STOP the MYTHS: Evangelism

Myth: traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon

Getting settled takes a great deal of effort. That is a good thing. My original goal was to finish these thoughts before we moved. That last week was too crazy to do much more than work and breath. So I debated whether or not I should complete my thoughts. In the end I concluded I should.

Evangelism. I know we would all agree it is important. Unfortunately a great many myths exist that are related to evangelism in the church today. The sooner you understand them the better off you will be.

First, the church in America is in decline. No matter what numbers you want to point to these are the facts. The reason this matters? Many myths are presented as ways to combat this fact. This fact is why so many rapidly growing churches are lifted up as examples of what we need to do. The church is shrinking but we are not so we must be doing something right. Here is what you need to know. The majority of their growth comes from the already saved. If you subtract the number of churches closing or declining in the area you will understand the original fact, the church in America is declining.

They will protest of course and claim it isn’t true. They will point to some churches baptism numbers. One or two churches that are reaching the lost does not a sample make. You would also be wise to find out the average number of baptisms that people have, from three to six, and know what the church teaches about baptism. I have viewed the teachings of some of these churches with big baptism numbers and to be a part of the fellowship you have to be baptized at the church. You want the goods and services we offer? You are going to have to get dunked.

I have watched several churches be gutted by these fastest growing churches in America. If they were churches doing nothing you could argue it is better but what happens when they can no longer serve the poor, the widow or the orphan of the community? Do you think the fastest growing with the paid band and smoke machines plan on taking on the work? I have not seen it.

I know what they say, look at our growing numbers and those being saved, that is what matters. I’m sure you catch the irony. We took your already saved members to get our growth numbers and then turned around and claimed that growth was new believers. I guess we call it evangelism in America.

What you might find is their idea of evangelism is very different than yours. well I hope it is different. For me evangelism should follow Jesus words in Matthew 28:19.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Notice the goal is discipleship. It doesn’t say go into all the world and get people to agree that Jesus is the son of God. They have divorced the two. Evangelism is getting people to say a prayer. To take the gift of salvation without any commitment. In fact it is all about what is in it for you and has nothing to do with your response. I know this because it is what I have been told. No wonder they can go to people and ask them what they need to go to church. They are just looking for the chance to get them to say the sinners prayer. You would think that they would take warning from scripture but they don’t. They gather people around them to tell them what they want to hear and no one is concerned. The values of the New Testament? Cultural. No bearing on what we do today.

I never understood James words so clearly in James 2:19 until I dealt with this idea of evangelism. It is sad but true so please don’t get sucked in by the evangelism myths. Jesus himself wouldn’t make it in this crowd. Too many hard sayings. Too much running people off. At least now I understand why it doesn’t bother them. That was 2000 years ago, in their minds they have a better way. They have discovered how to be culturally relevant as if no one thought about it in Jesus or Paul’s day. Is it any wonder people can’t see any difference between those who call themselves Christians and those who do not? Did I mention, the American church is in decline?

STOP the MYTHS: INTRODUCTION

Myth: traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon

The stories we tell to help understand a situation or circumstance. One that has been aimed at me recently is that I couldn’t handle life outside of the Church of Christ. That I couldn’t do ministry in the greater American Christian world and that I return to the Church of Christ to lick my wounds and hide.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Our fellowship has been a growing church over the last seven years. We have seen an increase from 50 to over 100. Now I would agree our growth has never been the type that catches others attention or rivals those that we usually gravitate towards, but it has still been healthy growth.

The fact is many people are disappointed in our departure. The leadership and support structure of our church do not want us to go. Our church is financially stable and we have been saving money to make renovations to our building. Many people would look at me and think I’m crazy to leave what I have.

Over the years we have baptized and reconnected more people with Jesus than any Church of Christ I worked with or for. When you compare our numbers to churches in America we land in the upper half as far as growth percentages go. No we don’t see megachurch growth but we still have healthy results.

Why do we leave? Obviously we are convicted that it is God’s call, but I believe the call came because of these myths. These stories that we tell to explain events that simply are either not true, not healthy or even worse, not biblical.

The reality is I know exactly what it takes to grow a church a certain way in America. In fact many people who came and ostensibly joined our mission over the years at some point became frustrated with me because I wouldn’t follow the church growth plan. They looked at what was happening and thought we were going to follow the formula for church growth. Relevant messages, engaging worship, practical teaching. Trust me I know it all. So many people told me this and I tried to get them to see what I believe is a better way. So many came thinking we were going to be the next big, hot, cool thing.

At some point when we wouldn’t focus all of our energies on them and what they wanted and what they considered their needs, well they departed. It is why if you kept track of ALL of the people who came over these past seven years you would actually see even greater numbers if they had stayed and helped us with our mission.

I hope you understand that as we look at these myths. I hope you understand that the reason we didn’t grow more wasn’t because we couldn’t or I didn’t understand what it took. The reason we didn’t follow that course is because I believe it is a myth. A myth that says this type of church growth is healthy. A myth that is actually hurting the church today. But more importantly myths that are not what Jesus had in mind when he established His church.