Gospel Intentionality

If you want a church to grow biblically, you must focus on evangelism.  Much of what happens in churches can be attributed to transfer growth vs. conversion growth.  Evangelism can catch fire in a church when everyone assumes the responsibility to grow in the gospel.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen [2 Pet. 3:18].

Evangelism must be out of a genuine love for the people being evangelized.  If we are not careful, we can be guilty of giving out information without caring for the person.

Lee Clamp, Director for the Evangelism Department of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, has taught that an evangelist and disciple maker needs three components: pray, care, and share.

If you only focus on one of these components, you miss the other two essentials and run the danger of not coming across as an evangelist, but something else.

If you only neglect on of these components, you will realize that the missing one is also dangerous and can cause you to come across as something less desirable.

It is important to pray, care, and share.  The evangelist needs to:

  1. Pray – God’s power and direction is needed in this (and any other) process
  2. Care – The person you are sharing with needs to know you truly care for him or her as a person
  3. Share – The gospel does require words – we must open our mouths and declare the truth

Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our very lives, because you had become very dear to us [1 Thess. 2:8].

Using this chart (provided by Lee and his Evangelism Team at the SCBC), you can develop a list of people you need to begin to evangelize.

What to Do

  1. Write out the top 5 people you interact with regularly in each column (family, neighbors, work, and play).
  2. While you cannot be completely confident regarding a person’s salvation, you can have a genuine leading based on a person’s profession of faith and evidence of fruit.
  3. With that in mind, mark a cross besides those you believe to be saved, a “x” beside those you believe to be lost, and a “?” beside those of whom you are unsure.
  4. Evaluate how your list shapes out and make some observations about those closest to you in life.
  5. Circle three of the names with either a “x” or a “?” beside them, and make a plan to start intentional gospel conversations.
  6. Pray, care, and share with those 3.
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