Evangelism Model!

 

In my previous blog “Evangelism model all are looking for!”, was intended to ignite the spirit of Christendom to bring conviction in our personal responsibility in reaching out to the non-Christians. True understanding of who Christ and His salvation plan, leads to true commitment followed by the obedience to the Great Commission. One cannot choose to know God and not make Him known. Let me emphasize, the primary purpose of every human being is knowing God. Jesus in His prayer to His Father expressed these lines, “and this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”. John 17:3 NKJV. Paul soon adopts it and makes it his personal goal, “my goal is to know Him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being confirmed to his death.”. Philippians 3:10.When you truly desire to know God and making it your primary goal, it doesn't just become the end destination but creates a deep urge to make the Savior known to this sinful world.

Nothing is more urgent or important in this critical time than giving people hope in Christ and present it through the Gospel to those living in midst of sin and darkness. Evangelism is all about presenting the Gospel, the good news. But how Christendom is understanding it and how people are actually engaging in the Gospel work is a matter of discussion. Let me reiterate all that is inclusive in the Gospel considering this verse from 1 Thessalonians 1:5   “because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit.”

On the basis of the verse given above, let me list key factors that includes Gospel according to Paul:

1. Gospel (good news) in Word: “Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe  the good news.”. Mark 1:14-15. The Gospel message is informing people of God’s love, which was demonstrated on the Cross of Calvary and calling them for repentance from  their sin and accept Him as Lord and Savior of their life.

2.   Gospel in Power: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved."1 Corinthians 1:18 CSB. The Gospel is full of power and has a capacity to break the hearts of people and transform them. The carrier of the Gospel unless truly transformed, filled with the Mission and anointing, may not be able to present the Gospel successfully.

3. Gospel in the Holy Spirit: Acts 1:8 says it all, “But you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”. This promise is actually fulfilled in Acts 2 in the day of Pentecost. Unfortunately, people hold on to one particular theology of either talking only about the day of Pentecost or talk about the gift of speaking in tongues. But then the outcome of the Holy Spirit, which is the sharing of the Gospel and message of repentance is ignored or in most cases completely. Peter presented the Gospel with the power of Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), as a result three thousand people were added to them.

4.   Gospel is presenting oneself for the benefit of others: Paul in his book in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 says, “We cared so much for you that we are pleased to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”. Paul ensures that he is not only available for those who are hearing the Gospel from him but offer his life for the sake of Gospel. Today, we just have time for one encounter and expect everything to happen on its own. How much are we able to dedicate ourselves for the sake of the Gospel and for the benefit of people’s soul?

I would like to end my assertion with two powerful quotes, F. Lincicome states, “God never intended His Church to be a refrigerator in which to preserve perishable piety. He intended it to be an incubator in which to hatch out converts.” And the challenge from Leonard RavenHill, “Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patient die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you DAMNED?"

Click here  You can follow on Twitter

Looking for an Effective Evangelism Model?

 

The shift on evangelism initiatives in recent times has taken a giant leap. Last 15 years and so, I have always emphasized much on Holistic approach (Spiritual, Physical, Socio-emotional & Cognitive) not merely implicating holism on NGO’s and social projects but also in the functions of the Church. The pattern of the early church is a classic example of a holistic model, where vibrant evangelism and structural social interventions were integrated in the heart of the Church (fellowship of believers). But sadly, in the past, many Churches did not manage the perfect blend of evangelism and social interventions, though they had financial stability and in some cases inflow of foreign funds.

What is amazing to know today is after the pandemic the social intervention and evangelism drive has become, the priority for Churches and Christian Organizations. If it had been our top priority years before the pandemic, our national Christian census would have looked very different than what we see today. But hold on! Has all the social interventions and evangelism drives been intensified to ensure Gospel is shared and commitments made? Let me leave it to God, for He is the best judge of that. There are already many organizations, which solely exist for Gospel work and there are new Christian organizations, trainers, and experts who claim to have a model for evangelism. Strategies are made, numbers are derived, reports are created but at the end of the day the question we need to ask is how many were actually led to Christ and how has that impacted the Church growth?

Evangelism Model is not necessarily like one of the social models that can be completely replicated. It may or may not work at all. Why is that? Let me quote some examples from the Bible. If you look at the story of Samaritan woman whose encounter with Jesus had her life transformed and revolutionised. She rushed to apprise people of her encounter with God (John 4). The story of Apostle Paul was another revolutionary story. After he had a dramatic encounter with God (Acts 9), history was created. He swept the nations with the Gospel. Very soon, we see, he was able to create a leadership team and ministry partners who shouldered him in the Gospel work. Then in (Acts 8:1-4) we notice severe persecution broke out against the Churches in Jerusalem, all were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria, but that was not the end of the story. These people proved they were not simply a bunch of cowards. Verse 4 says, “So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.”. Did they have a model? Did all undergo a seminar on how to present Gospel? Of course not. But the driving force was their transformation after their encounter with God. The moment they experienced the gift of salvation they became revolutionaries. People who met daily in house fellowships, praying, and igniting each other were soon seen doing the work of an evangelist in adverse circumstances. Their priorities were connected with Christ's mandate - the Great Commission. This did not stop them while they were even on the run. For these people, presenting Gospel was more important than trying to protect their lives. Strategies emerged from crisis and models of its own were developed. People just adopted and moved forward.

My question is how could someone after experiencing salvation, not be revolutionised? Why is that they just become mere good standing believers and members of the Church, just about fulfilling its obligations but failing to be a witness and lead at least one person (a minimum number) to Christ, in their entire life? For that matter, sadly, many pastors of the Churches are also becoming managers of the Churches ensuring all their members remain with them all their lives. I am not saying it is wrong but how is the Great Commission becoming the Mandate of the Church? A prepared messenger leads many to Christ and impacts more life than through his prepared messages. Unfortunately, many are just satisfied by the noise of activities and evangelistic programs but failing to seriously make disciples. Let’s be careful that we do not treat evangelism and discipleship as mere terms.

If a long-standing Christian has not led one person to Christ all his life then what he/she needs is not motivation and Evangelism Model to wake the person up, but an intense dialogue to know his/her true identity in Christ and teachings to help the congregation member know what is his/her role as Christians. Evangelism is a life-style. One should be convinced of this transformed life and know how his/her career is entwined with the Purpose and Christ's mandate.

Click here  You can follow on Twitter

Has your congregation graduated yet?

  

My previous blog pointed out the need to address a bigger crisis than Covid-19. Follow the link HERE  in case you missed the blog.  Death is inevitable. The Bible says on Hebrew 9:27, “And as it is appointed for men to die once...”. We don’t have control over the time of our death. We may assume that our lives are extended because of our good health practices, good diet and so on. But we are inevitably closer to our expiry date. It can be Covid today or something else tomorrow as the reason for our death. As much as each day new lives are born, there are equally a large number of people who die every 24 hours. The big question remains, how are we going to ensure that the people we influence find Christ in their lives before they die?

Psalmist writes in 19:1-2, “the heavens declare the glory of God. and the expanse proclaims the work of the hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.”. When creation is explicit about the existence God and His sovereignty, aren't catastrophes, raging pandemics, disasters causing turbulence in the universe screaming something very important to the entire human race and most importantly to the so-called Christians? The plan of redemption for the entire human race was accomplished by Christ our Savior and then before His ascension He entrusted His mandate to all of us. But are we still effective carriers of the Gospel as Christ is expecting or are we just the recipients of the Gospel satisfied and settled in our spirituality, confined to the four walls of the Church? Many Christians are like Israel stated in Hosea 10:1 “Israel is a lush vine; it yields fruit for itself...”. Pandemic can become just another excuse to dismiss the importance of sharing the Gospel.

If we observe carefully, Christendom to a larger extent is complacent within the four walls of the Church and never feels the need to go out of their spiritual comfort zone and share Gospel in their sphere of influence. By and large Christians are not sensitized on the urgency of the Great Commission, which is the mandate of Christ.  How is that Christ's mandate has become dangerously irrelevant? Who is to be blamed? Is it the Pastor or Church leadership or the congregation’s psychic ability to comprehend Christ Mandate? Sadly, Churches have imprisoned their congregations for years by keeping them satisfied with Church activities and confining to Sunday service, stunting them to remain a student and never graduate at all. In another scenario, congregation members have imprisoned themselves to the four walls of the Church for too long. It is astonishing to note that majority of Church members have not led even one person to Christ in their long years of being a Christian. A disciple making church does not just exist without doing any good for the community. The Church just can’t keep saying ‘Church is the hope of the dying world’ and do nothing about it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put’s it beautifully, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without Church confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”.

Today, we have come to a point where meeting in Church buildings itself has become a threat. Churches are not what happens online for our satisfaction. If Christians are not restless about sharing the claims of Christ to Non-Christians, then we need to seriously examine ourselves. Every individual is a Church, which means there is a space in every Christian where he/she can present gospel and include people in his/her space. If the Bible does not urge one to share Gospel, then probably, he/she is not attentive to what it says.  Dave Harvey remarks, "Everything in scripture is either preparation for the Gospel, presentation of the Gospel or participation of the Gospel.".

 Click here  You can follow on Twitter

URGENT- Address the Bigger crisis!

 

The entire nation and the world is so much hit by the pandemic that the crisis is cumulating in every form with newer challenges each day. A new strain has been detected this Wednesday, which is 15 times more virulent. In my last blog, I addressed on the sovereignty of God looking at God’s judgement. In case you missed reading it, you may do so HERE. The death figure worldwide is crossing the limits, which includes many Pastors, leaders and Christians. How are we going to reconcile things?  

Tom Ellie, President of Oasis World Ministries presents statistics to awaken the spirits of Christendom. It is believed, each day around the globe 158, 857 people die. This includes approximately 66, 000 who have never had access to the Gospel, i.e. 2, 750 people per hour and 49 people per minute going to their graves without hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ! These numbers don’t even count those who heard the Gospel in their lifetimes but died without knowing Him.

Are we doing anything about it besides just praying and doing very little to impact those figures? The gift of Salvation is a “limited-time offer”! None of us know our last time on this earth. Yet, it is easy to be lulled into complacency, believing we have plenty of time to share our faith. We can easily slip into the "no-urgency" mode, which is alarming.

Missional has become the big buzz word in the last 15 years. Shane Pruitt, Director for the North American Mission Board comments, ‘Mission and Evangelism is becoming like a junk door, everything we don’t use we put it in the junk box.’. The exclusive evangelistic organizations existing to reach out to Non-Christians world in colleges, personal evangelism, etc., are the only ones sharing the Gospel. But is every Christian and the member of the Church equipped enough to share the Gospel and win souls? This is a serious question Churches should be asking often and find out how it can break the barriers.

Church operation is not the work of Evangelism. Today, Christians are smugly satisfied attending only the weekly Sunday Church service and trying to be good Christians at home and nothing beyond that. Most of the Christians are ill equipped to share their testimony or talk about Christ to Non-Christians. Hanging banners with statistics, flyers, evangelism and quotes is not evangelism. There are many leaders who give big discourses on evangelism but how many people they brought to Christ in their lifetime is still a question mark.  This is the hard truth. Everything is about conducting programs, fancy reports, presenting statistics and drawing out information on PowerPoints culminating to big programs and then things fizzle out. Funds flow and programs are active and all are elated being part of a big program. Again, the question remains is the actual evangelism happening at the ground level?

With Corona finding a strong ground, all are focusing to mitigate Corona challenges and busy reaching out to people's needs. The big crisis is to know that every day countless number of people are dying without knowing Christ is insignificant to even bother us, to be more specific, to know 49 people are dying without knowing Christ every minute. We need goers. In my experience and even many have commented that long time Christians becoming stagnant and standstill is the status quo. They are just managing their Church-going activities and busy in programs, sometimes attend training on evangelism, discipleship seminars and probably hear lots of comforting sermons and are satisfied with it.

John’s ministry was bang on! The first sentence was “Repent because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”. Matthew 3:2. Jesus’ ministry started echoing the same words right from the start was “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”. Matthew 4:17. Peter after tarrying and infilling of the Holy Spirit echoes the same message in the beginning of his ministry in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…”. The way to salvation and eternal life was the priority, unlike today the message has diluted to God will bless you, keep you safe, protect you, give you all that you need and you will never die. Where is the message for sinners and unbelievers today? Think about it! In Proverbs 11:30 says, “… And he who wins soul is wise.”. What excites heaven is to see one believer repenting and finding eternal life. Luke reminds in Luke 15:7 “I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.”. Can we address the bigger crisis seriously?

 Click here  You can follow on Twitter

Strange message in these strange times!

 

This is not a research study on the Covid19 virus. My interest is to trigger the consciousness in each one of us as to "Where is God in a coronavirus infected world?". The pandemic has been perplexing and unsettling, making us clueless as to how to cope with it. In a time of crisis like this, hope is what we are looking for.

Coronavirus is confronting us all with the problem of pain and suffering, which are life’s greatest challenges today. But I would like to slightly shift our focus towards God’s judgement and sovereignty. Plague and pestilences in the Bible were usually connected to God’s wrath and judgement. In Deuteronomy 28 and other passages plagues were the consequences of forsaking the Lord. Let’s note that plagues in the Bible are represented as divine judgements of God. During this season, leaders, pastors and Christians have varied views in regard to this pandemic. Some believe Corona is a fake news, while some credit it to Satan, some asserted God cannot bring this on Christians as we are praying, but surprisingly most of  Christendom has failed to acknowledge that it could be the judgement of the Lord. Why is that?

Let's analyze few incidents of plague from the Bible and people's response to this major crisis. They are as follows:

1. The 10 Plagues in the city of Egypt: We are all aware of the ten plagues God brought against Pharaoh and Egypt to demonstrate His power against the enemies of Israel. Consequently, the people were reminded when it says in Deuteronomy 26:8, “The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong arm, terrifying power and with signs and wonders.”.

2. Outbreak of Plague in Israel tent (Numbers 25). It is said in verse 9, “but those who died in the plague numbered twenty four thousand.”. If we read the whole chapter, we understand that the Israel fell to the charms of Moabite women and was prostituting itself with them. They sacrificed to their gods. It is said in Verse 3 that Israel aligned itself with the Baal of Peor. The leaders were held responsible by Moses who were later executed in broad daylight.

3.Outbreaks of tumors when Philistines, captured the ark of the Lord (1Samuel 5). Israel was defeated but the Philistines, the people of Ashdod suffered miserably. It is said in 1 Samuel 5:9, “After they have moved it the Lord’s hand was against the city of Gath, causing great Panic. He afflicted the people of the city from the youngest to the oldest, with an outbreak of tumors.”.

4. God sent a three-day plague to wipe out 70,000 men after king David sinned by numbering the people of Israel (2 Samuel 24:10-17).

5. God sent several judgements against the nations of Judah including a plague, when he sent king Nebuchadnezzar to sack Jerusalem (Jeremiah 21:7, 24:10, 29:17).

6. The plagues described in the Book of Revelation including those sent by the two witnesses (Revelation 11:6) and the seven final plagues sent by God (Revelation 15:1).

So the learning could be that Biblical plagues can be categorized into two. First is God’s judgement against sins of His own people and the second category against unbelievers when they enslave and oppress His people. 

Having said this, it's clear that God is in a pruning process too, gauging our faith and trust in Him. There is an incident that talks about King Hezekiah's rule and dependency on God. When Sennacherib of Assyria entered Judah and laid siege to the fortified cities to break into them, Hezekiah was able to demonstrate His faith on Him. But at one point the second part of the verse in 2 Chronicles 32:21 says, ".... God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart.”. May we all demonstrate our reliance and be an example in this time.

It is time in Christendom to analyze and confess our personal and corporate failures to obey God and trust Him implicitly. It is a wake-up call to return with obedience to the mission of God. It is time we stop satisfying ourselves and people with endless spiritual activities and start pleasing God (1 Thessalonians 2:4). Let us strive to find God’s purpose in our lives. Let us apply this verse to our existence in these trying times, "and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14 CSB .

Let us go and reach out to the Non-Christians and build their broken lives. May God be merciful to us as we cling unto Him and plead for His mercies. Needless to say, be aggressively involved in taking the good news to heal the nation and world at large.

Click here  You can follow on Twitter

Outcomes of Maturing Christians!

“Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation again. You need milk not solid food.”.  Hebrews 5:12

In my previous article, I picked up a serious concern of Paul against his contemporaries who were leaders and Missionary workers engaging in Christ's mission with selfish motives and personal gain (You can click HERE in case you have missed the article)

This week's article discusses yet another serious concern against believers raised by Apostle Paul. The actual concern starts in Verse 11 of Hebrews Chapter 5 where the author thinks the people have become too lazy to understand some hard theology and the concern takes shape when he narrates in Verse 12, "although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation again. You need milk not solid food.".  The concerns here are more to do with spiritual maturity. I am sure you will agree with me that the case is not very different even today. Do we realize, the way we define spiritual maturity is so different, at times humorous? Today, definition of spiritual maturity is flawed into thinking that it is about hectic schedules of spiritual activities, regular visits to Church and paying tithes. To define spiritual maturity, one should seriously understand what the Bible talks about the primary goals and the secondary goals.

Jesus expresses His deep desire in His prayer in John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.". Knowing Christ should be the primary and the fundamental goal of every human being. Apostle Paul resonates this deep desire of Jesus and echoes in Philippians 3:10, "My goal is to know him and the power of resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death.". The journey begins when someone begins to know God and keeps growing in His fellowship and the relationship is developed. It is an amazing experience. But the questions are what about the "must do's" and the "should do's"? Do we even give some serious thought to it?  A.W. Tozer points out “In the world missions today there is the growing tendency to major in social 'holism,' reducing Good News proclamation to a secondary place.". Every other activity including social interventions are there but maturing in the capacity to proclaim the good news is missing. There are few serious questions each Church going individual needs to contemplate, which are given below:

• Why aren't we serious when it comes to the Great Commission?
• Whose responsibility is it, anyway?
• Didn't Jesus commission all to preach the Gospel and make disciples?
• How come most of the good Church going Christians seem to miss this?
• Aren't the Church Pastors and leaders emphasizing on this?

 If our goal is to be holy and blameless then by default it is in the direction of obeying the Great Commission (Mark 16:15-16) and also obeying the supplementary commandment, to be His witness (Acts1:8). Let me quote the parable of talents in Matthew 25. Every one of them had their share of talents. But the one person who received the one talent thought he did a brilliant job. In Matthew 25:18 It says, "But the man who received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.". There is an important lesson in terms of missions we learn here. Many are like this person who assume it is good to keep themselves safe, holy, preserved and just be faithful to the Church. Probably he might have even be like the Pharisee as described by Jesus in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector which we find in Luke 18:10-14. In verse 12 it describes the Pharisee fulfilling the Spiritual assignment to his own satisfaction when he says, "I fast twice a week, I give tenth of everything I get.".

Are we getting the concern? We cannot love the Lord which is the first and foremost commandment of Jesus summarized in Mark 12: 29-30 and not love our neighbors by saving their souls from Hell. Our Church membership, fasting, intercessory prayers and giving tithes can still hold us a defaulter if we are not following the Great Commandment and Great Commission.

Can we be serious friends, to submit our obedience to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment and impact our city?

Click here  You can follow on Twitter

Handling Paul's Concern!

 

“For all seek their own, not the things which are of Jesus Christ.”. Philippians 2:21

We are living in times of dwindling Biblical theology. Bible's core message is customized to choose, context and convenience. Ignorance and politics, have created havoc in many Churches today. By ignorance I mean, when the congregation is reduced to active members and supporters of the Church and create a "feel good" factor. I would give leverage where the cause of the Church is well articulated and connected to Gospel sharing with the Non- Christians. But what if the Church is just existing like a night “Shelter home”, where people visit on Sundays, pay tithes and are blissful about it. Most of the challenges which I am about to share are connected to the core problem where Paul is addressing in the book of Philippians.

Paul expresses his disappointment when he notices that many who were his contemporaries were engaging in the mission work with selfish ambition, for personal profit, looking for self-glory and honor. He claims in the same book about such people, that their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame -who set their mind on earthly things (Philippians 3:19). The grandeur Christ's mission in most cases is successfully replaced by complacency. What I mean is, Church leaders and pastors are busy managing Church crowd effectively, feed them every Sunday without any measurable outcomes. When the intended outcome of the Church is not articulated and understood by the last person in the Church, I guarantee the Church will resemble a ‘Shelter home', where vulnerable people sleep safely for the night and move out during the day going about their personal activities.

Many pastors and leaders today, irrespective of any denominations, believe it is a blessing to have a stable and large Church congregation. Rather than viewing the church as a vehicle that connects people with God and impart the mission of God, the innovative pastors turn the church into a destination. Put differently, old churches were a means to an end and the new generation of churches were an end in themselves.

Some serious and basic questions the Church needs to ask are as follows:

1. For how many years your church has survived? And what is the growth rate?

2. How many members have shared the gospel and brought souls to the Church? Do they even know how to do it?

3. As a pastor and leader how many people have you brought to Christ?

4. How do you define your Church accomplishment?

5. What percentage of the congregation are the result of your evangelistic program of your Church?

A note of caution, when a Church fails to set mission goal and entrust the burden to every individual, the congregation will only be casual visitors with nil responsibility. Pastors and leaders will settle for cheap goals looking for security and profit for themselves operating as managers who manage the company. The responsibility of the Church pastors is not to operate as a manager but to be a disciple maker, equip the members to be active disciples who are capable and equipped enough to commit their obedience to the Great Commission and engage in Gospel sharing business.

It is a comfortable position for a Church to settle with one group and feed them with spiritual food all their lives. But Christ's mission was never intended to be that way. Many misunderstand and assume Great Commission is not intended for all, but specifically implicates a group called evangelists, which is erroneous. The Great Commission in Mark 16:15-16 and the call to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8) goes hand in hand, and is entrusted to every single believer.

Pastors and leaders, if you want to create a serious impact then follow the principles Paul laid for us in Philippians 4:9 (CSB)- “Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”. Teach people correctly, demonstrate the gospel skillfully, model your life effectively and do not forget to establish Church in every home and lives rather than just confining to a building facility and be excited about it. Lastly, seek not your own but that which belongs to Christ Jesus.

Click here  You can follow on Twitter