A church isn’t a building, it is people. People are in relationships with each other. In order for a church to grow, people need to be in relationships with other people – intentional “evangelistic” relationships. A great definition of evangelism that Mack Stiles offers in his book — “teaching the gospel with the goal to persuade.”
Let’s pick that apart for a bit…but let’s look at the two verbs “teach” and “persuade” in reverse order.
Persuade. I like this word. Notice it is not “manipulate” or “trick” or “deceive.” Persuade infers compassionate caring for another person. Like in 2 Corinthians 5:11 where Paul writes “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…” (2 Corinthians 5:11 ESV) We passionately communicate the truth of Jesus to others because we love them. However we do so remembering that we are not the ones who bring about repentance and faith, only the Spirit does that, but we are the ambassadors of the message of the gospel.
Teach. We passionately communicate, implore, persuade with a specific message. The gospel. The gospel is made up of actual words, from God’s word. The saying “Preach the gospel, if necessary use words.” is nonsense. We HAVE to use words…now we also have to have a life that is consistent with the character of the God we claim to follow, and so we need both, not just one or the other. Stiles writes, “When I have lead people to Christ over the years, it is usually because they were willing to study the Scriptures with me.” Amen – another reminder it is not us, but God who transforms thru his word.
Paul helps us here again – “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV). We implore others on behalf of Christ.
A really good way to start doing both of these aspects of evangelism is to host a neighborhood Bible study. Simply ask your neighbors if they want to hang out and actually read the Bible and talk about what it means. Not what we think it means, but what it is actually saying – the authors intended meaning, our job is to dig it out and by the power of the Holy Spirit understand it. Speaking of the Holy Spirit – we need his help before we even approach any neighbor with this idea. It is a spiritual work, pray in advance of inviting anyone that God would be drawing them to him and preparing him to hear his word, preparing you to teach and give you understanding.
By God’s grace as our church grows, it will grow through evangelism and the faithful teaching of God’s word with the goal to persuade that God really is who he claims to be in his word!
