7 Reasons Churches Aren't Reaching the Lost in Their Own Backyards
For a decade of my life I was privileged to lead a church that was very effective at reaching the lost. Through prayer, hard work and a relentless Gospel focus we experienced strong growth primarily due to new believers being added to our church roles. During that time God taught me many hard and valuable lessons that have stuck with me to this day.
In the nineteen years since being a pastor I've been blessed to lead a ministry called Dare 2 Share, a ministry that focuses on equipping teenagers to share the Gospel with their peers. In this time I've talked to thousands of youth leaders and preached at many churches, both big and small, across the nation. And I've noticed a pattern in these churches...most of them are not effectively reaching the lost with the Gospel in their own communities.
Sure, many of them are effective at other things...teaching God's Word, taking care of the poor, supporting overseas mission work, creating opportunities for believers to use their spiritual gifts, etc. But most are not truly effective at reaching the lost in their own backyards.
After countless conversations with church leaders and first hand observations of innumerable Sunday morning services I'm convinced there are 7 reasons why this is the case ...
1. They've lost their "Gospel urgency."
In the average church there is not a "whatever it takes" mentality when it comes to reaching the lost with the hope of Jesus Christ. There is not a sense of urgency that flows from the reality of hell for those who don't hear and believe the message of the Gospel.
Sometimes this lack of urgency flows out of a theological construct that causes some church goers to conclude that "it's all up to God anyway." Sometimes it flows out of a lack of understanding of the mission and mandate Jesus left for us all in Matthew 28:19 when he commissioned his followers to "go and make disciples of all nations."
Whatever the reason for this lack of urgency church leaders need to help their congregations hear the call from above (the Great Commission), the whisper from within (compassion) and the scream from beneath (reality of hell) so that the Holy Spirit can re-ignite their peoples' passion to reach the lost.
2. The leadership doesn't model it.
As someone once said, "No tears in the eyes of the writer, no tears in the eyes of the reader." What's true of writing is true of evangelism in the local church. If the pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor and the rest of the church leadership don't have broken hearts for the lost and aren't engaging in Gospel conversations with family, friends, neighbors, baristas, etc. then neither will their congregations.
Jesus said in Luke 6:40, "The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher." Bible studying pastors have Bible studying congregations. Program driven pastors have program driven congregations. Evangelizing pastors have evangelizing congregations.
This begs the question that if someone does not lead people to Christ should they be a church leader at all? To follow Jesus, according to Jesus' own words in Matthew 4:19 will inevitably result in "fishing for people" (aka "evangelism"). So if we are not fishing for people through evangelism are we really following Jesus? Hmmm...
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