90 Sermon Illustrations on Outreach

Pioneer Clubs provide a great way to reach children with the gospel. It can be an effective outreach if you go out and get the kids.

How to reach out to neighbors when their kids are a bad influence on your kids.

Reach out to your neighbors.

Get to know your neighbors before there is a problem.

Initiate get-togethers.

Become the neighborhood "servants."

Protect your children.

Supervise playtime.

Set clear guidelines.

Give your children a heart for outreach.

What if a problem occurs?

Care enough to confront.

Don't sacrifice your kids for the sake of the neighbors.

The roar of more than 120 motorcycles filled the Sunday morning air in North Little Rock as a group of bikers turned onto Pike Avenue and headed toward the church in the bend of the road. Instead of passing by, however, each biker pulled into the church's front parking lot and revved his cycle's engine until the church members who were gathered on the front lawn could not hear themselves talk.

The engines were cut off. Church members stared as the bikers dismounted and pulled off helmets, leather jackets and sunglasses. Then the silence was broken.

"Hi y'all!" called one of the churchgoers.

Bikers and church members embraced and greeted each other warmly, exchanging greetings and renewing relationships made over the past several years. It was the sixth annual "Biker Sunday" at Levy Baptist Church in North Little Rock. The visiting bikers, many of them members of the Christian Motorcyclists Association, attended worship services that morning, followed by a catered barbecue luncheon with church members and an evening service.

Although many of the bikers appeared in road-worn leather and denim, subtle differences in their appearance began to appear. Many wore patches with slogans such as "Prayer Warrior," "Jesus Number One" or CMA's large "Riding for the Son" motto on their backs.

Bikers and church members heard CMA's national president, Herbie Shreve, deliver the morning message. The group's national headquarters is in Hatfield, Ark., and was begun in 1975 by Shreve's father, a Southern Baptist pastor. There are more than 400 active CMA chapters with 55,000 members across the country, plus members in 32 other countries. Arkansas has eight chapters with about 1,000 members.

Pastor Otto Brown said Biker Sunday began at the church when member Dewell Grisham, state coordinator of CMA, approached him about a ministry opportunity.

"Dewell and I got together and Dewell said, 'Can we do a Biker Sunday?'" Brown recalled. "I prayed about it and felt like the Lord would have us to have a Biker Sunday here."

Brown described the revival-type services as "a rally" which helps church members "relate to the CMA organization."

In addition to opening the church's doors to the annual Biker Sunday, Brown said the congregation allows the CMA to meet there on Monday nights for Bible study. He said the Bible study "started out with 12 people in the group and now we're running 50 to 60."

Grisham, CMA's state coordinator since 1982, said the Bible studies utilize the Navigator series curriculum, an interdenominational Bible study. "We don't dwell on denominations because we are a nondenominational group," he explained.

Church member J.N. West, a former Bible study leader, serves as a host for the study. "We started out meeting in homes," he recalled. "After the third home we were running out of room."

West said the church's ministry to bikers "opens the eyes of other individuals" to the Christian faith.

"One evening at Monday Bible study there was a lady walking down the sidewalk and she wanted to know, 'Why all the bikes?'" he noted. "'They are here for Bible study,' I said. Her remark was, 'I didn't know the two went together.'"

West emphasized the importance of churches reaching out to those who have adopted the biker lifestyle. "Most people who ride the bikes have been mistreated, mishandled or at least feel like they have been at one time or another by churches -- not just this church or that church, but churches in general.People just have to quit looking down their long noses. They're searching just like you or I are."

Herman Snipes, a Little Rock "tattoo artist" and biker, is an active member of the Monday Bible study. Noting the study helps bikers "feel welcome," he added, "Anybody can come and socialize and we can get to know each other 'cause we're all Christians. No matter what you look like, we're still with Christ."

Biker "Brother Dave" Keegan, a Little Rock postal carrier, also affirmed the church's open arms. "The group here represents Jesus Christ and what he's done for them. The only way we can express it is to be in a place where people will have us."

During the morning worship service, biker Pete Gray shared his testimony about how God helped him overcome mental illness and the drugs used to control his condition.

"All through my life, things people call normal -- making the bed, going to the store or not being scared of people in general -- that's something I couldn't do," he said. "I had problems all through my life. They had to put me on extreme doses of medication that I took every day for five years."

Then, he recalled, his sister asked him to go to church. "I accepted Christ that night. I asked the Lord what was wrong with me all my life and he told me, 'You were demon possessed.'

"That night I told my mother, an LPN, I don't want to take my medicine anymore," he noted. "She said, 'Are you sure?' I told her that if I hadn't experienced what I experienced tonight, I'd keep on taking it forever. That's rational thinking, something I never did before and I have not had one bit of medicine since 1982."

The church's CMA partnership has not been a one-sided experience. Last year the CMA Bible study raised funds and sent Brown on a CMA mission trip to Nicaragua and Honduras.

"It was a tremendous experience," Brown said. "They raised money to buy motorcycles in the countries. We gave the seven bikes to pastors who had no way of getting around other than riding a bicycle or riding a horse, a donkey or walking.

"Motorcycles are an excellent tool for the spreading of the gospel," Brown pointed out. "Each pastor in Honduras had 10 to 12 congregations they were responsible for. They were overwhelmed and excited that a group from the U.S. would raise the money and buy them bikes. This year CMA will be giving out 100 bikes around the world."

"Our purpose is to go where the bikers are," Grisham emphasized. "There's a lot of hurting people out there, especially bikers. We go to rallies to tell them about Jesus.

"We don't push ourselves on them," he added. Noting members participate in rallies not only as Christians, but as bikers, he said, "That gives us an open door to get into their rallies. If we went as Christians up front, we would not be accepted."

"Witnessing to bikers differs in that they are usually already aware they are sinners," Shreve said. "In the biker world, they know and boast of the fact that they sin. It's much easier knowing step one, 'Admit you are a sinner.'"

Shreve said "earning the right" to witness to bikers is a thrust of the organization. "You can't go up to a biker and say, 'Heaven or hell, turn or burn.'

"You have to come up to a biker and talk about chrome, talk about leather and all that stuff," he said. "Build a relationship, biker to biker, so that he has confidence and trusts you to bear his soul to you. As a result, it's a pretty slow ministry because there's a lot of planting and sowing.

"It does work," Shreve declared. "We don't go out and say, 'We had 150 today come to the Lord.' We go out and say, 'Thank God they let me talk to them today.'"

"This is something I believe in -- getting the Word to the bikers," remarked biker Joel Norwood of Malvern. "I don't just come to Biker Sunday. I hit the runs and the rallies, the swap meets. Wherever they're at, that's where we go to witness and minister to the bikers."

He said part of "earning the right" to witness to other bikers is that "we used to be what they are now. I came out of that life. God called me out, cleaned me up and put me right back into it.

"A lot of them boys are boys I used to do drugs and alcohol with and I still see them," Norwood said. "The difference is instead of doing the lines of dope with them, now I can tell them what Jesus has done for me."

Norwood said he appreciates the Levy church's willingness to host Biker Sunday. "What's the difference in the way a person dresses or what? God is no respecter of persons. He doesn't look at the clothes. If a church looks at the clothes, they better take another look at themselves."

Challenging other churches to evaluate their openness to those in need, Norwood said, "I've heard, 'You can't come here because you've got long hair.' 'You can't come here 'cause you wear black leather.' That ain't what God said. God said salvation is for all men. Maybe we're a throwback to what the early church was, 'cause you will find us not inside the walls, but out on the highways and byways like God called us to do."

Copyright (c) 1995 Baptist Press

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#3979

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What would a Kingdom-centered church look like? How could we describe its character?

Who wouldn’t want to see the church of the 21st century impact its world the way the church of the first century did theirs? Wouldn’t you love to pastor or belong to a church that your community would describe like this: “Now all the believers were together and had everything in common. So they sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need. And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were bring saved” (Acts 2:44-47).

We must be both candid and honest. This description is a far cry from what we see in many churches today. Many churches are riddled with dissension and crippled by apathy. Offerings through the church barely pay the bills. The idea of meeting the needs of church and community seem foreign to our experience. It is difficult to think about taking the world when you are struggling to keep the doors of the church open. I think we can all admit this is not how God designed His triumphant church. So let’s look together at the first-century model and pray that God will begin a process of transformation in our hearts and in our churches.

It may be helpful if we first pause to get an overview of the Kingdom-centered church. The overarching concern of the Kingdom-centered church is to disciple the nations. This is the imperative in the Great Commission. Thus it is not too simplistic to say that the Kingdom-centered church is a disciple-making community. So here is the first question we must consider: Is our church making disciples?

We have so often been guilty of first judging the quality of churches by asking about various issues related to numerical growth. Very candidly, some of these numerical issues are related to the location of the church and the density of the population. Now, hear me carefully, I am not suggesting that we ignore issues such as baptismal and numerical growth. I am, however, saying that we must first be obedient to the command to make disciples. I am just biblically naïve enough to believe that if we will follow God’s command and His directions for His church, He will give the growth. The Lord begins by developing the character of His church so that He may build His church. So let’s look at the eight characteristics of the church.

UNITED IN PRAYER

When we read the Acts account, we are bombarded by the dependence on prayer and the power of the Spirit. I have linked these two together in a single characteristic because they are linked in the Book of Acts and in our own experience. For those of us who are activity oriented -- who want to do something to see our church grow -- the first command to “wait” takes us by surprise. Why wait? Let’s do something! Organize the Sunday School, change the style of worship, begin to canvass our community -- something, anything! Waiting seems like doing nothing to us. According to Acts 1:14, the period of waiting was not simply idle time. They knew that empowering came through prayer and, thus, all these were continually united in prayer. The word “continually” not only denotes the duration of their prayer, but it also indicates their devotion to prayer. Their praying was both persistent and passionate. Do these words describe the prayer life of your church?

TEACHES SOUND DOCTRINE

We remember the dramatic beginning of the church in Jerusalem as 3,000 persons were baptized and added to them. The very next phrase tells us they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. Their first concern was to establish these new believers in the faith through sound doctrinal teaching. As I read the book of Acts, I see this commitment to doctrinal teaching as a central aspect of the disciple-making community.

The church at Antioch was the great mission-sending church of the first century. The Lord gave it a large ingathering of persons (Acts 11:24). Once again the very next verse tells us for a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (11:25). In Acts 14:21-22, Luke tells us that after Paul and Barnabas had evangelized Derbe, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the hearts of the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith.

Sometimes church growth proponents suggest we may need to downplay doctrine to reach “boomers” or “busters.” This is not only bad advice; it is patently unbiblical. We may draw a crowd by preaching messages that please the ear yet do not challenge the head and change the heart, but that will not grow His church.

PRIORITIZES WORSHIP

The description of the church in Acts 2 makes it abundantly clear that the early Christians experienced great joy as they met together to praise the Lord. Their worship was not simply the joy that characterized their fellowship; it was the passion that ignited their mission concern. It is not insignificant that the beginning of the Apostle Paul’s first missionary journey is placed in the context of worship and prayer. The phrase “as they were ministering to the Lord” actually translates the Greek word from which we get the English word “liturgy.” The Lord communicated His passion for the world as the church gathered to worship Him. Worship is not about us; it is about Him. As we worship, Christ is exalted and thus draws people to Himself.

IS INTENTIONALLY EVANGELISTIC

The Book of Acts begins with the promise: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Throughout the Book of Acts we see both the passion and intentionality of the early disciples to evangelize the world.

Listen to what Luke tells us about the ministry of Philip: Philip went down to a city in Samaria and preached the Messiah to them (Acts 8:5) and Philip appeared in Azotus, and passing through, he was evangelizing all the towns until he came to Caesarea (8:40). In the middle of this account of Philip’s ministry, we are told that Peter and John traveled back to Jerusalem, evangelizing many villages of the Samaritans (8:25). Does your church manifest passion for the lost? Does it have an intentional strategy for reaching the community entrusted to you by the Father?

NURTURES BIBLICAL FELLOWSHIP

As we read the New Testament, it becomes abundantly clear that the New Testament church enjoyed a unique sense of fellowship. We are told that they met from house to house and that they enjoyed taking their meals together. But their fellowship did not end when the meal was over. Acts 4:32-35 indicates that they were of “one heart and soul.” This unity led members of the early church to assist in meeting the needs of fellow members.

Luke notes that there was not a needy person among them (4:34). This announcement is all the more significant when we remember that many of the early converts to Christianity would have been disenfranchised by their own Jewish families when they became Christians. Some may have lost their ability to earn a living because of the hostility they encountered from fellow Jews. If the early church and its members were to survive, it was necessary that they truly become family.

PRACTICES GENEROUS STEWARDSHIP

We have already noted the willingness of various members to sell their own possessions to provide for the needs of fellow members. This generosity of the majority of members described in chapter 4 is contrasted with the stingy spirit of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, who pledge a piece of land and then keep a portion of the proceeds. Luke wants us to fully comprehend that generosity should be a natural consequence of responding to the Gospel.

The church at Antioch manifests generosity as they send a love offering for the saints in Jerusalem (Acts 11:27-30). They make this gift even though they are told that the famine will be severe throughout the Roman world. Great churches are always marked by great stewardship.

IS GLOBALLY FOCUSED

The commission in Acts 1:8 and the very pattern of Acts itself indicates that the early believers understood that the heartbeat of God was for the nations. The Book of Acts demonstrates the work of the Spirit enabling the church to evangelize Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

I have always been enamored by the church at Antioch. I especially love their vision for a global local church. In Acts 13:1-3, we see them sending Paul and Barnabas, their best-known leaders, to begin the first missionary journey. Notice that it is the local church that is at the heart of God’s plan for reaching the nations. Every church must target the entire world if it is to be faithful to God’s design and purpose.

WORKS COOPERATIVELY

The global nature of the mission task of the church necessitates that the church work cooperatively with likeminded churches for Kingdom advance. We have already noted one evidence of cooperative ministry in the offering that the church at Antioch sends to the saints in Jerusalem. As we study the Pauline letters, we will find that this offering becomes a passion for Paul as he challenges the churches in Achaia and Macedonia to abound in this generous work. The very existence of the Pauline letters indicates that the early churches found it absolutely essential to bind themselves to one another for the sake of the Gospel.

We have discovered the same truth today. No single church has the ability or resources to reach their own Jerusalem, much less the world. If we are serious about Kingdom advance, we must rediscover our cooperative spirit and become committed to a cooperative strategy.

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Kenneth S. Hemphill is the national strategist strategist for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Empowering Kingdom Growth emphasis, on the Web at www.empoweringkingdomgrowth.net.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #9595]

Catherine Booth was the “mother” of the Salvation Army. “Wherever Catherine Booth went,” said Campbell Morgan, “humanity went to hear her. Princes and princesses merged with paupers and prostitutes.” One night, Morgan shared in a meeting with Mrs. Booth, and a great crowd of “publicans and sinners” was there. Her message brought many to Christ.

After the meeting, Morgan and Mrs. Booth went to be entertained at a fine home and the lady of the manor said, “My dear Mrs. Booth, that meeting was dreadful.”

“What do you mean, dearie?” asked Mrs. Booth.

“Oh, when you were speaking, I was looking at those people opposite to me. Their faces were so terrible, many of them. I don't think I shall sleep tonight!”

“Why, dearie, don't you know them?” Mrs. Booth asked; and the hostess replied, “Certainly not!”

“Well, that is interesting,” Mrs. Booth said. “I did not bring them with me from London; they are your neighbors!”

The Good Samaritan \reference{Luke 10:25-37}{Luke 10:25-37}

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Why do I come to church? What should I expect the local church to do for me? Should the regular services of the church be primarily for reaching the lost or for reaching the saved? Compare the two concepts below:

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The local church is primarily a SOUL-WINNING STATION.

The local church is primarily a SOUL-BUILDING STATION (Acts 20:28,32).

We rejoice at every soul that is saved through the preaching ministry of a local church, and we certainly do not want to minimize the importance of making the most of every opportunity to win a soul for Christ, but the primary purpose of the local assembly is to build up the believers in the most holy faith and to equip them for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12).

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The local church is here primarily to GET PEOPLE SAVED (Reaching them).

The local church is here primarily to GET PEOPLE TAUGHT (Teaching them). See Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:42.

If the main thrust of the local assembly is to reach the lost, then evangelism will be unduly stressed and given priority and the edification and equipping of believers will not be given its proper place. If God’s Word is properly taught, the unsaved who are in attendance will certainly hear the gospel, and the believers who need to be taught will not be neglected.

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The local church is to PREACH THE GOSPEL

(by “gospel” we mean that truth which unsaved people need to know in order to be saved, the good news of salvation).

The local church is to PREACH THE WORD (2 Tim. 4:2) which would include the gospel but which would not neglect “ALL SCRIPTURE” (2 Tim. 3:16).

If a faithful pastor is preaching through the Bible, verse by verse, book by book, he is going to be constantly pointing his listeners to Christ and to His so-great salvation. At the same time he will be feeding the saints the kind of spiritual food that will nurture them and strengthen them to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

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The local church is here primarily for EVANGELISM (Win them!).

The local church is here primarily for INDOCTRINATION (Feed them!). See John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2.

The key word here is “primarily.” We are not opposed to the gospel message going forth in the regular services of the local church, and we certainly rejoice over every sinner who repents. The problem comes when evangelism becomes the main focus and the believers do not get the spiritual nourishment that they need to be effective servants (and soul-winners!) for Christ throughout the week.

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BRING THE UNSAVED TO THE GOSPEL.

BRING THE GOSPEL TO THE UNSAVED (Mark 16:15; 2 Cor. 5:20).

God does NOT say, “Go into all the world and invite everyone to come to church.” We are not to bring them to the gospel but we are to bring the gospel to them. All believers are to be gospel preachers, not just the pastor on Sunday morning or Sunday evening. Our gospel emphasis should be every day of the week, as we go into the world seeking the lost to win. But the hours that we spend with God’s people should be rich times of being built up in the Word of God so that we can be more effective witnesses for Christ at work, at home or at school.

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The regular services of the local church have a ministry primarily for SINNERS.

The regular services of the local church have a ministry primarily for SAINTS (Eph. 4:12; Col. 1:28).

Again the key word is “primarily.” We are certainly glad if unsaved people can come into a local church and find it a place that ministers to their spiritual needs, especially their greatest need which is salvation from sin. But the primary purpose of the local assembly is to proclaim the whole counsel of God so that believers are well-equipped to go forth and do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12).

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Primary goal of the local church: THAT PEOPLE MIGHT BE SAVED! (Salvation is the final goal)

Primary goal of the local church: THAT SAVED PEOPLE MIGHT BE CHRIST-LIKE!

(Salvation is just the first step) Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13-15

Again, we are certainly not opposed to people being saved in church, but we are grieved when God’s people are undernourished, spiritually sick, and ineffective witnesses for Christ. A church that is faithfully teaching the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, will not neglect the lost who come through the doors. What happens when an unbeliever comes into a soul-building station where believers are being edified and where God’s Word is being rightly taught?

See 1 Corinthians 14:24-25.

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The Pastor should PREACH SALVATION MESSAGES (John 3:16, etc.).

The Pastor should PREACH THE ENTIRE BIBLE from Genesis to Revelation (Acts 20:27; Matt. 28:20; 2 Tim. 3:16).

It is impossible to preach through the Bible systematically and not touch upon the gospel repeatedly. There is a scarlet cord that runs throughout the Scriptures. But there are also rich gems of truth that believers need to hear and understand. John 3:16 is one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible, but a steady diet of John 3:16 type messages is not what a hungry believer needs. If we aim the Sword only at the unsaved, then we are going to fail to meet the spiritual needs of God’s flock (John 21:15-17).

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The Pastor should give the people INFORMATION ON HOW TO BE SAVED. (How to become a Christian)

The Pastor should give the people INFORMATION ON HOW TO LIVE. (How to be a Christian) See 2 Tim. 3:17

Believers need to be well-versed on how to be saved and how to have full assurance of salvation based on God’s Word. But salvation is only the beginning. It is but the first step of a life-long process of growing to be more like Christ (2 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 3:18). What would we think of a person who is admitted into medical school but receives no further medical training because all the medical school cares about is getting more and more people admitted into their school? I would not want to be a patient in the hospital staffed by such people! The prospective doctor needs to receive the best training possible so that he might be able to treat people properly and save lives. So also the pastor’s job is to give the saints the best possible training from the Word so that they might be able to minister effectively and represent Christ rightly in the world, bringing others to the Saviour.

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THE PASTOR DOES THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY.

THE SAINTS DO THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY (Eph. 4:12).

In most churches today the pastor bears the great bulk of the ministry load along with perhaps a few others. The great majority are content to sit in the pews, hear a nice message and perhaps come back on the following Sunday. The genius of New Testament Christianity was that the saints (the believers) were to be fully equipped and well-trained to go forth every day of the week and do the work of the ministry. Instead of one man or a few people trying to bear the burden, God’s intent was to have a whole army of believers going forth trained and well-equipped to serve the Lord at work, at school, at home, in town or in the local neighborhoods.

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THE PASTOR IS THE MINISTER.

ALL ARE MINISTERS (Eph. 4:12).

In so many churches the preacher is called “the minister,” and sadly this title itself reflects the wrong concept. The pastor is certainly a servant of Christ, but he is but one of many. His special assignment is to train and equip a whole group of believers to be faithful servants of Christ, and this would include being faithful heralds of the good news.

If someone were to ask, “Who is the minister of this church?” an appropriate answer would be, “There are about 200 (depending on the size of the congregation) ministers in this church. Which one would you like to speak to?” God’s people need to understand that the Saviour desires everyone of us to be His faithful servants.

On the other hand, the pastor has a very special ministry. He is able to devote himself continually to the ministry of prayer and the Word of God (Acts 6:4; 1 Tim. 4:15-16). The believers under his ministry ought to be good students of the Word also, but because they hold full time jobs and are full time homemakers, etc., the time they spend in the Word is limited by such constraints. The pastor has the time and needs to make the time for intensive study of the Word so that he might be able to equip the believers unto every good work. One of the great problems of our day is that Bible believing pastors do not study the Word as they should, and part of the reason for this is that all during the week they are running around doing many of the things that well-fed and well-taught saints ought to be doing.

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THE PASTOR IS IN FULL TIME CHRISTIAN SERVICE.

EVERY BELIEVER IS IN FULL TIME CHRISTIAN SERVICE (1 Cor. 6:19-20; Col. 3:22-25).

Every believer needs to realize that he is in full time Christian service whether he gets monetary benefits or not. You may be a doctor or a lawyer or a plumber or an insurance agent or a homemaker or whatever, but your CHIEF VOCATION is that you are a servant of the most high God and you are to walk worthy of your high, holy and heavenly calling (Eph. 4:1). Never forget what your main job really is. And if it really is your main job, do you not need to be fully equipped and fully trained for it? This is the purpose of the local assembly of believers according to God’s blueprint in Ephesians 4:11-16.

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THE PASTOR IS THE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL.

EVERY BELIEVER IS A PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL (2 Cor. 5:20; Mark 16:15).

The pastor certainly has wonderful opportunities to proclaim the good news of Christ, not only in the regular services of the church, but also on other special occasions (funerals, weddings, etc.). As the pastor faithfully preaches and teaches through the Bible he is going to repeatedly exalt the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and point to the wonderful salvation that He alone died to provide. But there is also a gospel responsibility given to every blood-bought child of God. Remember, your pastor cannot readily get into the factory or the hospital or the insurance company or the school or the place of business where you work 40 hours a week or more. However God has placed you there to be His witness, by life and by lips (Acts 1:8). Also keep in mind that you don’t have to be a pastor to hand out tracts or to do hospital visitation or to lead a nursing home service or to conduct a neighborhood evangelistic Bible study or to teach a Bible club for children, or to go on door to door visitation, etc. May God guide each of us to know where and how we may most effectively serve Him.

Ephesians 4:11-12 -- The ascended Lord Jesus Christ gave certain gifted men to His church, including pastor-teachers (Eph. 4:11).

The following may help you understand what Ephesians 4:12 is really saying:

WHY WERE THESE GIFTED MEN GIVEN TO THE CHURCH?

For the purpose of (Greek–PROS, with a view towards) perfecting (equipping, training) the saints

[What are the saints equipped for?]

1. FOR (GREEK: EIS) THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY [SERVING CHRIST EVERY DAY (including evangelism)]

2. FOR (GREEK: EIS) THE EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST [BUILDING UP FELLOW BELIEVERS!]

INTERPRETIVE PARAPHRASE: The Pastor-teacher is to equip and train the saints (through a program of total indoctrination involving the whole counsel of God from Genesis to Revelation) so that the saints will go forth throughout the week serving Christ, making known His gospel and building up fellow believers.

THE PURPOSE FOR THE ASSEMBLING OF THE SAINTS

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)

The saints assemble together in order to be equipped (perfected) for the work of the ministry. This is the genius of apostolic Christianity, but it is rarely taking place in the churches today. God’s purpose is to train and equip His people by way of His gifted men (“pastor/teachers” etc.). When believers are well-fed and well-taught in the whole counsel of God, then the body (the local assembly) will be healthy, the LIFE of Christ will be manifested, and God will be glorified.

We certainly thank God for every sinner who attends a local assembly of believers, hears the gospel message and receives Christ as his personal Saviour. The main purpose of the local assembly, however, is for the saints, not for sinners. The local assembly, according to God’s pattern, is to be primarily an edification center (1 Cor. 14:26), not an evangelistic center; a soul-building station (Acts 20:28,32), not a soul-winning station. Of course, if the whole counsel of God is preached and if the Bible is faithfully taught then the cross of Christ, the grace of God, justification and God’s so-great salvation would be themes heard repeatedly. How can you preach the Word and not preach the gospel? On the other hand, it is possible to preach the gospel in such a way that fails to provide proper nourishment for the saints. Believers need more than a steady diet of “John 3:16 messages.”

Interestingly enough, the cults do not establish evangelistic centers. Rather they establish edificational centers to train their people to go out and do the work of the ministry. The people are immersed in a program of total indoctrination. The average Jehovah’s Witness, for example, is ready always to give an answer to every man that asks him a reason of the FALSE hope that is within him. The average Bible believer is horribly ignorant of God’s truth. The devil knows which system really works. The cults do not lack for converts.

What do unbelievers notice as they come into local churches today? Do they see a healthy organism? Do they see well-fed members? Do they see “Christ in you”? Are they convicted by the awesome Presence and Person of God (1 Cor. 14:24-25)? The greatest need today is for a lost world to see the Lord Jesus Christ manifesting Himself in and through a healthy assembly of believers. The world needs to see Christ-like believers who understand and practice God’s Word. When God’s people are fully equipped for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-16), they certainly will not be lax in gospel outreach, nor allow mission programs to suffer. When a church makes its priority edification, then true evangelism cannot help but be enhanced, as is well illustrated in 1 Corinthians 14:24-25.

“The local church is for the glory of God. On earth each

congregation is to function as a body that evidences the power

and indwelling of the life of God. Each one is to be seen as a

manifestation of Christ in its locality, living the truth as well

as preaching it. The bulk of instruction and exhortations in

Acts and the Epistles has to do with holiness and honorable

interpersonal relationships in the local church (1 Cor. 11:27).

Each congregation is to see itself as a “body,” and organism, and

not merely as an organization....Unless this is understood and

made paramount in the thinking of leaders and members, the local

church will fail as a witness. But when this truth is embraced

by faith unto edification, the community round about will see a

witness. The unsaved who attend its services will come under the

conviction of sin (1 Cor. 14:25), and the members will be fed,

empowered, and equipped to properly represent Jesus Christ in

their daily pursuits (2 Cor. 3:3; Phil. 2:15)....The redeemed —

together as the Lord’s assembly — constitute an organism to be

treasured. Each believer should be helped to see what the local

assembly means to Christ and should become most appreciative of

the precious privilege of being part of the local testimony.”

(Carlton Helgerson, THE LOCAL CHURCH)

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #16734]

[This article is aimed at salespeople but it has some interesting application to how churches handle visitors. -Holwick]

____________________

Presto -- every customer returns for a second dose of whatever you sell or serve. Is that the reality? Or have you sold them once, and then got fired (and now they're being served by your competition).

You see, people don't stop doing business, they just stop doing business with you. Each of us has lost a customer or ten in our business career. Why? Lots of reasons. We all know what to do, problem is we just don't do it.

Being fired is not just maddening and frustrating, it's also an opportunity. An opportunity to figure out why and fix the problem. Here's a list of 14.5 reasons why customers fire you:

1. SHOWING NO GENUINE OR PERSONAL INTEREST. Impersonal service. Insincere people. Commission (only) hungry salespeople.

2. POOR RESPONSE. Take too long to get back to a customer or service a customer, and they will find someone else. People will even sacrifice quality for speed.

3. UNAVAILABILITY. People or product. Formula: "Can't get the stuff I need or can't reach the person I want, equals go someplace else."

4. HARD TO DO BUSINESS OR ORDER. Long waits on hold. People who are not product knowledgeable. Computer voice attendant rather than a real human being to answer the phone, and going through three minutes of crap only to get lost or put on eternal hold. Bye-bye.

5. UNFRIENDLY PERSON ON THE FRONT LINE. It never ceases to amaze me how many angry people serve on the front line of multi-million (billion) dollar businesses. The first rule of every corporate policy in America should be one word -- "smile."

6. POOR OR RUDE COLLECTION PRACTICES. This is a big one. Taking away someone's dignity when collecting a bill is common practice in businesses. Most have never taken the time to point out to collection people that keeping the customer is as important as collecting the money.

7. OVER-PROMISING. Customers are like elephants -- they never forget.You over-promise and under-deliver, you lose.

8. INADEQUATE CAPABILITY TO HANDLE THE CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM. Poor product knowledge, or too many service problems -- not enough service people. Double jeopardy if you make a lame excuse about it.

9. TOO EAGER TO DO MORE BUSINESS. (Too pushy, too much pressure) -- No one wants to buy more from a high pressure person. Help, don't sell. Create an atmosphere of buying (asking about them) -- not telling about you. Don't be a pest -- have a solid reason for following up.

10. POOR PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE OR IMAGE. Customer's want to feel that the quality of their business will be reflected by the quality of those they deal with. How's your image? How's your package?

11. DUMB EXCUSES about why you "can't." Customers are calling because they want help. They want help with their situation -- not hear a bunch of bull-ony about yours.

12. NICKEL AND DIME-ING. Charging for every incidental like copies, phone calls, and interest on late payments, puts a bad taste in the customer's mouth.

13. POOR PRODUCT QUALITY. No matter how much people pay, they expect a quality product. If you're selling price and sacrificing quality, eventually you will lose the business to someone with opposite thinking.

14. POOR SERVICE DELIVERY. Everyone expects fast service - - that's right the first time. How's yours? How's the attitude of those who deliver it?

14.5 POOR TRAINING. Don't fire the problem employee. Shoot the person who trained them. Poor or ineffective training is the root of customer dissatisfaction. Success tactic: Make "reasons for customer dissatisfaction" the basis for a new training program.

What happens to angry customers? From a variety of reliable research, here is a compilation of interesting statistics.

91% who leave will never return. 96% who leave won't tell you the real reason they left. 80% will do business with you again if their problem is handled quickly, and to their complete satisfaction. When the incident is real bad and they leave, stories about what happened will be retold for years.

Interestingly, most of the time when we lose (get fired by) a customer, it always seems to be their fault. I'd love to have a dollar for every customer who was wrongly blamed. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's easy to assess who's to blame -- just look in the mirror. Your mirror.

I'll leave you with two questions -- What are you doing to build loyalty and ensure repeat purchases? Are your customers resigning or re-signing?

================================================

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible

*

Because we lived along the East Coast for so many years, we've had the opportunity to see many of America's old lighthouses. I love them. But not long ago we came up over the top of a hill on an interstate and I saw what I certainly never expected to see hundreds of miles from any ocean. It was a lighthouse. With a bright, functioning light on top. Obviously, it wasn't there to point any ships in the right direction. Actually, it was part of a church that stands right near the highway. See, this lighthouse is for people!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Great Lighthouse Shortage."

It seems to me that Jesus intended for every church to be a lighthouse, whether or not they have a lighted tower as part of their building. And He intended for every Christian to be a lighthouse, every ministry. Tragically, with so many lives around us headed for disaster, there is a terrible lighthouse shortage.

We know that Jesus said that those who belong to Him are "the light of the world." (Matthew 5:16) And Matthew 4:16, our word for today from the Word of God, tells us which direction our light should be pointing. Jesus says, "The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned." See, it's the people in spiritual darkness, the people who are spiritually dying who should be the focus of all this light God has given us.

The problem is that often we are content to have all the lights inside the church, shining on those who are already headed for heaven. Meanwhile, we let countless lost people just get another day closer to hell. We do what's easy - we just work with the sheep who are already in - when Jesus said He would leave ninety-nine of those just to go out and find one lost one. But notice - you have to go out to find them. You can't just stay in the Christian cocoon waiting for someone to stick their head in the door and say, "Excuse me, but is there any light in here?" The lighthouse needs to be out where they are!

We can go to all our Christian meetings, fellowship with all our Christian friends, enjoy all our Christian books and programs, and we feel like we must be winning. Not when two-thirds of Americans can't tell you half of the Ten Commandments or who did the Sermon on the Mount! Not when the number of people who say they believe in nothing has doubled in the last ten years - and the number of those who are self-declared witches has grown over 1,500% in the past decade. Even in one Bible Belt state, the statistics just came in - two-thirds of the people even there are essentially unchurched! You have working near you, living near you, going to school with you people who have no idea that what Jesus did on the cross was for them and that He's their only hope! If our Christian subculture makes us feel like we're winning, it's the illusion of winning.

How can we be content to spend all our time with the already-rescued when we are living surrounded by a sea of dying people? How can we say that we are following the One who came, as He said, to "seek and save what was lost" - and not be doing that with all our heart? If you're following Jesus, I'll tell you where He's going. He's always headed for a sea of lost people. That should be where we end up too. Oh, it's bright inside the lighthouse, but it's very dark outside the walls.

So many headed for eternal destruction - they desperately need a lighthouse that is out where they are, pointing them to life in Jesus Christ. Be their lighthouse!

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

Fred Luter Jr., pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, urged students at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to "save the lost at any cost." Saving the lost at any cost means caring for the lost, being creative in evangelism methods, cooperating with each other and committing to bring the lost to Jesus Christ.

Luter began his spirited message to the students by reading Mark 2:1-5 about four men lowering a paralytic to Jesus by breaking through the roof of the house where he was preaching. "When Jesus saw their faith," Scripture recounts, "he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.'"

Christians must have four characteristics if they are going to bring the lost to Jesus Christ, Luter said.

1. They cared.

2. They were creative.

3. They cooperated.

4. They were committed.

First, lost people need to know Christians care about them, just as the four men cared for the paralytic.

"They took time out of their schedule, time out of their agenda, time out of all the things and they brought this one man to Jesus Christ," Luter said.

"Listen, the lost [people] need to know that we care about their hurts, we care about their struggles, we care about their addiction, we care about their hang- ups, we care about their dysfunction," Luter said. "If we want to bring the lost to Jesus Christ, we gotta care about them."

Second, Christians have to become creative in their method of evangelism.

Bringing the lost to Christ at any cost may mean using unprecedented tactics, just as the four men in Mark 2:1-5 did for the paralytic.

"Listen to me, brothers and sisters, listen to me well, the message never changes. The message should always be Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forevermore," Luter said.

While the message never changes, the method by which the message is delivered might need to be adapted to meet the needs of a lost generation, Luter contended.

"Eighty-three percent of the youth don't go to church. We've got to change our method if we're going to reach this new generation," he declared.

"We cannot expect to reach the CD, DVD generation with eight-track ministry. We cannot expect to reach this hip-hop, gangster rap, B.E.T., M.T.V., earring-wearin', do-rag-wearin', baggy pants-wearin', tattoos all over their body, Brittney Spears, N'Sync, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, Cisco, misfit, juvenile, mystical generation with eight-track ministry!

"We've gotta do some crazy things to reach the lost and we've got to do it today! We've gotta be creative in our ministry," Luter said. "We've gotta do something unexpected; we've gotta do some unusual things."

Third, Luter pointed out how the four men had to cooperated with each other in order for the paralytic to receive healing.

"My brothers and sisters, one lesson the body of Christ needs to learn from these men is that they all cooperated with each other. They were on one mission for Jesus Christ. We're all in this thing together. God needs every church of every size, of every race, of every color, and we've got to come together and bring the lost to Jesus Christ!"

Finally, Luter explained that Christians must be committed in order to reach the lost for Christ.

"Brothers and sisters, notice whose faith Jesus honored in this text. Notice whose faith got Jesus' attention. The Bible said, 'when Jesus saw their faith,' the four men who cared, the four men who were creative, the four men who cooperated, and the four men who were committed.

"What about you and what about me? There are people we need to bring to Jesus Christ. Let's make the main thing, the main thing -- saving the lost at any cost."

Many of us struggle to make conversation at Christmas gatherings, whether church events, work-related parties, neighborhood drop-ins, or annual family occasions.

Sometimes our difficulty lies in having to chat with people we rarely see or have never met. At other times we simply don't know what to say to those with whom we feel little in common.

Moreover, as Christians we want to take advantage of the special opportunities provided by the Christmas season to share our faith, but are often unsure how to begin.

Here's a list of questions designed not only to kindle a conversation in almost any Christmas situation, but also to take the dialogue gradually to a deeper level. The questions can be used in a private conversation or as a group exercise, with believers or unbelievers, with strangers or with family.

1. What's the best thing that's happened to you since last Christmas?

2. What was your best Christmas ever? Why?

3. What's the most meaningful Christmas gift you've ever received?

4. What was the most appreciated Christmas gift you've ever given?

5. What was your favorite Christmas tradition as a child?

6. What is your favorite Christmas tradition now?

7. What do you do to try to keep Christ in Christmas?

8. Why do you think people started celebrating the birth of Jesus?

9. Do you think the birth of Jesus deserves such a nearly worldwide celebration?

10. Why do you think Jesus came to earth?

Of course, remember to pray before your Christmas gatherings. Ask the Lord to grant you “divine appointments,” to guide your conversations, and to open doors for the Gospel. May He use you to bring glory to Christ this Christmas.

Have you ever wished you could do a miracle for friends or family members who weren't believers? You think, "If this happened, then they would believe." We think we need something dramatic or earthshaking. But so many times, God works in simple ways to reach people.

For example, I read about a hardened atheist who had a young daughter. He didn't want her to believe in God. So one day, he wrote down the words "God is nowhere" on a piece of paper and told his little girl to read them aloud. She picked up the piece of paper. She was just learning to read, so she sounded out her words and said, "God is . . . let's see, N-O W-H-E-R-E. Oh, I understand, Daddy. God is now here." The atheist was so touched by that simple little event that he became a believer in Jesus Christ.

I'm reminded of a couple that attended one of our Harvest Crusades in Southern California. As they were walking down the street, they spotted a crumpled but colorful piece of paper on the ground. When they picked it up and smoothed it out, they discovered a Harvest Crusade flyer. They read it, and then prayed and received Christ. They also went to the crusade and walked forward at the invitation. What a simple thing God used: a little crumpled flyer that contained a gospel message.

So often we think we need something dramatic to reach nonbelievers. We need the greatest argument to reach them. And so often, God does His work in unexpected ways. God can use such simple things and speak in such simple ways. You just never know.

Definition of Servant Evangelism:

"People often ask me to explain servant evangelism in a nutshell. I'm not very good at putting anything in a nutshell, but this is the definition we use at out church: demonstrating the kindness of God by offering to do some act of humble service with no strings attached."

-- Steve Sjogren, "Conspiracy of Kindness" PP. 17-18.

"Servant Evangelism = deeds of love + words of love + adequate time"

Deeds of Love: "God's love must be communicated from person to person, not just page to person … Deeds of love allow us to sneak into the hearts of those we serve."

Words of Love: "Deeds of kindness get people's attention and often cause them to ask us questions … When we do speak we must be sensitive to the level of receptivity of each person and explain the words of God's love in whatever way the hearer can understand … If we don't follow our actions with words, they will only know that we are nice people, not that God loves them."

Adequate Time: "We need to allow time for deeds and words of love to have their effect on the hearts of people. If we are allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in His way and in His timing, we must not demand instantaneous results."

________

Steve Sjogren, "Conspiracy of Kindness" pp. 22-23

“Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn’t find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, ‘Friend, I forgive your sins’” (Luke 5:18-20, Message Bible).

__________

Do you remember the story of the paralytic in Luke 5 when four men broke through the roof of a synagogue to lower their friend to Jesus? Sometimes it takes something that radical to lead someone to Jesus!

And sometimes it just takes the caring, consistent love of a small group of Christians.

Consider these seven pointers:

1. Your small group can care about people who don’t know Jesus.

The reason God used the four friends in Luke 5 is because they cared for the paralytic. Just like those four, your life mission has to start with love. The number one reason Christians don’t share Christ with others is that they are too preoccupied with themselves.

Before you can care about others, you must become aware of them. Once you become aware of them, start praying for them. Pray for three things:

• an opportunity to share your faith in a non-threatening way.

• for God to soften their hearts.

• for God to soften your heart.

2. Your small group must believe God can reach the person.

No one is hopeless. When the four friends looked at the paralytic’s condition, they could have responded in doubt: What could Jesus do? Instead, they believed God could heal him -- they had faith. The Bible said the paralytic’s sins were forgiven when Jesus saw the faith of the four friends.

There are people paralyzed in our world, who aren’t necessarily physically paralyzed, but who have a paralyzed faith. Whether they’re paralyzed by doubts, loneliness, fear or anything else, the result is the same -- they need the faith of others.

In a sense, they don’t have enough faith to believe, so your faith is going to have to bring them to Jesus.

3. Your small group must make a plan.

Although faith and prayer are important ingredients to bringing others to Jesus, you need to do something too! You need a plan. When the four friends saw the way to Jesus was blocked, they came up with a plan to get the paraplegic to Jesus. Without a plan to bring people to Jesus, your small group will never bring anyone to the Savior.

4. Your small group must overcome difficulties.

When the four friends saw the path to Jesus blocked, they had every reason to feel discouraged, but they didn’t give up. They looked for another way to bring the man to Jesus.

Everybody gets discouraged at times. But in order to share Jesus with our friends, we must persist through those difficulties. I remember a small group at Saddleback Church who prayed for a lost friend for two years before that person made a commitment to Jesus. I’m sure that guy is glad they didn’t give up after a year and a half.

5. Your small group needs the courage to do something different.

When faced with a discouraging situation, these four friends decided to do something different to get their friend to Jesus -- they went through the roof! Sometimes we have to do something different to get people to Jesus as well.

Although you might not crawl through a roof to get someone to Jesus, you might host a party. For a small group in a San Diego church, that meant buying season tickets to see professional football games. Besides buying their own tickets, the couples bought one extra ticket -- for someone who didn’t know Jesus. That group brought 13 couples to Christ through that experience.

6. Your small group must work together to get the job done.

Have you ever tried to carry someone on a stretcher with only three people? It doesn’t work. If all four of the friends hadn’t helped, the paralytic would have fallen off the stretcher.

Some people will only come to Jesus through a group effort. Studies have shown that people come to Christ faster when they come through a supportive environment!

That’s why small groups are so essential in bringing people to Christ.

When you talk to someone at work and it’s just you and that person, you’re the only witness. If you’re able to bring them to a group event -- particularly one that is fun -- they’ll go, “Wow, these people aren’t goofy. They aren’t religious nuts. They’re normal people.”

7. Your small group must be willing to pay the cost to bring someone to Jesus.

These four men wouldn’t have made a hole in the roof unless they were willing to fix it. They had to pay the cost of bringing their friend to Jesus.

Bringing a friend to Jesus always requires sacrifice. For many small groups, that means sacrificing their own comfort within the group. Many people have become so comfortable within their small groups that they are afraid of adding new people and messing up the group dynamics.

Before our friends will come to Jesus, they need to see us get out of our comfort zones.

________

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the New York Times best-seller “The Purpose-Driven Life” and of “The Purpose-Driven Church.” He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers. ©Copyright 2004 Pastors.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

“How about beer with your Bible?”

That’s the question NBC’s “Today” show host Campbell Brown asked March 4 on national television to introduce a report titled “Beer and Bibles: New Churches Lure Young Members.”

Featured in the two-and-a-half minute segment was Darrin Patrick, founder and senior pastor of The Journey in St. Louis -- a Southern Baptist church with ties to the emerging church movement, the North American Mission Board and the Missouri Baptist Convention, which loaned the church $200,000 to help start a church planting center.

The emerging church movement is diverse and difficult to generalize. However, the mix of influences includes: postmodernism (a focus on sense-making through the various mediums of culture); Calvinism ala John Piper; and for some, Christian liberty, as granted by their scriptural interpretation, to drink alcohol and engage in other cultural activities that many Southern Baptists eschew based on opposing scriptural interpretation.

NBC spotlighted The Journey’s “Theology at the Bottleworks,” a church-sponsored discussion group in a bar where alcohol is available to attendees.

“This isn’t just a brew pub, it’s a church,” NBC reporter Jennifer London said, describing the room where the meeting is held. The “church” in reality is the Schlafly Bottleworks where The Journey reaches out to younger adults who might not consider going to a traditional church setting.

Patrick told Baptist Press he abstains from alcohol and that The Journey “doesn’t personally encourage nor corporately promote the use of alcohol.”

However, the reporter emphasized the link.

“Followers say they may come for the beer, but they stay for the Bible,” London said. “And back at the brew pub, it’s about saving souls, one beer at a time.”

Some attending the Theology at the Bottleworks gathering also made the connection between alcohol and the outreach effort. Erin Ryan, who accepted Christ at one of the meetings, told the NBC crew, “You sit down over a glass of wine or a pint of ale or something like that, and you can connect with people more.”

NBC’s focus on the novelty of the methodology obscured the apparent serious approach The Journey has taken in reaching a cultural-generational demographic group. The Journey’s strategy has helped the congregation grow from 30 to almost 2,000 since its 2002 beginning. Last fall it planted the Refuge Church in St. Charles, Mo. and it is assessing church start possibilities in Illinois.

Patrick, in e-mails to Baptist Press, was clear that beer was not a tenet of his non-traditional methodologies. Last December, The Journey’s website included an invitation to “grab a brew, share your view” when attending the Theology at the Bottleworks meeting. A picture of people raising glasses of beer in an apparent toast appeared adjacent to an essay by Patrick on the church’s website. Patrick attributed the content to a secular website design company hired by the church. He told Baptist Press he had the alcohol-related verbiage and picture removed as soon as they came to his attention because “it does not reflect the values of our church.”

Still, the church’s unconventional means of reaching the lost might be shaping its internal culture as much as the church is shaping others. The bio of The Journey’s mission pastor, Jonathan MacIntosh, mentions that he enjoys drinks with his wife “at the almost secret bar beneath Brennan’s in the Central West End.”

The “Today” show feature about The Journey was not the first time “beer and the Bible” garnered media attention. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a lengthy article on its Sunday, Jan. 28, front page detailing the alcohol controversy associated with The Journey.

Referring to a Theology at the Bottleworks meeting, the Post-Dispatch article gave this description of the atmosphere: “In a back room at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, about 50 people gathered on a recent Wednesday night to talk rock ‘n’ roll.... Beer-stained wooden tables and the smell of hops complemented a free-flowing, spirited debate among hip young people in scruffy beards and T-shirts.”

Patrick stressed that the Bottleworks ministry was a means to reach out to unchurched people in their cultural setting. Asked about negative perceptions and the number of biblical references that warn about the dangers of alcohol, Patrick told Baptist Press, “We don’t believe that having a current event discussion at a bar is unbiblical.

“We try to choose venues for these events where un-churched members of our community would feel comfortable,” he said. “Others have taken place at restaurants, coffee shops, office buildings and cafes.”

Patrick, who is vice president of Acts 29, an association of emergent churches, conceded that as a group, Acts 29 holds a “much more liberal view” of alcohol use than The Journey.

Some website material seems to support his conclusion.

The pastor of an Acts 29 church in San Diego (non-SBC), for example, claims on the Internet: “Beer is one of our core values. We enjoy it and like to drink it.” Although the statement appears meant for humor, it seems to show a casualness of attitude about alcohol consumption.

Another Acts 29 church (also non-SBC) -- the Seattle-area Damascus Road Church -- sponsors a men’s poker night for which gamblers are encouraged to bring beer. The website also states: “There is just something about having food on your plate and a drink in your hand that makes fellowship that much easier. Whether the food is healthy or fattening, or the drink is coffee or beer, we desire to follow Christ’s example.”

The alcohol issue goes straight to the top at Acts 29, whose president, Mark Driscoll -- who is pastor of the Seattle-area Mars Hill Church -- wrote in his book, “Radical Reformission,” that abstinence from alcohol is a sin. In a chapter titled “The Sin of Light Beer,” Driscoll explains that he came to this conclusion while preparing a sermon on the Lord’s miracle at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine.

According to information published on the church’s website, Mars Hill sponsored a New Year’s Eve party that included a champagne bar. Mars Hill’s website also advertises “beer-brewing lessons ... whenever a large group of (Mars Hill) men get together.”

Dricsoll is controversial also for once having the reputation of the “cussing pastor.” However, as he recounted on his blog, he finally listened to a friend who helped him realize he was becoming known for “good theology, a bad temper, and a foul mouth,” and he repented, starting with a public apology.

Patrick’s SBC connections include the North American Mission Board. He co-chaired NAMB’s Young Leaders Task Force with Ed Stetzer, a NAMB employee who is on the board of Acts 29. The task force last met over a year ago.

Stetzer defends his board member status with Acts 29, saying, “There are a lot of sharp young guys in Acts 29 churches planting theologically driven churches, so I have the opportunity to influence and encourage them in what I believe are positive ways. Honestly, few other Southern Baptists have this opportunity, and I would rather choose to risk and influence than to pass up being a positive force among the guys at Acts 29.”

Some of those within Acts 29, Stetzer said, “unfortunately overemphasize what they see as ‘Christian liberty.’ That dynamic often comes with some younger pastors, and I do my best to remind all involved to think biblically about such issues; and everyone in Acts 29 knows my views.

“Regardless,” he said, “I think it is a good thing that there is now an inerrantist wing (Acts 29) of the emerging church with solid theology.”

Stetzer, who has stated publicly his opposition to alcohol, told Baptist Press he joined the Acts 29 board after speaking at their conferences, establishing a friendship with Driscoll and also procuring “NAMB upline approval.”

“There are, by the way, other more notable evangelicals who’ve spoken at events and advised Acts 29, such as John Piper, Tim Keller and Joshua Harris,” Stetzer said.

There are other SBC connections to Acts 29.

According to the Mars Hill Church’s website, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Bruce Ware will headline the Acts 29 annual event known as the Resurgence Conference, March 23-24. An SBTS spokesman said Ware would be talking on the openness of God, which he speaks about across the country as “one of the leading defenders of the traditional, biblical understanding of the God’s sovereignty.”

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., has scheduled Driscoll to speak at a conference there in September, according to the school’s website. A spokesman for SEBTS explained that the conference would address important theological issues surrounding emerging and traditional churches, and Driscoll, as “a leading voice in the diverse emerging church movement,” was invited to contribute to “what we hope will be a valuable and fruitful discussion.”

As a loan recipient from the Missouri Baptist Convention, The Journey -- because of its practices primarily related to alcohol -- has raised controversy within the state convention.

MBC Executive Director David Clippard explained by e-mail to Baptist Press that when he heard allegations about possible promotion of alcohol consumption by The Journey, “Within hours, I personally contacted Pastor Darrin Patrick and his response both verbally and in writing was that Journey Church does not promote or encourage alcohol use.”

MBC board members Kerry Messer and Ron Turnbull attended one of The Journey’s Bottleworks meetings on their own initiative. Both expressed displeasure that a church would sponsor a meeting in a bar.

Still, Patrick insists The Journey is a Southern Baptist church in doctrine and practice.

Yet, concerns persist about the theological and doctrinal moorings of both The Journey and the Acts 29 Network.

Missouri Baptist and SBC Executive Committee member Roger Moran told Baptist Press: “No Southern Baptist entity or personality should be loaning our denominational credibility to such churches or organizations as The Journey and Acts 29. We simply cannot do that for movements that are dripping with error and expect good to come out of it.”

Moran addressed the Executive Committee Feb. 20 regarding his concerns relative to Acts 29, saying in part, “One of the most dangerous and deceptive movements to infiltrate the ranks of Southern Baptist life has been the emerging/emergent church movement. Not since the stealth tactics of the CBF (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) have we seen a movement operate so successfully below the radar of rank and file Southern Baptists.”

After Moran spoke, Executive Committee President Morris H. Chapman suggested that Moran prepare his statements for submission to LifeWay Christian Resources which in response to two referrals from last year’s SBC annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C., will be conducting research “relating to Calvinism, the emergent church, elder rule and other topics of interest and discussion in Southern Baptist life.”

“Church history confirms what 2 Chronicles 7:14 says,” Moran told Baptist Press later by phone. “Revival comes to a nation when God’s people get right -- when they return to holiness, purity, obedience, faithfulness, and to the intent of Scripture and the purposes of God.”

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #19222]

Speaking at Thomas Road Baptist Church, Bobby Welch, who has been pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Floirda, for 30 years, urged church members to “get out of the boat,” referring to the New Testament account of the Apostle Peter walking on water.

“But I don't believe Peter walked on the water,” Welch said, “at least not without a lot of good help.” Welch said he believes “God's hand was just under the water's surface, helping Peter.”

Clapping his hands several times, Welch said, “Looky-here, I'll tell you what else Peter did.” Running across the platform, Welch jumped onto the floor, saying, “Peter got out of the boat.”

Welch lamented the practice of so many church leaders and members who think attending church is the “end game” of following Christ. “But it's not,” Welch said.

“We've got to get out of the boat. We've got to get the teachers out of the boat. We've got to get the preachers out of the boat. We've got to get the deacons out of the boat. Why?” Welch asked the Sunday morning crowd. “Because out there is where the hurting, searching people are.

“And when we do [get out of the boat], get ready. That's when God shows up for those unbelievable and unforgettable miracles of the Spirit of God -- souls being saved, marriages being saved, teenagers being won, the world around us coming to Christ Jesus.

“I can see you not getting excited or urgent about my folks in Daytona Beach,” said Welch. “You don't know about my family and friends. But what about your own family? What about your own friends? You've got to get urgent about them. You've got to.”

The message in the large advertisement across the bottom of page 13A in The Brunswick Beacon Dec. 8 clearly identified the readers for whom it was intended. “LOSERS WANTED!!” the bold headline proclaimed.

The unusual church advertisement that belonged to Open Door Baptist Ministries in the small coastal town of Shallotte, N.C., identified those invited to a series of special weekend services further: “Attention all drug addicts, alcoholics, and ex-cons. Wanted: the hopeless, broken-hearted and lonely....”

The ad promised: “There is hope for you!”

The small congregation meets in a remodeled store, led by Pastor Larry Shreve and music director David Phipps, both of whom possess hearts of compassion for needy people. They and the other dedicated church members are determined to reach out to hurting and broken people across the beach community, regardless of circumstances or backgrounds.

We had just arrived when the pastor pointed us to a small room that housed his desk (a small table) and three chairs. Soon a young man and his concerned father entered, and another tale of crack addiction was unfurled. It was an obvious opportunity to witness about how Jesus had rescued us, and this we did, pointing out our deep shame for our previous mistakes, but also sharing how His grace had been sufficient to rescue us from our dark, sinful pasts. The young man was at church the next morning, and now is waiting for admission to a Christ-centered treatment facility in the mountains. On Christmas, he called just to say thank-you, and assure his listener that he remains committed to walking in the steps of Jesus.

In reflecting on the efforts of the weekend, Shreve noted that some of his church leaders formerly were drug addicts or alcoholics. Their dedicated Christian lifestyle, he said, allowed them privileges of service.

We have often told our audiences, “It’s not who we used to be that counts with the Lord; it’s who we are today that really counts!”

God can use any of us, if we are only willing to surrender totally to Him and His will for our lives. We are all sinners, but thank God many of us have been saved by His shed blood on that cross. We have been washed as white as snow and we are new creatures in His sight.

How we wish that every congregation would open up the doors to the heart so that the perishing could be rescued. It is the task to which God has called us. Sadly, we who are members of His church are sometimes tempted to follow the examples of those in the lost world by doing only the things that make us feel good, such as associating only with those who look and act like us. But that is not the way of Jesus. During His brief three-year ministry he surrounded Himself with those who were broken and in need, seeking to make a difference in their lives.

As representatives of Jesus on this earth, we must never forget that His church exists to bring hope to those who are hopeless, to reach down and lift up those who are helpless, to feed the hungry, to mend the broken-hearted ones, and to provide company to the lonely. If we truly share His Good News, all of these miracles can become reality! And the family of God will be enlarged, and our Lord will be pleased with those who claim His name.

That little church in Brunswick County, so alive with a burning desire to be a lighthouse for those in need, has shown us all the way!

I'm often asked, “How can a service be both a worship service and seeker-friendly?”

At Saddleback we believe you can have both without compromising either.

When we speak of worship, we are talking about something only believers can do. Worship is from believers to God. We magnify God’s name in worship by expressing our love and commitment to Him. Unbelievers simply cannot do this.

Here is the simple definition of worship that we operate on at Saddleback:

“Worship is expressing our love to God for who He is,

what He’s said, and what He’s doing.”

We believe there are many appropriate ways to express our love to God: by praying, singing, obeying, trusting, giving, testifying, listening, and responding to His Word, thanking and many other expressions.

God -- not man -- is the focus and center of our worship.

• God is the consumer of worship.

Although unbelievers cannot truly worship, they can watch believers worship. They can observe the joy that we feel. They can see how we value God’s Word and how we respond to it. They can hear how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life. They can notice how worship encourages, strengthens and changes us. They can sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, although they won’t be able to explain it.

When unbelievers watch genuine worship, it becomes a powerful witness. In Acts 2 -- on the day of Pentecost -- God’s presence was so evident in the disciples’ worship service that it attracted the attention of unbelievers throughout the entire city!

Acts 2:6 says, “...a crowd came together....” We know it was a big crowd because 3,000 people were saved that day.

Why were those 3,000 people converted? Because they felt God’s presence and they understood the message.

I believe both of these elements are essential for worship to be a witness.

God’s presence must be sensed in the service. More people are won to Christ by feeling God’s presence than by all of our apologetic arguments combined.

Few people, if any, are converted to Christ on purely intellectual grounds. It is the sense of God’s presence that melts hearts and explodes mental barriers. Worship without this yields few evangelistic results.

I believe there is an intimate connection between worship and evangelism.

In the first place, the goal of evangelism is to produces worshipers of God. The Bible tells us that “the Father seeks worshipers” (John 4:23). When we recruit worshipers, that’s called evangelism.

On the other hand, worship provides the motivation for evangelism. It produces a desire in us to tell others about Christ. The result of Isaiah’s powerful worship experience (Isaiah 6:1-8) was Isaiah saying, “Here am I, send me!” True worship causes us to witness.

In genuine worship God’s presence is felt, God’s pardon is offered, God’s purposes are revealed and God’s power is displayed. That sounds to me like an ideal context for evangelism! I’ve noticed that when unbelievers watch believers relate to God in an intelligent, sincere manner it creates a desire to know God, too.

• Worship with sensitivity

Because genuine worship can have such a profound impact on unbelievers, we need to be very sensitive to their fears, hang-ups and needs when they are present in our worship services.

This is the principle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 14:23. Paul commanded that tongues be limited in public worship.

His reasoning? Speaking in tongues seems like foolishness to unbelievers. Paul didn’t say tongues were foolish but only that they appear foolish to unbelievers.

“So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?” (1 Corinthians 14:23).

I believe there is a larger principle behind this advice to the Corinthian church. The point Paul is making is that we must be willing to adjust our worship practices when unbelievers are present. God tells us to be sensitive to the hang-ups of unbelievers in our services. Being seeker-sensitive in our worship is a biblical command. I didn’t think up this concept; Paul did!

• Making worship understandable

Making a service “comfortable” for the unchurched doesn’t mean changing your theology. It means changing the environment of the service -- such as changing the way you greet visitors, the style of music you use, the Bible translation you preach from and the kind of announcements you make in the service.

The message is not always comfortable. In fact, sometimes God’s truth is very uncomfortable! Still we must teach “the whole counsel of God.” Being seeker-sensitive does not limit what you say but it will affect how you say it.

We must make both the worship and the message understandable.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit miraculously translated the message into words each person understood. The crowd of unbelievers said, “We hear them speaking in our own languages the magnificent acts of God” Acts 2:11.

This caused them to be converted. Even though God’s presence was evident in the service, they wouldn’t have known what to do if they hadn’t been able to understand the message.

The unchurched are not asking for a watered-down message. The unchurched expect to hear the Bible when they come to church. They just want to hear how it relates to their lives. They can handle a clear, biblical message when it is delivered in terms they understand and in a tone that shows you respect and care about them. They are looking for solutions, not a scolding.

A clear message coupled with genuine worship will not only attract unbelievers, it will open their hearts to the power of the Gospel. As they feel God’s presence and understand the message they will walk away changed.

Worship, then, becomes much more than seeker-friendly. It becomes a source of joy to our God.

Victoria Crosby, who's about to leave town for college in North Carolina, says she's had “a radical week.” She's been praying “like crazy” for her friends, and one finally came to her saying he's ready to get off drugs and get sober. The exuberant young woman shares this answer to prayer with the dozen people at the Sunday evening service of His Way Inn.

Pastor Jack Deardorff then calls on the Lord to “fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit.” And the group rises for worship, lifting voices in praise songs accompanied by a multimedia DVD.

Meeting in the Doubletree Hotel in Westborough, Mass., His Way Inn is a newly “planted” church - one started from scratch specifically for people who may have given up on church or who've never had a church experience.

Church planting is far from a new phenomenon, but enthusiasm for it has mushroomed in recent years, as populations have shifted and attendance has declined in many traditional settings, particularly among young people. Both Evangelical and mainline Protestant churches are birthing new congregations all across the United States. And some young pastors are striking out on their own to create worship communities in fresh forms. Some of the most vibrant new churches are sprouting in immigrant neighborhoods. The movement, if successful, has the potential to reshape American faith communities.

His Way Inn, sponsored by the Foursquare Gospel Church, is one of at least 100 plants in the Boston area since 2000, where local pastors talk of a “quiet revival.”

“I know of 21 plants in the last six months,” says the Rev. Ralph Kee, of the Conservative Baptists Association. Mr. Kee, who heads the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative, says perhaps a majority are being done by immigrants, from Puerto Ricans and Brazilians, to Haitians and Vietnamese.

Young pastors are also coming from such places as Illinois, Texas, and Arkansas. With one of the lowest rates of church attendance in the US, New England is considered ripe for evangelization.

While church planting is a national and global movement, it is fraught with challenges, and rates of success vary widely. Some speak of 60 to 80 percent failure rates in the past. But new approaches and models are proving more effective, and eager church planters now have more resource materials, training, and coaches to draw on.

Church plants come in many shapes and sizes, including traditional formats, postmodern experiments, house churches, “cell churches” that are planned to multiply continually, and a “purpose-driven model” based on Pastor Rick Warren's books.

Some aim for churches to grow as large as possible; others want to maintain small, intimate communities. But all are fired by the desire, in Mr. Deardorff's words, “to help people have a relationship with a living God and learn we can have a spiritual life filled by the Holy Spirit.”

As with other mainline churches, the US Episcopal Church has experienced declining membership for some time. Its Tennessee diocese is growing impressively, however, thanks to a church- planting campaign spurred by Bishop Bertram Herlong.

Paying attention to shifting demographics, the diocese has targeted sites in rapidly developing areas, planting seven new churches since 1994. Its membership has grown from 12,000 then to 16,000 today.

In Brentwood, Tenn., a booming upscale suburb south of Nashville, the Rev. Randall Dunnavant started The Church of the Good Shepherd in 1995 with a group of Episcopalians borrowed from other churches. Today, its 700 members are worshiping in a striking new sanctuary. But they got there step by step.

A businessman before heading to seminary, Mr. Dunnavant knew how to advertise. They did four bulk mailings, and everything possible to get their name in the paper. But then, “it was a matter of being the church you are called to be,” he says in an interview amid the clatter of the final stages of construction.

That includes “loving the dickens out of people,” he adds. “The people saw something and told their friends.”

A charismatic man with a ready wit, the rector says he was aiming for “de-churched” people, those who left congregations because they'd had a bad experience, or been raised in a tradition that told them “they were going to fry in hell for everything they did that was fun.”

Loneliness is one of the largest issues in personal life - lots of people have a hole only God can fill, he says, and being “spiritual but not religious” is not the answer.

“Tell me anyplace else where being your own authority works,” he says. “Besides, Christianity is based on the idea of living in community.... It gets at that loneliness, giving you a connection to the Creator and to other people.”

While a number of today's popular megachurches were new plants, the Rev. Bob Hyatt left his post at a megachurch to reach out to people that other churches were missing. Many in the younger generation, he says, “need to do church differently.”

He was dismayed at seeing megachurch pastors “become CEOs, managers, and programmers, not shepherds.” So in early 2004, he and a team of friends in Portland, Ore., met to discuss core values for a church different from a seeker or consumer mentality.

“Our priority was to form a close-knit community concerned about what God is saying through the scripture,” he says, “and what we did on Sunday would flow out of that.”

A dozen people began meeting in a pub, and now the Evergreen Life Community involves 120 people, the majority between ages 25 and 35. “One person in our core group said, 'I'm so tired of once-a-week church; I want to live life and faith with people, not just show up on Sunday, smile, shake hands, and leave,' “ Mr. Hyatt says. “People want relationships, not programs; they want to do it themselves ... not be lost in a crowd.”

At Evergreen Life, Hyatt does what he loves most: He counsels people about life and faith, and suggests what God is saying about the community's purpose.

“Then I ask, 'What do you want to do [to carry that out]?” The community has started home groups and is planning a house for homeless teens. It intends to start a church plant.

“We want to always be growing spiritually and numerically, but to limit our own size, we'll have to plant,” Hyatt adds.

Deardorff has experienced the ups and downs of several planting projects and is deliberately aiming small as well. He calls His Way Inn a “cell church.” They meet on Sunday evening to “celebrate” together, but the cell or “life groups” that meet during the week in people's homes are the heart of the church. As they help individuals on their spiritual journeys, they foster each person's ability to minister to others. Then the cells will keep multiplying, he says.

Carol Fillapelli shares that vision and is leading one of the life groups. “There are people who don't like a large church because the intimacy isn't there; they realize a life group is a safe place,” she says. “If people are struggling with something, we'll discuss how the scriptures apply to what they're going through.”

If church growth comes slowly, it's just God's timing, she feels. “Part of it is waiting on God to prepare us in the leadership and change us in the ways that are needed for the expansion to come.”

Yet for some people, the need is already being met. Raymond Hart, who says alcoholism over the course of 34 years made him suicidal, has found a home in “this special group that is so kind and open-hearted.”

He speaks with passion at the Sunday night service of his own communing with God. “We want more people to come here,” he says to the small congregation, “but you are 'the real thing.’ “

Evangelism never was meant to be done in isolation. It should be a team sport. Everyone who shares the Gospel needs a community of faith surrounding them that also is committed to sharing the Gospel and to supporting those individuals who do. Most Baptist churches say they are evangelistic, but the evidence indicates otherwise. In a recent study, 53 percent of pastors said they did not share Christ with anyone in the previous six months. In 2004, 55 percent of Southern Baptist churches did not baptize even one youth.

I am afraid that many of our churches have become internalized. Everything revolves around the needs of those who already are there. And that is very bad news if we don’t change it. Those we lead to Christ must have a church to go to that will help them to take the good news to someone else.

What about your church? Is it really evangelistic? Is it a mission force to your community and beyond? Is your church an authentic community of faith designed to come beside you to support you in your evangelistic mission?

I like Top Ten lists. I developed one that you might want to give to your pastor or use in teaching. I call these the “Top Ten Signs that Your Church is not Really Evangelistic.”

10. There is better attendance at a controversial business meeting than at any evangelism training the church has ever done.

9. The student ministry has the best concerts and trips in town but no one can remember the last time they went witnessing.

8. The senior adult group has enough energy for bus trips to Branson but not to go witness at the local nursing home.

7. It wouldn’t do much good for the pastor to preach an evangelistic message because all the people in the service on Sunday already are believers.

6. The average church member would have trouble naming five friends who are unchurched.

5. Most members get more upset about the music they don’t like than about the fact that people are going to hell.

4. There might be money in the budget somewhere that actually is devoted to reaching those not already members, but no one is quite sure where to find it.

3. The small groups and Sunday School classes are very concerned about “going deeper in the Word” although no one can remember the last time an unbeliever actually came to their group.

2. If the church was to disappear today, the average lost person in the community would not notice.

1. If the pastor does not visit in the hospital for six months he will be fired, but if he does not share Christ for six months no one will care.

If you find your church has too many of these signs, maybe it is time to pray. Maybe it is time to repent. Maybe it is time for a serious decision about whether you really are going to be a church or just a religious club. And most of all, maybe it is time to unify around the mission that really matters, and together, make evangelism good news again.

Analysis by Bruce Bawer, a liberal Christian:

It seems to me that the difference between conservative and liberal Christianity may be most succinctly summed up by the difference between two key scriptural concepts: law and love. Simply stated, conservative Christianity focuses primarily on law, doctrine, and authority; liberal Christianity focuses on love, spiritual experience, and what Baptists call the priesthood of the believer. If conservative Christians emphasize the Great Commission -- the resurrected Christ’s injunction, at the end of the Gospel according to Matthew, to “go to all nations and make them my disciples” -- liberal Christians place more emphasis on the Great Commandment, which in Luke’s Gospel reads as follows: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Am I suggesting that conservative Christians are without love or that liberal Christians are lawless? No. I merely make this distinction: Conservative Christianity understands a Christian to be someone who subscribes to a specific set of theological propositions about God and the afterlife, and who professes to believe that by subscribing to those propositions, accepting Jesus Christ as savior, and (except in the case of the most extreme separatist fundamentalists) evangelizing, he or she evades God’s wrath and wins salvation (for Roman Catholics, good works also count); liberal Christianity, meanwhile, tends to identify Christianity with the experience of God’s abundant love and with the commandment to love God and one’s neighbor. If, for conservative Christians, outreach generally means zealous proselytizing of the “unsaved,” for liberal Christians it tends to mean social programs directed at those in need.

Concerning urban outreach Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“A church which does not exist to do good in the slums ... of the city is a church that has no reason to justify its longer existence.... Not for yourself, O Church, do you exist any more than Christ existed for himself. His glory was that he laid aside his glory, and the glory of the church is when she lays aside her respectability and her dignity and counts it to be her glory to gather rather the outcasts, and her highest honor to seek amid the foulest mire the priceless jewels for which Jesus shed his blood.”

Imagine you are a man who hasn’t attended a church in years. You enjoy such activities as golfing, hunting and fishing on Sunday mornings. You think it’s more beneficial to spend time outdoors with a few of your closest friends than it is to be cooped up in a church building.

Now imagine that your wife has asked you to try going back to the local Southern Baptist church one more time. Do you think the average worship experience will entice you to come back?

Upon entering the service, worshippers sing what sound like sappy love songs to Jesus. The lyrics say things like, “Hold me close, let your love surround me,” “Jesus, I am so in love with you” and “I’m desperate for you, I’m lost without you.”

After the singing, church attendees hold hands for prayer and hear a sermon emphasizing concepts such as a “personal relationship” with Jesus, having “intimacy” with God and “sharing” their feelings with other Christians.

Finally, at the end of the service opportunities to serve in the church are announced. But these opportunities include only such things as singing in the choir, keeping the nursery, decorating bulletin boards and baking desserts for the next church potluck.

Would you, an unchurched man, find a church like this appealing and comfortable?

If you said no, you’re not alone. Increasingly, men are not involved in church.

The U.S. Congregational Life Survey says that while the U.S. population is split almost evenly between men and women, only 39 percent of all churchgoers are men. Referring to Americans in the mid-1990s, pollster George Barna wrote that “women are twice as likely to attend a church service during any given week. Women are also 50 percent more likely than men to say they are ‘religious’ and to state that they are ‘absolutely committed’ to the Christian faith.”

Lance Crowell, a church ministries associate with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), said the story is not much different across the Lone Star State.

“Even though there are men attending church, more women are connected to their churches at a level beyond mere Sunday morning attendance,” Crowell, who oversees men’s ministry for the SBTC, said. “Men are not coming at the same rate as women, but even beyond that a large percentage of those who are coming are not truly connecting, serving, and especially not leading.”

Many churches, Crowell said, do not realize their ministry style caters almost exclusively to women. But Baptists must reprioritize to reach men and, in turn, transform the church, he said.

“Several leaders in men’s ministry have noted how so many churches have catered to women in their style, look and programming,” he said. “This is largely because the ones who care the most in the church are often the women. We need to help churches, leaders and, of course, men, see that they are the first step in changing our churches and making a difference in the community.”

Leon Podles, in his book “The Church Impotent,” argued that the feminization of Christianity began in the Middle Ages. As a new, feminized piety increased in the church, men began to exit, he wrote. According to Podles, this feminized Christianity is dangerous for both the church and society.

“If the feminization of the Church continues, men will continue to seek their spiritual sustenance outside the churches, in false or inadequate religions, with highly damaging consequences for the church and society,” Podles wrote.

Despite its feminization, Christianity has the resources to attract men without compromising its message, Podles said. He suggested that in order to reach men, churches emphasize the struggle of the Christian life and brotherly love.

“Christianity has within it the resources that allow it to appeal to men, to show that not only will Christianity not undermine their masculinity, but it will also fulfill and perfect it,” he wrote.

Suggesting guys get together to talk about their feelings won’t cut it, according to Navigators leader Geoff Gorsuch.

“The word ‘feelings’ is a bad word for men,” Gorsuch told men’s ministry leaders. “You avoid that word. You just don’t go there if you are trying to start a men’s ministry group.”

Instead, he said, “Give him a challenge. Tell them we are going to meet together because we want to take the Christian life more seriously; we want to build better families or we want to change this community. You can’t get them there by saying you want to develop a deep, intimate group.”

At least some Texas churches are catering to the unique needs and personalities of men, with the goal of reaching them with the Gospel and then discipling them.

Buddy Griffin, minister of men and prayer at Sagemont Church in Houston, said portraying Christianity as weak or unmanly misrepresents Scripture, and his church has designed a program that trains hundreds of men each year to be disciples of Christ.

Sagemont strives to gear evangelism and discipleship programs uniquely to men. The church started a Men’s Fraternity program three years ago that has ballooned to more than 700 participants. A recent fishing tournament was designed to reach lost men and served as an entry point through which at least one lost man started attending the church regularly. Sagemont has even decorated its men’s restrooms according to themes that might interest some men -- including bass fishing, duck hunting and golf.

Sagemont currently has an average worship attendance that is 55 percent women and 45 percent men. But Griffin, who has worked with the SBTC to help other churches grow their men’s ministries, has a goal of reducing that gap each year until worship attendance is 51 percent male in 2014. Other goals include filling 70 percent of church leadership positions with men and matching 95 percent of the congregation’s fatherless boys with a man for mentorship.

“Where do men go to be cheered on for the noble and righteous things in life?” Griffin asked. “Men always go where the noise is. So we try to make a celebratory atmosphere among our men when they make godly choices.”

Rodney Thompson, a layman at First Baptist Church in Katy, Texas, emphasized that a top-notch men’s ministry is not only for mega-churches like Sagemont that have a full-time minister for men. First Baptist, which averages approximately 1,000 in worship, began a Men’s Fraternity program last year and plans to begin the program’s second year this fall. Additionally, the church holds a weekly morning men’s prayer time.

Thompson, who serves on the men’s ministry leadership team at First Baptist, said the key to reaching and discipling men at smaller churches is the pastor and other staff members. If men see staff members who have a strong work ethic, it will motivate them to join the work of ministry as well.

When men see ministerial staff “doing more than just the normal doing the announcements during the service and leading the music” and “not sitting behind the desk,” they will be motivated to make extra effort in church activities themselves, he said.

Scott Moody, pastor of First Baptist Church in Silsbee, Texas, has found Thompson’s thoughts on ministerial work ethic to be true. In the past year, Moody has dedicated himself to organizing and starting a Men’s Fraternity program at his church, which averages 400 in worship.

Glenview Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, also has focused much of its men’s ministry effort in a Men’s Fraternity program. The church, which averages 1,500 in worship, has completed two years of Men’s Fraternity, averaging approximately 125 men each year.

“I never have seen anything that really has impacted men and their families like this,” said Jim Kendrick, Glenview’s associate pastor for pastoral care ministries. “The pastor is constantly having wives saying, ‘That’s one of the best things you’ve ever done to bring the Men’s Fraternity in.’”

In addition to Men’s Fraternity, the church tries to make sure some of the congregation’s décor is friendly to men. When a deacon recently enlisted his wife to help decorate the men’s ministry bulletin board, Kendrick objected, telling the deacon the bulletin board needed to be designed by a man.

“I said, ‘I don’t want a men’s bulletin board that looks like females (designed it). We want people to look at that and know it’s a man’s bulletin board,’” Kendrick said.

Glenview also hosts men’s movie nights. At a recent movie night men ate hamburgers and watched “Facing the Giants.”

Reaching men has not been limited to larger churches. Ridgewood Baptist Church in Port Arthur, Texas, averages 180 in worship and has launched a thriving men’s ministry. Ridgewood offers Men’s Fraternity as one option in its Sunday night program of classes, and it plans beginning in August to hold Men’s Encouragement Nights in homes periodically. The encouragement nights will involve men and their sons and include a challenge for men to live out God’s calling on their lives.

Taking a page from Sagemont, Ridgewood is remodeling its men’s restroom in a Western theme.

“A lot of times men come and they feel like there’s nothing for them,” Kyle Campasi, Ridgewood’s pastor of pastoral care, said. “They feel like there’s something for women, something for children, something for youth, but nothing for them. This is one small step we’re taking right now to make it feel more manly.”

One of the biggest challenges for Ridgewood is teaching men to embrace their God-ordained roles in the family and the church, Campasi said.

“We see a lot of women stepping up and trying to take leadership because their husbands aren’t doing what they’re called to do,” he said. “So going back to the teaching of the roles is what we’re fighting for.... We’re for the teaching of what the Gospel says the role of a husband and the role of a father should be.”

At Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas, Pastor Steve Garrick said the church intentionally keeps the number of church activities to a minimum so that men have the time to be “the pastors of their own house.” Families, he said, can become splintered among many different weekly church activities.

“We don’t want to undermine the family by ministering to its various segments, rather than to the family as a whole.” On those occasions when men are needed to assume leadership for particular areas of church ministry, Garrick said the matter is addressed directly at a men’s meeting, instructing and encouraging, while not chiding, the men to assume their role as leaders.

Heritage Baptist laid the groundwork for such an expectation of men when Garrick took them through a course from the life of David, emphasizing how he showed initiative and leadership. “This has helped us define leadership, and to counteract the passive role that is often exemplified for men in the world.” The concept is also addressed in premarital counseling, he said. “We want our families starting off right.”

Churches, Garrick said, must do a better job of teaching the role of men and women in the home and church, declaring confidence in the inspired Word of God.

“To be honest, we men generally don’t want to hear this instruction because it goes against the grain of our sinful nature,” he said. “Our tendency is to try to be 18-year-old teenagers, and responsibilities only get in the way.”

Furthermore, a feminist culture adds some resistance, he said. “Male leadership is condemned as patriarchy, and this makes men hesitant to assert themselves as leaders. We cannot let modern revolt against biblical mores undermine our confidence in the inspired instructions of the Word,” Garrick insisted.

Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, has adopted a multifaceted approach to men’s ministry. A Bible study at 6:30 each Friday morning that reaches 400-700 men weekly, men’s small groups and a mentoring program known as Project Timothy make up the discipleship aspect of the church’s men’s ministry.

An annual sportsman’s feast along with regular service opportunities outside the church walls are among the most important evangelistic ministries for men at Prestonwood.

“Our sportsman’s feast is designed as outreach,” said Bill Borinstein, Prestonwood’s minister of spiritual development. “We challenge our guys to buy a table and fill it up with unchurched men. Last year we had 1,400 men come to that. Each year we’ve had it, we’ve had numbers of salvations and rededications and commitments.”

The men’s ministry’s mission statement at Prestonwood is “to biblically equip men to be the spiritual leaders in their home, their church and their place of business.” Borinstein said the ministry strives to fulfill that mission by preaching the Word of God and exalting Christ.

“We feel like when we start challenging people, we’re going to push them away,” he said of typical men’s ministries. “But I think the exact opposite happens.”

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David Roach is a freelance writer in Louisville, Ky. This story first appeared in the Southern Baptist Texan, online at www.texanonline.net.

Imagine a camera with a huge lens and God giving you the privilege of looking through the viewfinder to see the world from His perspective. The image you see moves from where you are, all the way out beyond the horizon and into the unseen places of the world. And He sees people.

This is the kind of experience a committed believer has when their life intersects with the truth of the biblical text. This is particularly true when it comes to the mandate of Acts 1:8.

In this moving passage, the living, resurrected Christ commands His disciples to remain in Jerusalem where He promised they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Jesus went on to say that this power would enable them to be His witnesses concentrically, beginning in Jerusalem, and ultimately all the way to the ends of the earth.

These parting words of Jesus are clear. Those who follow Christ are to be global in their thinking. This message goes to the heart of one of life’s greatest struggles: Namely, we are wired to forget the world ... not remember it.

Paul Borthwick illustrates this in his book, “Six Dangerous Questions To Transform Your View of the World.” In this challenging work, Borthwick referenced a National Geographic advertisement which stated that “24 million Americans can’t find our country on a map of the world.”

“As a follower of Jesus Christ, I find that geographic knowledge follows my beliefs,” Borthwick writes. “My Christian commitment demands that I be concerned about the world for which Jesus died. Yet I find that quite a few Christians are no different from the population surveyed for ... the National Geographic Society.”

It’s easy to be so fixated on ourselves and the maintaining of our Jerusalem ministries that we forget about the sea of lostness that Jesus Christ has called us to impact with the Gospel.

As a local church pastor for the last 21 years, 16 of those years in the same church, my primary pastoral labor is in my “Jerusalem” -- Gonzales, Louisiana. This is where I spend the preponderance of my time and energy. My pastoral journey to embrace global missions has been an incredible story of how God can use a small, ordinary congregation to make a global impact.

FBC Gonzales took its first mission trip as a church in 1999. Since that time the church has sent out over 45 teams on short-term mission projects. We’ve experienced God’s calling on some of the people from our church who now champion the Gospel in faraway places. All the while we’ve maintained a strong commitment to Cooperative Program percentage giving.

In 2001, the church adopted an unreached people group. Since that time the church has experienced the purifying power of missions and celebrated many times as teams returned with incredible testimonies of divine appointments.

Perhaps you wonder, “How do I get started with Acts 1:8 obedience? How can I lead our congregation to view the world through the lens of Acts 1:8?” Consider the following to focus your vision of the world on God’s purposes:

• The priority of prayer.

Prayer is critical. People tend to be spring-loaded to go and do and plan and print materials and strategize, each having their place, but the top priority is to pray. The noted Methodist preacher Samuel Chadwick once said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

The entire book of Acts is a clinic on prayer. The disciples were told to assemble, to wait and to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 13, the church at Antioch engaged in missionary praying and fasting. Through this season of prayer the Lord spoke, and they sent out Saul (Paul) and Barnabas for the work. It is incredible to think of the impact of that prayer meeting upon the missionary labor of Paul and Barnabas.

To possess an Act 1:8 worldview, church leaders must call the people of God to prayer for global missions and allow God to surprise His church with a renewed vision and faithful provision.

• The export of a healthy local ministry.

The health of the local church is critical to Acts 1:8 obedience. The early church (Acts 2) was functioning as a body of believers in such a way that the Gospel spread rapidly and the needs in the body were met abundantly. Worship, teaching, fellowship, prayer and evangelism were the commitments of their ministry.

Early in its missions worldview development, FBC Gonzales used the term “export” to describe its missions sending. In a real sense, it believed that by sending out teams, it was “exporting” its local ministry. Because of this process, we have a heightened sense of commitment to the spiritual health of “Bodylife” in our Jerusalem.

Our church is by no means perfect and a church does not need to have everything in order before obeying Acts 1:8. Obedience to the biblical mandate is definitely a process and there is the desperate need for God’s ongoing sanctifying work in our lives. As a result, our church wants to export a healthy ministry: Christ-exalting, Kingdom-seeking, Bible-centered, church-planting, missions-mobilizing and family-building. This is the missions ministry we long to export to the nations.

• Learn from others who are doing it.

Another important lesson for FBC Gonzales is that we did not have to “re-invent the wheel” with regard to doing missions. Resources and opportunities abound to help individuals and churches launch a global focus.

The first mission trip was by invitation from another church that had a developed ministry. We “piggy-backed” on their labor and they imparted invaluable “how-to” information to our church. In turn, the next year, we took our own mission trip and have returned on a yearly basis ever since. Part of what cooperative ministry is all about is churches helping other churches mobilize for Gospel ministry.

The strategies and ideas are endless. The more you are engaged with missions, the more you will experience more missions. Missions beget missions. If steps of obedience are taken, the Lord will open door after door of opportunity. Friendships and partnerships are forged in a common labor.

Experiencing Acts 1:8 missions is the most exciting adventure a Christian can know -- to make Christ known from neighbors to the nations. A worldview that begins here and goes there is the experience for those faithful to the Lord.

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James B. Law is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Gonzales, Louisiana, and a member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.

I have been writing about evangelism a lot lately, and have asked others to do the same. That there is a pronounced lack of evangelist fervor in the West is self-evident to most. I am hopeful my new opportunity at the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton will allow me in the years ahead to speak into many conversations about sharing our faith.

Yesterday the Washington Post ran my article, “Call yourself a Christian? Start talking about Jesus Christ”[1]. Here’s an excerpt:

It’s essential to understand that, regardless of our personal comfort level, we are called to share our faith because Christianity is a missionary faith. Despite the change in our culture and the way our faith is regarded, Christians are commanded to tell people about Jesus. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus called fishermen as his first disciples and told them he would make them “fishers of men.”

His disciples are still called to be fishers of men.

Even in our multi-faith environment, this calling should not be offensive to those of other faiths or no faith at all. Evangelism does not mean coercion. We can and should respect each other and strive for tolerance across varying beliefs, but that does not require pretending those differences do not exist. One of the core beliefs of Christianity is that Christianity should be propagated.

It isn’t necessary for every Christian to rent a stadium to proclaim the gospel to thousands. Most Christians can gain a hearing for the gospel while exchanging life stories at the coffee shop, taking a meal to a hurting family or standing for justice in an unjust world.

What evangelism requires is that when we care for a friend or speak out for a cause, we tell others that our faith is the reason. We tell them the good news that was told to us.

Evidence that our culture remains open to discussions about faith is seen in the fact that a major, secular media outlet published such an article. (And that there are already 205 comments as of this writing.)

The ongoing Amplifying Evangelism series on this blog highlights the basis for and examples of evangelistic by followers of Jesus. This week, Lon Allison related what he had learned about hospitality and evangelism from a trip to the Middle East.

First, people are people. Skin color and cultural diversity doesn’t mean there is nothing in common. In reality, the really important things are common to us all. In a TED talk in 1998, Billy Graham said that wherever he traveled he found that people are concerned about suffering, evil, and death. Those three commonalities aren’t the sum total, but are merely a few of the fears we share in common.

Second, the kind of hospitality evangelism we practiced won’t work nearly as well in our ‘individualistic’ culture, but it shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. I’m going to have more coffee and iced tea ready this Spring and Summer in my neighborhood. I’m going to just drop by my neighbors’ houses more often. I’m asking God for conversations that last more than five minutes and the chance to share the common deep things of life a bit more.

And oh, how I long for courage and wisdom to gently and lovingly speak of my love for the living Jesus.

Kevin Harney suggests an easy approach churches can take: redirect existing inward-focused ministries to include people in the community.

Churches, by nature, are selfish. Because the church is made up of people, and people are fundamentally self-serving, the church ends up expending much of its time, money, and energy on those who are already part of the family of God.

I am not seeking to be critical or mean spirited, I am just reporting what I see and experience everywhere I travel and talk with church people. As a matter of fact, when I say this to church groups, and I do on a regular basis, they never push back! They realize that it is true.

Now, here is the good news: since most churches are very concerned about taking care of themselves, they have developed a lot of good ministries to serve those who are part of their particular congregation. Even small churches often have plenty going on in order to care for, serve, minister to, educate, and inspire their own constituents.

Some years ago, I began thinking about the amazing things that could happen if local churches would vector their time, creativity, resources, and ministries out into the community. I call this the “Two-Degree Rule.” The idea is that we would take the effective and plentiful things we do for ourselves and simply direct these same things out into our community.

Kim Reisman, Executive Director of World Methodist Evangelism of the World Methodist Council, wrote about the role of love in evangelism.

The message to the church at Ephesus in John’s Revelation is significant in this context: “I know your works, your labor, and your endurance...But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev. 2:2, 4, HCSB).

First love is a powerful thing. Many people can vividly remember the first time they set eyes on the person who would become their spouse or their first date or first kiss. First love can take one’s breath away. The strongest marriages are those in which the partners remain in touch with the power of that first love, building on it and deepening it through time. What holds true with the emotional holds true with the spiritual as well; anyone who has experienced the enthusiasm and passion of a new believer can attest to that. New believers are hard to contain! The strongest believers are those who remain in touch with the power of their first love, building on it and deepening it through time.

In my work in evangelism, I have the opportunity to worship in many different contexts — traditional, contemporary, emergent; both the variety and the similarity are remarkable. Worship is meaningful at many levels: the praise, sacrifice, supplication, and intercession offered to God, the shared sacrament. An additional crucial but often overlooked aspect is the consistent opportunity worship affords to announce the story of faith through music, prayer, and the proclaimed word.

For believers, hearing the Story is an opportunity to remember their spiritual first love, to reinforce and deepen faith, to appropriate it to daily life. For the nonreligious visitor, hearing the Story is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work towards faith and a spiritual first love experience.

________

Aaron Earls, Amy Whitfield, and Marty Duren contributed to the Washington Post article.

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/05/19/call-yourself-a-christian-start-talking-about-jesus-christ/

A gentle older couple from a church across town stopped into my office the other day. They wanted to make us aware of a “terrible” rumor going around town about our church. The rumor was that our church allows ANYONE to worship with us no matter their past, their background or their current state of sinfulness. I do not know where that couple heard this rumor, but I was quite happy to confirm that the rumor was true!

Our church has worked hard to let everyone in the community know that we accept each person who comes just as they are. I am glad the word is getting out about this and that people are talking about it openly in our community. I can think of worse rumors floating around out there about churches.

Jesus encountered the same kind of “rumors” in His ministry. Luke 5:30-32 recounts the story: “But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus replied to them, ‘The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”

In this passage, as well as many others, we see that Christ reached out to people who did not fit the typical “religious” stereotype. Christ reached out to those often spurned by the church. Many people did not understand or like what Christ was doing. If His actions were going to be misunderstood by so many, why would Christ do this? Christ did this because He loved all kinds of people. His love compelled Him to reach out to anyone He came in contact with, including those that others may have considered untouchable.

But do not be confused. Though Christ took each person where they were, He loved them too much to leave them where they were. Christ challenged people to consider their spiritual condition before a holy God and called them to repent of their former lifestyle and become His followers.

Our church feels the same way as Christ does about the people whom God is bringing to worship with us. We accept them as they are. But we love them too much to leave them as they are. We sow the Word of God into their lives and watch as the Spirit of God transforms them. We are ever mindful of Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart.” We do not have to judge the behavior of others. All we have to do is share the Word of God with them. The Spirit does the convicting and brings about repentance and faith in Christ. This is what all churches should be doing.

I thank God that our church is filled with really messed up people who found a loving and accepting place where they could discover Christ. I thank God even more as I watch each of us in the church be transformed by the Spirit’s power through the washing of the Word. If you know someone in Central Vermont who cannot find a church that will take them as they are, send them our way. But do not expect them to be the same when we send them back to you.

I pray that this “terrible” rumor about our church continues. I pray that this rumor begins to be whispered about more churches in our little state. It that begins to happen, we may yet see another great spiritual awakening sweep across our land.