Day 37 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

Inviting My Neighbors to Easter

Is Easter really so offensive that we have to pretend it doesn’t exist? My family is getting together for a nice celebration dinner Sunday after church. When we called to invite one of my family members they were not able to come because they were already booked with an appointment for dog obedience classes. I could hardly imagine it… Easter Sunday people were going to just carry on like it was another Sunday with no observing Easter at all? How could that happen? Is America forgetting Easter?

So, I know it might not be well received but I feel convicted to do it. I’m going to write each of my neighbors that I’ve been praying for and invite them to come to church on Sunday. It’s quite likely that none of them will come. Yet I feel like I must invite them. This Sunday is Easter. Even if none of them decide to join us, at least they won’t forget. Worse than skipping church on Easter is forgetting it’s Easter completely.

Day 36 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

Relational

From the very beginning of Church history we read of both mass responses to the gospel message as Peter preached on Pentecost as well as individual conversions like when Peter said to the lame man, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” I have often said that I don’t like mass invitations like altar calls as much as personal evangelism because once you have responded to the gospel you need to also have a relationship with the Church. Christianity is highly relational. You can believe alone but you cannot be the Church alone. Church takes relationship. Discipleship takes relationship. There are numerous “one another” passages in the New Testament. If God meant us to do Christianity in relationship with other Christians, how do we get mass evangelism Christians into meaningful relationships? What happens when people respond to the gospel message but never get connected in relationship? If a person becomes a Christian in the context of a personal conversation aren’t they already much closer to relationship than those who respond to a mass altar call? How does the attractional model of church foster isolation in Churches? Is this a good enough reason to stop doing mass evangelism? Why or why not?