A Culture of Evangelism
Culture—the attitudes and behaviors characteristic of a particular social group.
All churches have a culture, attitudes, and behaviors that characterize them. Scripture shapes that culture, by theology, by polity, by leaders, and by the relational dynamics among members. Culture develops over time and can change over time.
I read a statement by David Platt in his introduction to Mack Stiles’ book Evangelism that had me thinking – “That’s the culture of evangelism I want to see in Sovereign Grace churches!!” Here is what he said about his visit to Stiles’ church:
I stood literally amazed by the grace of God, not just upon one Christian passionate about sharing the gospel, but upon an entire community passionate about sharing the gospel. As I looked around, I observed a contagious culture of evangelism across the church. It is a culture of evangelism that is not ultimately dependent on events, projects, programs, and ministry professionals. Instead, it is a culture of evangelism that is built on people filled with the power of God’s Sprit proclaiming the gospel of God’s grace in the context of their everyday lives and relationships.
So many things in this observation resonate with me.
“An entire community passionate about sharing the gospel.”
“A contagious culture of evangelism.”
“A culture of evangelism that is built on people filled with the power of God’s Spirit proclaiming the gospel of God’s grace in the context of their everyday lives and relationships.”
I don’t know where all of our churches are regarding evangelism. I assume some are doing well and some not so well and that most are somewhere in between. But I suspect that every pastor would like to see their church grow in this all-important area. And I hope that, like me, many of you read Platt’s observation and something in you said—“That’s what I want my church to be like.”
But a culture like that doesn’t develop by just having an occasional message or seminar on evangelism. A culture like that only develops over time as we equip for, encourage and pray about evangelism.
Here’s why I’m telling you all this. Jim Donohue (who I think is SG’s most gifted evangelist) and I are teaming up to serve our pastors and churches to hopefully create just such a culture as I’ve been talking about. Here are some things we are planning…
Writing short monthly articles like this one to train and motivate our pastors and evangelists to better serve their churches.
Identifying and training evangelists in our midst to serve in each of our regions.
Developing materials for small groups that can be used to equip and inspire our members to consistent evangelism.
Paul wrote to the Colossians about—“the gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing – as it does in you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth” (1:5-6).
Our hope and prayer are that this is something that will be said of local churches in Sovereign Grace as, by God’s grace, our culture of evangelism bears fruit and grows.
