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The Resurrection Compels Me to Evangelize

I first published this article at The Focused Pastor, a ministry of Focus on the Family.

I am a pastor. And I do not have the gift of evangelism.

However, I do want to be obedient to Jesus. I believe that all need to hear the Gospel. Because of this, I evangelize and continually want to grow in leading my church in corporate and personal evangelism.

I have embraced the idea that not all are “naturally gifted evangelists.” Not all pastors have the gifting of Billy Graham, Ray Comfort, or Greg Laurie. The gifts God seems to have given me are encouragement, preaching, and teaching. But embracing how God has “wired me” for the places He has called me to serve does not mean I forget about other clear commands.

I may not have the “gift” of giving (Romans 12:6-8), but it would be sinful not to give to my local church. I would also miss out on being a part of how God provides for our ministries, the joy of sacrificing for the Kingdom, and the wonder of seeing God supply every need.

Similarly, I may not have a natural bent toward evangelism, but as I have leaned into God’s heart for those who don’t know him, I have grown in my passion and practice of evangelism. I have a burning desire to “compel people to come in” (Luke 14:23), even if I sometimes need to rekindle that desire. No blazing biblical truth has compelled my evangelism more than the resurrection of Jesus. Here are five reasons the resurrection compels me to evangelize.

1. The resurrection means that I am a co-worker with Jesus in evangelism

In the first verse of the book of Acts, Luke the Physician says that in his Gospel, he wrote about “all that Jesus began to do and teach…” The implication at the start of the Bible book that details the spread of the Gospel around the world after the resurrection is that Jesus was starting to build his church (Matthew 16:18). He is continuing to save today.

When we share the Gospel, we are co-workers with the living and reigning Christ. What a privilege!

2. The resurrection means every person in our community needs to hear the Gospel

Jesus said that one day, every person you drive past in your community, every person you see in the grocery store, every person who walks into your church, and every person who never steps foot in a church—will one day hear his voice. “…an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29)

C.S. Lewis famously explained this in The Weight of Glory: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

There are no ordinary people. Every person you meet in your community will one day be eternally in heaven or hell. When I read the Bible, I am amazed at how straightforward it presents this reality, when even in the church, sometimes we are more reserved about this truth than we should be. The facts of judgment and salvation, the facts of resurrection to life or resurrection to judgment, bring a weight to our task and a purpose to our church and ministry. Until we are in heaven and can no longer evangelize, the resurrection means we must.

3. The resurrection means there is a never-empty well of passion for evangelism

Sometimes, I get tired of resistance to the Gospel and give up for a while. Sometimes, I don’t feel the weight of eternity. Sometimes, I am scared of what others will think of me. But believing in the resurrection means I can always find the passion for evangelism again.

We see Peter go from being the timid man cowering at a servant girl’s accusation on the night of Jesus’ arrest to the bold apostle preaching to thousands after Jesus rose from the dead. I have seen fear turn into love and boldness in my heart when given an opportunity to share the Gospel if I remember that Jesus is alive.

4. The resurrection means I want to do outreach and evangelism privately and with my church family

I labor to explain at least the basics of the Gospel at some point in each sermon. I do this to train my congregation week after week in the different ways they can explain the Gospel. But I also do it because I never know who will be there on a Sunday or where they are with the Lord. Even if no visitors attend on a given Sunday, there may be unbelieving church regulars, teens, or children who will be saved that morning. The fact that the church service is primarily for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12) does not mean evangelism is not also a primary purpose.

But the resurrection also means we don’t just wait for people to come to us. I love reaching out to anyone in our community we can touch base with through sports camp outreaches, kids’ Christmas parties, block parties, or by hosting a tent in our community StreetFest. While there is a distinction between outreach (letting people know you are there and that you care) and evangelism (sharing the Gospel through a verbal or written presentation), outreach often opens doors to evangelism in our culture today.

The fact that your church exists in your community expresses the love of Christ for your community. They have the Gospel available because God has seen fit to have your church’s gospel presence embedded in the community. Sometimes, the Gospel will advance through shared ministry; other times, church members go out to their spheres of influence with the good news.

5. The resurrection means that our work of evangelism is never in vain

The longest chapter in the Bible on the resurrection ends with an astounding promise. 1 Corinthians 15:58 comes after proving, defending, and applying the truth of the resurrection. In light of this, the Apostle Paul encourages us, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” So, we continue to plant seeds.

Years ago, our church hired a contractor who was not attending church. Several people in our church knew him, and they encouraged us to pray for him at our Prayer Meeting. I, and others, invited him to church, but he never came. Until last month. At the end of our worship services, I always invite people to talk with us after the service if they want to know more about the Gospel or set up a time with us if they are not ready that morning. Last Sunday, he approached me to set up a time to talk more about Jesus.

These amazing opportunities used to intimidate me. I was eager but scared. As my convictions about the resurrection of Christ have deepened, so has my love for evangelism. I can’t wait to see what Jesus will do in our community member’s life.

Keep sharing the Gospel. Because of the resurrection, “your labor is not in vain.”

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Why I Still Believe in Youth Ministry

I first published this article at The Focused Pastor, a ministry of Focus on the Family.

I first met Matt* when he was 15. I was the new Youth Pastor and his single mom brought him to church. She was excited that we were beginning a youth ministry, and to my surprise, Matt was too. He was quirky and a bit of an outsider among the teens in the church, but I loved his honest questions about God and how he was not afraid to be different. Matt came every Wednesday evening when our youth ministry met, and I saw him grow by leaps and bounds.

At one point, I started to pick up Matt and another teen from school a few times a month for a snack and Bible study. We would get some Subway, read the Gospel of John together, talk about Jesus and life, and I would pray for them. After about a year, Matt shared with me that he knew he believed in Jesus. When I asked him how he knew he was saved, he said that it was affecting his life. He didn’t want to sin. He loved Jesus and wanted to follow him. A few months later, Matt was baptized. The last I heard about Matt, he was a video game developer serving in his local church, still following Jesus.

I’ve pastored full-time for almost two decades, and during my first eight years of vocational ministry I was a youth pastor. I am in my mid-40s now and pastoring in a rural church in New England, but I still believe in youth ministry. Matt is one reason. Now my own kids are new reasons I still believe in youth ministry.

I have noticed a change from when I first began leading youth ministry. Decades ago, it was often the parents who wanted their teens to attend more than the teens necessarily did. I knew parents who brought their teens to youth ministry events and told them they needed to be a part of it—that it was good for them. Now I have noticed that it is more often the teens who take the initiative to get themselves there. The same parents who will drive them anywhere six days a week for sports don’t always see the value in driving them to church one night a week for Bible study and fellowship with other believers their age. Should churches still value youth ministry? Here are three reasons I still believe in youth ministry.

Christian Friendship & Fellowship

It has been well-documented that today’s teens are struggling with loneliness and anxiety.1 The Surgeon General has even discussed this and some studies show that the number of youth who face loneliness regularly is about double the number that seniors report.2 Offering gospel- centered opportunities for youth to develop friendships with others their age is one way the church can help with this crisis.

One teenage girl told me she looks forward to attending our youth ministry every week because she has no Christian friends at her public school. She needs the encouragement of Christian friends to help her grow in her personal walk with Jesus and to continue to be a strong light for Christ in her school. Her closest friends are believers partly because of opportunities for fellowship in our youth ministry. Homeschoolers have often told me that they look forward to youth group every week because it is a safe place for them to grow without always having their parents with them. No matter what their schooling or home situation is like, youth ministry can be a place for teens to know that they are not alone in the world, either as a person or as a Jesus-follower.

Evangelism

Matt might have believed in Jesus and been baptized simply by attending our church. Since he attended both, our church and our youth ministry complemented each other in his spiritual journey and his eventual belief in Christ. But he was not comfortable meeting with our pastor like he was discussing faith or reading the Gospel of John with me. The fact that our church had a youth ministry and that it supported me in leading the youth ministry gave Matt an opportunity for one-on-one evangelism and later discipleship that he would not have had otherwise.

An unbelieving friend might be willing to come to youth group or a youth ministry event when they might not be ready to come to church yet. In time, as they learn more about Jesus through the youth ministry, I have seen teens eventually come to church regularly.

I still believe in youth ministry because so many teens in our culture only know the name of Jesus as a swear word. Just the other day, a public-school history teacher was telling me that in the last few decades he has seen a difference in the background knowledge that youth now have about the Bible. When he first started teaching, they had a basic knowledge of Christianity and Judaism. Now they hardly ever have any Bible background. Youth ministry is a place for teens to begin to understand the storyline of the Bible so they can begin to understand the gospel.

Teens in the Church Need to Know They Matter

Many teens over the years have told me they appreciate our youth ministry because it shows them that the church cares about them. They have shared that Bible study with other teens has helped prepare them for church involvement as adults. While they have attended some adult Bible studies—which is good and healthy—they have told me they are usually too intimidated to share much. They know that the problems and questions they face are different than other generations in the church, and they appreciate having a place to discuss them. With the foundation of the entire church worshiping and learning together on Sunday morning, I have been happy to be able to provide that safe place for teens to grow and learn.

Sometimes people ask me why we have a youth ministry, since Scripture doesn’t require it. But the same could be said for why many churches have a seniors ministry. Just as older believers enjoy the fellowship they share with other people in their age range who are experiencing many of the same problems and joys, so do youth. I am not an advocate of separating generations for every church event. For example, I have seen great benefits in having even middle schoolers come to our Men’s Bible Study (Men’s and Women’s Ministries are another choice the Bible allows but does not require). Yet, that doesn’t mean there is no benefit in also giving opportunities for youth or others to fellowship and learn by age.

Today’s teens and families have a lot on their plates. There are lots of opportunities. But since I want my teens and the teens in my church to be life-long followers of Jesus, I want to put them in front of God’s Word and provide Christian fellowship as much as I can. I still believe in youth ministry.

* For privacy, his name has been changed.

  1. https://www.rootedministry.com/loneliness-and-gen-z-hungering-for-true-community/
  2. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/01/loneliness-poor-health-reported-far-more-among-young-people-than-even-those-over-72/559961002/
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Yes, Churches and Parachurch Ministries Can Partner in Healthy Ways

This article was originally published at The Focused Pastor.

My life and ministry have been deeply impacted by the local church partnering with parachurch ministries. I met my wife at a college ministry, and we got to know each other better by attending the same church. If I weren’t sold on the potential value of parachurch ministries, the fact that God used a college ministry to meet my wife on a secular campus with tens of thousands of college students would convince me! 

However, sometimes pastors can feel that the two are at odds with each other. We know that the local church is God’s “Plan A.” Jesus promised to build his church (Matthew 16:18)! Parachurch ministries will come and go, but the local church will endure until Jesus returns. We need to remember these truths to keep our priorities straight, with the church being God’s main method for the advancement of the gospel and the discipleship of his people. Yet, I have found over the years that most parachurch ministries want to come alongside the local church, not replace it. Here are three ways churches and parachurch ministries can partner in healthy ways.

1. Partnership can equip churches and believers to do what they might struggle to do on their own

The sheer scope and specialization of parachurch ministries are astounding. Essentially meaning any ministry that is outside of the local church but that exists to do some form of gospel ministry, the list goes on and on. It includes biblical counseling organizations, after-school Bible clubs, campus Bible studies, sports ministry, pregnancy resource centers, disaster relief, homeless shelters, food pantries, substance abuse recovery, Christian camps, college ministries, Christian schools and colleges, marriage and family ministries, media ministries, curriculums, conferences, even international missions organizations and more!

A decade ago, we had a passion to begin an after-school Bible club in our local elementary school essentially because one of our missions partners had been leading churches and Christians in doing this for decades. I remember going into the principal’s office to talk with her about starting the club and being so thankful for this parachurch ministry and our missionary who worked with them. She knew exactly what the laws were and how to build a good relationship with the school through the process. A similar situation happened years later when we had a burden to begin a Bible study at the local high school.

Thanks to a sports ministry, the first Bible study anyone can ever remember started at that high school. Youth from our church have been encouraged in their faith by meeting fellow believers they may not have met otherwise, and some have attended our church’s youth ministry. Partnering with parachurch ministries has equipped us for further ministry.

2. Partnership can display the expansiveness of the Kingdom of God

Through local churches and parachurch ministries partnering together, the world can see Christians working together in a unique way, and believers can be reminded of the immensity of the Kingdom of God.

For example, when local churches partner together through pregnancy resource centers, the world tangibly sees that Christians are putting hands and feet to their pro-life beliefs. When a disaster happens, and Christian groups are the only ones still serving a community six months later, the world visibly sees and feels the love of Christ through believers from many different churches despite their differences. This puts the gospel on display in a unique way, showing the unity we have in Christ with all true believers. 

On the night before His death, Jesus asked the Father, “…that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21, see also 17:11, 17:20-23).  Christians from different local churches partnering together in unity displays something unique about even the unity of the Trinity and is a witness to the world.

Believers are also reminded through healthy church and parachurch partnerships that the Kingdom of God is bigger than their local fellowship. No church is an island. Pastors are responsible for examining doctrinal alignment to a certain extent before a church works with a parachurch ministry, but a healthy partnership can remind believers of the expansiveness of the Kingdom of God. 

I love that our church’s youth ministry disciples and evangelizes our church’s youth and friends regularly. Week in and week out, those teens from our church and their friends are built up in their faith or challenged to consider the gospel. Once a year, however, our youth ministry brings our teens to a large gathering of 600-1,000 youth and leaders, sponsored by a parachurch ministry, for a gospel outreach and all-nighter. Seeing hundreds of teens from across the region, both believers and unbelievers, reminds our teenagers that they are not alone as the only believers in their local church or schools. Seeing the passion of other churches for unbelieving friends stokes their hearts for evangelism.

3. Partnership can build up the universal church and expand gospel reach

The parachurch partnerships that I have come to appreciate, support, and even personally benefit from the most as a local pastor are the ones that truly do encourage involvement in a local church. I remember meeting one parachurch leader at a local high school who told me he would never refer a new believer to a church. We chose not to work with him since involvement in a local church is the next step for any new believer. However, I have found that most parachurch ministry leaders encourage church involvement and see us as part of the same team. I view them the same way.

My wife and I recently attended a marriage retreat, and I was so thrilled when they not only shared the gospel but also emphasized the importance of gathering with a local church week in and week out. In fact, attending that marriage retreat was a great illustration of how churches and parachurch ministries can partner in healthy ways. The kind of broad reach that this marriage retreat had meant that believers from many different types of churches and backgrounds came together. We enjoyed fellowship with other couples we know from different denominations, couples who have encouraged our marriage and walk with the Lord but who we don’t usually see on a Sunday or even during an average week. I plan to bring couples from our church next year.

Years ago, when we began that after-school Bible club in an elementary school, one girl named Sierra was ecstatic that there was a “Jesus club” at her school. She was raised by a single mom who did not have a church background, and for some reason, Sierra was interested in knowing more about Jesus. I remember her fascination during the Bible story time. That summer, Sierra came to vacation Bible school at our church, and she prayed with me to receive Christ after I shared the gospel in her class. A few months later, Sierra was baptized in our church while her whole family was there, and then she began to attend our church’s youth ministry.

Meeting my wife and baptizing a new believer are why I am thankful for parachurch ministries. My life has been immeasurably enriched, and my pastoral ministry has been built up thanks to healthy gospel partnerships. Yours can be, too!

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Cultivating Trust with New Church Attendees

Note from Tim: This article originally appeared at Focus on the Family’s The Focused Pastor. You will regularly see articles I have written for The Focused Pastor here. However, I will continue to write articles for both pastors and all Christians. If you are not a pastor but you find this helpful, please pass it on to your pastor!

I have noticed over the years that somebody attending my church and pastoring them are often two different things. Formally, membership is how our church recognizes that somebody has publicly said that our church is their home church. But I have often found that before membership, there is a moment when a new attendee calls you “pastor,” and you know that you have a new sacred relationship that God has allowed you to have.

Sometimes, we build trust quickly, and God places a new sheep right where they need to be. I think of the family who moved to our town from over 1,500 miles away, visited our church the following Sunday, and never left until they moved out of state again five years later. I think of another family who visited our church for about a month before the husband asked if he could go to coffee with me. I couldn’t read them and wondered if he had a lot of questions before they would settle into our church life. He looked at me after the first sip of joe and said with a big smile, “Our family is ready to join your church. We have found our church home.”

I also think of the lady who had to leave a church that no longer believed the Bible was the inerrant Word of God. It took her about a year of attending off and on before we had that same conversation at the same coffee shop.

But I also think of the primarily Spanish-speaking attendee who first called me pastor when I knocked on her door during a snowstorm. She had been attending for about six months, but I still did not have her phone number or e-mail address. I did know where she lived, and I wanted to make sure that she understood that the kid’s Christmas pageant practices were starting in a few days in case her kids wanted to be a part of it. Driving to her house and knocking on the door while the snow fell to make sure we included her in our church family was what she needed to call me “pastor.” As I saw the trust built, I realized I had acted as a shepherd representing the care of Christ in her life. I baptized her about six months later.

There are three main ways I have learned to shepherd new attendees into being part of our local flock.

1. Building trust

 Attendees of a new church need to know that they can trust you as their pastor. Yes, we are only imperfect men who serve a perfect Savior. But they must know if you go to God’s Word to get answers for life and eternity. This will primarily start with your preaching ministry. Recently, new attendees often know how we hold to God’s Word because they have researched us on our website and often watched our live stream or listened to sermons before they visited the first time.

Once they walk through your church doors, trust is built as you or other members or leaders connect with them, and they know that somebody cares they attended your church. We all need to know that God’s Word is taught and that God’s Word is lived out, and that includes welcoming strangers no matter their beliefs or backgrounds. Each new attendee, each new family or individual, needs to move at their own pace as God leads them.

2. Assessing trust 

You continue to build trust Trust as you and your church’s credibility grows in a new attendee’s eyes. Do they know you and the church members will pray for them? Can they talk with somebody about their questions about the church, the gospel, or God’s Word? Sometimes, that trust is built as they continue to attend Sunday after Sunday, and other times, that trust is built more slowly or as they are contacted to check in on them because they have not attended in a while. Even if they have moved on to another church, I have never had somebody tell me that I should not have checked in on them. This includes learning their name or getting them in touch with another elder or leader who will know them and their family and who can start to get them more involved in the life of the church so that they can grow in Christ, be ministered to, and eventually minister through your local body.

3. Cultivating trust

We cultivate trust as we grow together in Christ. The church is a dynamic organism, constantly changing as people move, are born, die, leave, or unite themselves to your local body. Yet a dynamic church is not necessarily seen in how large it is or whether or not it is growing in numbers in any given season. A church that is alive cares for its members, new attendees, and the community, seeking to apply the gospel of Christ to their lives.

Sometimes, that trust is built through serving together. Only members can serve in our children’s ministry, for example, but we let a relatively new attendee participate in helping with our Block Party outreach. Serving together showed her this was a church community with which she wanted to live her Christian life. When somebody is fighting cancer or going through some other hardship, alerting the church membership to how they can serve them is another way we have cultivated trust. We are called to show the love of Christ to all.

There is joy in representing Jesus and in pointing people to the Great Shepherd of our souls. Harold Senkbeil, in his book The Care of Souls, says that a sheepdog always has his tail wagging when he is working, and one eye is always on his master. If your eyes are on the Master, it will hit you as it sometimes hits me: I get the privilege to serve Jesus as his errand boy today—wherever and in whatever way he chooses to take me for that day or that season.

Yet, at the same time, pastoral ministry is challenging. There have been many times I have considered pursuing a different career. Yet there are many more things that keep drawing me back: the glory of Christ and the gospel, the sense I can’t shake that this is what God wants me to do, my wife & pastor friends who share love and encouragement with me, seeing people saved and growing in their walk with Jesus, and a co-worker and fellow church members who love serving God through serving his people.

Near the top of that list, I add the joy of that moment when you realize that under Jesus, you have a new sheep to lead. Keep shepherding each one towards Christ. There is no greater privilege.

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