PHOTO BY CARMEN FOWLER LABERGE
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Words have meaning, but they do not necessarily mean to others what they mean to you.
In his introduction to the topic of the pre-assembly equipping workshop at the 33rd General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), Mark Mittelberg illustrated that even across two English-speaking cultures like Great Britain and the United States, the same words are used to mean very different things.
He described standing at an intersection alongside a family of Brits in the U.K. As a vehicle approached down the hill the mother called to the children, “Get in the pavement!” Mittelberg said his eyes shot wide and then he realized that in England that means one is to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk.
The well-known British warning “mind the gap” is just nonsense to an American, Mittelberg said. “The gap is the distance between the edge of the train and the edge of the platform, be mindful to step over it because it’s dangerous to be in it.”
He then made the connection to the context in which the Church is called to bear the Gospel of Christ into the world today, saying, “The dangerous gap is between what we say we believe and what we do in the church related to evangelism. We are very good at saying the right stuff related to evangelism – but we’re not actually highly evangelistic. There is a gap between our lofty vision and ideal and realism in life.”
Mittelberg noted that most Christians, including pastors, never share their faith, and most churches are not growing through conversion. He then asked, “Most of us feel the gap, but how do we move from the reality of where we’re at and toward the vision of what we know is our calling?”
His book, Becoming a Contagious Church, outlines a proven six-stage process. But he quickly noted, “This is NOT an easy recipe, but these are Biblical, transferable principles that will help you whatever your context.”
PHOTO BY CARMEN FOWLER LABERGE
Dr. Nancy Grisham, author of Thriving: Trusting God for Life to the Fullest, then joined the conversation. Mittelberg, referring to effective evangelism and the contagious church model, said, “Nancy has studied it, she has led it, she has a Ph.D. in it, and she lives it.”
They offered a back-and-forth presentation, outlining the six steps an inwardly focused church must take if it wants to be transformed into a church that is genuinely missionally evangelistic.
Mittelberg warned, “We do not begin with a big program or by pointing at what some big national church is doing … if we just had a building like that, a music guy like that, technology like that, parking like that, a sound system like that … that is not going to make a contagious evangelistic church. If you don’t have the heartbeat, the DNA, the passion for evangelism, nothing lasting in terms of evangelism will happen.”
Stage 1: LIVE an evangelistic life
Mittelberg said, “It starts with me. The speed of the leader is the speed of the team in evangelism. Even if you don’t have ‘the gift,’ take the risk, do something in order that you can have the moral platform from which to speak. It’s OK to say ‘I’m not very good at it, but I’m trying.’ Set the model.”
He then offered four “p’s” related to step 1.
- “Pray for yourself, admitting in prayer that this value of living an evangelistic life is not where it should be. We preach it better than we live it. This is the value that slips out of our lives faster than any other. Pray the truth, ‘God, when I first came to Christ I was white hot for the Gospel. I’m not right now. I confess that. Lord, revive me, change me.’ You will be praying totally in line with God’s will for courage and passion and breaking out of busy-ness. God will honor your desire to align your desire to His will that none would be lost and that you would be sent. You will see people through different eyes.
- “Passages: Spend time in the passages that fire you up for evangelism. John 4 and the woman at the well is my passage. It energizes my evangelism to hear and follow Jesus into the reality that ‘my food is to do the will of my Father.’ Do you have a passage that fires you up?” Grisham answered, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Pray that the Father would send out workers …’ The soil may feel hard, but the Bible says that the fields are white for harvest.” Mittelberg then continued:
- “Partner: Find a partner who will fire you up evangelistically and who you can fire up. Who raises your spiritual temperature? Contagious Christian carrier person? Who do you “buzz” with in terms of ideas?
- “Person outside the family: Break out of church meetings and get out there! Put the offer out there to your church that you will partner with them to reach out to their family, their neighbors, their friends. Say to your members, ‘If you know a non-Christian that you think would relate to me…if you think they’d be interested … then let’s get together for coffee and see what God does.’ While you’re doing evangelism with the brother-in-law you are also doing discipleship and equipping with your church member. Or tell your people, ‘I’m holding Thursday lunches open to non-Christians and whoever brings them to me.’ What kind of message does that send your congregation and what kind of opportunities does that set the stage for?”
Stage 2: INSTILL evangelistic values in others
Mittelberg continued, “Evangelism is caught, but it must also be taught. Lead it and teach on it. It should be a part of the regular diet of teaching and preaching. Tell stories and have people share testimonies. Think in terms of 9-10 weeks of preaching; training in small groups; … with the goal of incrementally moving it in the right direction. Get people talking about it and show them how to do it! The carpet is not well worn in this section of our life.”
He then noted, “The church has to become contagious on the inside before it can become contagious to the community.”
Stage 3: EMPOWER the leader
Grisham said, “The pastor is where this starts, but he/she cannot be where it ends. You have to live it, instill it and then implement it in your church through empowering others. Identify and empower your right hand evangelistic ministry advocate. Ask yourself, ‘Whose name is attached to this value in your church? Who is the person, the leader, who personifies, advocates, organizes for and equips others for the evangelistic efforts of our church?’ Empower a leader for whom this is their A1 priority to engage every believer in the church in reaching the community for Christ. They put the processes in place, they shepherd the process, they are the point person.”
She continued, “If evangelism is a real priority for us, and we all know we should evangelize the community, then we also ought to want and know we need an evangelism leader who has the competencies of authenticity for evangelism. The No. 1 competency you are looking for is this: if you haven’t led a person to the Lord you cannot lead others to lead people to the Lord. So, this is not necessarily a seminary grad, but someone willing to do the research and walk alongside your people as they welcome the real questions of their neighbors.”
“The goal is to equip 100 percent of the congregation for relevant evangelism that fits the culture around you and the people whom God has called together in your church. That requires that you develop a diversified evangelism team across every ministry area. Equip and empower evangelism leaders in every ministry area of the church,” she said.
“Ephesians 4:11-12 gives me a vision of what God wants me to see — that problem of reaching lost people, as difficult and distant as the culture is today. There are those right now who are ready to say yes to Jesus. The problem is so desperate that you are going to need to pray that we might see the people right around us and be willing to roll up our sleeves and work among those who God sees as ready for a harvest of righteousness.”
Mittelberg noted that there are two objections often raised, “Objection #1: Where do I find that person? No one lives up to that description at the beginning. Find a person who seems like they could grow into it. And then call them up during a service where you’ve talked about evangelism. Say, ‘I can’t do this alone. The elders and I have been praying, and we believe that this is the person God is calling to this work among us.’ Objection #2: This sounds like big church stuff. We can’t afford to have any one person focused on evangelism. Ha! If you’re that small, you can’t not have a person focused on evangelism!”
Stage 4 answers the question, what does that person do?
Stage 4: TRAIN the Church
Mittelberg said, “Most Christians actively avoid evangelistic conversations because they don’t feel ready. We have not taught them how to do it. Preaching is not training. Yes, you need preach on this, that’s stage 2. But training always involves trying – people need to get their feet wet.”
Give them a variety of approaches so they can find one that fits them. There are at least six different styles of evangelism.” Mittelberg added that this training is the primary content of the Contagious Christian curriculum — DVD’s, dramas, etc., that is designed to teach people how to start a spiritual conversation, how to listen non-judgmentally and non-defensively to the real questions that real people have about the reality of God.
Mittelberg and Grisham advocate training the whole church for evangelism every 24 months because the Great Commission is given to the whole church in order that we might reach the whole world.
Stage 5: MOBILIZE team
Grisham said, that “there is an evangelism core in every church. Their hearts beat faster for lost people than others. The evangelism leader brings these people together in a cross-ministry setting to inspire, equip, connect and energize them through stories of how the Gospel is being shared with others. We want in on the unexpected adventure — so gather the people with an unusual passion and let them meet! Cast the net through the bulletin and make personal invitations through every ministry area.
“Ask yourself who you are working with one on one? Get those two people together and connect them – and pray for others. Maybe a third will come … 5-10 percent of the people in your church are at least latently gifted in this area. Think of them of the carriers of contagion … the more widely dispersed they are throughout the church the faster the contagion spreads.”
Stage 6: UNLEASH
The last stage is where too many people are tempted to try to begin with outreach events. This can be anything from motorcycle rallies in the parking lot to hosting an apologetics debate, marriage enrichment courses to a men’s sports breakfast or Momma bear run. It could be a golf clinic, Christian concert in the local park … anything that is intentionally designed to attract and connect those who are lost to the people of your church, creating the possibility of building a relationship that creates the possibility of initiating a spiritual conversation.
The presenters closed with a warning. “If you do this the contagion of Christ will break out. Your church will become contagious, and the world will be infected with the Gospel!”