Rethinking Evangelism to a Post-Christian Culture

Rethinking Evangelism to a Post-Christian Culture

Exponential West 2014's Seek + Save theme and five conversations critical to every church planter

Lindy Lowry

How can we look to Jesus’ example and join Him on what He said was His core mission—to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10)?
Throughout 2014 Exponential is thoroughly exploring this question, pressing into five key areas. In eBooks, articles, podcasts, videos and live conference gatherings (the recent Exponential East in April and the upcoming Exponential West Oct. 6-9 hosted by Rick Warren and  Saddleback Church in Los Angeles), Exponential is engaging the 2014 Seek + Save theme.
The theme is a continuation of 2013’s focus on discipleship, helping leaders to see evangelism as part of the discipleship journey.To more effectively make disciples in our post-Christian culture, Exponential is helping leaders rethink five central areas: evangelism; outreach; witness; preaching; and the Great Commission.
This theme and these five conversations are critically important to every church planter, says Exponential President Dave Ferguson.
“Recent research tells us that only 18 percent of Americans will set foot in a church this weekend, but Gallup reports that 92 percent of the U.S. population says they believe in God. We have to come to grips with the reality that many churches have lost their ability to connect with people who actually believe in God. We have to rethink evangelism because we have to rethink how we reach this group of people who believe in God but have not found a safe place in our churches.”
5 Conversations Critical to Every Church Planter
Rethinking evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20) What does “go and make disciples” mean? As leaders, we have a key role to help people see that evangelism is an integral part of discipleship. Discipleship and evangelism are inseparable. Understanding that evangelism doesn’t happen before someone is discipled as a Christ follower but rather as part of the discipleship journey is crucial for evangelism in a postmodern world. Scripture shows us that as we apprentice people in the ways of Jesus, we will make disciples who will make disciples who will make disciples.

A strong discipleship culture in our church naturally produces evangelism.

Missional thought leader and Exponential West speaker Alan Hirsch explains it well: “Discipleship is all about being drawn into the purposes of God. The Great Commission to ‘make disciples’ includes both making Christians and maturing Christians.We are called to be a disciple-making people. We’ve won a lot of people to faith through a seeker-sensitive model, but we just got decisions, not disciples. If we look at both the person of Jesus and how He lived His life, His teachings, His example, it’s the whole Jesus phenomenon that is the Gospel—not just one or the other. We have no right to separate the two, to extract one from the other. That’s why we can’t separate evangelism from discipleship. As we recalibrate the Church at this critical time in history, what we do now has radical ramifications for the Church in the future.”
Larry Osborne, also an Exponential West speaker, adds, “Evangelism is the beginning of the entire Great Commission. If we’re not recruiting on the front end, there’s no way we can be discipling on the back end.”
Rethinking outreach (Acts 2: 42-47) Possibly the greatest approach to outreach we see is the “fellowship of believers” in Acts 2:42. The early Church lived with everything in common, so much so that outsiders were drawn to become insiders:
“So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46-47 NKJV).

Like Paul tells the church of Corinth, we are to be the aroma of Christ to the world.

To be effective evangelists today, we have to rethink how we function as a family of believers and challenge our churches to do evangelism as a community through both word and deed.
Rethinking witness (Acts 1:8) We have to rethink witness, equipping people to listen to others and share their God story versus a series of “canned” propositional truths. When people are equipped to genuinely engage in spiritual conversations and share their story, all people can become witnesses for the Good News.
“If we don’t equip our people effectively in everyday engagement with the unbelievers around them and helping them come to faith in Jesus Christ, we’ll never be effective in making disciples who make disciples,” says Soma Communities Vision Leader Jeff Vanderstelt. “That’s the No. 1 call that we’re all called to as pastors and leaders of churches, and we must be faithful to that call Jesus has given us.”
Everyone has a story that intersects with Jesus’ story—whether or not they realize (or acknowledge it). While some of us have the gift of evangelism, all of us are called to be witnesses to the transformation Jesus has made in us.
“Sharing our story is not just for those of us who are leaders,” Vanderstelt says. “That’s for every member of the body of Jesus Christ. As leaders, it’s our job to equip everyone in that work.”
Rethinking preaching (Romans 10:13-15) In almost every context outside of the Church, preaching is equated with bad news. Those far from God do not want to be “preached at” or talked down to. Church leaders know preaching is important to Jesus’ core mission. It’s one way they declare the good news of the gospel. Rather than pitting Jesus against society, we must learn to offer Him as an attractive hope for the answers society is skeptically looking for. Rethinking preaching in ways that ultimately lead to a new perception of preaching as good news to those who don’t yet know Him is crucial to effective evangelism that follows the example and teachings of Jesus and Paul:
“For whomever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:13-15).
Pastor and author Andy Stanley says that most preachers have “inherited” an approach to ministry and preaching. He cautions leaders to not let their approach turn off unbelieving listeners to their otherwise good message:

“If you’re not willing to adjust your sails and adjust your approach, you can spend your entire life … telling the truth and driving people away from it at the same time.”

Rethinking the Commission (II Tim. 2:2) Every church leader struggles with balancing the tension between building community and family within the Church (and a strong staff team) while also releasing and sending people to start new faith communities. In making disciples who are becoming more like Jesus, we have to intentionally create a culture of “next steps.” And part of these next steps is the sending and releasing of leaders to multiply and reproduce faith communities. As leaders, it’s vital we learn to celebrate next steps and reproduction.Rethinking the Great Commission equips us to define and articulate what it means to multiply disciples and move toward accelerating movements in and through their Church.
Author and missional thought leader Michael Frost reminds us of Jesus’ “sentness” and His call to us to be “sent”: “It’s exactly what we see Jesus doing in the gospels,” Frost says. “He takes His followers on the road. It’s in the process of going that they forge community, that they truly learn to worship God and are discipled by the Son.
“AOne of the biggest problems for the Church today is that too many Christians aren’t going anywhere—not even next door, or across the road, not downtown, or overseas—nowhere! If the Church can again become a sent community, it will find in the gospels rich material for how to thrive on the road.”