How To Mobilize Your Church To Evangelize
Introduction
The number of people in the world who do not affiliate themselves with a religion of any sorts is at a all time high, and the number continues to grow. “One-fifth of the U.S. public and a third of adults under the age of 30 - are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever.” Not only is church identification low among today’s society, but also church attendance and the level of importance emphasized by those same individuals are also at an all time low. Although the statistics can cause an unsteady flood of emotions, there is light at the end of the tunnel. That same research study concluded that of the adults that do not identify or associate themselves with religious group or sect, “Two- thirds say they believe in God. More than half say they feel a deep connection with nature and the earth and more than a third state they are spiritual but not religious. One in five state that they pray every day.” Knowing this information can prompt two different reactions. One could be that we allow this knowledge to intimidate the church and continue to cripple our efforts to reach these unreached people. The other option is to allow this information to act as a challenge to the church and the believers that congregate under the common thread of Jesus Christ and allow these numbers to propel the church to re-evaluate the evangelistic status quo; go back to the biblical basic of the early church and come up with a new game plan to win these souls for Christ. This paper will discuss how to mobilize the church to evangelize. It will define evangelism and look to the biblical basis for evangelism providing a new lifestyle of the modern day church. It will discuss the importance of intercessory prayer, and the vitality of a bold vision. It will look into the Pastors role in the churches effectiveness to evangelize, and finally it will talk about relational evangelism and effectively executing the things that have been learned.
Evangelism Defined
In order to evangelize effectively it is important for the church and the leadership to be on the same page as to what exactly evangelism is. Sometimes there is a distinction made between missions and evangelism. Missions being the bringing of the gospel to the unsaved who are at great distance from you, and evangelism being the bringing of the gospel to the unsaved that are around you. Despite the debate, The English word Evangelize comes from the Greek word “ua-gge-lidzo” which is often translated into the English bible as “Preach the Gospel”, Billy Graham Defined evangelism by stating, “Biblically, evangelism can mean nothing else than proclaiming Jesus Christ by presence, by word, and by trusting the Holy Spirit to use the scriptures to persuade men to become disciples and responsible members of His church.” In its simplest terms, Evangelism is going out to the lost and proclaims the Gospel. It is an action taking to share with someone the good news that changed your life for eternity. D.T. Niles explains it this way, “Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread!” If these definition became universally accepted, and the church quit using the term evangelism in such a loose and narrow way, the power and understanding of evangelizing would increase significantly in power and effectiveness.
Biblical Basis
When looking into the Bible for examples of evangelism, the two most prominent examples occur in the Gospels of Matthew and Acts. Obviously the great commission is a prime source to refer to when seeking to mobilize your church to become effective gospel proclaimers.
Therefore go and make disciples among all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son, and Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19

This passage of scripture is often referred to as the great commission. In this verse he commissions his followers to go out, baptize, and make disciples in his name by going out and telling others what it means to follow Christ with all your being and giving up your will for His will. There are a couple of key words in this common verse that often times, due to familiarity, we skip over. First being the word GO. The church today is very proud of what they have going on at the church, and if you were to look at the church calendar, you would probably notice that the church is extremely busy, planning, preparing, and hosting events. These are all great things, but many times the church gets so caught up in the things going on within their own four walls, they forget about the lostness on the outside. Inviting is great, but going to the lost is what Christ commissioned the church to do. Another term that is vital to this verse is the term disciple. The church has gotten into this habit of interchanging the terms Disciple and Christian as if they are synonymous. In fact, we like to use the term Christian to define us. We often times associate ourselves with that term, but if you were to look into the Bible you would notice that the words are far from the same. The term Christian is only used three times in the New Testament. It appears twice in the book of Acts and once in the book of 1 peter. In each instance the word is a derogatory term used by people on the outside to describe the followers of Christ. It was not a term that Christ followers used to describe themselves, they used the term disciple which is used 32 times in the gospels alone, compared to the three times the term Christian is used. This is significant because the term Christian is not defined in the Bible. There are not biblical instructions on how to live a Christian lifestyle. What the bible does define is how to be a disciple. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Being a disciple requires love, and God is love. If you know Christ and claim to be a follower of him, then loving others should be a natural byproduct in the way you conduct yourself and the way you live your life, submitting yourself to him and to others. In the church we need to make disciples, and not just converts because a disciple is someone who makes other disciples and that is what Christ was entrusting his follower to do in Matthew 28. Another Verse that is significant is Acts 1:8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

This verse is significant because again, Luke is reiterating the fact that we are to be sent out, not to stay where we are. It should also be noted that this is the very last thing that Jesus said to his disciples after his death and resurrection. He spent forty days talking about the kingdom and just before he ascended into heaven he gave this proclamation that through the power of the Holy Spirit we would be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. If this were the last thing that Christ left for his followers then it would seem that he deemed it pretty important.

Intercessory Prayer

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains,” Colossians 4:2-3. Prayer is the most important part of any effort to evangelize and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Prayer is easily the most powerful, effective and mobilizing tool in the Christian life, yet all too many times we lift up prayers of redundancy, out of obligation, or because it is the right thing to do.
Because we have made prayer simply a pragmatic exercise based on the practice of Jesus, we have lost the shattering place of prayer in the history of redemption. Prayer’s asking is not wishing. It is demanding that people come to Christ because Christ has come to use. It is demanding that the world be changed because Christ has come to change it!

Prayer is the staring point for evangelism because prayer is powerful. Without prayer everything is being done in our own power, a power that is not worth of sharing the gospel. Ephesians 3:20 states, “With God’s mighty power at work within us, He can do infinitely more than we could ever ask or imagine.” With God at the center of our evangelism efforts, he can do so much more than we could ever do on our own.
A Bold Vision

It is extremely important paint an accurate picture for the church body of what is going outside the walls of the church. There are many lost people, and until the church is consciously aware of how staggering the statistics are, the motivation to do something about it is pretty low. If the church members were to know that 90% of christens had never won a soul to Christ, or that 80% of Christians do not consistently witness for Christ it would make the church aware of their lack of commitment to the great commission. If the church leadership would take it a step further and give statistics for the amount of lostness in the community it would provide motivation for those 90% of Christians who have never experienced what it means to lead someone to Christ. Urgency is reinforced by the fact that every person because of the fatality of sin urgently needs the gospel. Its urgency is exemplified by the fact that the gospel is the only way of saving us from our shortcomings, and because someone shared that with us, we should want to share that with others. This should be our number one goal. If the church does not have a vision or a goal, there is a 100% chance that you will not reach the goal. It is pertinent that you give an accurate representation of the reality of this world, and challenge your congregation to rise to the occasion by giving them a goal that can reach for.

Leaders Model It!

The pastor has a vital role in mobilizing the church to evangelize. Paul challenges Timothy in his second letter to him “do the work of an evangelist, fulfill you ministry.” This implies that the pastor cannot truly fulfill his ministry unless he first fulfills his role as an evangelist. This goes beyond standing behind the pulpit and preaching evangelistic messages, it means leading a lifestyle that is kingdom focused and evangelistically minded and ushers the church towards the same lifestyle. If the pastor evangelizes, the church will ordinarily be evangelistic as well. The degree to which he is evangelistic will be reflected in his congregation. If he is lukewarm, his congregation is sure to follow. If he is ecstatic in his evangelism, the church will too radiate his concern for the lost. The local church normally takes on the basic attitude of its pastor. If a local church is to be an effective, mobile evangelistic church, the pastor is the launching pad for the rest of the congregation.

Methods

There are two methods of evangelism that are often contrasted of each other. They are mass evangelism and personal evangelism. Despite what preference a church has, both forms can be effective, and both are complimentary of each other
Mass Evangelism In the past, mass evangelism has appealed largely to the will and emotions. The greats such as Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Gypsy Smith were excellent orators, and the preached in a way that assumed the target audience had a basic understanding of biblical principle, therefore they preached in a very polished and emotional way. But at the end of the message there lends to a time of invitation that enables personal evangelism. This is a vital part in measuring understanding of the Gospel.
Personal Evangelism Arguable the most effective method of evangelism is one on one, personal evangelism. This is a type of evangelism that is intentional about Bringing the good news of the Gospel of Christ to someone in the context of a relationship that you have developed with them. Studies show that a majority of believers who have come to know Christ did so under the context or influence of a family member or close friend. Relational evangelism has two major facets of application, the content of the gospel and the example of our lives. Often times the individual grasps the concepts of the gospel and the biblical truths that enforce it, but it’s the lifestyle change of the believer that bears witness to the power of Jesus Christ. It is a change they want to see in themselves. Relational evangelism can take many different styles and forms. One approach is like offering a cup of water, you simply tell them who Christ is, it is a very tangible approach. Another approach is the invitational approach, where you go out and invite them to live life with you, to come to church, experience camp or some other sort of gospel experience. Prophetic evangelism is another form of personal evangelism; the believer simply points to the Bible, and gives concrete proof of what God’s word says. Another form that is extremely powerful is the use of the believer’s testimony. To personally explain to someone you have a close relationship with, how the Lord has personally changed your life, and to explain the things that Christ has done in you life, friends and family can really resonate with that. Ultimately, it is extremely important to instill in the church body that the power of personal evangelism can have an eternal impact on everyone around them.
Training
One the Pastor has painted the picture for the need of evangelism in the world and has gone over the methods of evangelism, the next important part of mobilizing your church to evangelize is equipping them with the training they need in order to be effective disciples for Christ. There is a variety of ways that one could go about training the church. One way is to bring in a training group that will be specific to the target audience (kids, teens, adults) or the pastor could teach the class himself with the aid of the elders or other knowledgeable persons in the church. Ultimately they congregation needs to be aware of a few ways that they would be able to articulate the gospel in a way that other can understand. The church needs to understand the story of the Gospel, that God sent His son to die for our sins, and if we believe that and ask him to be the Lord of our life we will spend eternity with him in heaven. They believer needs to be familiar with the Romans road in order to provide a biblical basis for their evangelism. Another option for younger audiences is to use the colors for Christ, the gospel bracelets, or the ABC’s. All are great things to be familiar with, and need to be taught to someone in order for them to be an effective witness of the Gospel.
Conclusion
The world as we know it today is vastly different from the world we lived in 20 years ago, 10 years ago, and even 5 years ago. The audience the church is going after has continued to change what they believe, they morals they uphold, and how they conduct their lifestyle. The desperation for a touch from God is a an all time high, while the urgency of the church to share the Gospel is at an all time low. Now more than ever, the world needs a generation to rise up, mobilize evangelism, and take the world head on.
The only way that is going to happen is to go back to the biblical basis for evangelism, and to begin acting as disciples and not just Christians. It is going to take fervently praying for the Lord to reap the harvest and to be at the center of our evangelism efforts. The Church needs to have a bold vision for the lostness of the world, and goals to strive for. Above all, the leader of the church has got to be the starting point, his fire has to shine so bright that it motivates the rest of the church body, and the congregation needs to have proper training of the types of evangelism and the modes of evangelism. If we as the body of Christ could grasp these few simple steps, change would be inevitable.

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