Reaching the Lost: “It won’t work here”

When HTHSOE arrives at a host congregation, we often find a mixture of thoughts about these efforts to train the saved to teach the lost. Decades of failure have produced a doom and gloom culture that can be difficult to penetrate. In general, brethren want evangelism to succeed, but this culture has led some to conclude, “It won’t work here.”

Although culture, social class, and outside influences can create challenges to evangelism, our God is more than able to overcome and triumph. The gospel has no racial or national boundaries. This means it will work in urban, suburban, and rural areas. It also works in extreme areas (west and east coasts), with the religious and irreligious, and with the haves and have-nots. Jesus was given many excuses during His ministry, but none were accepted (Luke 14:15-23; Matthew 22:1-14).

Since Americans are result-oriented people, consider just offer a few case studies.

• It does not get more rural than the New Hope church of Christ, a small congregation near Middleton, Tennessee. Their elders, preacher, and members could not have been more engaged and dedicated during HTHSOE onsite training. The results have been incredible. In the past five months, they have baptized six people with current and ongoing studies. Cole Wade recently reported, “The church has been greatly encouraged by the success. The church is growing, and our members are growing!”
• The Riverbend church of Christ is a medium-size congregation in a suburban setting. Earlier this year, Austin Fowler asked his elders if he could organize their evangelism work using the HTHSOE model. They have baptized 19 people this year and had to move their new converts class to a larger location.
• The Honolulu church of Christ is in the middle of Hawaii’s capital. It is the definition of urban. It is surrounded by high-rise apartments in each direction. In a period of four weeks since the seminar, they have baptized eight people.
• Eric Sykes works with congregations in and around Baltimore, Maryland. He has baptized forty people in the past two years. The Edgewood congregation came to the HTHSOE seminar at Aberdeen and has enrolled in the digital school. They have already had several baptisms.
• Joey and Tammy Treat serve as missionaries in Guam. They took the HTHSOE model back to the island and trained the congregation. In spite of some of the most stringent COVID lockdowns of any U.S. territory, they baptized nine people in a couple months. Joey wrote, “Just like you said in your recent email—we meet, build interest in a Bible study, invite to learn more about the church and the Bible, and then get into the study. We let the Bible do the talking by reading the verses together, and the baptisms come easily. They just cannot argue with the Bible.”
• The North Jefferson church of Christ in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, is in rural east Texas. They were able to baptize almost 20 in a 12-month period from 2021-2022!
• The Northern Oaks church of Christ San Antonio sits in one of our nation’s largest multicultural cities. Their elders and preacher have become intentional at implementing the HTHSOE evangelism model. They have baptized nine this year.
• The Woodstock church of Christ in Woodstock, Georgia, was trained in February of this year. This is an affluent area where there are many more haves than have-nots. They are fully organized using a congregational approach. They have baptized fifteen.
• The Southwest church of Christ, Austin, Texas, held a Back to the Bible youth camp to train the next generation of soul winners. Most of the campers were part of Generation “Z”, and close to 30 were baptized in the past few weeks.

We are on pace to average more than two baptisms every day for 2022. The HTHSOE model works because it is mission-based (Matthew 28:18-20). It emphasizes six steps and provides training, tools, and a 52-week plan to carry out the Lord’s orders. We need to remain focused on our local communities where we live and work. Remember, the “few” are all around us, for Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35).  The only time evangelism does not work is when we do not work it.