A Bold Question

A couple of weeks ago, we had a visitor named Frank Fear. Odd name, because Frank appears to be fearless. I had lunch this week with this retired KC policeman to talk primarily about his ministry in evangelism.

When Frank visited one of our Sunday school classes, he boldly asked the question (as a visitor!), "How many people have shared their faith in the last month?" I won't report how many responded, but certainly it was not 100%. He wasn't being judgmental - it's a passion of his for believers to be sharing their faith. He also asked me how many people in our church I thought had done this in the last month. I know some who have, and I'm sure I don't know all instances.

Frank wants to help churches evangelize more, and he shared with me a number of things. He's trying to visit as many churches in the area as he can this summer to offer free materials to assist them. We will be looking through what he has to see what's appropriate for us as we challenge ourselves to have a greater impact for the Kingdom.

As the elders discussed his Sunday school question and the response it generated, plus considering our vision for Grace, we realized that a better question for us is, "How many people have done something to intentionally cultivate relationships to evangelize or disciple someone in the last month?" That's more to our vision and how we want to look at evangelism. Progress is measured more by "loosening the lid" toward the goal of sharing one's faith, rather than merely measuring progress by whether or not you had the "conversation" in the last month. We want to get to that question with those who are receptive, but there's more to success than posing the question.

That's a question we should be asking ourselves frequently, as individuals and as a church. It's a more appropriate question for us, but not necessarily for all churches. I told Frank as much, so I'm not disparaging him or his question.

I also read something this past week that caused me to self-examine: "What if your church evangelized like you do?" If the pastor evangelizes well, it's a wonderful question, and the church thrives. If he does not evangelize well, it's a tough question, and the church will stagnate. I, too, have much room for growth in engaging our culture with Christ's claims in a loving, truthful, winsome way.

Let's grow in this together.