During this season of Pentecost, keep in mind that the church gathers to be sent out into the world. Jesus told his disciples to expect the Holy Spirit to come upon them and send them to be his witnesses, starting in their neighborhoods and continuing to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
“Evangelism” is the traditional word for sharing the gospel with others. When we evangelize, we strive to offer people a compelling invitation to follow Christ. That is increasingly difficult to do today as significant demographic and cultural shifts have put Christianity in a defensive position. In some circles, even the word “evangelism” sounds too pushy. Calling congregations to be evangelistic may give people the same feeling they get when a shady used car salesman says, “Hey there, do I have a deal for you!”
Whatever reluctance we might have with using the word “evangelism,” we cannot afford to neglect the call from God to offer people an irresistible invitation to be a disciple. Congregations in the United States are seeing a decline in membership and participation, but the primary purpose of evangelism is not church growth. The decline in membership and participation may simply reflect the fact that decades of abundant resources and social acceptability lulled American congregations into a relaxed, inward-focused posture.
Doing evangelism calls the church to feel a sense of urgency about our hope in Christ. Sharing the good news necessitates that we turn our focus outward. It’s about engaging the culture. We need to ask critical questions: Who is missing in our congregation? Why aren’t they here? What’s on their mind? What are we willing to change to communicate the gospel faithfully to them? We will always have congregational care needs to meet, and we should meet them — but a predominantly inward focus leads to an unbalanced congregation and misses the opportunity to share the good news in word and deed.
