A problem of evangelical churches...

Lukamu

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This may not be true for your church, but it is for the few that I have attended in the last decade. Every so often, the pastor will get on a streak about evangelism and preach about how my main purpose in life should be sharing the gospel with other people. That's a problem, because it's not biblical and it's not true. Clearly, the main purpose of any Christian's life should be "to do the good works" that God has made for them to do (i.e., be obedient to Christ; walk with the Lord). But to say that evangelism is the good work that we should all be doing is unbiblical. Sharing the gospel is "the mouth's" job in the body of Christ (the Church), but we are not all "the mouth" as it says in the book of Corinthians. Any time a pastor starts telling me that my main priority in life should be sharing the gospel or inviting people to church or becoming a missionary, I want to stand up and remind them of that. Granted, there are some people who need to hear that message because it is God's work for them to spread the gospel, but to tell everyone the same message would be wrong. The Great Commission was given to the Twelve Apostles directly, not to the entire body of Christians. As for me, I will continue to do the good works which God has set out for me to do.
 
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dqhall

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This may not be true for your church, but it is for the few that I have attended in the last decade. Every so often, the pastor will get on a streak about evangelism and preach about how my main purpose in life should be sharing the gospel with other people. That's a problem, because it's not biblical and it's not true. Clearly, the main purpose of any Christian's life should be "to do the good works" that God has made for them to do (i.e., be obedient to Christ; walk with the Lord). But to say that evangelism is the good work that we should all be doing is unbiblical. Sharing the gospel is "the mouth's" job in the body of Christ (the Church), but we are not all "the mouth" as it says in the book of Corinthians. Any time a pastor starts telling me that my main priority in life should be sharing the gospel or inviting people to church or becoming a missionary, I want to stand up and remind them of that. Granted, there are some people who need to hear that message because it is God's work for them to spread the gospel, but to tell everyone the same message would be wrong. The Great Commission was given to the Twelve Apostles directly, not to the entire body of Christians. As for me, I will continue to do the good works which God has set out for me to do.
Matthew 5:19 (WEB) Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I was reading some of Paul's letters tonight. Paul was an instructor teaching the Gospel. Sometimes he had to support himself by doing physical labor, but eventually he was supporting himself by teaching. Those who were blessed by his teachings were supporting him. Paul was writing a letter of encouragement to the Philippians while in chains.

Remember the scriptures. One should try to do and teach what Christ taught and did.
 
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Presbyterian Continuist

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This may not be true for your church, but it is for the few that I have attended in the last decade. Every so often, the pastor will get on a streak about evangelism and preach about how my main purpose in life should be sharing the gospel with other people. That's a problem, because it's not biblical and it's not true. Clearly, the main purpose of any Christian's life should be "to do the good works" that God has made for them to do (i.e., be obedient to Christ; walk with the Lord). But to say that evangelism is the good work that we should all be doing is unbiblical. Sharing the gospel is "the mouth's" job in the body of Christ (the Church), but we are not all "the mouth" as it says in the book of Corinthians. Any time a pastor starts telling me that my main priority in life should be sharing the gospel or inviting people to church or becoming a missionary, I want to stand up and remind them of that. Granted, there are some people who need to hear that message because it is God's work for them to spread the gospel, but to tell everyone the same message would be wrong. The Great Commission was given to the Twelve Apostles directly, not to the entire body of Christians. As for me, I will continue to do the good works which God has set out for me to do.
There are five ministries in the Five-Fold ministry of the Church, and The Evangelist is just one of them. The Evangelist ministry involves special gifting to enable that person to share the gospel of Christ in an effective way and is the best way of getting souls saved. But not every one has that ministry, and neither should they.

When Jesus gave the instruction to go into all the world and make disciples of every nation, He was instructing the twelve Apostles.

Paul spoke about people needing the gospel, and he asked how they would hear unless through a preacher, and how could a preacher preach unless he is sent?

But every one of us needs to be prepared to give a testimony of our faith in Christ and what He has done for us, but not to Bible bash every soul in creation. Not all people have the skill or personality to meet strangers in the street, or to go door knocking. But we can all pray for souls to be saved, and the first group to be prayed for is our own family group.

When the Bible speaks to us about the will of God, it says that the will of God is to believe on Him whom God has sent; and the will of God is our sanctification.

If your pastor wants "bums on seats" in his church, then let him go out and do the work of evangelism. That's what the church pays him for. He also needs to find out who has evangelism gifts in his church and spends time training and equipping them. That's the way he needs to earn his salary.

You are correct that a body has different parts, and an arm cannot be a leg, and a nose cannot be a mouth, and there are parts of the body that a prominent and others hidden and private. Each part of the body works best when it performs the function it is designed for. The body of Christ works the same way. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all evangelists, are all pastors and teachers? The obvious answer is no.

So, the best thing is to find your own gifting and do it well, and that is all that is expected of you. The church janitor who cleans the toilets is just as important to God as the pastor preaching at the front of the church.
 
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RDKirk

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This may not be true for your church, but it is for the few that I have attended in the last decade. Every so often, the pastor will get on a streak about evangelism and preach about how my main purpose in life should be sharing the gospel with other people. That's a problem, because it's not biblical and it's not true. Clearly, the main purpose of any Christian's life should be "to do the good works" that God has made for them to do (i.e., be obedient to Christ; walk with the Lord). But to say that evangelism is the good work that we should all be doing is unbiblical. Sharing the gospel is "the mouth's" job in the body of Christ (the Church), but we are not all "the mouth" as it says in the book of Corinthians. Any time a pastor starts telling me that my main priority in life should be sharing the gospel or inviting people to church or becoming a missionary, I want to stand up and remind them of that. Granted, there are some people who need to hear that message because it is God's work for them to spread the gospel, but to tell everyone the same message would be wrong. The Great Commission was given to the Twelve Apostles directly, not to the entire body of Christians. As for me, I will continue to do the good works which God has set out for me to do.

The mission of the Body of Christ, given by Jesus, is to make disciples all over the world and to care for each other (the Body caring for the Body).

Every member of the Body of Christ has a role in what the Body does, just as every member of a human body has a role in what the Body does.

But, yes, Paul teaches that not every one is an apostle, not every one is a teacher, et cetera. In 1 Peter, it repeats this:

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4

This is kind of like a US Navy aircraft carrier. Now, the mission of an aircraft carrier is to use aircraft to take war to the enemy.

There are about 5,000 sailors on an aircraft carrier. Of those 5,000 sailors, only about 75 (seventy-five) actually get into airplanes to take war to the enemy.

The remaining 4,025 sailors do a hundred different jobs that support the 75 who fly airplanes.

If you were to ask the captain, "You have 4,025 sailors on your aircraft carrier who don't even fly aircraft! Can't you do without some of them?"

He'd answer, "Not on your life! Everyone one of my sailors has a mission-essential job to do every day."

Some of the sailors on that carrier do nothing but wash clothing. They wash the sheets, underwear, shirts, and trousers of all the other sailors. That's all they do, seven days a week (no weekends off at sea). That seems a long way from "taking the war to the enemy," but if you think about an aircraft carrier out in the Arabian Sea for six or eight months, somebody needs to be washing sheets and underwear. And scrubbing the toilets, and cooking the meals, et cetera.

The Body of Christ works the same way. Each one of us is intended to have our own fragment of the Great Commission. We should know what it is, and we should be diligent in executing it.

Not every Christian is an evangelist. When we look at the New Testament, we see this model for evangelism:

1. The evangelist is called to that office by the Holy Spirit
2. The evangelist is thoroughly trained in the gospel by teachers in the Body.
3. The evangelist is commissioned by the congregation for a particular evangelistic mission.
4. The evangelist is accountable to the congregation that commissioned him, and must report back to them.

But while every Christians is not an evangelist, every Christian is obligated to give reason for the hope he has within him.

There is a difference between evangelism and witness:

Evangelism is telling people what Jesus did for them.

Witness is telling people what Jesus did for you.

The Samaritan woman at the well provides an example: Jesus evangelized; the woman witnessed.

The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. -- John 4

Notice that the woman didn't need to know theology. She didn't even know for sure that Jesus was the Messiah. All she knew was what Jesus did for her, but that shaky witness was enough to bring the whole town to Jesus.

Another example is the blind man healed by Jesus:

He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" -- John 9

Knowledge of theology: Zilch. Knowledge of what Jesus did for him: Nobody could take away his witness.

So, we should each know and perform our particular fragment of the Great Commission, generally through our own congregations.

And we should each be ready to give witness to what Jesus has done specifically for us in our own lives.
 
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RDKirk

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There are five ministries in the Five-Fold ministry of the Church, and The Evangelist is just one of them. The Evangelist ministry involves special gifting to enable that person to share the gospel of Christ in an effective way and is the best way of getting souls saved. But not every one has that ministry, and neither should they.

When Jesus gave the instruction to go into all the world and make disciples of every nation, He was instructing the twelve Apostles.

Well, the Eleven, actually. But yes, you're right.

It's interesting and probably important to note that even though the Lord appeared to 500 people after His resurrection, the scripture explicitly says that He gave the Great Commission to the Eleven only.
 
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I don't know how street preaching will change someone's mind. Living a godly life and not being ashamed of your faith is a better method of evangelizing.
From what I have observed over the year, street preaching doesn't produce many significant results. What will bear fruit would be something more than just words. If you look at the history of the early Church in the book of Acts, it wasn't just religious words that convinced the pagan community that Jesus Christ was more powerful than the gods they worshiped.
 
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keith99

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I do not remember who said this, I'm pretty sure it was a well respected teacher.

Evangelize always, if necessary use words.

I would put the things the OP mentions as other tasks as coming under this, and omitting them make any words said empty.
 
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Northbrook

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I do not remember who said this, I'm pretty sure it was a well respected teacher.

Evangelize always, if necessary use words.

I would put the things the OP mentions as other tasks as coming under this, and omitting them make any words said empty.

I know who said that, it was St. Francis of Assisi. I heard it, “Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words”
 
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salt-n-light

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This may not be true for your church, but it is for the few that I have attended in the last decade. Every so often, the pastor will get on a streak about evangelism and preach about how my main purpose in life should be sharing the gospel with other people. That's a problem, because it's not biblical and it's not true. Clearly, the main purpose of any Christian's life should be "to do the good works" that God has made for them to do (i.e., be obedient to Christ; walk with the Lord). But to say that evangelism is the good work that we should all be doing is unbiblical. Sharing the gospel is "the mouth's" job in the body of Christ (the Church), but we are not all "the mouth" as it says in the book of Corinthians. Any time a pastor starts telling me that my main priority in life should be sharing the gospel or inviting people to church or becoming a missionary, I want to stand up and remind them of that. Granted, there are some people who need to hear that message because it is God's work for them to spread the gospel, but to tell everyone the same message would be wrong. The Great Commission was given to the Twelve Apostles directly, not to the entire body of Christians. As for me, I will continue to do the good works which God has set out for me to do.

It's not your main purpose in life, the main purpose is to bring God glory, but you are commission as a believer to spread the gospel and to make disciples. It doesn't just start and end with the twelve disciples, nor were they the only disciples that had done it. If you feel so, then what is the point of our testimony, why bother tell people the good news if it's not our place to? So, not inherently a bad thing to say, so I'm not getting why its such an offense, to the point where you would defy the leadership.

It is lying in the fact that you personally just wouldn't like your main purpose to be just to spread the gospel, or that the fact that its a pastor telling you this makes it feel too constrictive?
 
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Daniel Marsh

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1 Corinthians 3:5-11 Good News Translation (GNT)
5 After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God's servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do: 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow. 7 The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow. 8 There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done. 9 For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field.

You are also God's building. 10 Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each of you must be careful how you build. 11 For God has already placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid.

If you saw a building burning and you knew someone who lived on a floor that is not on fire, would you give them a call and tell them how to get out safely?
 
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