Creating a Culture of Evangelism

Part 9

1.   All Church Staff Must Be Evangelistic - certainly it is true that we are all gifted differently but every Christian must be engaged in leading others to Christ.  Any person on the staff of a church should be courageous enough to share their faith in Jesus with others.  If they are not, go find some lost people and help them get saved and let them serve in some position on staff.  New believers are zealous about Christ and have not grown comfortably numb in a church bubble.  They will not yet have been around enough lifeless presentation of Christianity to know any better (worse) but to tell others about Jesus.  Every staff member (or if a smaller church get every leader) must be engaged in the work of evangelism throughout their daily lives.  Empower them to be intentional.  Equip them to be effective.  Challenge them to always be considerate of this most important task.  I once heard of a pastor of a large church who would close down the office on certain days of the week at 3:00 in the afternoon.  On those days at 3:00 all of the church staff would join him in making door to door visits throughout their community.  Every single person on staff would follow the pastor in engaging the community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I have not been able to confirm the story but it sure is a good example of how every church staff should function.  
2.   Utilize Personal Meetings - always be inviting people to get together and visit.  Don’t leave it open with a “we need to get together soon”.  Take the initiative and schedule it on your calendar immediately.  Ministry is people.  Spending personal time with people is effective ministry.  Show them how much you care with your time and your attentive compassion.  Jesus was always spending time with people.  He eats with His disciples, attends weddings, interacts with multitudes, visits the sick.  Jesus did have His times of solitude but most of what we know about Him is time among the people, and they loved Him for it.  A wise pastor will get out of the office and into the field of ministry.  Meet someone for lunch almost every day.  Meet for coffee.  Meet for ice cream or yogurt.  Go to people’s homes to visit.  Pray for them during these meetings.  Listen to their struggles.  Share in their victories.  Richard Baxter once said that some of his most productive sermon preparation time was time spent visiting the people.  How else can you know their struggles?  How else can you rejoice in their victories?  Always let personal meetings be gospel-centered whether meeting with church members or lost people.  Talk about Jesus and He will use you to lead others to salvation and eternal life.