Evangelism As The Heartbeat Of A Vibrant Church

What is a healthy church? This question has found its way into many of my projects in recent months. It does not matter the project, the discipline, or the organization, the theme of church health has been a vital aspect of the discussion, underscoring the significance of this theme. The ministry of IX Marks has made church health a priority in current ministry contexts, asking the questions that we should have been asking for quite some time. Not only is it more freely discussed, but like IX Marks, other organizations are also developing their own list of marks of a healthy church.

Though they may not identify nine marks or even the same marks – I've seen lists with as few as five and as many as 22 marks – there are often commonalities and themes that emerge. Prominent on each list is the mark of evangelism as one of the critical characteristics of a healthy church. While in one respect, the word 'evangelism' instills fear into a believer, in another respect, it breathes life into the believer. At first step, a person may be anxious and afraid, but after that fear subsides, it gives way to the joy and satisfaction that results from knowing God has used you. This reality is true not just individually but corporately as well, bringing about contentment in following the Lord after the initial surprise of “We’re going to do some evangelism.” Evangelism instigates four aspects that point to healthiness worth considering.

It first instigates obedience. The Lord Jesus Christ tied obedience to Him with love for Him, saying, “If you love me you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15; see also 1 John 5:1-5). One of the often-repeated commands is that of the Great Commission to make disciples. The first step of that is, of course, what we call evangelism, requiring believers to share the gospel as the first step in making disciples. Churches that actively engage in evangelism and create circumstances for their people to participate in evangelistic encounters are giving their people opportunities to carry out the commands of Christ.

Not only does evangelism contribute to the healthiness of a church by initiating obedience, but it also prompts equipment and encouragement. As the call is to build up the body of Christ, specifically by one using their gifts (Ephesians 4:11-12), watching and learning from others teaches others to trust the Lord in their own personal evangelism. Furthermore, as noted above, evangelism brings joy, satisfaction, and contentment from knowing that a person is being used by the Lord in His redemptive work. It should always encourage people when we see people following the Lord's plan, edifying both the one who engaged in the work and encouraging others to participate as well by being an example. However, even in failure, there is encouragement. There is encouragement to know that we obeyed and encouragement to learn and grow from the experience.

Furthermore, evangelism indirectly encourages local fellowship. Evangelism seeks to build the kingdom by building the local church through conversion. One of my personal goals in church planting is not to build a church by stealing from other churches (1). Rather than ‘recruiting’ members from healthy churches, evangelism encourages them to stay in their church while seeking the rescue of the perishing, filling the church with those who don't have a local church home. With our churches, we do not want to necessarily compete with other churches but enhance them, and evangelism is a means of doing that.

Finally, evangelism stimulates stability. If we were speaking only in pragmatic terms, we could suggest that a person is loyal to the person God uses to lead them to the Lord. That may be true, though not necessarily because the Lord uses specific people for various seasons in a person’s life. But more than that, growth from other churches has the potential of building a body of church hoppers who may attend for a time only to move on to the next church later. I once worked in a community where a church had an influx of growth in a few months and, after about a year, started an ambitious building project. However, shortly after that, many people left, leaving the church saddled with a project they could not afford and no longer needed. The reality was that this group was known around town for their church hopping, moving from one church to the next. Evangelism seeks to minimize this by encouraging local fellowship and stimulating stability.

Evangelism doesn’t automatically make a church healthy; instead, it is the mark of a healthy church because of the effect it can have on the church. Evangelism supports not just our local church but can positively impact other healthy local churches as well. Because evangelism initiates obedience, prompts encouragement and equipment, encourages local fellowship, and stimulates stability, it inspires evangelism as the heartbeat of a vibrant church. Based on this, we are compelled to ask, "How healthy is our church's evangelism?"

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(1) Worth noting is that if someone is involved in a false, unhealthy, or unbiblical church, then I am more than willing to 'adopt' them. However, if one is part of a healthy church, my counsel is that leaving should be a last resort used in specific circumstances.