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Winning Souls? How do you measure up?
Posted on August 16th, 2007 in Church Life, Faith by Fred McKinnon
Hey Ya’ll,
This morning I found myself confessing to God that although I think I “measure up” pretty OK at being a “Worship Director” on staff in a church … I don’t even move the mercury on soulwinning.
I’m not trying to guilt anyone, but seriously – when was the last time you personally led someone to Christ … and being part of a “corporate worship service” where you happened to be the one who was at the altar doesn’t count. I’m talking about 1-on-1, relational evangelism.
I’m ashamed to say that I can’t really remember when … certainly not this year (2007). I’ve been “present” when others have received Christ in a corporate setting. But as for getting relational with the lost, pouring myself into them out of love (not out of a desire to get another evangelism notch on my belt or heavenly crown in my arsenal) … and sticking with them until they are ready … I’m just not there.
“Invest and Invite”
We have this strategy at SSCC called “Invest & Invite” – it’s part of the “Reach Out” strategy. So let’s talk about that … forget the 1-on-1 that I’ve miserably failed at. How about “invest and invite”? When was the last time that someone came to know Christ in a corporate setting or small group setting that you were DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for getting there through “invest and invite”?
I don’t know about you … but I’m eager to hear your responses. [comment below] My response is sad. A quick glance at my friends, my social involvement, and my “home area” is saturated with Christians … you don’t find many “lost people” in my circle. Yet, I’m called to be like Christ? Isn’t that what “Christ-ian” means?
God hasn’t given us a spirit of guilt or condemnation. I don’t receive this humbling rebuke as condemnation from God; rather, I view it as a gentle reminder … a challenge issued from the loving Father.
It’s not about meeting your quota. It’s not about bragging rights. It’s about obedience, and being a true Disciple of Christ. In the area of personal evangelism, I fail.
That is my transparent confession. Now let’s hear from you. Share your victories, share your defeats. All in love … all without condemnation. “Encourage one another“. (1 Thes 5:11)
For the Kingdom,
Fred
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10 Responses to “Winning Souls? How do you measure up?”
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Fred
Honestly, even though every ‘spiritual gifts test’ I take lists evangelism right up there with music as my spiritual gifts, I’m not a very good steward of it. I’ve found it hard to do ‘relational evangelism’ in the adult world: even working a secular job, it’s not ‘good stewardship of my time’ to walk around sharing Christ at work, at church I’m mostly (except for the concert I hosted at the Wherehouse recently for that very reason) ministering to young Christians, and I feel that my wife & child (soon, children) are my primary ministry at home – that’s just to say, it used to come natural and just happen, but now-a-days I must be much more proactive. That’s one of the reasons I started yet another blog (see http://respondingtoskeptics.wordpress.com), and I try to make a habit of inviting non-believers to our church, which is a great environment for them to hear about, see, and experience Christ.
As far as leading someone to Christ, though I’ve often been told that I was instrumental in someone choosing to give their life to Jesus, I’ve NEVER been there when it actually happened – I think it’s partially because the sorts of folks I’m drawn to minister to are FAR too ‘hard’ and not quick to change their minds.
Of those who told me that I ‘led them to Christ’, after the fact, my two favorites were a radical feminist, vegan, environmentalist who walked everywhere with her pet iguana – we had numerous coffee-shop conversations about Jesus, but she eventually accepted Christ while walking across campus listening to my song “Psalm of Sorrow” on her headphones, which is essentially Psalm 13 & 5 set to music.
My other favorite was a dogmatic Atheist who was brought to me by their cousin (who was a believer): we met in a coffee-house in Athens, Georgia (ole’ Blue Sky!) – I was asked, “So, why – as an Atheist – do you now believe in God?” I told her about my life, and Jesus for the next 8 hours, and by the time I was done must’ve had 15 – 20 people pulled up about us, watching and listening to the discussion. It was really crazy: and they were belligerent, and I left the coffee-shop knowing that many people had heard the Gospel, but seeing no immediate response. Several months later I ran into the cousin on the street who told me that less than a week after that conversation the Atheist had become a Christian, so in spite of what it seemed, God was at work through that whole thing.
Truly, it’s an honor to know that God used me in some way to make yet another Worshiper!
Thanks for the blog…blessings, bro!
In our circle of “professional Christians”, we rarely make it out to places where we have the opportunity to share the message of Christ. Not “there aren’t those places”. There are. But working in a church 50 hours a week cuts the seeming availability down. We have to consciously make the effort to “seek and save the lost” as Jesus Himself purposed to do (Luke 19:10).
The early Methodist leader John Wesley wrote in his Rules of the Methodist Church, “You have nothing to do but save souls. Therefore, spend and be spent in this work.†Wow.
At least he wasn’t vague about it.
Now… to the two commenters above who I happen to spend a lot of time with… let’s keep that purpose at the front of our minds. Fred and Shannon, we HAVE TO seek and save to lost. We have to.
Thanks for the reminder Fred.
As an Elder, my ‘focus’ is more on the sheep already in the fold. Prayer, teaching and worship are my focus…Most of my ’1-2-1′ connections are with other Christians at our facility and through leading worship. My SG group has sung at a couple of other churches but again we’re ‘preaching to the choir.’ I’m almost afraid to bring up widening the ministry again- the last two times we started to pursue this we had members move out of the area causing us to start over musically and focus on rebuilding the group. I did have the privilage of inviting, mentoring and then baptizing my ‘baby’ brother last March in a 38 degree swimming pool [we are not in any sense of the word 'little people' and Scott did not want to break the 'pool' a tthe church]. An awesome time and sight! If you’ve ever seen the Shamu show at Sea-World – that was us!
Bill Hybels wrote an awesome book on personal evangelism called “Just Walk Across the Room”…I heartily recommend it!
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=271762&netp_id=432441&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW
We need to stop waiting for Jesus to do all the work and deliver the lost to us…we have to step out and ‘Just Walk Across the Room.’ As we trust God to show us His lost souls, we can trust the Spirit to give us the strength and courage to take those few steps and give us the words that the lost need to hear so that Jesus will be lifted up. His holy word tells us that all we must do is to raise Him up and He will draw His children to Him.
I would suggest that although we ALL have the responsibility of “making disciples” and that we should do everything we can in our realm of influence to include those who are non-believers in our efforts, that a large part of our calling as leaders has to do with training and equipping those who are “in the trenches.”
I think of the apostle who traveled around planting churches. Sure there were folks who came to Christ directly as a result of their teachings, relationships and “altar calls” (ha), but isn’t it also possible to accept the fact that as these groups of churches grew and that the “leaders” worked more and more in discipling these believers that the members of each individual faith community began to “pull the load” so to speak?
I can definitely envision Paul engaging large crowds (or maybe talking with a group of non-believers) for a small bit of his ministry and pouring his life and energy into his leaders (like Timothy and Titus) for most of his ministry time.
Not that as leaders we should ever not be engaging people that are non-believers. We should always be doing that. But as one of the commenters posted earlier when we spend a 40-50 hour work week around believer leaders, its only reasonable and efficient to direct our energies into equipping those who spend 40-50 hour work weeks surrounded by non-believers to go for it!
I think we’ve had a unbalanced church system for far too long. People expect the “ministers” to do all the visitation, all the evangelism, all the teaching, all the “work” of the ministry, when in fact, the ministers should be ministering to God and to those who would go out building relationships and discipling people in the world. It’s not the “preacher’s” job to do all the spiritual work in the church, it’s his role to train and equip…
Ok, I’m rambling, but I wanted to bring a different perspective to the table. Instead of feeling guilty for being in a coach/equipper role and not being “out on the field” I feel confident in my role to bring believers to maturity in Christ so that they can’t help but impact their circle of influence. In doing so, we’re all TOGETHER reaching people for Christ, and it takes less emphasis off of the “me” aspect of coming up short for not winning souls individually, because we are a family and each member supplies a crucial element.
-Russ
I am glad you mentioned the “circle of friends”. I remember being at a conference recently and the statement was made, “Who are you purposefully creating a relationship with that doe not have a relationship with the Lord?” That one hit me deep. I want nothing more than to lead people to the Lord, but I have sheltered myself in my ministry/job and that is wrong. God is working on that area of my life as well as what I actually do to change my routines. He has been very faithful to speak to me about His desire to change my character into His. There is the start for me, to think like Jesus. I don’t want to miss an opportunity He places in front of me, just because I am not looking or not paying attention. I want to be faithful.
Yeah I believe that conversion is a process. God sets in motion chains of events to bring people to him. Sometimes a person gets witnessed to 87 times before they come to Christ. It’s not like the 87th person was most effective, but they built upon what everyone else did.
I’m always sharing Jesus. I have no idea how many people have come to faith because I have been part of the chain.
With that said it’d be nice to be a finisher and have the gift of being the one to close the deal sometime.
Interesting post!
As I thought about the question, I actually broadened it from how I measure up in winning souls to how to I measure up as a disciple of Jesus. When Jesus gave the command to make disciples, he was talking to those that were already disciples…people that lived with Jesus on a daily basis, witnessed how he lived, knew his teachings, and sought to follow his commands and live as he lived. Often when I have heard sermons based on the great commission, they have focused either on sending missionaries or saving the lost. Essentially, they have focused either on the “Go†or the “baptize.†What is interesting is that the original Greek can be translated as either “as you go†or “as you are going,†and the focus of the text is actually on the “make disciples.†The remainder of the text gives more detail on how to make disciples – baptize and teach them to obey Jesus’ commands. Again, I think the context of who Jesus was talking to is important; he was talking to those who were already disciples.
What does this mean specifically to me and more broadly to the church? Fred touched on part of it in the original post; we are to be like Christ and we are to follow his commands. One thing that is interesting to me about the way the Jesus spread his message is that he did not always do it the same way. There were times that he did seek out specific individuals, but much of the time people were simply drawn to him. I believe that our lives should be similar. There are times when we should be direct in our evangelism, but, more importantly, we should be living lives worthy of Jesus that draw people to Him. Our lives should contrast the lives of non-Christians in such a way that people want to know what it is that we have. I do not mean some religious routine, apparel, etc., that identifies us as Christians, instead I am referring to lives that reflect the fruits of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
So, how do I measure up as a disciple? Looking back to the great commission, as a disciple I am commanded to obey everything that Jesus commanded. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength or to paraphrase, love God with all that you are and all that you do. I recall the following from Mere Christianity:
“As Dr Johnson said, ‘People need to be reminded more often than they need to he instructed.’ The real job of every moral teacher is to keep on bringing us back, time after time, to the old simple principles which we are all so anxious not to see; like bringing a horse back and back to the fence it has refused to jump or bringing a child back and back to the bit in its lesson that it wants to shirk.â€
Even with the first and greatest command, I feel like the horse that refuses to jump or the child that wants to shirk his lesson. Intellectually, I know the command. In my heart, I desire to follow the command. Yet in my flesh, I often fail. Thankfully, at this point in my life it is usually not with some “major†sin; instead it is some part of my mind or my heart that I try to keep for myself…a little kingdom of my own that ends up as a priority in front of God’s kingdom. Gradually as I give up these areas of my life, I find that my mind (and my life) is transformed.
As I, and the other members of the church, live lives that reflect Jesus to the world, I believe that bringing souls to Jesus will come as naturally as breathing. People will see Jesus through us, and they will be drawn to Him. Now if I can just continue to remind myself…
I’ve been thinking a lot on this issue, recently – I’ve just posted another blog on evangelism and calling.
I was also just thinking: in the past few months I’ve invited a number of folks to church (that’s ‘easy evangelism’ – especially when you’re at a church like us where the Gospel is so clear, and central) – I’ve been very encouraged that one couple (the husband is an Atheist) are really beginning to ‘commit’ – even He likes church, and is being challenged there.
It’s always such an encouragement to see God use me, even in such a small way as being part of inviting someone to church.
He can do big things with little steps of faith!