The Objective of Evangelism

One of the things that you don't hear a lot about in the mainstream church of America is the topic of Evangelism. Sure, there are some churches that are focused on evangelism and winning souls to Christ. It's not like its a topic that has no relevance at all to the contemporary church. But in terms of it being something that you hear a lot about, that preachers and ministers are truly on fire about; that is not the impression I get when it comes to the subject of Evangelism.

If I may be honest, even as a preacher and a Minister of the Gospel, Evangelism and winning souls to Christ has not been a top priority of my ministry. Yes, I love preaching the Word, and I definitely have a desire to see people come to Christ who do not know Him in the pardon of their sins. But am I hitting the streets on a consistent and proactive basis, trying to find people that I can witness to and insure that they don't spend an eternity in hell? No I am not. And unfortunately, this is the case with most of the very devout, committed and anointed believers in Christ that I have the privilege to fellowship with. I'm not saying this is right nor am I justifying this course of behavior; I'm just being real.

So we must ask the question, why is there a border-line indifference and definitely lack of concerted effort when it comes to winning the lost to Christ, even amongst the clergy? I believe that part of the reason has to do with the fact that many of us as believers, including preachers, are not fully aware of the Objective of Evangelism. If we be honest, many of us are uncomfortable with sharing our faith and attempting to start a discussion that will expose and identify where a person's faith in God lies. It's not that we're ashamed to talk about Jesus, it's just that we're not sure "what approach to take" in regards to approaching the subject of salvation and possibly conversion to Christ.

Once again, part of the challenge in this endeavor is knowing the Objective of Evangelism. What we tend to miss oftentimes with Christianity is that Salvation in Christ is about entrance into the Kingdom of God. Salvation is not just about going to Heaven when you die, it's about living for the Kingdom of God while you're still alive on earth. Therefore, when you talk about Evangelism, you're actually talking about Kingdom Expansion. You're talking about persuading people to come into the Kingdom Life in Christ that you have been blessed, by God's Grace, to be a part of. What this does is give us a perspective regarding Evangelism that goes beyond a "religious discussion" or faith comparison. It's about a choice of Political Domain.

Nobody has to convince people to come to America. We have a national issue with Immigration and Refugees because people are trying to get to America from other parts of the world the best way they can. People aren't trying to get to America because they want to be "American". As a matter of fact, you have more and more people coming to this nation that don't embrace the ideals (atleast culturally and morally) that this country promotes and advocates. People want to come to America because of what America has to offer. This is the Objective of Evangelism. A lot of people (including many Christians unfortunately) don't actually know the benefits and the advantages of being in the Kingdom of God in this life and the life to come. They're not interested in "being a Christian". And there's something in many of us that isn't pressed in trying to convince them to be one. But there's something about letting a person know about the Blessing of the Kingdom of God. The Glory that Jesus the King will bestow upon your life. The healing, the miracles, the joy, the peace, the Glory; all of this comes with The Kingdom. It doesn't come with church membership, it doesn't with just the ordinance of baptism. It doesn't even come with just being saved. It comes with entering the Kingdom of God. And the only way to enter The Kingdom is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior (John 3). This is The Objective of Evangelism.