Passing The Evangelism Test

The SBC Annual Convention just happened in Phoenix, and I’m sad I missed it. One that that is always discussed at the convention is the lack of evangelism that unfortunately is happening. Our friends at Lifeway report in an article entitled “Churchgoers Believe in Sharing Faith, Most Never Do” that 61% never share their faith and half never invite a person to attend church. We know that across the board in evangelical churches, the numbers are even lower. This has some pretty real ramifications for churches and church growth, planting and kingdom expansion.

I am an educator and a life coach, and when I give a test or make a goal that more than half of the class or group can’t reach, it’s time to reevaluate. When consistantly 60% of the class fails the test, there are two options. The material isn’t presented well, or the test is not covering the materal. I’m not going to say that the majority of pastors and leaders aren’t teaching the gospel, because the article states that 80% believe they have the necessary knowledge to share their faith. So my question is, what is the problem.

I’ll admit it, this fact has always concerned me. I wrote a book about it back in 2007. Can’t get anyone to read it, but I wrote one. My hypothesis is simple, people don’t plan to share their faith, they don’t make it a priority. Since becoming a life coach, I have doubled down on this idea. We acheive the things we plan to achieve. We make a goal and begin to take steps to achieve that goal. For example, I’m going to rename my book “Radical, Crazy, Purpose Driven Faith Sharing Without Going to the Shack” and see if that helps. Probably won’t.

I’ve seen people share their faith very successfully time and time again, and one thing was always the same, it was the goal. I was involved in FAITH for many years and people shared Christ over and over on Monday nights. I have taken mission teams places, been on mission teams and led mission teams. During World Changers, I took youth door to door around the mission site to share the gospel with people. It was shared because that was the goal. When sharing the gospel is the goal, there is a plan, it gets done.

Last week, before the Convention there was an event called Crossover. It happens every year in the host city where the gospel is presented. It becomes a goal for a week. GPS made sharing the gospel the goal until 2020, and it becomes the focus. If you want to read my book, you can email me at jdanbarnes@gmail.com. I know you are probably busy reading Dr. Reid’s new evanglism book, but if you have time for mine. . . it’s free. It’s the same focus, that it needs to be a focus and we need to take time to plan and strategically make a place for evangelism. It’s not going to “just happen”.

Your church needs a plan or a program or a ministry or a whatever you want to call it. Call it a focus or a process or a transformational agenda, but you need something. It needs to put sharing the gospel at the forefront, give you a time and a place and a plan and a strategy and a goal. Give the people the tools, the time and the mission to get it done. It will happen, and then let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear the story.