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Today’s blog includes several comments which first appeared in Pastors Weekly Briefing as commentary on the church’s lost ability to evangelize effectively (from March 27, 2009). I trust you will find them insightful, helpful, compelling, and challenging!

When we design seeker sensitive services, have we thought out the fact that what they are seeking is not what the church primarily was meant to offer? Are we offering a gospel that conforms to what they are seeking rather than what they actually need? We have been given the ministry of reconciliation, not the ministry of appeasement. … People don’t need Jesus to make them feel better. Although He certainly can do that, it is the by-product, not the end goal. They need to be saved from the consequences of their sin, from the just judgment of God. While love certainly motivated Christ to come and die for our sins, it was God’s holiness that necessitated justice and judgment, thereby necessitating an atonement for our sin in the first place. — D.C.

The drive to be ‘current, progressive, innovative, fresh or emergent’ is simply a poor substitute for authenticity. Where authentic Christianity is practiced, God will bless and use it regardless of numbers. Salt does not need to be large in quantity to have effect … Pointing out the lack of authenticity and the obvious decay is not the same as saying the true Christian church has failed. God always has some who have not bowed the knee to Baal. — D.M.

The church can no longer articulate what it believes and that is a major weakness of the church. If we can’t articulate what we believe and why we believe it, and then live it out, what we oppose or support has no foundation and no substance for us or others to hold onto. … We must expect more than moralism, especially from our leadership. There has to be something more that drives us than issues. God and His glory has to be the motivating force or we will lose steam and move onto something else. — (edited from M.S.)

There is a lot of fluff in the church today…. When was the last time churches had corporate prayer as a regular part of their weekly schedule, to come together to seek God and intercede for others? The one thing the government cannot take away is prayer. The last thing many, if not most, Christians engage in is prayer. — T.R.

We have let our beliefs go by the wayside. We have stood by and let our voices be silent for so long so that people would not think that we are intolerant. But, there are some things that are worth standing up for and there are beliefs that are worth dying for. We have to get past the fear of death and start being disciples the way the original 11 were without fear of dying for what is Truth!!! — L.V.

We define ministry largely by what was done in our church buildings … If the church instead defines ministry as what we do when we are not in the building, we will see that ratio of involvement increase until 100% of believers are actively seeking ways to be Christ’s hands extended … wherever we can find people. — H.R.

Each week I receive an email entitled “Pastors Weekly Briefing” (affiliated with Focus on the Family).  Yesterday’s feature article was titled, “DO YOUR PEOPLE SHARE THEIR FAITH?”  Following are some excerpts from the article, along with my own editorial comments and observations. 

A report from Lifeway Research (March 26, 2009) notes that the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) is launching a new national campaign to bring unbelievers to Jesus, another evidence that many Christian groups are acutely aware of the decline in evangelism that we have noted and addressed in recent blogs.  One of the greatest challenges facing the contemporary (21st century) church is our decreased desire and ability to “grow” the church through focused efforts in evangelism.  An interesting result of the Lifeway survey is the finding that most people want to receive information about Jesus in one of two ways — a conversation with a family member (63%) or with a friend or neighbor from the church (56%).  Many (most?) people don’t want to hear about Jesus, and of those that do, the preferred source is friend or family member.  Other efforts will likely be ineffective.  Even worse, other approaches may be a “turn off” to those we are hoping to reach.

The survey emphasized again the significance of family, friends and coworkers in evangelizing a resistant world. For at least two decades, I have been publishing statistics that indicate the ineffectiveness of ministerial or organized church invitations or contacts with visitors compared with contacts from friends and relatives.  Now the Lifeway research supports those observations with new statistics.  Paul’s reference to ‘the foolishness of preaching’ (1 Cor. 1:21) is not only a first century phenomenon. Our society still considers preaching a foolishness! 

A careful analysis of our situation is revealing.  We have thought preaching/proclamation inside our church buildings to be “public” proclamation, but in essence our assemblies are “private” gatherings with very few visitors present (if any).  Most of those who do come are connected in some way and are not genuinely “visitors”.  We do little genuinely public proclamation.  Public proclamation occurs in the outside contemporary world almost exclusively in impersonal ways–TV, radio, media.  If our assemblies are primarily “for us” (1 Cor. 14, “if an unbeliever comes into your assemblies….”), the place of the preaching and teaching may be to prepare and support Christians as they live out their Christianity in the community outside the four walls our the building.  The church ultimately goes outside its walls and enters the community, not through the organized efforts of the church, but as each member goes forth to live life (“as you are going….”, Matthew 28:19).

[The article in Pastors Weekly Briefing also included some interesting comments about evangelism and evangelistic efforts.  Those I will share in tomorrow’s blog.]