Outreach

The resurrection of Christ is the distinguishing event of Christianity and the critical point in our salvation (1 Corinthians 15:17–19). The Great Commission is the critical command in spreading the gospel (Matthew 28:19–20), and our obedience to this command is the distinguishing mark of a growing church.

When was the last time you got fired up about an event or activity? Do you recall the adrenaline that ran through your body? It could have been a family vacation, sporting event, or church service when the Lord spoke to you in a very personal way. You will never forget that experience.

In the Bible, although angels were used by God for a variety of purposes, the primary use was to deliver a message. In fact, the very word “angel” means “messenger.” Webster’s 1828 Dictionary further defines an angel as, “One employed to communicate news or information from one person to another at a distance.”

As church leaders, we challenge others to reach the lost. We remind them it is Christ’s last command and should be our first priority. We encourage them to schedule time for purposeful outreach.

Have you ever considered the basic convictions that motivate a soulwinner to be faithful? Convictions are the spark plugs that keep the engine of faith going forward. And biblical convictions regarding the eternal souls of men and women move us forward in reaching the lost for Christ.

When God guides a visitor to your class, He is entrusting you with a very precious gift. He is giving you the responsibility to follow up and care for this person’s interest in growth. Making follow up visits is key to encouraging growth!

In 1980, Cambodia was just emerging from one of the most horrific periods of time that any nation has ever endured. Between 1975 and 1979, the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, under the leadership of the infamous Pol Pot, abused the Cambodian people in a way that is hard to describe and even harder to comprehend.

One of the sad byproducts of this modern age where “tolerance is king” is that Christians have lost the urgency of the gospel message. We are so afraid of being criticized, ostracized, or marginalized that we oftentimes unintentionally make our presentation of Christ sound like something that can be taken or left with no consequence.

Sharing the gospel is a very controversial topic to most churchgoers. Most Christians would agree that we are to share the love of Christ. The controversy comes from the very few who actually do it. Curtis Hutson once said, “The only alternative to soulwinning is disobedience.”

Sometimes knocking on doors during your scheduled outreach time is the easy thing to do. Please do not misunderstand me. Our church strongly promotes knocking doors in our community in order to witness and invite people to our church. We organize the effort with highlighted maps, print attractive invitations, and try to hit every door in our community about four times a year. Yet the most difficult work is going back to the same person until he is saved and baptized.

The soul of a man is worth enough to God that He was willing to give His most precious possession—His only begotten Son— in order to redeem that soul from Hell. The worth that God places upon a soul is undeniable and undebatable. But what about the worth of a soul to you and me? I mean, how much is it really worth to us in terms of time, effort, and money to see that a soul has had every chance to not only hear the Gospel, but come to Christ?

I anticipate every fall season as the fullest harvest time of the year for reaching souls. The fall is when our church has our annual Open House Sunday, and it is also when we have our annual time of training for new soulwinners. All in all, it’s a fruitfully busy time of ministry—if we are prepared for it.

The people of Israel were told by the prophet Isaiah, “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes” (Isaiah 54:2). He encouraged them to prepare for, expect, and make room for the fruitfulness that God would bring.

We cannot give approval to everyone we meet. We meet people who wear clothing of which we cannot in good conscience approve, use language of which we cannot approve, and live lifestyles of which we cannot approve if we wish to be consistent with Scripture. Unfortunately, a desire to disapprove that of which God disapproves has caused us to be perceived as rejecting the individual whose behavior we cannot condone.

Sometimes people wonder why I emphasize soulwinning so much. An evangelist once preached at our church and asked how many of our folks went soulwinning on a regular basis. When approximately half of the evening crowd raised their hands, he said, “Look at that amazing sight!”

Christian hospitality is one of the most fruitful of ministry disciplines. Over the years, my wife and I have made a habit of having people over on a regular basis, and we’ve found that opening our home for fellowship often opens hearts for discipleship and mentoring.

Today we are bombarded with information. Our world is filled with advertisements, billboards, TV ads, radio spots, informational flyers, and newspapers all trying to sell us something or persuade us that a product is worthy of our dollar.

Most churches want to reach people; anyone who is actually trying to fulfill the Great Commission gives serious thought to strategies for doing so. Along with an aggressive outreach effort to reach people, many churches employ programs, campaigns, and various other tactics to keep guests once they have come.

Christ’s last command before He ascended to Heaven is found in Mark 16:15: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Every person has an eternal soul, and it is our privilege and responsibility to share with them the good news of salvation.

When God sends guests to your church, you must see them as a gift from God and treat them as such. Your reaction to them and response to their visit largely determine whether or not they will be your guest again.