Simon Cox Blog: Toward a National Renewal of Evangelism through the Local Church in Our Day

Friday, 10 February 2017

Toward a National Renewal of Evangelism through the Local Church in Our Day

Americans are far more open to the gospel than you may imagine

We need the fire for evangelism to spread across the Church in our day, but will it?

As I see it, there are at least four main barriers keeping the Church from a passionate pursuit of evangelism.

#1. Our old paradigms and methods of evangelism feel outmoded, intrusive, and inauthentic for too many people. The news no longer sounds like it is good news, and the methods no longer seem to communicate love effectively in our culture today.

#2. Many people and ministries have decided we need to stop sharing the gospel and only show it. We now have an imbalance in our approach to evangelism that leans too heavily on acts of compassion and justice. Many churches have compassion ministries, but do not provide any sort of substantial equipping in evangelism.

Of course, acts of compassion and justice often prepare the way for evangelism and go hand in hand with it, but unless a Christian actually shares the good news of Jesus with someone, “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14).

#3. There is a downward trending life-cycle of many Evangelical denominations. Many have plateaued in growth and the fires for evangelism have dimmed. Another way to put it is to say that mission drift has set in. As I have traveled the country, I have heard many leaders in the established Evangelical denominations admit as much.

Today, the only fast-growing segment of Evangelical churches are the newer non-denominational churches (and other churches that look and feel non-denominational in the way they worship and are organized and led). The vast majority of Evangelical churches today are in maintenance mode!

#4. We think no one wants to hear what we have to say. The polarizing and politicizing of our society, negative ...