90 Sermon Illustrations on Outreach

There’s an old British prayer that I’ve always found rather charming: “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, good Lord deliver us.” As we move toward Halloween, I imagine that many Christians might be harboring thoughts somewhat along these lines.

Each year, on Oct. 31, children (dressed as ghoulies and ghosties and even the occasional long-leggedy beastie) tramp from house to house pestering homeowners by ringing doorbells and expecting a handout that will rot their teeth. More seriously though, the holiday itself just doesn’t seem entirely wholesome to many -- what with its occult themes and so forth. Wouldn’t it be better, some Christians ask themselves, if Halloween would just go away?

For those who perhaps sympathize with that feeling, I encourage you to look at Halloween a bit differently this year.

Yes, Halloween does indeed have a pagan background, developing out of Celtic festivals such as Samhain in the British Isles in which the spirits of the dead figured prominently. But while Oct. 31 may have a rather dubious lineage, like other formerly pagan holidays, this day has undergone a process of Christianization. As the Gospel moved into the British Isles, the ancient church recognized both the danger and the opportunity that Samhain presented. As such, early Christians took the day and reinterpreted it, instituting the feast of All Saints on Nov. 1: a day on which believers looked back to all the heroes of the faith whom had left a good example for us to follow. All Saints, sometimes called “All Hallows” (as in “hallowed” ground, meaning “holy”) was preceded by a vigil of prayer which began on the evening before All Hallows -- All Hallows Eve (as in “Christmas Eve”), the day from which we get our Halloween.

Of course, Halloween has lost much of its distinctly Christian significance. The day is now far more about eating Pop Rocks than saluting Paul, and gobbling Almond Joys than remembering Augustine. But so what? If ancient Christians could turn Oct. 31 to Christian purposes, surely we can do the same in our own time.

Consider that evangelism normally involves taking the initiative: It rests with the Christian to shake off his inertia and actually go up to someone, somewhere, and tell them about the Lord. But not on Halloween. On Halloween dozens, sometimes hundreds, of children and their parents will come to your door. They’ll extend their costumed arms and present you with a basket or bag and wait patiently until you place something inside. Now, of course, they’ll be hoping for candy, but nothing prevents us from giving them a little something extra too: the Gospel.

Each year volunteers at my church, First Baptist Church of Granada Hills in California, do just that. We set up a table on the church’s property adjacent to the sidewalk outfitted with two big bowls. One bowl is filled with candy; the other bowl is filled with children’s gospel tracts. And every child that passes by receives something from each bowl. Many of these children don’t attend church. Some of them have never even heard of Jesus. But because they came our way on Halloween, each of them will have a chance to learn the story of salvation in terms that they can understand.

It’s simple, it’s non-threatening, it builds rapport with the community, and most importantly it brings the Gospel to those who need to hear it. LifeWay offers a number of tracts that can be used, even one or two that are specifically themed for Halloween. Let’s not let this opportunity pass us by; let’s not waste another Halloween that could be dedicated to the glory of God.

Halloween can be an excellent example of what Jesus taught in Luke 11. After parrying criticism that He was merely casting out demons by the authority of the prince of demons, Jesus said, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils” (Luke 11:21-22) In this parable Satan is the strong man, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) guarding his own territory, who is overpowered by the Spirit of the Lord, the “someone stronger” (1 John 4:4). What’s so remarkable about this parable is that Christ tells us that not only are the strong man’s possessions taken from him (presumably lost souls), but that he’s stripped of even the armor he trusted in, even those things which he had hoped would allow him to retain control over his domain.

Now Christians have seen the power of God accomplish precisely this impressive feat over and over again, taking the very institutions that perpetuated the spiritual darkness of the world and redeeming them to aid in its salvation. The pagan festivals of Yule and Saturnalia with their feasting and evergreen trees were transformed into Christmas, and the springtime worship of the pagan goddess Eostre with its colored eggs and so on was transformed into Easter.

With all this in mind, let’s offer up a somewhat different prayer this year as we look out on streets filled with trick-or-treaters: From apathy for the spiritual well-being of youthful ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties, good Lord deliver us.

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Eugene Curry is pastor of First Baptist Church of Granada Hills, California.

Ten years ago, in the Turkish city of Malatya three Christians were martyred for their faith by men who pretended to be interested in the Gospel.

Tilmann Geske, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yüksel went to their office on April 18, 2007, to study the Bible with a group of five young men, some of whom they had known for several months. The young men, none of whom were older than 20, threatened the Christians, tied them up and tortured them. When another local Christian became suspicious, he called the police. As the police were arriving, the young men took the lives of the three Christians.

The youth were caught red-handed, arrested and tried for their crimes. The plot was later revealed to be part of a larger conspiracy in which powerful people had agreed to support the young men’s families if they would commit the crime.

In the days following, the press spoke to one of the widows, and she declared her forgiveness for the murderers. In Turkish culture, however, forgiveness is not a common trait -- and it certainly was unheard of that someone could forgive such an act of evil.

So the story spread, and people across Turkey were talking about it in their homes, tea houses and places of business.

Proclaiming forgiveness

This message of forgiveness is the message Christians carry wherever they carry the Gospel. All of us stand guilty before God. It is only when we accept the sacrifice of Christ’s death on the cross that we find forgiveness for our sins. When Tilmann’s widow shared her sentiment, she was simply following the teachings of Scripture: “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13, NIV).

During the 50-plus years of evangelical Christian work in the modern era of Turkey, this message of forgiveness has been proclaimed hundreds of thousands of times. Sometimes it is proclaimed through God’s Word, sometimes through preaching and prayer, but rarely has it been declared more vividly than in the sacrifice of our brothers and in the words of this widow.

Many people have heard these proclamations of truth and, currently, the evangelical church of Turkey lists its number of believers at around 6,000, a number about double from 2007, the year of the murders. When compared to a total population of between 75 million to 80 million, this number seems incredibly small. But to discount a small number is to discount the miracle of 6,000 lives changed by the Gospel.

In a country like Turkey, the entirety of society, culture and family life is predisposed against someone responding to the Gospel. When the message of forgiveness in Christ is shared with the people of Turkey, they typically find it too easy. They have been taught that God requires a complex system of balancing the good and the bad of life, without ever knowing if they can stand in honor before God. To hear that someone is offering forgiveness for free doesn’t make sense to them.

This happened when they heard this widow’s message of forgiveness. People questioned how she could say that. Some said she must not truly love her husband. What they didn’t understand was that while her family must live on, grieving their loss, Tilmann, Necati and Ugur’s eternal fates were sealed in Christ. They had been forgiven, so their physical deaths did not end in condemnation.

The message of the gospel for the people of Turkey and for people around the world is one of acquittal. People live as captives of guilt, but the message of Christ offers hope for all: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned” (John 3:17–18).

Every year on the anniversary of the murders in Malatya, the Turkish church has called Christians around the world to remember these martyrs with a Global Day of Prayer for the Church in Turkey. This month, as we look back on the past 10 years at the growth of the church in Turkey, we can celebrate the miracles of salvation and rejoice in the growth of the church and the maturity of many leaders in Christ.

At the same time, we can cry out for mercy for the millions who don’t know or understand that Christ’s righteousness can be theirs if they will only accept His message of forgiveness. Join with us in both praising the Lord for what He has done and calling on His name to act among the Turkish people in ever more mighty ways.

In the 400s a Christian monk gained fame by living on top of a pillar for 37 years. Simon Stylites, or Simon the Pillar Sitter (A.D. 390 to 459), lived in Aleppo, Syria, and was so severe in his asceticism that he moved to the top of the pillar so he could pray in peace and not be bothered by people. Thousands came to him anyway and sought his spiritual wisdom.

Corey Brooks is a modern Simon Stylite. The Southern Baptist preacher ministers in Chicago and spent 345 days perched 40 feet on top of shipping containers through weather that ranged from a wind chill of 34 degrees below zero in January to a 115 degree peak in June.

Brooks did not do it to be alone for prayer but to raise publicity for a $35 million training center for his community. He believes his poor community needs a safe place for kids to have fun and adults to learn skills for employment. Christians around the country contributed, with one donating $5 million but the majority giving much smaller amounts.

As Pastor Brooks descended on a large scissor-lift ladder on the final day, 2,000 people cheered him. $20 million has been raised so far, enough to break ground for the building. The pastor said, “The start of the building will give hope to many. Our city needs to be inspired in the midst of much violence.” True words. Two days later, on Halloween night [October 31, 2022], random shots were fired from a vehicle at an intersection in Chicago, injuring 14 people, including three children, one just 3 years old.

Like Simon, Pastor Brooks attracted many followers. CEOs of companies, pastors, and 150 kids from a summer program spent time with him on his perch to share their ideas about improving life in their city. “Our kids have nothing to care about, to believe in,” the pastor said. “They see failure everywhere. With the good faith – the hope in Jesus Christ – we can restore faith that society, neighbors, family cares about them. With that good faith we can restore the good will, that respect in our society. We simply have no other choice, or the headlines will get worse.”

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Adapted by David Holwick from the article, "Rooftop Pastor Comes Down Amid Cheers," by Karen L. Willoughby, Baptist Press, posted November 3, 2022.

Ten-year-old Mai was in the jungle near her home in Southeast Asia looking for food with her mother when a plastic bag dangling from a tree caught her eye. She quickly ran over and discovered printed Gospel material inside. Fascinated, she shared her findings with her father when she returned home. To her dismay, he told her to throw everything out.

In Mai’s country, most families follow Buddhism and worship their ancestors. There are very few Christians, especially in rural villages like Mai’s. Many are hostile to the Gospel or any faith teachings that contradict their cultural beliefs.

Mai wanted to respect her father’s wishes, so she got rid of all the material except one book. She put it under her pillow and read it over and over again in the years to come.

A couple of years later Mai’s neighbor started a church in their rural village. God was at work there – Mai not only had a neighbor who was a follower of Christ, she had a neighbor who wanted the message to spread. As a teenager, Mai started attending and learned more about the Bible. Eventually, after many years, Mai placed her trust in the Lord and became a believer. Her church helped her go to college and she became a teacher. The Good News of Christ and His faithful community forever transformed Mai’s life.

When Mai shared her testimony with Christian worker Ethan Chase, he realized that the Gospel tract she’d found so many years before had been left there by a prayer walking team he’d sent out. Because the rural villages are unreached with the Good News and are difficult to access, he often leads teams in broad seed-sowing evangelism activities, like leaving Gospel material anywhere it can be found – for example, dangling from a tree. It’s like scattering seeds in a field and trusting God to plant them.

“Other believers and I have done lots of prayer walking,” Chase said, “and really more than just walking. We’ve done prayer bicycling, kayaking and motorbiking. We must be creative to engage some of the more remote villages.”

God used that creativity to plant seeds that later bore fruit in Mai’s life. Not only is she now a believer, she also works with other Christians to help spread the Gospel.

Mai’s story is just one example Chase said he could tell about God at work in unexpected ways. After more than a decade serving overseas, he’s learned that patience and perseverance are essential. God knows and loves those like Mai in Southeast Asia’s unreached villages, and He is always moving to draw them to Himself.

Large “salvation candles” on each side of the platform are lit during Sunday morning services at New Seasons Church if someone has been led to Christ that week. If no one has been saved, the candles are dark.

“Bless God, there hasn’t been a Sunday since March when those candles haven’t been burning,” A.B. Vines, pastor of the year-old San Diego congregation, said. “I’ve told my people that if there is a Sunday when we can’t light those candles, it means we have failed the Lord and we will have to come to the altar, fall on our faces and confess our sin to God that we’ve let a week go by without bringing someone to Him.”

New Seasons Church was formed in January 2005 when Highland Park Baptist Church -– a black congregation led by Vines -– and Bancroft Baptist Church –- a white congregation led by Cal Samuels -– decided to merge.

Although there have been growing pains as the multiethnic church finds its voice, the vision of the church is clear: Most of its growth has come from conversions and people new to the community.

In a seven-mile radius around the church, the population is 42 percent Asian, 22 percent Hispanic, 18 percent white and 10 percent black; poverty, gangs, violence, drugs and alcohol are a way of life in the area, Vines said.

“What we want is for the community to see us as a refuge,” the pastor said. “We want them to look over here and see us as their church, a center of ministry and healing.”

Michael Dunn, New Seasons’ FAITH [a Southern Baptist evangelism program] director, leads the teams with a contagious enthusiasm. As the teams gather to go out, he regularly exhorts, “People, we are going to usher someone into the Kingdom tonight!”

After one evening’s visits, members of one team were bursting to give their report. “We got one!” said Kim Shropshire, the church’s youth minister. “We knocked on this lady’s door and she kept saying, ‘Just a minute, just a minute.’ So we kept praying. When she finally came to the door we went through the FAITH survey. She kept asking questions. Her little boy was coming to the door, banging on it with his sippy cup, and she’d tell him, “Just a minute, just a minute.’ Then, her brother kept coming to the door asking, ‘Jennifer, are you all right?’ and she’d say, ‘Yes, I’m all right. Just a minute!’

“So when I finally asked her if she wanted to pray to ask Christ into her life, she said, ‘Right now?’ and I told her, ‘Yes, right now, right here on your porch.’ And she did! We were all laughing and crying. We invited her to church Sunday and told her we’d meet her. We gave her the church’s phone number, our home phone numbers, our cell phone numbers, everything!”

“Hallelujah!” Vines shouted. “We’ll have those candles lit on Sunday.”

*

[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

Large “salvation candles” on each side of the platform are lit during Sunday morning services at New Seasons Church if someone has been led to Christ that week. If no one has been saved, the candles are dark.

“Bless God, there hasn’t been a Sunday since March when those candles haven’t been burning,” A.B. Vines, pastor of the year-old San Diego congregation, said. “I’ve told my people that if there is a Sunday when we can’t light those candles, it means we have failed the Lord and we will have to come to the altar, fall on our faces and confess our sin to God that we’ve let a week go by without bringing someone to Him.”

New Seasons Church was formed in January 2005 when Highland Park Baptist Church -– a black congregation led by Vines -– and Bancroft Baptist Church –- a white congregation led by Cal Samuels -– decided to merge.

Although there have been growing pains as the multiethnic church finds its voice, the vision of the church is clear: Most of its growth has come from conversions and people new to the community.

In a seven-mile radius around the church, the population is 42 percent Asian, 22 percent Hispanic, 18 percent white and 10 percent black; poverty, gangs, violence, drugs and alcohol are a way of life in the area, Vines said.

“What we want is for the community to see us as a refuge,” the pastor said. “We want them to look over here and see us as their church, a center of ministry and healing.”

Michael Dunn, New Seasons’ FAITH [a Southern Baptist evangelism program] director, leads the teams with a contagious enthusiasm. As the teams gather to go out, he regularly exhorts, “People, we are going to usher someone into the Kingdom tonight!”

After one evening’s visits, members of one team were bursting to give their report. “We got one!” said Kim Shropshire, the church’s youth minister. “We knocked on this lady’s door and she kept saying, ‘Just a minute, just a minute.’ So we kept praying. When she finally came to the door we went through the FAITH survey. She kept asking questions. Her little boy was coming to the door, banging on it with his sippy cup, and she’d tell him, “Just a minute, just a minute.’ Then, her brother kept coming to the door asking, ‘Jennifer, are you all right?’ and she’d say, ‘Yes, I’m all right. Just a minute!’

“So when I finally asked her if she wanted to pray to ask Christ into her life, she said, ‘Right now?’ and I told her, ‘Yes, right now, right here on your porch.’ And she did! We were all laughing and crying. We invited her to church Sunday and told her we’d meet her. We gave her the church’s phone number, our home phone numbers, our cell phone numbers, everything!”

“Hallelujah!” Vines shouted. “We’ll have those candles lit on Sunday.”

*

[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

Illustration: Every trip we make to one of our national parks someone in our family tries to feed a squirrel or chipmunk. In every instance the animal doesn’t trust us or any one else. Even though we leave a peanut for the animal again and again, it won’t trust us; again and again! The ingrate is never quite persuaded.

Inside, people are like these animals: wild, small, nervous, paranoid, filled with fears. But the writer of the song, “Almost Persuaded,” didn’t write it because he believed people were hopelessly lost. Rather, he wrote it because he knew it might be the next spiritual peanut which would persuade another sinner to receive what Jesus has offered - freedom from all their fears and life everlasting.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #9069]

Why do I come to church? What should I expect the local church to do for me? Should the regular services of the church be primarily for reaching the lost or for reaching the saved? Compare the two concepts below:

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The local church is primarily a SOUL-WINNING STATION.

The local church is primarily a SOUL-BUILDING STATION (Acts 20:28,32).

We rejoice at every soul that is saved through the preaching ministry of a local church, and we certainly do not want to minimize the importance of making the most of every opportunity to win a soul for Christ, but the primary purpose of the local assembly is to build up the believers in the most holy faith and to equip them for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12).

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The local church is here primarily to GET PEOPLE SAVED (Reaching them).

The local church is here primarily to GET PEOPLE TAUGHT (Teaching them). See Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:42.

If the main thrust of the local assembly is to reach the lost, then evangelism will be unduly stressed and given priority and the edification and equipping of believers will not be given its proper place. If God’s Word is properly taught, the unsaved who are in attendance will certainly hear the gospel, and the believers who need to be taught will not be neglected.

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The local church is to PREACH THE GOSPEL

(by “gospel” we mean that truth which unsaved people need to know in order to be saved, the good news of salvation).

The local church is to PREACH THE WORD (2 Tim. 4:2) which would include the gospel but which would not neglect “ALL SCRIPTURE” (2 Tim. 3:16).

If a faithful pastor is preaching through the Bible, verse by verse, book by book, he is going to be constantly pointing his listeners to Christ and to His so-great salvation. At the same time he will be feeding the saints the kind of spiritual food that will nurture them and strengthen them to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

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The local church is here primarily for EVANGELISM (Win them!).

The local church is here primarily for INDOCTRINATION (Feed them!). See John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2.

The key word here is “primarily.” We are not opposed to the gospel message going forth in the regular services of the local church, and we certainly rejoice over every sinner who repents. The problem comes when evangelism becomes the main focus and the believers do not get the spiritual nourishment that they need to be effective servants (and soul-winners!) for Christ throughout the week.

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BRING THE UNSAVED TO THE GOSPEL.

BRING THE GOSPEL TO THE UNSAVED (Mark 16:15; 2 Cor. 5:20).

God does NOT say, “Go into all the world and invite everyone to come to church.” We are not to bring them to the gospel but we are to bring the gospel to them. All believers are to be gospel preachers, not just the pastor on Sunday morning or Sunday evening. Our gospel emphasis should be every day of the week, as we go into the world seeking the lost to win. But the hours that we spend with God’s people should be rich times of being built up in the Word of God so that we can be more effective witnesses for Christ at work, at home or at school.

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The regular services of the local church have a ministry primarily for SINNERS.

The regular services of the local church have a ministry primarily for SAINTS (Eph. 4:12; Col. 1:28).

Again the key word is “primarily.” We are certainly glad if unsaved people can come into a local church and find it a place that ministers to their spiritual needs, especially their greatest need which is salvation from sin. But the primary purpose of the local assembly is to proclaim the whole counsel of God so that believers are well-equipped to go forth and do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12).

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Primary goal of the local church: THAT PEOPLE MIGHT BE SAVED! (Salvation is the final goal)

Primary goal of the local church: THAT SAVED PEOPLE MIGHT BE CHRIST-LIKE!

(Salvation is just the first step) Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13-15

Again, we are certainly not opposed to people being saved in church, but we are grieved when God’s people are undernourished, spiritually sick, and ineffective witnesses for Christ. A church that is faithfully teaching the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, will not neglect the lost who come through the doors. What happens when an unbeliever comes into a soul-building station where believers are being edified and where God’s Word is being rightly taught?

See 1 Corinthians 14:24-25.

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The Pastor should PREACH SALVATION MESSAGES (John 3:16, etc.).

The Pastor should PREACH THE ENTIRE BIBLE from Genesis to Revelation (Acts 20:27; Matt. 28:20; 2 Tim. 3:16).

It is impossible to preach through the Bible systematically and not touch upon the gospel repeatedly. There is a scarlet cord that runs throughout the Scriptures. But there are also rich gems of truth that believers need to hear and understand. John 3:16 is one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible, but a steady diet of John 3:16 type messages is not what a hungry believer needs. If we aim the Sword only at the unsaved, then we are going to fail to meet the spiritual needs of God’s flock (John 21:15-17).

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The Pastor should give the people INFORMATION ON HOW TO BE SAVED. (How to become a Christian)

The Pastor should give the people INFORMATION ON HOW TO LIVE. (How to be a Christian) See 2 Tim. 3:17

Believers need to be well-versed on how to be saved and how to have full assurance of salvation based on God’s Word. But salvation is only the beginning. It is but the first step of a life-long process of growing to be more like Christ (2 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 3:18). What would we think of a person who is admitted into medical school but receives no further medical training because all the medical school cares about is getting more and more people admitted into their school? I would not want to be a patient in the hospital staffed by such people! The prospective doctor needs to receive the best training possible so that he might be able to treat people properly and save lives. So also the pastor’s job is to give the saints the best possible training from the Word so that they might be able to minister effectively and represent Christ rightly in the world, bringing others to the Saviour.

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THE PASTOR DOES THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY.

THE SAINTS DO THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY (Eph. 4:12).

In most churches today the pastor bears the great bulk of the ministry load along with perhaps a few others. The great majority are content to sit in the pews, hear a nice message and perhaps come back on the following Sunday. The genius of New Testament Christianity was that the saints (the believers) were to be fully equipped and well-trained to go forth every day of the week and do the work of the ministry. Instead of one man or a few people trying to bear the burden, God’s intent was to have a whole army of believers going forth trained and well-equipped to serve the Lord at work, at school, at home, in town or in the local neighborhoods.

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THE PASTOR IS THE MINISTER.

ALL ARE MINISTERS (Eph. 4:12).

In so many churches the preacher is called “the minister,” and sadly this title itself reflects the wrong concept. The pastor is certainly a servant of Christ, but he is but one of many. His special assignment is to train and equip a whole group of believers to be faithful servants of Christ, and this would include being faithful heralds of the good news.

If someone were to ask, “Who is the minister of this church?” an appropriate answer would be, “There are about 200 (depending on the size of the congregation) ministers in this church. Which one would you like to speak to?” God’s people need to understand that the Saviour desires everyone of us to be His faithful servants.

On the other hand, the pastor has a very special ministry. He is able to devote himself continually to the ministry of prayer and the Word of God (Acts 6:4; 1 Tim. 4:15-16). The believers under his ministry ought to be good students of the Word also, but because they hold full time jobs and are full time homemakers, etc., the time they spend in the Word is limited by such constraints. The pastor has the time and needs to make the time for intensive study of the Word so that he might be able to equip the believers unto every good work. One of the great problems of our day is that Bible believing pastors do not study the Word as they should, and part of the reason for this is that all during the week they are running around doing many of the things that well-fed and well-taught saints ought to be doing.

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THE PASTOR IS IN FULL TIME CHRISTIAN SERVICE.

EVERY BELIEVER IS IN FULL TIME CHRISTIAN SERVICE (1 Cor. 6:19-20; Col. 3:22-25).

Every believer needs to realize that he is in full time Christian service whether he gets monetary benefits or not. You may be a doctor or a lawyer or a plumber or an insurance agent or a homemaker or whatever, but your CHIEF VOCATION is that you are a servant of the most high God and you are to walk worthy of your high, holy and heavenly calling (Eph. 4:1). Never forget what your main job really is. And if it really is your main job, do you not need to be fully equipped and fully trained for it? This is the purpose of the local assembly of believers according to God’s blueprint in Ephesians 4:11-16.

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THE PASTOR IS THE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL.

EVERY BELIEVER IS A PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL (2 Cor. 5:20; Mark 16:15).

The pastor certainly has wonderful opportunities to proclaim the good news of Christ, not only in the regular services of the church, but also on other special occasions (funerals, weddings, etc.). As the pastor faithfully preaches and teaches through the Bible he is going to repeatedly exalt the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and point to the wonderful salvation that He alone died to provide. But there is also a gospel responsibility given to every blood-bought child of God. Remember, your pastor cannot readily get into the factory or the hospital or the insurance company or the school or the place of business where you work 40 hours a week or more. However God has placed you there to be His witness, by life and by lips (Acts 1:8). Also keep in mind that you don’t have to be a pastor to hand out tracts or to do hospital visitation or to lead a nursing home service or to conduct a neighborhood evangelistic Bible study or to teach a Bible club for children, or to go on door to door visitation, etc. May God guide each of us to know where and how we may most effectively serve Him.

Ephesians 4:11-12 -- The ascended Lord Jesus Christ gave certain gifted men to His church, including pastor-teachers (Eph. 4:11).

The following may help you understand what Ephesians 4:12 is really saying:

WHY WERE THESE GIFTED MEN GIVEN TO THE CHURCH?

For the purpose of (Greek–PROS, with a view towards) perfecting (equipping, training) the saints

[What are the saints equipped for?]

1. FOR (GREEK: EIS) THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY [SERVING CHRIST EVERY DAY (including evangelism)]

2. FOR (GREEK: EIS) THE EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST [BUILDING UP FELLOW BELIEVERS!]

INTERPRETIVE PARAPHRASE: The Pastor-teacher is to equip and train the saints (through a program of total indoctrination involving the whole counsel of God from Genesis to Revelation) so that the saints will go forth throughout the week serving Christ, making known His gospel and building up fellow believers.

THE PURPOSE FOR THE ASSEMBLING OF THE SAINTS

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)

The saints assemble together in order to be equipped (perfected) for the work of the ministry. This is the genius of apostolic Christianity, but it is rarely taking place in the churches today. God’s purpose is to train and equip His people by way of His gifted men (“pastor/teachers” etc.). When believers are well-fed and well-taught in the whole counsel of God, then the body (the local assembly) will be healthy, the LIFE of Christ will be manifested, and God will be glorified.

We certainly thank God for every sinner who attends a local assembly of believers, hears the gospel message and receives Christ as his personal Saviour. The main purpose of the local assembly, however, is for the saints, not for sinners. The local assembly, according to God’s pattern, is to be primarily an edification center (1 Cor. 14:26), not an evangelistic center; a soul-building station (Acts 20:28,32), not a soul-winning station. Of course, if the whole counsel of God is preached and if the Bible is faithfully taught then the cross of Christ, the grace of God, justification and God’s so-great salvation would be themes heard repeatedly. How can you preach the Word and not preach the gospel? On the other hand, it is possible to preach the gospel in such a way that fails to provide proper nourishment for the saints. Believers need more than a steady diet of “John 3:16 messages.”

Interestingly enough, the cults do not establish evangelistic centers. Rather they establish edificational centers to train their people to go out and do the work of the ministry. The people are immersed in a program of total indoctrination. The average Jehovah’s Witness, for example, is ready always to give an answer to every man that asks him a reason of the FALSE hope that is within him. The average Bible believer is horribly ignorant of God’s truth. The devil knows which system really works. The cults do not lack for converts.

What do unbelievers notice as they come into local churches today? Do they see a healthy organism? Do they see well-fed members? Do they see “Christ in you”? Are they convicted by the awesome Presence and Person of God (1 Cor. 14:24-25)? The greatest need today is for a lost world to see the Lord Jesus Christ manifesting Himself in and through a healthy assembly of believers. The world needs to see Christ-like believers who understand and practice God’s Word. When God’s people are fully equipped for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-16), they certainly will not be lax in gospel outreach, nor allow mission programs to suffer. When a church makes its priority edification, then true evangelism cannot help but be enhanced, as is well illustrated in 1 Corinthians 14:24-25.

“The local church is for the glory of God. On earth each

congregation is to function as a body that evidences the power

and indwelling of the life of God. Each one is to be seen as a

manifestation of Christ in its locality, living the truth as well

as preaching it. The bulk of instruction and exhortations in

Acts and the Epistles has to do with holiness and honorable

interpersonal relationships in the local church (1 Cor. 11:27).

Each congregation is to see itself as a “body,” and organism, and

not merely as an organization....Unless this is understood and

made paramount in the thinking of leaders and members, the local

church will fail as a witness. But when this truth is embraced

by faith unto edification, the community round about will see a

witness. The unsaved who attend its services will come under the

conviction of sin (1 Cor. 14:25), and the members will be fed,

empowered, and equipped to properly represent Jesus Christ in

their daily pursuits (2 Cor. 3:3; Phil. 2:15)....The redeemed —

together as the Lord’s assembly — constitute an organism to be

treasured. Each believer should be helped to see what the local

assembly means to Christ and should become most appreciative of

the precious privilege of being part of the local testimony.”

(Carlton Helgerson, THE LOCAL CHURCH)

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #16734]

Sermon in Colossians series. Colossians 4:2-6

SEASONED TO PERFECTION

======================

I. Why "outreach" is in our budget.

II. Talking to God about people.

A. Evangelism must be undergirded with prayer.

B. Pray for outreach. 4:3

C. Doors are open today.

III. Talking to people about God.

A. We have responsibility to speak to others about Jesus.

B. Direct evangelism.

C. Responsive evangelism.

IV. How to answer effectively.

A. Conduct yourself wisely. 4:5

B. Make most of opportunities in time available.

C. Always be gracious. 4:6

D. The heart can speak louder than the mind.

I'm often asked, “How can a service be both a worship service and seeker-friendly?”

At Saddleback we believe you can have both without compromising either.

When we speak of worship, we are talking about something only believers can do. Worship is from believers to God. We magnify God’s name in worship by expressing our love and commitment to Him. Unbelievers simply cannot do this.

Here is the simple definition of worship that we operate on at Saddleback:

“Worship is expressing our love to God for who He is,

what He’s said, and what He’s doing.”

We believe there are many appropriate ways to express our love to God: by praying, singing, obeying, trusting, giving, testifying, listening, and responding to His Word, thanking and many other expressions.

God -- not man -- is the focus and center of our worship.

• God is the consumer of worship.

Although unbelievers cannot truly worship, they can watch believers worship. They can observe the joy that we feel. They can see how we value God’s Word and how we respond to it. They can hear how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life. They can notice how worship encourages, strengthens and changes us. They can sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, although they won’t be able to explain it.

When unbelievers watch genuine worship, it becomes a powerful witness. In Acts 2 -- on the day of Pentecost -- God’s presence was so evident in the disciples’ worship service that it attracted the attention of unbelievers throughout the entire city!

Acts 2:6 says, “...a crowd came together....” We know it was a big crowd because 3,000 people were saved that day.

Why were those 3,000 people converted? Because they felt God’s presence and they understood the message.

I believe both of these elements are essential for worship to be a witness.

God’s presence must be sensed in the service. More people are won to Christ by feeling God’s presence than by all of our apologetic arguments combined.

Few people, if any, are converted to Christ on purely intellectual grounds. It is the sense of God’s presence that melts hearts and explodes mental barriers. Worship without this yields few evangelistic results.

I believe there is an intimate connection between worship and evangelism.

In the first place, the goal of evangelism is to produces worshipers of God. The Bible tells us that “the Father seeks worshipers” (John 4:23). When we recruit worshipers, that’s called evangelism.

On the other hand, worship provides the motivation for evangelism. It produces a desire in us to tell others about Christ. The result of Isaiah’s powerful worship experience (Isaiah 6:1-8) was Isaiah saying, “Here am I, send me!” True worship causes us to witness.

In genuine worship God’s presence is felt, God’s pardon is offered, God’s purposes are revealed and God’s power is displayed. That sounds to me like an ideal context for evangelism! I’ve noticed that when unbelievers watch believers relate to God in an intelligent, sincere manner it creates a desire to know God, too.

• Worship with sensitivity

Because genuine worship can have such a profound impact on unbelievers, we need to be very sensitive to their fears, hang-ups and needs when they are present in our worship services.

This is the principle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 14:23. Paul commanded that tongues be limited in public worship.

His reasoning? Speaking in tongues seems like foolishness to unbelievers. Paul didn’t say tongues were foolish but only that they appear foolish to unbelievers.

“So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?” (1 Corinthians 14:23).

I believe there is a larger principle behind this advice to the Corinthian church. The point Paul is making is that we must be willing to adjust our worship practices when unbelievers are present. God tells us to be sensitive to the hang-ups of unbelievers in our services. Being seeker-sensitive in our worship is a biblical command. I didn’t think up this concept; Paul did!

• Making worship understandable

Making a service “comfortable” for the unchurched doesn’t mean changing your theology. It means changing the environment of the service -- such as changing the way you greet visitors, the style of music you use, the Bible translation you preach from and the kind of announcements you make in the service.

The message is not always comfortable. In fact, sometimes God’s truth is very uncomfortable! Still we must teach “the whole counsel of God.” Being seeker-sensitive does not limit what you say but it will affect how you say it.

We must make both the worship and the message understandable.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit miraculously translated the message into words each person understood. The crowd of unbelievers said, “We hear them speaking in our own languages the magnificent acts of God” Acts 2:11.

This caused them to be converted. Even though God’s presence was evident in the service, they wouldn’t have known what to do if they hadn’t been able to understand the message.

The unchurched are not asking for a watered-down message. The unchurched expect to hear the Bible when they come to church. They just want to hear how it relates to their lives. They can handle a clear, biblical message when it is delivered in terms they understand and in a tone that shows you respect and care about them. They are looking for solutions, not a scolding.

A clear message coupled with genuine worship will not only attract unbelievers, it will open their hearts to the power of the Gospel. As they feel God’s presence and understand the message they will walk away changed.

Worship, then, becomes much more than seeker-friendly. It becomes a source of joy to our God.

Thirty years ago I began my first pastorate. It was a dying church -- dead really. Today we would call it a “legacy church plant.”

There were 10 people who attended our first Sunday, all but one retired, with the one being a teenage boy. I’m not sure why the boy was there, except that he lived on the other side of the cemetery. The cemetery, the church and a small school building, long since closed, bordered each other. The Thurmond family gave the property for these three entities in the 1890s, each deemed important for a community in those days.

My wife Paula and I served that church for three and a half formative years, formative for us and for that church and community. I soon learned that the former pastor recommended that the church disband and give the building to the local Baptist association. He had reasoned this was their best option since they hadn’t baptized anyone in four years, only had a Sunday morning worship service with few attendees, and little prospect of seeing things turn around. The few attendees, most of whom had lived there all their lives, considered his suggestion but decided to give it “one more try,” which meant giving one more seminary student an opportunity to “learn on them.”

We moved into the parsonage, which hadn’t been lived in for a few years. They tried to get it ready for us, but they hadn’t killed the scorpions, which we killed by the dozens. Then there were the skunks under the house. I would sit up at night, with a light shining into the yard, waiting for the skunks to come out. I shot them once they got far enough from the house that they couldn’t get back before they died. The house wasn’t much, but it was rent-free, and that was most of our pay, so we were grateful to have it.

We had no neighbors, except cattle and the cemetery. And we had fireflies, hundreds of them that spring. One night I caught a couple dozen in a mason jar and released them into our bedroom. I must say, it was quite romantic having those fireflies lighting up our room. But they all died so I only did that one time.

When I think back on those days, I am grateful that we came from a church that taught us how to share the Gospel and believed you had to take the Gospel to the people, not wait for them to come to you. So that’s what we did. We began to visit the homes in that rural area, and a few more people started coming. The real breakthrough came that summer when Curtis Aydelotte gave his life to Christ.

I went to Curtis’ house and visited with his wife Kandy. She said that she would be at church with her kids but her husband wouldn’t because “he doesn’t go to church.” But the next day there he was. Within a month he received Christ and became the first person baptized in that church in four years. Curtis was 47 years old. He later told me that when I came to his house he was sick in bed with a migraine, but he could see me out the window. When his wife told him I was a preacher, he said, “Huh, a preacher who wears blue jeans. I think I’ll try that church.” That was 30 years ago and Curtis and Kandy are still serving Christ in their senior years.

Others soon came to know Christ. Families were transformed. The church grew. We never became large, but that church is still there today. The 10 there when we arrived are all dead, save the one boy, but the church remains.

A fellow seminary student asked me, “How do you get motivated to preach to so few people?” That was an odd question to me. Motivation was not a problem. For one thing, I was visiting people throughout the week, sharing Christ with them and inviting them to church. If they came and I wasn’t prepared for them, that would be a tragedy. Moreover, every individual who came needed and deserved to hear a well-prepared message from God’s Word just as much as the attender of a megachurch did.

A further motivation for me, I must admit, was that I was learning how to preach and how to pastor God’s people. These both required hard work. I was young and knew that I wouldn’t be at that church forever. But if I did not serve them well, why should God give me any other ministry? Besides, this was what God called me to, and I was having a lot of fun.

We saw a “little revival” in that church and community. It came as the pastor, and then the church, began to share Christ with others. It came as our little church gained confidence that God was at work and that they could invite people to attend with the confidence that God could use us to bring eternal life to others. Within two years, God even used our church to start another church about seven miles away. We were the first church to start a church in that association in about 10 years. That served to motivate other churches, much bigger churches, to do the same.

Those years at Fairview Baptist Church were good years. We learned a lot, and we saw God do a good work. If your church needs revival, share the Gospel on a regular basis and lead your church to do the same. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God to save a person from sin, and nothing revives a church like God’s people getting right with Him and then sharing the Gospel with others.

Several years ago I saw Curtis Aydelotte at a funeral. He told me that recently he had crashed his motorcycle and was sliding down the road, certain he would die. “It was amazing because I wasn’t afraid. I was sliding down the road and I knew I would be with God,” he said. “That’s the thought that hit my brain. I knew I’d be with God -- and I wasn’t afraid.” Then he said, “I thought you’d like to know that.”

Curtis was right. I did like hearing that. It demonstrated that the Jesus he had come to know decades before, through the ministry of a little reviving church, is powerful, and His salvation is eternal.

________

Randy Adams is executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention. This column first appeared at his website, https://randyadams.org.

There’s an old British prayer that I’ve always found rather charming: “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, good Lord deliver us.” As we move toward Halloween, I imagine that many Christians might be harboring thoughts somewhat along these lines.

Each year, on Oct. 31, children (dressed as ghoulies and ghosties and even the occasional long-leggedy beastie) tramp from house to house pestering homeowners by ringing doorbells and expecting a handout that will rot their teeth. More seriously though, the holiday itself just doesn’t seem entirely wholesome to many -- what with its occult themes and so forth. Wouldn’t it be better, some Christians ask themselves, if Halloween would just go away?

For those who perhaps sympathize with that feeling, I encourage you to look at Halloween a bit differently this year.

Yes, Halloween does indeed have a pagan background, developing out of Celtic festivals such as Samhain in the British Isles in which the spirits of the dead figured prominently. But while Oct. 31 may have a rather dubious lineage, like other formerly pagan holidays, this day has undergone a process of Christianization. As the Gospel moved into the British Isles, the ancient church recognized both the danger and the opportunity that Samhain presented. As such, early Christians took the day and reinterpreted it, instituting the feast of All Saints on Nov. 1: a day on which believers looked back to all the heroes of the faith whom had left a good example for us to follow. All Saints, sometimes called “All Hallows” (as in “hallowed” ground, meaning “holy”) was preceded by a vigil of prayer which began on the evening before All Hallows -- All Hallows Eve (as in “Christmas Eve”), the day from which we get our Halloween.

Of course, Halloween has lost much of its distinctly Christian significance. The day is now far more about eating Pop Rocks than saluting Paul, and gobbling Almond Joys than remembering Augustine. But so what? If ancient Christians could turn Oct. 31 to Christian purposes, surely we can do the same in our own time.

Consider that evangelism normally involves taking the initiative: It rests with the Christian to shake off his inertia and actually go up to someone, somewhere, and tell them about the Lord. But not on Halloween. On Halloween dozens, sometimes hundreds, of children and their parents will come to your door. They’ll extend their costumed arms and present you with a basket or bag and wait patiently until you place something inside. Now, of course, they’ll be hoping for candy, but nothing prevents us from giving them a little something extra too: the Gospel.

Each year volunteers at my church, First Baptist Church of Granada Hills in California, do just that. We set up a table on the church’s property adjacent to the sidewalk outfitted with two big bowls. One bowl is filled with candy; the other bowl is filled with children’s gospel tracts. And every child that passes by receives something from each bowl. Many of these children don’t attend church. Some of them have never even heard of Jesus. But because they came our way on Halloween, each of them will have a chance to learn the story of salvation in terms that they can understand.

It’s simple, it’s non-threatening, it builds rapport with the community, and most importantly it brings the Gospel to those who need to hear it. LifeWay offers a number of tracts that can be used, even one or two that are specifically themed for Halloween. Let’s not let this opportunity pass us by; let’s not waste another Halloween that could be dedicated to the glory of God.

Halloween can be an excellent example of what Jesus taught in Luke 11. After parrying criticism that He was merely casting out demons by the authority of the prince of demons, Jesus said, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils” (Luke 11:21-22) In this parable Satan is the strong man, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) guarding his own territory, who is overpowered by the Spirit of the Lord, the “someone stronger” (1 John 4:4). What’s so remarkable about this parable is that Christ tells us that not only are the strong man’s possessions taken from him (presumably lost souls), but that he’s stripped of even the armor he trusted in, even those things which he had hoped would allow him to retain control over his domain.

Now Christians have seen the power of God accomplish precisely this impressive feat over and over again, taking the very institutions that perpetuated the spiritual darkness of the world and redeeming them to aid in its salvation. The pagan festivals of Yule and Saturnalia with their feasting and evergreen trees were transformed into Christmas, and the springtime worship of the pagan goddess Eostre with its colored eggs and so on was transformed into Easter.

With all this in mind, let’s offer up a somewhat different prayer this year as we look out on streets filled with trick-or-treaters: From apathy for the spiritual well-being of youthful ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties, good Lord deliver us.

________

Eugene Curry is pastor of First Baptist Church of Granada Hills, California.

Ten-year-old Mai was in the jungle near her home in Southeast Asia looking for food with her mother when a plastic bag dangling from a tree caught her eye. She quickly ran over and discovered printed Gospel material inside. Fascinated, she shared her findings with her father when she returned home. To her dismay, he told her to throw everything out.

In Mai’s country, most families follow Buddhism and worship their ancestors. There are very few Christians, especially in rural villages like Mai’s. Many are hostile to the Gospel or any faith teachings that contradict their cultural beliefs.

Mai wanted to respect her father’s wishes, so she got rid of all the material except one book. She put it under her pillow and read it over and over again in the years to come.

A couple of years later Mai’s neighbor started a church in their rural village. God was at work there – Mai not only had a neighbor who was a follower of Christ, she had a neighbor who wanted the message to spread. As a teenager, Mai started attending and learned more about the Bible. Eventually, after many years, Mai placed her trust in the Lord and became a believer. Her church helped her go to college and she became a teacher. The Good News of Christ and His faithful community forever transformed Mai’s life.

When Mai shared her testimony with Christian worker Ethan Chase, he realized that the Gospel tract she’d found so many years before had been left there by a prayer walking team he’d sent out. Because the rural villages are unreached with the Good News and are difficult to access, he often leads teams in broad seed-sowing evangelism activities, like leaving Gospel material anywhere it can be found – for example, dangling from a tree. It’s like scattering seeds in a field and trusting God to plant them.

“Other believers and I have done lots of prayer walking,” Chase said, “and really more than just walking. We’ve done prayer bicycling, kayaking and motorbiking. We must be creative to engage some of the more remote villages.”

God used that creativity to plant seeds that later bore fruit in Mai’s life. Not only is she now a believer, she also works with other Christians to help spread the Gospel.

Mai’s story is just one example Chase said he could tell about God at work in unexpected ways. After more than a decade serving overseas, he’s learned that patience and perseverance are essential. God knows and loves those like Mai in Southeast Asia’s unreached villages, and He is always moving to draw them to Himself.

Let’s suppose that your boss is not a believer and you are personally assigned to tell him or her about God. This is not an imaginary story; it’s a fact. God has commissioned every believer (that’s you) to share His plan of salvation with those who don’t know Him. Sharing Jesus with others is really much easier than you may think. Lost people are often more anxious to hear God’s Good News than we are to tell it. Begin today by taking this simple three-question quiz.

Question #1: In your normal pattern of life, where do you mingle with non-Christian people?

Think hard. The answer could describe the focus of your personal mission field.

Is it around the water cooler at work? At your tennis match? In your neighborhood or favorite coffee shop or gym? At your cancer treatment center? At your children’s ballgames or on the playground? As a volunteer in a local nursing home or in Southern Baptist Disaster Relief? Maybe it’s in a professional organization or community group.

As you live among unbelievers, be sure to “make the most of every opportunity” (see Colossians 4:3b).

God has strategically placed you in every circumstance of life. “But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me” (Matthew 10:18b). If you’re a lawyer, you’re a lawyer for Jesus. If you’re a commuter, you’re with a busload of people who may need Jesus. Whatever you do, “do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:23).

Remember that the first word of the Great Commission is “go.” If you truly don’t ever have contact with unbelievers, perhaps it’s time to take a class, join a club or meet your neighbors.

Question #2. As a Christian, can you express some ways God has impacted your life this week?

It’s one of the most effective ways to share Jesus -- just tell your personal story. In everyday conversations, give God the glory for blessings and tell about how He helps you through difficult circumstances. As you live for God and tell stories about how God works in your life, “many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:3b). Now that’s an exciting Scripture.

Consistently share your personal daily God-stories. Pray for listeners. Tell them more about God. Invite them to church. Introduce them to their Savior. “But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done” (Psalm 75:9a). Your story is effective.

Question #3. Will you count it a privilege to share Jesus with others?

Jesus has commissioned every believer to intentionally tell others about God’s salvation plan. “Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you” (2 Timothy 4:5).

Sharing about Jesus is not a punishment; it’s an enormous joy and privilege. You are God’s representative! “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20a). The apostle Paul said, “Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).

You can do this. Today, look at the mission field around you. Tell your personal God-story. Treasure the privilege of representing God to those who don’t yet know Him. God has entrusted you, His follower, to share His salvation plan, to tell others about your Savior.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #13125]

Definition of Servant Evangelism:

"People often ask me to explain servant evangelism in a nutshell. I'm not very good at putting anything in a nutshell, but this is the definition we use at out church: demonstrating the kindness of God by offering to do some act of humble service with no strings attached."

-- Steve Sjogren, "Conspiracy of Kindness" PP. 17-18.

"Servant Evangelism = deeds of love + words of love + adequate time"

Deeds of Love: "God's love must be communicated from person to person, not just page to person … Deeds of love allow us to sneak into the hearts of those we serve."

Words of Love: "Deeds of kindness get people's attention and often cause them to ask us questions … When we do speak we must be sensitive to the level of receptivity of each person and explain the words of God's love in whatever way the hearer can understand … If we don't follow our actions with words, they will only know that we are nice people, not that God loves them."

Adequate Time: "We need to allow time for deeds and words of love to have their effect on the hearts of people. If we are allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in His way and in His timing, we must not demand instantaneous results."

________

Steve Sjogren, "Conspiracy of Kindness" pp. 22-23

Evangelism never was meant to be done in isolation. It should be a team sport. Everyone who shares the Gospel needs a community of faith surrounding them that also is committed to sharing the Gospel and to supporting those individuals who do. Most Baptist churches say they are evangelistic, but the evidence indicates otherwise. In a recent study, 53 percent of pastors said they did not share Christ with anyone in the previous six months. In 2004, 55 percent of Southern Baptist churches did not baptize even one youth.

I am afraid that many of our churches have become internalized. Everything revolves around the needs of those who already are there. And that is very bad news if we don’t change it. Those we lead to Christ must have a church to go to that will help them to take the good news to someone else.

What about your church? Is it really evangelistic? Is it a mission force to your community and beyond? Is your church an authentic community of faith designed to come beside you to support you in your evangelistic mission?

I like Top Ten lists. I developed one that you might want to give to your pastor or use in teaching. I call these the “Top Ten Signs that Your Church is not Really Evangelistic.”

10. There is better attendance at a controversial business meeting than at any evangelism training the church has ever done.

9. The student ministry has the best concerts and trips in town but no one can remember the last time they went witnessing.

8. The senior adult group has enough energy for bus trips to Branson but not to go witness at the local nursing home.

7. It wouldn’t do much good for the pastor to preach an evangelistic message because all the people in the service on Sunday already are believers.

6. The average church member would have trouble naming five friends who are unchurched.

5. Most members get more upset about the music they don’t like than about the fact that people are going to hell.

4. There might be money in the budget somewhere that actually is devoted to reaching those not already members, but no one is quite sure where to find it.

3. The small groups and Sunday School classes are very concerned about “going deeper in the Word” although no one can remember the last time an unbeliever actually came to their group.

2. If the church was to disappear today, the average lost person in the community would not notice.

1. If the pastor does not visit in the hospital for six months he will be fired, but if he does not share Christ for six months no one will care.

If you find your church has too many of these signs, maybe it is time to pray. Maybe it is time to repent. Maybe it is time for a serious decision about whether you really are going to be a church or just a religious club. And most of all, maybe it is time to unify around the mission that really matters, and together, make evangelism good news again.

There’s an old British prayer that I’ve always found rather charming: “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, good Lord deliver us.” As we move toward Halloween, I imagine that many Christians might be harboring thoughts somewhat along these lines.

Each year, on Oct. 31, children (dressed as ghoulies and ghosties and even the occasional long-leggedy beastie) tramp from house to house pestering homeowners by ringing doorbells and expecting a handout that will rot their teeth. More seriously though, the holiday itself just doesn’t seem entirely wholesome to many -- what with its occult themes and so forth. Wouldn’t it be better, some Christians ask themselves, if Halloween would just go away?

For those who perhaps sympathize with that feeling, I encourage you to look at Halloween a bit differently this year.

Yes, Halloween does indeed have a pagan background, developing out of Celtic festivals such as Samhain in the British Isles in which the spirits of the dead figured prominently. But while Oct. 31 may have a rather dubious lineage, like other formerly pagan holidays, this day has undergone a process of Christianization. As the Gospel moved into the British Isles, the ancient church recognized both the danger and the opportunity that Samhain presented. As such, early Christians took the day and reinterpreted it, instituting the feast of All Saints on Nov. 1: a day on which believers looked back to all the heroes of the faith whom had left a good example for us to follow. All Saints, sometimes called “All Hallows” (as in “hallowed” ground, meaning “holy”) was preceded by a vigil of prayer which began on the evening before All Hallows -- All Hallows Eve (as in “Christmas Eve”), the day from which we get our Halloween.

Of course, Halloween has lost much of its distinctly Christian significance. The day is now far more about eating Pop Rocks than saluting Paul, and gobbling Almond Joys than remembering Augustine. But so what? If ancient Christians could turn Oct. 31 to Christian purposes, surely we can do the same in our own time.

Consider that evangelism normally involves taking the initiative: It rests with the Christian to shake off his inertia and actually go up to someone, somewhere, and tell them about the Lord. But not on Halloween. On Halloween dozens, sometimes hundreds, of children and their parents will come to your door. They’ll extend their costumed arms and present you with a basket or bag and wait patiently until you place something inside. Now, of course, they’ll be hoping for candy, but nothing prevents us from giving them a little something extra too: the Gospel.

Each year volunteers at my church, First Baptist Church of Granada Hills in California, do just that. We set up a table on the church’s property adjacent to the sidewalk outfitted with two big bowls. One bowl is filled with candy; the other bowl is filled with children’s gospel tracts. And every child that passes by receives something from each bowl. Many of these children don’t attend church. Some of them have never even heard of Jesus. But because they came our way on Halloween, each of them will have a chance to learn the story of salvation in terms that they can understand.

It’s simple, it’s non-threatening, it builds rapport with the community, and most importantly it brings the Gospel to those who need to hear it. LifeWay offers a number of tracts that can be used, even one or two that are specifically themed for Halloween. Let’s not let this opportunity pass us by; let’s not waste another Halloween that could be dedicated to the glory of God.

Halloween can be an excellent example of what Jesus taught in Luke 11. After parrying criticism that He was merely casting out demons by the authority of the prince of demons, Jesus said, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils” (Luke 11:21-22) In this parable Satan is the strong man, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) guarding his own territory, who is overpowered by the Spirit of the Lord, the “someone stronger” (1 John 4:4). What’s so remarkable about this parable is that Christ tells us that not only are the strong man’s possessions taken from him (presumably lost souls), but that he’s stripped of even the armor he trusted in, even those things which he had hoped would allow him to retain control over his domain.

Now Christians have seen the power of God accomplish precisely this impressive feat over and over again, taking the very institutions that perpetuated the spiritual darkness of the world and redeeming them to aid in its salvation. The pagan festivals of Yule and Saturnalia with their feasting and evergreen trees were transformed into Christmas, and the springtime worship of the pagan goddess Eostre with its colored eggs and so on was transformed into Easter.

With all this in mind, let’s offer up a somewhat different prayer this year as we look out on streets filled with trick-or-treaters: From apathy for the spiritual well-being of youthful ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties, good Lord deliver us.

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Eugene Curry is pastor of First Baptist Church of Granada Hills, California.

I'm often asked, “How can a service be both a worship service and seeker-friendly?”

At Saddleback we believe you can have both without compromising either.

When we speak of worship, we are talking about something only believers can do. Worship is from believers to God. We magnify God’s name in worship by expressing our love and commitment to Him. Unbelievers simply cannot do this.

Here is the simple definition of worship that we operate on at Saddleback:

“Worship is expressing our love to God for who He is,

what He’s said, and what He’s doing.”

We believe there are many appropriate ways to express our love to God: by praying, singing, obeying, trusting, giving, testifying, listening, and responding to His Word, thanking and many other expressions.

God -- not man -- is the focus and center of our worship.

• God is the consumer of worship.

Although unbelievers cannot truly worship, they can watch believers worship. They can observe the joy that we feel. They can see how we value God’s Word and how we respond to it. They can hear how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life. They can notice how worship encourages, strengthens and changes us. They can sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, although they won’t be able to explain it.

When unbelievers watch genuine worship, it becomes a powerful witness. In Acts 2 -- on the day of Pentecost -- God’s presence was so evident in the disciples’ worship service that it attracted the attention of unbelievers throughout the entire city!

Acts 2:6 says, “...a crowd came together....” We know it was a big crowd because 3,000 people were saved that day.

Why were those 3,000 people converted? Because they felt God’s presence and they understood the message.

I believe both of these elements are essential for worship to be a witness.

God’s presence must be sensed in the service. More people are won to Christ by feeling God’s presence than by all of our apologetic arguments combined.

Few people, if any, are converted to Christ on purely intellectual grounds. It is the sense of God’s presence that melts hearts and explodes mental barriers. Worship without this yields few evangelistic results.

I believe there is an intimate connection between worship and evangelism.

In the first place, the goal of evangelism is to produces worshipers of God. The Bible tells us that “the Father seeks worshipers” (John 4:23). When we recruit worshipers, that’s called evangelism.

On the other hand, worship provides the motivation for evangelism. It produces a desire in us to tell others about Christ. The result of Isaiah’s powerful worship experience (Isaiah 6:1-8) was Isaiah saying, “Here am I, send me!” True worship causes us to witness.

In genuine worship God’s presence is felt, God’s pardon is offered, God’s purposes are revealed and God’s power is displayed. That sounds to me like an ideal context for evangelism! I’ve noticed that when unbelievers watch believers relate to God in an intelligent, sincere manner it creates a desire to know God, too.

• Worship with sensitivity

Because genuine worship can have such a profound impact on unbelievers, we need to be very sensitive to their fears, hang-ups and needs when they are present in our worship services.

This is the principle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 14:23. Paul commanded that tongues be limited in public worship.

His reasoning? Speaking in tongues seems like foolishness to unbelievers. Paul didn’t say tongues were foolish but only that they appear foolish to unbelievers.

“So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?” (1 Corinthians 14:23).

I believe there is a larger principle behind this advice to the Corinthian church. The point Paul is making is that we must be willing to adjust our worship practices when unbelievers are present. God tells us to be sensitive to the hang-ups of unbelievers in our services. Being seeker-sensitive in our worship is a biblical command. I didn’t think up this concept; Paul did!

• Making worship understandable

Making a service “comfortable” for the unchurched doesn’t mean changing your theology. It means changing the environment of the service -- such as changing the way you greet visitors, the style of music you use, the Bible translation you preach from and the kind of announcements you make in the service.

The message is not always comfortable. In fact, sometimes God’s truth is very uncomfortable! Still we must teach “the whole counsel of God.” Being seeker-sensitive does not limit what you say but it will affect how you say it.

We must make both the worship and the message understandable.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit miraculously translated the message into words each person understood. The crowd of unbelievers said, “We hear them speaking in our own languages the magnificent acts of God” Acts 2:11.

This caused them to be converted. Even though God’s presence was evident in the service, they wouldn’t have known what to do if they hadn’t been able to understand the message.

The unchurched are not asking for a watered-down message. The unchurched expect to hear the Bible when they come to church. They just want to hear how it relates to their lives. They can handle a clear, biblical message when it is delivered in terms they understand and in a tone that shows you respect and care about them. They are looking for solutions, not a scolding.

A clear message coupled with genuine worship will not only attract unbelievers, it will open their hearts to the power of the Gospel. As they feel God’s presence and understand the message they will walk away changed.

Worship, then, becomes much more than seeker-friendly. It becomes a source of joy to our God.

In 2022 Todd Gray was doing house-to-house evangelism in Kentucky with a local Baptist pastor. One young man answered their knock and they asked him if he had any kind of spiritual belief. He told the men he was an atheist.

The two Christians gently challenged his atheism and talked about the basics of the gospel message. They briefly shared with him that our greatest problem is sin and separation from God. God’s solution is reconciliation with him through the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

Todd asked the young man if he had ever heard this message. He said that he had not. A 20-year-old southern American had never heard the story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

A Baptist church was within walking distance of this young man’s doorstep! This is the situation Christians are facing today, multiplied a million times over.

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Original article can be found at

Thirty years ago I began my first pastorate. It was a dying church -- dead really. Today we would call it a “legacy church plant.”

There were 10 people who attended our first Sunday, all but one retired, with the one being a teenage boy. I’m not sure why the boy was there, except that he lived on the other side of the cemetery. The cemetery, the church and a small school building, long since closed, bordered each other. The Thurmond family gave the property for these three entities in the 1890s, each deemed important for a community in those days.

My wife Paula and I served that church for three and a half formative years, formative for us and for that church and community. I soon learned that the former pastor recommended that the church disband and give the building to the local Baptist association. He had reasoned this was their best option since they hadn’t baptized anyone in four years, only had a Sunday morning worship service with few attendees, and little prospect of seeing things turn around. The few attendees, most of whom had lived there all their lives, considered his suggestion but decided to give it “one more try,” which meant giving one more seminary student an opportunity to “learn on them.”

We moved into the parsonage, which hadn’t been lived in for a few years. They tried to get it ready for us, but they hadn’t killed the scorpions, which we killed by the dozens. Then there were the skunks under the house. I would sit up at night, with a light shining into the yard, waiting for the skunks to come out. I shot them once they got far enough from the house that they couldn’t get back before they died. The house wasn’t much, but it was rent-free, and that was most of our pay, so we were grateful to have it.

We had no neighbors, except cattle and the cemetery. And we had fireflies, hundreds of them that spring. One night I caught a couple dozen in a mason jar and released them into our bedroom. I must say, it was quite romantic having those fireflies lighting up our room. But they all died so I only did that one time.

When I think back on those days, I am grateful that we came from a church that taught us how to share the Gospel and believed you had to take the Gospel to the people, not wait for them to come to you. So that’s what we did. We began to visit the homes in that rural area, and a few more people started coming. The real breakthrough came that summer when Curtis Aydelotte gave his life to Christ.

I went to Curtis’ house and visited with his wife Kandy. She said that she would be at church with her kids but her husband wouldn’t because “he doesn’t go to church.” But the next day there he was. Within a month he received Christ and became the first person baptized in that church in four years. Curtis was 47 years old. He later told me that when I came to his house he was sick in bed with a migraine, but he could see me out the window. When his wife told him I was a preacher, he said, “Huh, a preacher who wears blue jeans. I think I’ll try that church.” That was 30 years ago and Curtis and Kandy are still serving Christ in their senior years.

Others soon came to know Christ. Families were transformed. The church grew. We never became large, but that church is still there today. The 10 there when we arrived are all dead, save the one boy, but the church remains.

A fellow seminary student asked me, “How do you get motivated to preach to so few people?” That was an odd question to me. Motivation was not a problem. For one thing, I was visiting people throughout the week, sharing Christ with them and inviting them to church. If they came and I wasn’t prepared for them, that would be a tragedy. Moreover, every individual who came needed and deserved to hear a well-prepared message from God’s Word just as much as the attender of a megachurch did.

A further motivation for me, I must admit, was that I was learning how to preach and how to pastor God’s people. These both required hard work. I was young and knew that I wouldn’t be at that church forever. But if I did not serve them well, why should God give me any other ministry? Besides, this was what God called me to, and I was having a lot of fun.

We saw a “little revival” in that church and community. It came as the pastor, and then the church, began to share Christ with others. It came as our little church gained confidence that God was at work and that they could invite people to attend with the confidence that God could use us to bring eternal life to others. Within two years, God even used our church to start another church about seven miles away. We were the first church to start a church in that association in about 10 years. That served to motivate other churches, much bigger churches, to do the same.

Those years at Fairview Baptist Church were good years. We learned a lot, and we saw God do a good work. If your church needs revival, share the Gospel on a regular basis and lead your church to do the same. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God to save a person from sin, and nothing revives a church like God’s people getting right with Him and then sharing the Gospel with others.

Several years ago I saw Curtis Aydelotte at a funeral. He told me that recently he had crashed his motorcycle and was sliding down the road, certain he would die. “It was amazing because I wasn’t afraid. I was sliding down the road and I knew I would be with God,” he said. “That’s the thought that hit my brain. I knew I’d be with God -- and I wasn’t afraid.” Then he said, “I thought you’d like to know that.”

Curtis was right. I did like hearing that. It demonstrated that the Jesus he had come to know decades before, through the ministry of a little reviving church, is powerful, and His salvation is eternal.

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Randy Adams is executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention. This column first appeared at his website, https://randyadams.org.