Evangelism and the Local Church
Dear Christian friends,
One of the most difficult issues I face as an evangelist is how to relate properly to the local church. A Christian who is involved in evangelism will receive a lot of rejection from unbelievers who do not want to follow Jesus. However, the rejection we receive from other Christians who do not understand or appreciate our ministry is much more painful. The apostle Paul suffered a great deal of persecution as he preached the gospel, being beaten and imprisoned many times. But his greatest pain was finding that as he was in prison, Christians would be spreading rumors that he was not a true apostle and was in jail for his own wrongdoing.
At the end of Paul’s ministry, he wrote these sad words from prison, “Demas, because he has loved the world, has deserted me…Only Luke is with me…Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm…At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me” (2 Tim. 4:10-16). Paul was tempted to get bitter, but he resisted that temptation and trusted in God’s faithfulness: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength.”
Often, an evangelist will find that his gift is not wanted or appreciated in the church. The evangelist who wants to encourage church members to get involved in outreaches may find himself at odds with church leaders who want those members to be more active in church functions. Very few churches have a full-time minister of evangelism. A large church may support many full-time pastors, administrators, secretaries, and janitors but not a single evangelist. As a result, it is very difficult for an evangelist, especially one who must support a family, to be involved in full- time ministry.
As an evangelist, I have my faults and the local church has its faults, but we must work together. I need the fellowship of other believers. I need to be encouraged in my Christian walk. I need to join together with other believers in worshiping God. One of my main functions as an evangelist is to equip believers in evangelism (Eph. 4: 12). And those I lead to Christ must have a church home if they are to be discipled.
The Church of Jesus Christ has been given three main tasks: to love God, to love one another, and to love the lost–worship, fellowship and evangelism. Like a tripod, a church needs three “legs” of equal length to stand. A church that neglects evangelism will become a self-centered “bless me club.” It will die of stagnation. I personally cannot understand how it is possible for a person to be a Christian, believe in the Bible and what it says about eternal hell, and not have a burden for souls. However, the fact is that most Christians do not have this burden. The evangelist is needed to stir up this burden within the believer and facilitate his involvement in evangelism.
A church needs variety in its evangelism. All Christians are not evangelists but all Christians are called to witness for Jesus. Most people come to Christ through the personal witness of a friend, co-worker, or family member. We need to be witnessing to people in our everyday lives. Yet, some people will not be reached through “friendship evangelism.” Many are saved by being invited to church meetings or evangelistic crusades. But many people will not attend such meetings. We need to go into the “highways and hedges” and compel people to come to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Luke 14:23). I believe that every local church should have its own outreaches–ministry to nursing homes and prisons, door-to-door witnessing, street witnessing, etc.
Some Christians are critical of “parachurch” ministries, i.e., ministries that are not part of a single fellowship or denomination. But some ministries must by their nature be interdenominational or “parachurch.” For example, much of the success of Billy Graham’s crusades comes from bringing together Christians from many different denominations. In John 17:21, Jesus prayed, “that they also may be one in us, that the world may know that you have sent me.”
Many unbelievers are stumbled by the divisions they see in the church. If they see an outreach organized by a single church fellowship or denomination, they may think that “they are just trying to promote their church.” If they see an outreach organized by Christians of different denominations, they will see a tangible demonstration of the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17:21.
SOS Ministries was established to bring together Christians from different denominations to reach the people of San Francisco and the Bay Area for Jesus. We believe in the local church and we want to serve local church fellowships. We require that all the members of our ministry house be part of a local church. We refer new believers to local churches for follow-up and discipleship. And we provide a means through which local churches can join together in a united witness for Jesus Christ.
Outreach Reports
This letter is written before the SOS-San Francisco outreach. I hope to have a report on the SOS outreach in next month’s news letter. During April and May, we held outdoor outreaches at the Powell St. BART station almost every Saturday and Sunday, using the last of our permits. Our permits for June were denied, but we ask that you continue to pray that God would once again open the doors for us to do rallies at Powell St.
We have gotten permits through September for outreaches two or three Saturdays a month at three parks: Dolores Park, Washington Square, and Union Square. These parks each have several hundred people in them in good weather and are good places to reach people with the gospel. Dolores Park is in the Mission District and has a combination of Hispanics, gays, children and drug dealers. Washington Square is in the North Beach area and has a wide variety of people from many different ethnic backgrounds. Union Square is three blocks from the Powell St. BART station and has shoppers, tourists and some street people. We do ask you to pray that we could continue to get permits in these locations. Future permits could be denied because of complaints, or the cost could be made prohibitive. We also intend to return to Berkeley once a month and possibly to do outreaches at Powell St. with a smaller sound system.
The concentration of outreaches at Powell St. resulted in an increased response to the gospel in this area. We would pray with up to 50 people in an afternoon. Some were dedicating their lives to Christ. Many wanted deliverance from drugs and alcohol. On May 14, a Christian man walked into the Powell St. area with his unsaved wife and son. The wife and son responded to an altar call and prayed to receive Christ. On May 28, we had one of our best outreaches ever as about 70 people from Family Worship Center in Pleasant Hill joined 60 high school youth from Calvary Temple in Concord. Family Worship Center ministered through music while the youth group did dramas, including a powerful reenactment of the crucifixion. Most of the afternoon, over 500 people crowded into the plaza to watch. At times, it was difficult to walk through the area. One of the Christians who was giving out tracts was Robert. Robert had been at Powell St. two years ago while Family Worship Center was ministering. He committed his life to Christ that day and they took him back with him. He has been with them ever since, growing as a Christian. After the outreach, I overheard two street people talking. “Where’s Willie?” one of them asked. The other responded, “He got saved. He’s with Victory Outreach.”
Before SOS, I also had opportunities to share about the outreach with two large churches: Vineyard (SF) about 600 persons; and Shiloh Christian Fellowship (Oakland) about 800 persons. I also was able to do two radio shows on KFAX (SF Bay Area) and KCIV (Modesto). After I spoke at the Vineyard, Jim came up to me. He had committed his life to Christ over two years ago on Haight St. and he is still attending Vineyard and growing in the Lord. He said he wanted to start witnessing with us.
Last week, I had lunch with Cathi Mooney, who also attends Vineyard. She is selling her interest as half-owner of a successful ad agency to help purchase a house in the Haight-Ashbury and minister to youth in the Haight area. Several Christians from Vineyard will be living in this house, which will take in new be lievers to disciple them and be a place where kids can go to get off the streets. They have seen several young people get saved in the Haight area, and have been ministering there almost every night. Please pray for this new ministry.
Ministry Needs
Last month, I told you about the engine problems with our van. The engine died and we were forced to put in a new engine in order to have a vehicle to get our sound equipment to outreaches. Because of this, we were not able to print new tracts for SOS. We should have enough tracts to get through the week, but will need to print new tracts soon. We do ask that you help us with this need.
Please pray for those who have responded to tracts this past month: Lynn, Valedo, and Catherine (SF), Noel (Sacramento) and Geraldo (Morgan Hill). Please pray also for John, who come here from Texas to get more involved in homosexuality. Instead, he saw us worshiping God at Powell St. and decided to return to his church in Texas and to seek help in getting out of that life style.
Our Tape of the Month is “Street Ministry through the Local Church” by Mel Rolls. Mel is Director of Rescue Atlanta, an evangelism ministry to inner-city Atlanta. He also sends teams to do outreaches at major events around the country. Mel was formerly the youth pastor of a large Assembly of God church and now pastors a small inner-city church, so he can discuss this issue as both pastor and evangelist.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum