Making Evangelism Your Focus

 “Focus on affecting what we can affect, and we will have the most effect.” Matthew Kelly

What you focus on is so important. If we make evangelism our focus, your question is likely “Does it work?” To this I can say an unequivocal YES! It worked in my first small church of 49 looking up to see bottom, and in a strong church of nearly 300, plateaued for over a decade. In the small church, the turnaround started with prayer when I became so desperate for a spark, for anything that would get us back on track and the next Sunday night when I gave the invitation George Thomas, an aerospace engineer, seated on the back row made his way to the altar to rededicate his life to God.  His 

What happens when a church makes evangelism  the focus of all its energy and efforts? A healthy church needs a focus that accurately reflects what the church is about. We used to spend an inordinate amount of time crafting a Mission Statement. Some had 50+ words and no one could articulate, let alone memorize a 50-word statement of purpose. Simplify. Make it ten words or less. Lake Avenue’s was “Reaching people with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” became the focus of all our energy and efforts.

Is your purpose to entertain or evangelize?

Practically, this means incorporating evangelism into every activity of church life. If you do  Christmas or Easter productions  ask yourself, is our purpose to entertain or evangelize? When we started giving an invitation to accept Christ at the end of our productions, the first year we tried it, 38 people prayed to receive Christ.

Eight Proven Evangelistic Strategies

1. Incorporate Prayer Evangelism

Turn the energies of prayer outward, toward the community and the world. One way to do this is to encourage your people to write out their Top Five Hit List. Who are the next five people you want to win to Christ.? Are you praying for them? When the focus of the church turns outward, lost people are drawn to Christ. Add a prayer component to your benevolent efforts.

2. Salvation Candle

 Your people need some type of visible reminder of the unfinished task. We purchased a large candle and set it on a pedestal on the platform. The candle would burn whenever anyone reported a person had prayed to receive Christ, whether in a public service or personal evangelism.  Caveat! Don’t do so, if you are not committed to doing the work of an evangelist.

3. Go Public with Your Commitment to Evangelism 

As a demonstration of our faith, the idea of the Salvation Candle would be introduced to the congregation on a given Sunday. A Sunday was chosen, and God gave me a message from Leviticus 6:12-13, where two times it says, “The fire on the altar must be kept burning [continuously]; it must not go out” (6:12-13). The responsibility for the burnt offering rested directly on the shoulders of the Levitical priests. I knew that responsibility for keeping the evangelism fire burning rested on my staff and me. I seriously hoped I could light the candle during my message, introducing the idea on Sunday, but by Friday, as far as we knew, no one had been won to Christ. 

4. Leaders demonstrate Faith

I wasn’t totally sold on the idea of the Salvation Candle but I acquiesced. Don’t acquiesce if you are not committed and your faith is weak. For me, it was a matter of obedience. To have delayed would have been disobedience, so by faith I  set the date and sought the Lord for the message.

5. Embrace the Lost and the Least.

One by one our people began to embrace lost and broken people. Connie came to the stoplight to turn left at the light when she spotted a man on the opposite corner foraging in the liquor store dumpster.  The Spirit whispered, “Go invite him to church.” She dropped off her kids and drove her luxury van to complete the appointed task. Carl’s response to her invitation was “You wouldn’t want me in your church.”

“Oh, yes, we would,” she replied.  “I’ll meet you there.” Carl finished loading the cans he had retrieved and pushed his grocery card and cans to the backdoor of the Fellowship Hall.  Her young adult Sunday School class was set to begin so Connie introduced Carl to the class and he was welcomed with open arms. The class took an additional step. They got a big barrel and put it in the corner and everyone brought their cans for Carl.

6. Celebrate Salvations.

Two weeks later was the day set aside to introduce the Salvation Candle.  Friday came. Then Saturday. On Sunday morning it was time to begin, and Sandy was noticeably absent. Ten minutes into the service he pushed open the back doors, his face beaming with excitement.

“Go ahead. Light the candle. We have our first convert!”

“Who?” I asked.

“Carl,” he just accepted Christ in his classroom.” There was not a more dramatic moment in my message on keeping the candle burning than to light it on the very first Sunday.  It did not go out for the next year and a half.  A steady stream of new converts flowed into the church.

7. Disciple New Converts.

Never let a new convert leave the altar or wherever s/he accepted Christ without giving them the first lesson in Basic Bible Studies by Dr. Chic Shaver.  Disciple them yourself, pastor, if no one else is trained.  And when you conduct a Membership Class, never assume that those who have indicated an interest in membership are saved.

Go through the plan of salvation with them. I recall playing a video welcome to The Church of the Nazarene with a Saturday morning class of seven potential members. As the video played I head sniffling and crying. I felt prompted when it ended to ask, “How many of you know Christ as your personal Savior?” Not one hand went up.  I led to Jesus and basically said, we’ll take up membership later. If you’ll allow me, I will disciple you for the next seven Saturdays.

Can you imagine the electricity that shot through the congregation on Sunday when I told the story and introduced seven new converts to the family of God?

8. Give Your People Meaningful Handles.

Gradually, the excitement for evangelism began to catch on with the people, not just with the paid professionals. In addition to praying for the lost, periodically, we offered training to those who wanted simple tools with which to share their faith. The idea is to make witnessing a natural part of a daily lifestyle, not just a canned program.

If you want your people to be involved in evangelism as a way of life, you must give them meaningful handles for sharing their faith. Equip them “for works of service” (Eph. 4:12), and don’t be surprised if God gives multiple opportunities for your people to share their faith in their circles of influence. When you dare to care about lost and broken people, don’t be surprised when God sends them to you.

Daring begins with caring!  Caring enough to provide a place for everyone to get plugged in.  There are of course, many ministries of local benevolence any church can undertake according to its ability, including food pantries, and other practical, loving deeds of kindness and mercy. Find a need. Meet a need.

Embrace real people with God-sized problems. We discovered the truth of Rick Warren’s words in The Purpose Driven Church: “If your church is serious about reaching the unchurched, you must be willing to put up with people who have a lot of problems.”