concern is that many Christians are unwilling to take a narrow view because they do not want to be labeled as intolerant. But Jesus never wavered in His insistence that He is the only way to the one and only true God.

7. Losing the habit of witnessing. Some Christians have been very active in sharing their faith with the lost and the unchurched. But, for a myriad of reasons, they get out of the habit, and it no longer becomes a priority. Witnessing, like prayer and Bible study, is a discipline. It is a habit to learn, to retain, and, if lost, to regain.

8. Lack of accountability. Programmatic evangelism in local churches is sometimes denigrated because it is seen as a “canned” approach to witnessing. But one of the strengths of many of these programs is that some inherent system of accountability is built into the program itself. Accountability is likely to engender more witnessing attempts to the unchurched. Attempting more evangelistic encounters creates a habit of witnessing that then increases our zeal for evangelism.

9. Failure to invite. When is the last time you invited an unchurched person to church? When is the last time you offered to take a person to church, or, at the very least, meet him or her at church? It’s a simple gesture, yet so few Christians do it.

10. We go to churches that do not reach the unchurched. We only reach one person for Christ each year for every 85 church members in the United States. That is a frightening and terrible ratio. One of the key reasons we do not reach the unchurched is that many Christians in America are members of churches that do not reach the unchurched.

I’ve covered 10 of the most common reasons Christians fail to obey the Great Commission. This list is not exhaustive, though. In God’s power, however, we can reverse this trend and reach the unchurched in America.