Pastors need to personally engage in this. You can’t lead what you don’t live. It really matters that we consistently become those who share the gospel ourselves. It really matters. But I think that at the end of the day, it’s helpful at times to walk through a particular emphasis in our churches on sharing the faith. It can be helpful for Christians and churches to have new opportunities to rally together on a given issue. Have this ongoing ethos of sharing the gospel in your church, but then also find connection points that can bring special attention to it—whether or not you think it will be popular.
What segment of the church is doing evangelism really well?
Well, the Pentecostal/charismatic movement is growing a lot through evangelism. As well, some older and more traditional congregations using older evangelism methods are still seeing some success.
One other thing that’s funny—it’s all the rage today to follow the example of the Two-Thirds World overseas. But what the Western church doesn’t want to learn from them is a passionate commitment to evangelism. It characterizes almost everything that they do in growing churches. One of the things that we need to learn from the rest of the world is that sharing the good news of the gospel could and should be a natural part of life.
Do you think there’s hope for wholesale cultural revival in our current situation?
Historically, no one thinks there’s hope for revival—until it’s here. If you had asked that question five years before the Great Awakenings, people would have said “no.” I’m always hopeful—I’ve read the end of the book. Jesus wins. But I don’t know his pathway between now and then.
Yes, I do think there’s hope for revival. But the marginalization of the church—which is beginning, but will grow, will ultimately bring greater sense of clarity to who is and who is not a committed Christian. This is one of the reasons that Pentecostals do so well in evangelism. If you’re a Pentecostal, and already are doing and believing things outside of the mainstream, how much different is it just tell people that they need Jesus?
The more distinct you are from culture—not [withdrawn] like the Amish, but recognizably different in some way—the more comfortable people tend to be to simply share the gospel because they’re already distinct from culture. They must take opportunities to share the good news.
What other signs of hope might we be missing in our culture? What’s special about our time for sharing the message of Jesus?
I think there’s an increasing sense of openness to the gospel, believe it or not. Lots of Christians think non-Christians are going to be closed off or hostile if they talk about Jesus, but our research shows that people are overwhelmingly open to having a conversation with someone who sincerely believes.
In fact, in our study, the younger unchurched were more open than the older unchurched. So I think that now people are open, and becoming more so, to spiritual conversation and more. As people are open to exploring other spiritual ideas, Christianity is new for many of them, especially for the younger generation. The end result could be that people will consider again, afresh and anew, the truth claims of the gospel, perhaps in a way they never have before.
They’re open.
A lot of people aren’t anti-organized religion. Many are actually very intrigued. Ultimately, in a world that is open—and I can demonstrate statistically that our world is open—we have a lot of Christians whose mouths are still closed. That’s a shame.
What’s the biggest threat to evangelism today?
That’s hard. But ultimately, the biggest danger lies with us. It’s the possibility that Christians will choose cultural acceptability over gospel fidelity. I think the desire to fit in—which, by the way, is a 2,000-year-old issue, why otherwise would Paul write “I’m not ashamed of the gospel”—is the greatest threat.
Ultimately, evangelism is God’s sovereign work. It’s how the Lord works in people’s hearts and lives. But the Lord prays for workers to go into the harvest.
In our day, the danger is that the workers choose acceptability over fidelity.
What, in your experience, snaps people back to fidelity?
When we really understand what Jesus has done for us. We return to the gospel ourselves. When that deeply dwells in our hearts, when we fully and richly believe in the gospel, we want others to have the gospel as well. That’s the key.
Evangelism is not ultimately a mouth issue, but a heart issue. Jesus looked over Jerusalem and wept, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. We need the heart of the Good Shepherd for anyone who is not in his fold. He sought and saved us. Now he calls us to join him.
The nature of eternity should turn up our passion for evangelism. It’s unfashionable to speak about eternal destiny, but it’s unfathomable to believe it and not tell people about Jesus.
I’m committed to spending the rest of my ministry pushing us to stand up and share the love of Jesus, because ultimately we’re on his mission. He came serving the hurting and saving the lost. That should be our message as well.
Paul J. Pastor, an Outreach magazine contributing writer, is author of The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit (David C Cook, 2016).