I used to think that the best way to evangelize was to preach in churches. I figured that most “Christians” were not actually “saved” and so needed to hear the “true gospel” (as preached by me), and once they believed it, they would then become “true believers.”<\/p>\n
In other words, I thought that the most fertile soil for evangelism in the United States was among those who were already in churches. I saw the US as a mission field, and churches as the primary location to sew the seeds of the gospel.<\/p>\n
As I have developed a missionary mindset, this thinking has changed. While I certainly believe that the US is a mission field, and while I do believe that there are many, many people who go to Christian churches who have not believed in Jesus for eternal life, I have found that the most common result of telling church goers that they might not be saved is a lot of angry church goers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think that the average person in the average church, even if they don’t\u00a0believe in Jesus for eternal life,\u00a0are not very receptive or open to\u00a0anything I might be able to tell them.\u00a0If they don’t believe in Jesus, but they do attend church,\u00a0they are likely to have a “Pharisaical” mindset, and therefore, it is almost a complete waste of time, money, and energy to pursue them.<\/p>\n
The much more fertile soil in the US are those who would never darken the door of any church in the US. They are the ones I am hoping to reach, and who are receptive to talking about Jesus, and His promise of eternal life to those who believe in Him for it. Trying to tell this message to people in churches seems to do very little except split churches.<\/p>\n
So who are you talking to about the free offer of eternal life through faith in\u00a0Jesus? Are they primarily “churched” people? If so, how’s that working out for you?\u00a0Have you seen any “conversions” recently? How about church splits and angry\u00a0board meetings? I’d say that if as\u00a0a result of what you’ve said, you’ve made more people angry than you have seen people come to faith in Jesus, you’re probably sewing seeds on the wrong soil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I used to think that the best way to evangelize was to preach in churches. I figured that most “Christians” were not actually “saved” and so needed to hear the “true gospel” (as preached by me), and once they believed it, they would then become “true believers.” In other words, I thought that the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"tag-discipleship","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n