The Church is the agent of the Kingdom of God in the world and is commanded to take
the Gospel message to all peoples of the earth. When we look at the priorities, programs,
and activities of an average church today however, we may wonder if we have forgotten
or become confused about our mission as believers.
We are busy, but busy doing what? How many of our programs, meetings, and activities
are actually producing new converts? We have many flashy evangelists with fancy
sermons and funny stories. In Bible times, one public sermon resulted in three thousand
conversions. Today it often seems there are three thousand sermons resulting in very few
conversions.
There is a lot of beautiful religious music, much of which only demonstrates the talents of
the choir, soloists, and musicians. But how many souls are won? How many lives are
changed? When we add to this the thousands of carnal Christians with no concern for
spiritual harvest, we may question, "How will the task of evangelism ever be
accomplished"?
IT MUST BE EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT:
Evangelism in the New Testament is not a bland or neutral activity. It is power
encounters between the Holy Spirit and the forces of evil. The Holy Spirit, with all of His
fruit, gifts, and power, must become a reality in our lives. The Word must be preached
and taught with the demonstration of power. The Gospel must be proclaimed, not
apologized for, watered down, altered, or disguised. The resources of every spiritual gift
of every member of the Body must be mobilized to complete the task of evangelism. We
must exchange our carnal natures for Christ-like conduct which will enable us to bear
witness to the truth of the Gospel
.