God’s purpose is to save mankind. “For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,”
(John 3:16).
So if God’s purpose is to save mankind, then what is the purpose of
the Church? The Apostle Paul told the believers at Corinth that God
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and then gave us the
ministry of reconciliation…“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead,
be ye reconciled to God,” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
So the question now becomes: Has the Church lost its purpose? When a
sinner cries out for forgiveness and is saved, the Holy Spirit
immediately sheds God’s love in that person’s heart. That love is
given to us to share with others. When we have been reconciled to
God (saved), Jesus comes into our heart. He not only saves us, but
He hands us the ministry that the Father gave Him. We are
immediately given the ministry of reconciliation and made
ambassadors to a lost and dying world.
I look at it kind of like this: Jesus is like the runner in an
Olympic race, and He has a baton in His hand. When we are saved,
Jesus comes into our heart, and He hands the baton off to the new
convert and says, “I make you ambassadors to a lost and dying world.
I make you My representative on this earth. Go get the job done.”
When the baton is dropped in a relay race you lose the race. This is
the state of the Church today. We are losing the race. Most
Christians today have dropped the baton. Most Christians today do
not share their faith with anybody. This is unscriptural.
Jesus told His disciples, “Ye shall receive power, after that the
Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth,” (Acts 1:8). The Scripture says very
clearly that the Holy Ghost comes upon us so we can be His
witnesses. The power of the Holy Spirit is for the purpose of
fulfilling the ministry of reconciliation, which is telling people
about Jesus.
Many in the Church today ask, “Where is the Power of God?” Many want
to see the power of God within the four walls of the local church.
But the Holy Spirit is the power and the Holy Spirit was given to us
to be His witnesses. So if we want to see the power released, then
we must put a demand on the power source by throwing the switch. In
this case, the switch is thrown by witnessing. As we go out into the
world to share our faith, we run into people with needs. The power
will be released to meet the needs of the people that we minister to
because we are being witnesses.
The mission of Jesus Christ was to seek and to save that which was
lost (Luke 19:10). Likewise, the mission of the Church of Jesus
Christ is to seek and to save that which is lost. So that means the
mission of every Christian is to seek and to save that which is
lost. Jesus did not come to have the best potluck dinner in town.
Jesus did not come to have the largest Ladies Ministry, Men’s
Ministry, or Youth Ministry. Jesus came for one purpose and one
purpose only: to seek and to save that which was lost.
Jesus did not come to hold every kind of conference imaginable.
Jesus did not come to tell people what they want to hear. Jesus did
not come to have the grandest worship team or the largest choir.
Jesus did not come to establish programs that are all aimed inward
towards the church. While all of these things (and many of the
others that we focus on as a Church) are important, none of them can
take the place of the mission. There is only one mission: to seek
and save a lost and dying world – and that is every Christian’s
ministry.
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So we must ask the question, Why do most Christians refuse to share
their faith? Whose responsibility is it to teach them? The obvious
answer is, “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:11-12).
Jesus gave us five gifts to perfect the saints for the work of the
ministry. The work of the ministry is serving in the same way that
Jesus served. It is the responsibility of the gifts that Jesus gave
to the Church to teach the saints (every Christian) how to serve as
Jesus served.
In 99 percent of the churches that I have ministered in during a
10-year period, there has been no evangelist in those local
churches. How can the saints in those local churches learn how to
share the Good News when the evangelist, who is the bearer of Good
News, who is the one Jesus gave to the Church to teach on the Good
News, is missing from the local church?
In my home church, my pastor gives me five minutes of every service
as the resident evangelist to teach the saints their responsibility
and how to share the Good News. If my pastor did not allow me the
five minutes of time in each service, then as an evangelist, I would
not be able to do what God has called me to do – equip other
believers.
Three years ago when I was first given the five-minute time slots,
approximately 2 percent of our church membership was sharing their
faith on a regular basis. Today, that number has reached 30 percent
and continues to climb. You see, this lines up with Scripture. The
Bible says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Because we keep witnessing before the people on a constant basis, we
are becoming a witnessing church.
Back to the question, whose job is it to teach the saints how to
share their faith? It is most definitely the job of the evangelist,
the bearer of Good News, to teach the saints how to share the Good
News. So whose responsibility is it to see that this happens? It is
the senior minister’s responsibility to provide the opportunity, so
that all the members of the local church can be taught how to share
their faith. It doesn’t matter whether that senior minister is
called apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher. What matters
is that the senior minister controls the pulpit. What people hear
from the pulpit on a regular basis is what they become and what they
believe and what they are willing to do.
We have ministered across many denominational lines over the years.
What we have found is that in the charismatic flow, everyone
operates in the gifts, and that is because that is what is taught
most from the pulpit. In the prophetic flow, everyone prophesies.
That is because the prophetic is what is taught most from the
pulpit. In the Word of Faith flow, people receive healings easier
and they are the best financial givers because that is what is
taught most from the pulpit. The list goes on and on and it proves
that what we teach from the pulpit is what people become. Again,
remember what Scripture says: Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by
the Word of God.
I appeal today to every senior minister that will read this. Seek
the heart of God in regard to your local church and where it is
going. As the senior minister, take the necessary steps to provide
the opportunity for every member of your local church that God has
entrusted to you so that they may be effectively trained by the
in-house evangelist to share their faith.
Some of you reading this will not like it. But the buck stops here.
It is the senior minister’s responsibility to give opportunity for
the saints to be effectively trained to share their faith. Nothing
happens within the four walls of the church unless the senior
minister approves it.
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Some of you reading this might say, “Well, I don’t have an
evangelist.” It is probably not that you don’t have one. It is
probably that they have not yet been identified. When I arrived at
our local church three years ago, there were no evangelists
functioning in this local church either. But the truth is, they were
always there, but they had not been identified, and they were not
being trained. Today, we have eight evangelists in training. They
are effectively teaching the saints how to share their faith.
Scripture says that Jesus gave gifts to the Church. If He gave them,
then they are there. We just need to identify who they are and train
them and use them.
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my
people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins”
(Isaiah 58:1). The house of Jacob is the Church. Today, God is
calling those that will cry aloud to lift up their voice like a
trumpet (shofar), and to call the other nine out of those 10
Christians that refuse to share their faith – and the leaders that
have failed to train them – to repent. It is time for change. The
harvest is plentiful, let’s raise up the workers to go reap the
harvest.
Jim and Carla Barbarossa are evangelists and the founders of Step
By Step Ministries. They are the Directors of Evangelism at their
home church, Jubilee Worship Center in Hobart, Indiana. Visit their
website at www.step-by-step.org
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Jesus gave us evangelists to
equip the believers to share the Good News. Then why are so
few sharing their faith?
