Cultivating A Culture of Evangelism - Part 1

I’m going to share some ideas from my experience that will hopefully be helpful to some of you regarding the evangelistic efforts in our churches.  I am assuming that we are already convinced of the imperative nature of this subject so here we go.

1. The Pastor as Personal Soul-Winner - we must live, breathe, eat, and sleep the longing for the salvation of souls.  We must be the trailblazers leading the way in evangelistic efforts.  The people in our churches will never go farther than they see the pastor go.  If our churches will be evangelistic then they must see the passion for lost people to be saved consistently lived out in the life of their pastor.  Every pastor needs to have a plan to saturate his community with the gospel.  What’s your plan?  We need not be overly concerned with the numerical count but we must be fully consumed with our faithfulness to go.  Let us live in the fields as laborers in the harvest not tucked away inaccessible to hurting people being destroyed by sin.  People need Jesus and He has sent us.  Let’s go! 
2. The Pastor as Personal Disciple-Maker - The success or failure of a church depends upon discipleship.  Discipleship really is a simple process.  Start with whoever you have and teach them everything Jesus has taught you.  See also Matthew 28:18-20.  Be intentional in every relationship you can make with people.  Take people to lunch and teach them what you know about the Bible.  Meet them for ice cream or coffee.  Just look at the way Jesus invested into His disciples.  He walked with them daily, prayed with them, taught them the Scriptures and used every surrounding and situation as a teaching opportunity.  Many people want large pulpit ministries but the truth is real discipleship involves the simplicity of meeting with one person or a small group and pouring into them.  There is only one superstar in the Kingdom of God and his name is Jesus.  The rest of us are servants.  Always remember these words from Paul to Timothy, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2)  This is how a strong church is built.