“Developing Evangelistic Leadership in Your Church”

Workshop Leader:
“How can you create leaders in your church who think, live, and lead evangelistically? This workshop will challenge and equip you to create a storehouse of evangelistic leadership within your local church.”

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“If we are going to have evangelistic churches, we must have evangelistic leaders.”

I’m reminded of the words of a commander of troops during the French Revolution who said,

“There goith my people. I must follow, because I am their leader.”

The leader’s role is to keep the vision clear and the destination unmistakable!

The theme for this session is…

“We need leaders in the church (pastors and lay leaders) to lead the church back into the world.”

Q: How do we lead the church back into the world?

1. As a leader in the church, we must personally receive power from the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s will for our lives.

- The task is too big for my power. - Man-made strategies won’t work. - Marketing won’t accomplish the Great Commission. - The leaders of the church must be filled with the Holy Spirit! - Dan Reiland, “How Full Is Your Net,” described five field-level observations of the church from his traveling from church to church over a six year period:     a. The presence and power of God is not sensed in the worship services.     b. There is no freshness when it comes to the personal testimony of the majority of the congregation.     c. Prayer ministries are anemic.     d. Significantly more effort, energy, and resources are invested in managing the members than reaching the unchurched.     e. The leadership is not modeling outreach and evangelism on a personal level. - Reiland emphasizes moving “from program to power.” - “Even with great evangelistic programs, without God’s power they will amount to little.” - John Wesley was asked, “Why do you think that so many people come to hear you preach?” His response was, “God sets me on fire and people come to see me burn.” - Mechanically, we can do everything right and our church would probably grow in numbers. But what if God…

2. Challenge the mindset of “Retreat”.

- Black Hole principle - Scientifically, a black hole is created in space when a star implodes on itself. The light is sucked into the center of the star creating a vacuum. There is a sense in which the church can be like a black hole. The church can suck the light of Christ into themselves. - The church becomes a black hole when we have an “Us (Christians) vs. Them (non-Christians) mentality”. - Avoid the mindset of retreat by throwing “Matthew Parties” (from “Becoming a Contagious Christian”, Willow Creek Association) - A “Matthew Party” mixes Christians and non-Christians at parties. The purpose is to have non-Christians become friends with Christians in order that the Christians may have a more effective witness.

3. Breakdown harmful stereotypes and fears.

- Example stereotypes that must be broken: - “The activities of the church are for Christians.” - “We want the world to come, but we are afraid that if they come, their worldliness will rub off on us and make us less holy.” - “We should only have Christian friends.”

4. Demonstrate outreach as a church priority.

- Look at the budget. Where does the money go? - Look at the time resources. Is the majority of the time of the Christians in your church spent on ministries for those in the church? - Is the talent spent to please already Christians or to reach pre-Christians?

5. Model for the congregation how to spiritually engage the community in a positive way.

- In preaching and teaching, be sensitive to outsiders. - As you work with each committee and department leader, keep evangelism at the forefront of their ministries. - Lead soul-winning calls where you have built bridges of friendships with non-believers.

6. Define evangelistic efforts as spiritual.

- Entirely sanctified believers should be cultivating friendships with sinful people. - Taking a neighbor to dinner is as spiritual as going to a Bible study. - Involvement in community activities (children in sporting events at school, city drama, etc.) can be as spiritual as being involved in church activities. - Creating space in our schedules for relationships with lost people.

7. Unleash creative evangelistic thinking from members of your church family.

- “We are not a sending church, we are a sent church.” – Dr. Ron Benefiel - “The church gathering is not seeker sensitive, people are.” - We all believe that evangelism must be relational, but our focus in the church is ALWAYS events, i.e. evangelism happens most in our churches through worship services (which tend to be the least relational time in our church). - Be willing to try new things that God leads His people to do evangelistically. - Emphasis new, Spirit-inspired evangelistic ideas.

8. Equip, Equip, Equip.

9. Celebrate successes.

- “Hearts for Christ” Banquet - Honor new converts in the church services or Sunday school classes. - Salvation candle. - Altar time. - New Christians read Scripture. - Certificates for completing a Bible study series.