Evangelism

The "Ministry from a firm foundation" series ended with a message on evangelism. I have seen God fanning the embers of desire in the hearts of our members to "reach out" into the community near our church - how exciting!

Last week I screwed the leg of "fellowship" on crooked so I figured this week I would place the leg of evangelism upside down. (I fixed it again for this picture) I did this partly to make a joke and poke fun of myself, but also to illustrate our backward view of evangelism.

It seems to me like American churches still have an idea that evangelism is a program to run to attract people to church. I have heard from many churches that the role of the congregation members is to invite friends to church. It is at church that their friends hear the gospel and get "saved". It is as if the pastor is the one playing the game and the congregation is the cheering squad. They run out and get more cheerleaders to cheer on the pastor in his "soul winning" endeavors. He is, after all, the paid help isn't he? ;)

When I read the Bible I don't see that it is the pastor's job to be the only one to "evangelize" the lost. He is not the only one that gets to be in the game. I read that every disciple of Christ is supposed to proclaim the gospel, not just invite others to hear it at church.

Don't get me wrong, I will preach the gospel from the pulpit every week with the hope that God uses it to save souls. As Pastors it is our job not merely to encourage people to invite their friends to church to hear the gospel, but to encourage and equip those under our leadership to share the gospel themselves.

Fellowship

At our church we continued the series on "Ministry from a firm foundation" with a sermon on fellowship. As I screwed on the third leg I was wondering why everyone was chuckling. It was only after the sermon that I realized I had screwed the leg into the table VERY slanted - it looked horrible from the congregation. (It was fixed before this pic) It made the table seem less sturdy, so I guess it helped with the illustration of a table needing four legs to be solid.

Many Christian churches have a skewed view of fellowship. Many times our events say they promote fellowship but really just foster friendships. I think that relationships and friendship are important, but there is so much more to fellowship than just being friends. We can find friendships in bars, athletic clubs, and sewing circles - so what is so special about our relationship with another brother or sister at church? We have fellowship in the church unlike any other bond because what binds us together isn't just a shared interest or time together, but Christ.

How do you define fellowship? Does ministry you are involved in value friendship more than fellowship?