Reaching Out While Staying In

When my sons were young, I would sometimes take them to construction sites on my day off so we could watch the big trucks and loaders do their thing.  One day, we pulled up to a busy site and my young son jumped out of the car and yelled, “Wow!”  His brother jumped out right behind him and shouted, “Wow! Wow!” We called it a Double Wow Moment.  The pandemic that has come upon us deserves a Double Wow. 

This unique time in history presents us with some great opportunities to reach out to others.  It’s often in times of crisis that people are more open to the gospel, and right now we are all in some form of crisis.  Our neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and family members are scared, and they don’t know where to turn.  Some fear the virus itself; others wonder how they’re going to make rent this month or pay for medicine they need.  

This is where we come in. As followers of Jesus, one of our main jobs is to help others become followers of Jesus (Matthew 4:19).  In order to save us, Jesus had to be outward in his focus. When we are joined to Christ through his extraordinary death for us, we too become outward in focus. We become like Him. Since our greatest need has been met in Christ, we can now turn and meet the needs of others, and there are many needs to meet!  So in times of “social distancing” how can we be reaching out while staying in?

Here are a few ways:

• Prayer - During a time of crisis, people are more open to prayer. They’re struggling with fear, uncertainty, loneliness, despair, boredom and other difficult feelings.  Let’s offer to pray for them during these months. Who can we reach out to today?

• Service - Meeting practical needs is powerful. Those who are older or in the high-risk category might not be comfortable running to the grocery store or doing an errand.  They also might need some help around the house.  How can we step in to meet these needs?

• Invitation - In times like these, people are often more open to church than usual, so why not invite them to watch your church’s service if it’s live-streamed? And if it’s not, find another that is. My wife, Trish, just posted this on our neighborhood Facebook group:

Hi neighbors,

What a crazy time we are living through! It's great to see our neighborhood caring for each other. We know lots of churches in the area are canceled. We attend (and Jim helps pastor) Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, and some other neighboring families attend as well. We are live-streaming our Sunday service through this crisis, so feel free to join us on Sunday morning at 10:00 if you are so inclined! The link is: covfel.org/live

This is a time of anxiety and economic hardship for many. Feel free to send us any prayer requests you might have, and it would be a privilege to pray for you. Also, let us know if we can help with any errands or physical needs. And for those of you with kids home from school: we hope you all stay sane!

There are countless ways to show Christ’s love to those around us, and I hope these few suggestions spur you on as you lead your church. I’d love to hear any ideas you have! Let’s be sure that we use this time, not just to pray the inconveniences away, but to reach out to those who desperately need the hope of the gospel.

Jim Donahue is the Pastor of Evangelism at Covenant Fellowship Church, Glenn Mills, PA.

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.