Evangelism is probably the most difficult area of the Christian life. I should know–I’ve been a full-time evangelist for over 25 years with a large church in the Philadelphia area. With the culture growing increasingly hostile, divisive, and intolerant, it’s much easier to avoid this awkward calling, give in to fear, and keep the good news of the gospel to ourselves.
Because of these pressures, many churches are adding members almost exclusively through transfer growth (Christians leaving one church and joining another) as opposed to conversion growth (unbelievers coming to Christ). We know that God wants us to reach the lost and see them added to the church, but how can we change?
Encouragement from Paul
Paul gives us one way in Ephesians 4: Prioritize the role of an evangelist.
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and for by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:11-14).
In my travels to many different churches throughout the U.S. and beyond, I’ve noticed that most don’t have an evangelist or even an elder on point for evangelism. I believe this lack prevents the growth we long for in spreading the gospel because the evangelist is called to equip the members of our churches to reach out to the lost.
What Can This Look Like in My Local Church?
In the churches where I see the most conversion growth and fruit in evangelism, there is almost always an evangelist. If you’re a pastor who wants your church to grow in reaching unbelievers, I would strongly encourage you to identify an evangelist–someone who can dedicate at least five to eight hours a week to this area. Ideally, this is an elder, but a gifted deacon or church member can head this up for you too.
One church that I am working with in Arizona has one full-time elder and two bi-vocational elders. They recently asked one of the bi-vocational elders to be their evangelist and to dedicate the bulk of his time to leading their church in this area. This man called me to ask for suggestions, and I gave him some books, messages, and ideas about what strategies and methodologies might be best. In a short time, he has done an amazing job jumping into the role, and his church has already seen conversions and fruit from these initial efforts.
Another church in Texas decided their evangelistic investment was too small, so they rearranged their staff to enable one of their three elders to dedicate 40% of his job description to evangelism. When churches invest time, prayer, resources, and finances into reaching the lost, fruit will come.
One of the reasons we have seen consistent conversion growth at Covenant Fellowship Church is that the elders have made evangelism a priority. They have set me apart so that I can give most of my time to reaching the lost and helping to equip our church to do the same. I have invested countless hours in reading, strategizing, developing programs, and spending time with unbelievers, and God has seen fit to bless these efforts, bringing us the lost and renewing our joy in the gospel.
I’ve heard pastors tell me that evangelists are very rare and hard to find, but I don’t think that’s true. We don’t have to find the next Billy Graham. If any pastor spent the kind of time that I did in evangelism, I’m positive that he would see significant conversion growth.
It can be difficult to find time for evangelism in our workloads of preaching and counseling and administration and caring, but it is not a secondary issue to God. Andreas Köstenberger and Peter O’Brien remind us that, “…the divine plan of extending salvation to the ends of the earth is the major thrust of the Scriptures from beginning to end.”
Where Do We Begin?
Starting small is still starting! You could begin by making sure one of your elders is on point for evangelism. Write it in his job description. Or maybe you are the only full-time elder and you can only give two hours a week to this task. That’s okay! In those two hours, you could read a book one week, spend time having coffee with a non-Christian the next week, have lunch with your evangelistic lay point person the next week, and spend time in prayer for evangelism the fourth week. That will make a difference! You may not feel uniquely gifted in the area, but you can “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5) by bringing leadership, resources, and encouragement to your point person who may be more gifted. Just as importantly, your church will follow your example as you prioritize reaching the lost.
It is often true that we get out of things what we put into them. So let’s invest not only leaders and time into evangelism, let’s be willing to invest money. The more time and effort and energy and resources we put into this, the more we will see unbelievers coming to Christ.
Pastors, let me close with one more honest thought about evangelists. We can be hard to handle. We tend to be bold, black and white, and not strong on self-awareness and subtle pastoral sensibilities. We can be a bit scary, and there can be a tendency to want to lock us up in a closet so we don’t do too much damage. But God has gifted us to love and reach the lost. He’s designed us for the task. The truth is that you need us and we need you. Our job is to help you and our churches be faithful in reaching out, and your job is to be patient with us and position us well. It may feel a little risky, but following Jesus often is.
Jesus is for us and our churches. The great Fisher of Men is committed to building up his body “until we all reach maturity and the fullness of Christ.”
