REACHING THE LOST – STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
Growing Church: Evangelism Trends
Some congregations excel in the work of evangelism, while other congregations struggle. Professional sports teams examine winning and losing trends. Economic advisors study historical trends to provide recommendations on investments. Are there evangelistic trends? The answer is, “yes.” Success is not an accident. Growing churches are often characterized by three things:
- First, they trust the process. The New Testament is a pattern that should be followed. There were six evangelistic steps in the development of the church in the Book of Acts. These six steps provide the foundation of the HTHSOE model. Hundreds of congregations have followed it with incredible results.
- Second, there is congregational unity. When brethren work together with God, they are able to do the seemingly impossible because, with God, all things are possible. Israel built the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15). Unity is powerful and can provide incredible growth in a short period of time. The church of Christ doubled in size from 1947 to 1953 in the United States.
- Third, there is a sparkplug. Someone must lead the effort. Peter stood and lifted his voice on Pentecost (Acts 2:14). Paul led the mission work of the early church. Someone must spark the evangelism work every week, or the engine will sputter, and the work will die.
Struggling congregations also have similar traits. Identifying these can help you learn from the mistakes of others.
- First, there is no effective administrator. The administrator should not do all the work. Jesus trained and sent out the 12 in the Limited Commission to evangelize (Matthew 10). Who will do the training and sending in the local congregation? Someone must take ownership and drive the work forward.
- Second, there is no communicator. If you do not communicate with HTHSOE, it is likely you are not communicating with one another. Each week we ask for an update. When we do not hear back, it is normally because there is nothing to report. If HTHSOE does not know where you are in the training process, how you are progressing, or what your evangelism metrics are, we cannot help.
- Third, there is no focus. Distracted congregations are busy with “muchness and many-ness.” They have full calendars, closets full of decorations, and frequent events. Sadly, their zeal is misplaced, and they fail to hit the evangelism target (Luke 19:10).
Is your congregation characterized by success or struggles? Leaders of the congregation should discuss these trends. Lessons learned from the past are valuable and can result in souls being saved.
If you need more information on the three booklet study series or the new training/evangelistic video, please contact me at: Rob@housetohouse.com.
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