bits from bob....
bits from bob....
A bulletin article recently asked, "Question: What if YOU were Chinese, Russian, Polish, Indonesian, Indian, Czechoslovakian, Romanian, or such like? Wouldn't you want the Lord's church....to DO everything within its power to teach you and others the certified gospel of Christ?" The thrust of the article continued with an emphasis on foreign missions.
I do not know the extent to which that church is evangelizing its own community, but the absence of any reference to our own nation is striking! Have we given up on teaching our neighbors?
Missions studies indicate that the most effective way to take the message is still intracultural. Indigenous efforts are the most effective with results longer-lasting.
I applaud every effort to share the gospel and spread the borders of the kingdom. I pray that we will not become so discouraged about evangelism in our own nation that we give up on local outreach. If we do, our churches will slowly die, if not in our generation in the next, and evangelism, both local and missionary, will cease.
How many Christians does it take in the church where you worship to baptize one person in one year? [Divide average attendance by number of baptisms.] Studies by Mac Lynn and Flavil Yeakley have revealed that the average in the US is about 20. Twenty Christians to baptize one person in a year! In some places the number is 50 or 100. I doubt we will ever reach a point where the number is one--each Christian converting at least one more each year. But if we were to work as diligently on the home front in one-on-one studies as we often work in brief missions trips, I believe we could bring our number to 15, or 10, or 5!
I applaud every effort in evangelism. I only wish more and more Christians would become actively involved. Will you begin praying now about how you might become more effective and involved in winning souls for Christ?
