Myths & Misleading Phrases of Modern Christianity #4 - People will come to a church service to hear the gospel

Many Bible-believing, Jesus-following fellowships fall for the myth that evangelism can be done within their church walls.  Their intentions are good.  They truly desire for people to come to know Jesus Christ and have eternal life through Him.  They host guest speakers, concerts and other events with the hope that people will come, return for a church service and let God make them new creations in Christ.  However, with few exceptions, those who are not yet Christians will neither attend the special event nor a church service.  I’ve witnessed this during years in California, Mexico and Kansas while observing many events at a wide variety of churches.  After many hours of planning, lots of work and lots of spending, the evangelistic results of nearly every event held on church grounds have been disappointing.

There is a good reason for the disappointing results.  Those who have not yet chosen to follow Jesus Christ may offer many excuses for not attending church, but they all boil down to this simple concept:  In the same way that criminals do not like police stations, people who have not yet chosen to accept their guilt of sinning against God and His gracious offer of forgiveness do not like church services.  The Bible teaching at a Bible-believing church activates the consciences of those who attend.  Since admitting guilt before God is uncomfortable, those who have not yet placed their trust in Jesus Christ tend to stay away from church services to spare their consciences and/or pride and/or love for their sin.

So what should we do as Jesus followers who want to reach those who are headed for eternity in Hell?  Should we soften the teaching in church services so that no one is confronted with the reality of God’s coming wrath on all those who disobey Him? (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)  Watering down God’s message to make it more palatable to those who do not yet believe will lull those who are not yet Christians into a false sense of eternal security and stunt the growth of true Jesus followers who want to learn, grow and follow the Prince of peace.  Neither of these results are acceptable, so church services cannot be made “seeker sensitive” if we want people to know the Savior.

In Mark 16:15, the Lord Jesus Christ commands His followers to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  We receive a similar command to “Go…” from Him in Matthew 28:19.  If you know and follow Jesus Christ, these commands apply to you.  Since Jesus said to “Go”, we should not stay within the church building.  Staying in the “holy huddle” of fellow Christians may feel safe, but it is dangerous because it is disobedient.  It is the opposite of what Jesus commands us to do.  Are we to fellowship with other Jesus followers?  Absolutely!  Hebrews 10:25 refers to “… not forsaking our own assembling together…”.  But, if we are continually surrounded by fellow born-again Jesus followers, we tend to get comfortable and cease reaching out to those who do not yet trust in the Savior.  The mission field begins one footstep off the church’s property.  So, go to church, fellowship, get yourself prepared for the mission field and step outside in faith.  Peter could not walk on water until he got out of the boat.

So where do we go?  Jesus’ command is “to all the world” and “to all creation.”  This is exactly where the Apostle Paul and his fellow travelers went because they feared God and obeyed Him.  They feared God more than man.  God will tell us and/or lead us if He has a specific place for us to serve.  Maybe He will open opportunities to reach neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, store clerks, “friends” on the web, strangers in a city park or people in another state or another country.  He has provided Bibles, Books of John, gospel tracts and the Good Person Test (take it here) as tools.  It’s up to us to prayerfully and obediently go somewhere and use these tools to reach the lost.

Once we go into all the world, we must open our mouths.  When we research the word “preach” in Mark 16:15 (also Matthew 10:7, Luke 9:2, Acts 10:42, 2 Timothy 4:2 among many other verses), we find it is the Greek word “kerusso” which means to publicly herald the message of a king.  In the case of Christians, we have the fearful and humbling honor to publicly proclaim the message of the King of kings so that those who never darken a church’s door will hear it.  Remember, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)  Given a wise choice of location, a couple of Jesus followers who are distributing tracts, having one-to-one conversations and open air preaching the Law and Gospel can reach, in a few hours, more people than a whole city full of churches will reach on church property in a year.

The easiest ways to get the Law and Gospel out from behind the church walls are to post Bible verses on social media, leave good gospel tracts where they will be found or give them to people.  The most biblical, scary, exhilarating, humbling and foolish feeling way to publicize the Law and the Gospel is by heralding in the open air to those why may happen to hear.  Putting fish symbols on our cars and wearing snazzy Christian t-shirts are nice, but they do not get the job done like sharing a serious, loving conversation with someone about eternity and where they will spend it.

Now that it is clear what we should do to reach the lost, here comes the difficult part.  Are you scared?  Me, too.  Every time.  We must overcome the fear of man that keeps us within the church building.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  If we really love those who do not yet know Jesus Christ, the fear of man fades away.  Prayer, love for the lost, a little study and practice help us defeat the fear of man.  If we fear God more than man, we will obey Him and go into all the world and preach the gospel as He has commanded.

God has given us powerful weapons.  If you were a soldier behind enemy lines and you had no weapon with which to fight your way back to your unit, you would have good reason to be fearful.  But, God has given us (1) prayer, (2) His Law which is written on every person’s heart (Romans 2:14-15), (3) the Holy Spirit as our Helper, and (4) an ally within every person which is their conscience.  When we use God’s Law, (the Ten Commandments), to activate a person’s conscience, they will see their sinful state before God.  When they agree that they are sinful and headed for eternity in Hell, it is time to explain the gospel as God’s plan for their deliverance from His justified wrath.

“The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.” (Proverbs 29:25)  The devil loves to have Christians cowering in fear.  We must let our love for Jesus and our love for people overcome our fears.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)  We must go outside the church walls and proclaim that Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth and the life.  No one will go to the Father but through Him! (John 14:6)

          And the master said to the slave, “Go out into the highways and along the

          hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”  Luke 14:23

I hope this encourages you to go and share the most important message in the universe!  May God bless you and guide you as you go!