Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.

(Matthew 28:19)

ekklesia
CONTENTS
03. THE GREAT COMMISSION
C Stephen David

09. BECOMING A MISSIONAL

CHURCH
C Stephen David

05. LOCAL CHURCH EVANGELISM

Donald S. Whitney

06. QUOTES FOR CONTEMPLATION

12. CONNECTING EVANGELISM AND

CHURCH
Jonathan Leeman

15. QUESTION AND ANSWER

07. THE SUPREME TASK OF THE
CHURCH

John Piper

Oswald J. Smith

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ekklesia is a Greek word for church. ekklesia is a

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2 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

THE GREAT COMMISSION

HOW DO WE FULFILL IT?

t is commonly acknowledged that The Great

Commission is the mission of Christianity, and
rightly so. In these days, which many suppose
to be the very end times, there appears to be
an increasing sense of urgency to fulll The Great
Commission. There is a passion to take the gospel to all
the nations, particularly to the unreached people.
Hallelujah!
However, there seems to be a blurred understanding
about what it means to fulll The Great Commission.
In my observation, when it comes to the talk about
the fulllment of The Great Commission, many of us
just think about spreading the gospel of Christ Jesus.
We suppose, evangelism is what The Great Commission
is all about. As a result of this notion, many individuals
and Christian organizations are only zealous about the
propagation of the gospel. In doing so, they believe,
The Great Commission is accomplished.

THE GREAT COMMISSION

When I ponder over the words of Christ Jesus, it
becomes obvious that evangelism is not what The Great
Commission is all about. It is simply a part of it. Observe
carefully what Christ spoke in Matthew 28:19-20:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations

How?
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit...
And whats more?
and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age.
How do we fulll The Great Commission? Is it just
by preaching the gospel of Christ Jesus? No. We fulll
it by preaching the gospel to the unsaved, baptizing the
saved and teaching them to obey everything what Christ
had commanded.

PLANTING CHURCHES
Now, we must ask ourselves a questionin what
context does baptism and continuous teaching take
place? Dont you think this happens in the context of a
church community? It is in church that a saved person
becomes a part of Gods family through faith in Christ
and baptism. It is in church that he constantly learns
to know more about God. It is in church that he grows
towards maturity along with other brothers and sisters
in Christ.

3 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

What does it mean, therefore, to fulll The Great

Commission? It means to plant churches in every tribe
and language and people. It is basically in local church
framework that people get baptized and are frequently
taught to obey what Christ had commanded.
Dont you observe this is what the apostles did,
particularly Paul, in the book of Acts? Throughout
the book of Acts, this is what precisely happened
the apostles preached the gospel, baptized the saved,
planted churches that gathered regularly and discipled
them to obey the word of God. This is how the early
church grew towards spiritual maturity and it is in this
way The Great Commission was fullled in Antioch,
Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Galatia, Colossae,
Ephesusetc.

TWO COMMON PROBLEMS

By reading Christs Great Commission and the Acts
of the Apostles, I am convincedwithout planting
churches wherein people are baptized and continuously
discipled, I dont think we are truly fullling The Great
Commission. Remember, Christs passion is not just to
save the lost souls; it is to build His church.
Let us look at two common problems that are
conspicuous in our Christianity today:
First, there are those who just focus on proclaiming
the gospel without having a vision to plant churches.
Their focus is on the partial fulllment of The Great
Commission. This is one reason why so many saved ones
are left as spiritual orphans.
Second, there are those who plant churches but dont
focus on discipling them towards spiritual maturity.
They simply gather the church to have services and
programs without serious consideration about how to
personally care for the spiritual welfare of believers. To
them, church is nothing more than a building and a
program.
However, according to the Holy Scripture, church is
a community of God which must be discipled towards
spiritual maturity. This doesnt happen by simply
proclaiming Gods word from the pulpit. Personal
discipleship is a key catalyst in mentoring believers and
equipping them for maturity and ministry.
For this reason, church leaders, from the beginning
of church planting, should focus on making disciples
who in turn disciple new believers. Consequently, the
church grows and multiplies into more communities in
villages, towns, cities and nations. This is how, I believe,
we eectively fulll The Great Commission which Christ
gave to us.

4 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

CALL TO ACCOMPLISHMENT
This is my plea to the Christian leaders, believers and
various ministrieslet us not just focus on preaching
the gospel, but make it our goal to plant churches
where baptism and constant teaching to obey Gods
word becomes a common activity. Also, let us not make
church a material sanctuary or a program, but see to it
that it would be a family community where discipleship
happens regularly.
Let us, therefore, fulll The Great Commission by
preaching the gospel of Christ, baptizing people and
teaching them to obey everything what Christ had
commanded, which is eectively done in and through
local churches. This is how we fulll the mission of
Christ who said, I will build my church. (Matt.
16:18)
C Stephen David is a child of the Living God, husband
of Chaithanya, papa of Joy and Joe, elder of Assembly of
Living Witnesses and overseer of TENTS, a discipleship
training ministry. He lives with his physical and spiritual
family in Hyderabad, India.

What does it mean, therefore, to

fulll The Great Commission? It is

to plant churches in every tribe and
language and people, wherein folks
get baptized and are frequently taught
to obey everything what Christ had
commanded.
Throughout the book of Acts,

this is what precisely happened

the apostles preached the gospel,
baptized the saved, planted churches
that gathered regularly and discipled
them to obey the word of God. This
is how the early church grew towards
spiritual maturity and it is in this way
The Great Commission was fullled
in Antioch, Corinth, Philippi,
Thessalonica, Galatia, Colossae,
Ephesusetc.

LOCAL CHURCH EVANGELISM

Evangelism is the Privilege and Responsibility of Everyone in the Church
ets look at a verse written by one of the apostles
and intended for all Christians: But you are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people, that you may
proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). Peter
portrays the church of God four ways here:

a chosen generation
a royal priesthood
a holy nation
His own special people
Too often this is all thats emphasized from this
verse. But dont miss the purpose given here for Gods
people: that you may proclaim the praises of Him who
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
One of the purposes for which God made the church
was so that she would proclaim Him. That includes
what we call evangelism.
The privilege and responsibility of all Christians to
witness is plainer: But sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone
who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with

meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15). If someone asks you

why you believe in the Lord, you are to be ready to
answer. This is expected of every believer, regardless of
spiritual age or experience. Granted, this verse refers to
when anyone asks about your faith; nevertheless, this
readiness to testify is the assignment for each of Jesus
followers without exception.
I attended a ministers conference where a wellknown pastor told a story about his rst church. It was
obvious that the church was weak in evangelism. So
he announced that on Sunday nights he would teach
how to witness to others about Christ. Delighted by
the turnout, he assumed that the people were eager to
learn how to communicate their faith. About halfway
through the rst session, one of the church leaders
raised his hand.
Pastor why are you teaching us this?
He was dumbfounded by a question that called for
such as obvious answer. With eyes and palms opened
wide, he nally explained, So that you can share the
gospel and lead people to Christ.
No, sir, came the sharp-edged reply, thats what
we pay you for.

5 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

Anyone who thinks that talking about Jesus

is a mercenary duty for a professional rather than
the inestimable privilege of every Christian doesnt
understand the gospel. Evangelism is not just something
were told to do, but something we get to do. As
members of the church of Christ we have the honor of
being royal ambassadors. Each one of us gets to tell the
world the truth about the Creator of the universe, the
awesome majesty of His holiness, the greatness of His
love in sending His Son, and the glory of His heavenly
home. And then we have the authority to invite people
to know Him. Who could truly understand what a
blessing this Christian birthright is and then speak of
paying someone to do it in the same way youd speak of
paying someone to haul away your garbage?

Anyone who thinks that talking

about Jesus is a mercenary duty for a

professional rather than the inestimable

privilege of every Christian doesnt
understand the gospel.
Perhaps the reason that some have such a negative
perception of evangelism is that they can only imagine
it as an individual event. Witnessing, in their mind,
means either going alone door-to-door or buttonholing
strangers in a public place. Theyve never realized that
evangelism can be a natural and enjoyable experience
or that they can be a part of a group that witnesses as
a team.
Think about it: If sharing the gospel is the privilege
and responsibility of everyone in the church, then
the people in the church ought to do at least some
evangelism together. Wheres the evangelistic place in
the church for you?
Excerpt from Donald S. Whitneys, Spiritual Disciplines
within the Church: Participating Fully in the Body of
Christ (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1996), pg. 96-97.
Printed with permission from Moody Publishers.

The command has been to Go, but we have stayed

in body, gifts, prayer and inuence. He has asked us to
be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth. But
99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the
homeland.
- Robert Savage
We talk of the second coming, half the world has never
heard of the rst.
- Oswald J. Smith
I spent twenty years of my life trying to recruit people
out of local churches and into missions structures so
that they could be involved in fullling Gods global
mission. Now I have another idea. Lets take Gods
global mission and put it right in the middle of the
local church!
- George Miley
The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity,
but its sending capacity.
- Mike Stachura
People who dont believe in missions have not read the
New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said
the eld is the world. The early church took Him at His
word and went East, West, North and South.
- J. Howard Edington
A church without a missions or a mission without the
church are both contradictions. Such things do exist,
but only as pseudostructures.
- Carl E. Braaten
Mission is the very lifeblood of the church. As the body
cannot survive without blood, so the church cannot
survive without mission. Without blood the body dies;
without mission the church dies.
- Gailyn Van Rheene
In our lifetime wouldnt it be sad if we spent more time
washing dishes or swatting ies or mowing the yard or
watching television than praying for world missions.
- Dave Davidson

6 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

THE SUPREME TASK OF THE CHURCH

Down through the years my life has been tremendously
motivated by great missionary mottos. May I give you
one now that perhaps has meant more to me than any
other. It is this, The supreme task of the Church is the
evangelisation of the world. I believe that with all my
heart. The most important work of the Church of Jesus
Christ is world evangelisation.

WORLD
I am going to take three words in this motto and
emphasize them one by one. First of all, let me take the
last word, the word world. The supreme task of the
Church is the evangelization of the world. When God
loved, He loved a world. When He gave His Son, He
gave His Son for a world.
When Jesus Christ died, He died for a world. Gods
vision is a world vision. That is the vision He wants us
to have.
So many of us are localized in our outlook. We see
only our own community, our own village or town, and
we never see beyond. There are those who think only of
their own church and have no interest in what others
are doing. Then there are some who have a larger vision.
They see an entire city or province and they are ready
to give their money and to work for its evangelisation.
But even they are local in their outlook, for they never
see beyond the boundaries of the city or province in

which they live.

Then there are those who have a still larger vision.
They see an entire country and they are ready to work
for its evangelisation. But even they are local in their
outlook, for they never see beyond the boundaries of
the country in which they live. There are those, however,
who have a still larger vision. They see a continent and
they are ready to do all they can for the evangelisation
of their continent. Yet even they are local in their
outlook for they never see beyond the boundaries
of their continent. Then there are those who see an
entire world. They see Europe, Asia, Africa, North
and South America and the Islands of the seas. They
have Gods vision and that is the vision He wants us to
have, a world vision.
Oh that God would give us a world vision, that we
might work for the evangelisation of the entire world,
the world for which Christ died, and that we might see
the world as He sees it.

SUPREME
Now let us look at another word in our motto, the
word supreme. The supreme task of the Church is
the evangelisation of the world.
If world evangelization comes rst, then we should
concentrate on giving to missions and let others who
do not have vision, contribute to other things. If we put

7 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

missions rst, then we will give more to missions than

to anything else.
This leads me to say that every church should spend
more on missions than it spends on itself. That is only
logical. If we believe that world evangelization comes
rst. Then we should invest more money in the regions
beyond than we use for ourselves here at home.
But, you ask, what about your church? What
about The Peoples Church in Toronto of which you are
pastor? Does your church send more to the foreign eld
than it spends on itself? I am glad to be able to say that
there never has been a year since I have been Pastor of
The Peoples Church when we have used anything like
as much on ourselves at home as we have sent to the
foreign elds of earth.
Years ago I asked our auditors, through our treasurer,
two questions. First, How much did we spend on
ourselves last year? After they examined the books I
got the answer. Dr. Smith, they said, last year, you
used $53,000 on your work at home. Then I asked my
second question, How much did we send to the foreign
eld? How much was raised for missions? Again I got
the answer. Last year, you gave $318,000 to missions.
Fine, I said, that is the way it always has been and
that is the way it should be. And if the time ever comes
when the ocials of The Peoples Church decide to spend
more here at home and less on missions, they will get
my resignation without a moments hesitation. I would
not want to be the pastor of a church that would use
more here at home than it sent to the regions beyond.

CHURCH
The third word I want to emphasize is the word
Church. The supreme task of the Church is the
evangelization of the world. When I think of the
church I think of the whole church, and not merely of
a department or an organization in the church.
I see to it, as far as possible, that every one of the 120
members of my choir accepts his or her responsibility;
that each one of my elders, managers and deacons,
more than two hundred, shoulders the burden; that
every usher every Sunday School teacher and ocer
and every boy and girl, contributes. We do not have
the parents give for the children. We teach the children
to give for themselves. From the time they are seven
years of age, they are taught to give systematically. Then
when they grow up we have no trouble with them. They
have learned how to give.
Last year our Sunday School gave $211,000 to

8 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

missions. Our Elders gave $90,000 and our Choir

$36,000.
This work is far too important to hand over to any
one organization. It belongs to the whole church, and
when everyone catches the vision and everyone does
something, then our goal is reached and our budget
met. Our motto is, Every Christian a missionary. It is
the work of the whole church.

HOW IS IT DONE?
Everywhere I go I am asked the question, How do
you get such oerings.? Where does the money come
from? You must have a church of millionaires. That
is what the editor of Canadas Roman Catholic paper
thought when he saw the report in the daily press. He
wrote and asked me if it were so, and when I replied in
the negative, he was astonished. He wrote a long article
in his Roman Catholic publication, stating that one
Protestant church, led, as he said, by a zealous pastor,
gave more to missions than all the Catholic churches
from Ontario to the Coast put together. We, he said,
are the true custodians of the Faith, and yet we allow
one Protestant church to outdo us. Shame on us. His
thought, of course, was to stir up the Catholics to do
more. No, we have no millionaires. As a matter of fact,
we do not have any real wealth in our church. Our gifts
come from a multitude of ordinary people.
Some day millions upon millions from heathenism
will march by the throne and, pointing a nger of scorn
at us, they will cry: No man cared for my soul. And
then you and I will try to justify ourselves by exclaiming,
But, Lord, am I my brothers keeper? And God will
answer, The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto
me from Africa, from China, from the Islands of the
sea. The voice of thy brothers blood. Yes, and you will go
into Heaven, saved, but with blood on your hands, the
blood of those you might have won had you gone or
sent someone in your place.
It is no light thing to be a watchman. His blood
will I require at thine hand. The Supreme Task of the
Church is the Evangelisation of the World. What are
you going to do about it.?
Excerpt from Oswald J. Smiths, (1889-1986) The
Challenge of Missions. He was a Canadian pastor, author,
and missions advocate. Over the course of eighty years he
preached more than 12,000 sermons in 80 countries, wrote
thirty-ve books (with translations into 128 languages), as
well as 1,200 poems. He motivated to send hundreds of
missionaries to the foreign elds.

BECOMING A MISSIONAL CHURCH

local church should not only be a praying

community, a worshiping assembly and a
loving fellowship; it should also be a missional
community. Without being missional, a local
church is still incomplete in its existence and function.
In fact, it is dysfunctional. German theologian Emil
Brunner rightly stated, The church exists by mission
as the re exists by burning.
Our modern day churches are busy having church
programs and gaining large numbers under one roof,
but neglecting one important thing, i.e. missions. In
the use of the term missions, I mean, spreading the
gospel of Christ and planting churches.
When we look at the Holy Scripture, particularly
the book of Acts, it is hard to ignore observing the
missional work of the Holy Spirit through the local
communities of Christ. Remember, there were no
mission organizations in the early church. Every local
church was itself a mission organization.
Why missions is so important to local churches?

SIGNIFICANCE OF MISSIONS
FACT ONE: God exists for Himself, for His own
glory. The Lord says, For my own sake, for my own
sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My
glory I will not give to another (Isa. 48:11).
We learn from the word of God that God exists for
Himself and for His own glory. He will not give His
glory to another. Indeed, for God to be God, He has to
exist only for Himself, for His own glory. It may come

as a surprise to many that it is sin on Gods part to exist

for anything other than for Himself.
Why God exists for Himself?
In order for God to exist for something else, that
thing should exist eternally. But since God alone exists
eternally [nothing exists before Him or after Him], and
since all things have come later into existence because
of His creation, God has to eternally exist for Himself.
Further, if God exists for something else other than
Himself, that thing becomes greater than God, for that
becomes the purpose for His existence. Since there is
no one greater than God, no purpose is superior than
His own, God has to exist only for Himself.
As God alone is eternal and sovereign, it is right
for God to exist for His own glory. He cannot exist
for anything else because there is nothing that exists
without Him. He alone is self-existent and everything
exists because of Him.
FACT TWO: God has created us for His glory. The
Lord says, Everyone who is called by my name, whom
I created for my glory, whom I formed and made (Isa.
43:7). The Scripture also declares, All things were
created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16).
According to Gods word, we do not exist on earth for
ourself, i.e. for our ambitions, our career, our personal
pleasures and happiness, not even for our family. We
exist only for the One who created us for Himself. Life
is meaningless, purposeless and joyless unless we know
and live by this fact.

9 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

Considering the fact that God has created us for

Himself, some suppose it as a selsh act. Imagine, if the
president of the United States of America chooses you
for himself and to serve him as His secretary, how will
you view this opportunity? Will you say, You know, the
president of America is a very selsh person. He chose
me for himself. He appointed me as his secretary? To
say so is to prove yourself a fool.
A sane person would be excited and expresses,
Hurray! You know, I am presidents secretary. He chose
me for himself. What a great privilege and honor it is to
serve the president.
Now think, the Lord of all the princes of the earth,
the Maker of the heavens and earth, the Creator of the
whole universe, says, I have created you for Myself. Is
it not a great privilege and honor to live for the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords?
FACT THREE: The Scripture says, For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom.
3:23).
What does it mean fall short of the glory of God?
It means that all of us have fallen from the glorious
purposes of God. We have forsaken to live for Him
and began living for ourself. We are not living for His
glory, but for our own glory. We have given up His
glorious standards and living by our own feelings and
thoughts.
In short, man is not living for the purpose for which
God has created him, i.e. for the glory of God, and thus
committed sin against Him. Know: sin is nothing but
living against the purpose for which God has created us.

THE REMEDY
So, what is the solution? How can man live according
to the purpose for which he was created? How can he
be restored back to live for the glory of God?
There is only one answer: THE GOSPEL OF
CHRIST JESUS IS THE ONLY REMEDY FOR
MANS TRAGEDY.
The Lord Jesus has become a man, lived an exemplary
life on earth, suered for our sins, oered His body as a
sacrice, shed His precious blood, gave His life on the
cross and has risen from the dead. The Lord had done
all these things for one purposeto reconcile man to
God so that man would live again for the purpose for
which God created him, i.e. for the glory of God (2
Cor. 5:18, 15).
Salvation, which is received through the gospel of
Christ, is nothing but the restoration of man to live for
the glory of God.

10 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

If the gospel of Christ Jesus is the only remedy,

which is the only community on earth to spread this
gospel? Upon whom is the responsibility laid to carry
the gospel of Christ?
The last commission of Christ is the great commission
to the church. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only agent of God on earth to spread the gospel and
His glory. If Christs church doesnt go and proclaim
the gospel, who else will do this task?
If the gospel of Christ Jesus is the only way for men
to be saved, then church is the only means to spread this
gospel. May I repeat this for emphasisif the gospel of
Christ Jesus is the only way for men to be saved, then
church is the only means to spread this gospel.
Here is a word of cautionif a local church is not
active in spreading the gospel of Christ Jesus, whatever
else it does, it is not pleasing to the Lord who gave us
the Great Commission. A church which is not earnestly
engaged in missions is misled in its function and
vision.

MISSION OF LOCAL CHURCH

How Can a Local Church Accomplish the Task of
Missions?
Local Missionaries: First, every local church
should be missional and every believer should live in a
sense as a local missionary. It is written about the early
church believers that wherever they were scattered, they
proclaimed the gospel of Christ Jesus (Acts 8:4).
Wherever we are, be it in study place or work place
or business, we should live as Gods missionaries.
Christians today are missing to live with this perspective.
O, may the Lord pour on us the Spirit of revival!
The biggest problem with the church today is that
our local churches have become spiritual entertainment
clubs than mission entities. The focus of todays believers
is on attending the church programs and activities with
no passion for the spread of the gospel of Christ. The
pathetic thing is that there is not even guilt for not being
active in evangelism because thats not the emphasis of
todays churchianity.
Let us examine: Dont you suppose our churches
have become more ceremonial rather than being
missional? Is evangelism a regular activity of our local
churches? Is personal evangelism emphasized in our
local churches? Are we active in proclaiming the gospel
of Christ and planting churches, which brings glory to
the name of the Lord?
Foreign Missionaries: Second, every local church
should not only be missional in its local place, but also

send missionaries to the places where there is no gospel

and church. Paul writes in Romans 10:13-15:
For everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved. How then will they call on
him in whom they have not believed? And how
are they to believe in him of whom they have
never heard? And how are they to hear without
someone preaching? And how are they to preach
unless they are sent? As it is written, How
beautiful are the feet of those who preach the
good news!
Observe the above order: For a person to be saved,
he has to believe. In order for him to believe, he has to
hear. For him to hear, someone has to preach. And how
can they preach unless they are sent? It ends with the
word sent because missions begins with it. Without
sending, nothing of the rest is going to happen. And
who will send? Is this not the responsibility of local
churches? And, is this not what we are neglecting?
Of course, it is the Lord who sends workers into
the harvest. But from where will He pick them? Is it
not from the local churches? And who will stand with
them? Should not the local churches?
Unless our churches commit themselves to live as
missional communities people are not going to be saved
in foreign lands, which means, they cannot be restored
to live for the glory of God. If we love God and if we
want Gods name to be gloried among all the nations,
we, the local churches, should become missional.
If we echo the words in Isaiah 26:8, Your name
and renown are the desire of our hearts, then we have
to become missional. If we truly mean by praying,
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your
kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven, then we have to become missional.
The glory of God is the reason why the local
churches must become missional.
If every local church is determined to send at least
one missionary in a year, we can reach many unreached
places where people are not living for the glory of
God. Sadly, there are many local churches existing for
years, some for decades, without ever sending a single
missionary to spread the gospel and plant churches
in foreign elds. They are existing only as historical
monuments without making history by becoming
missional.
There are thousands of places where the gospel
has not reached and the churches are not planted.
Multitudes of people are not living for Gods glory. O,
the glory of God is at stake! Let the local churches take

this challenge to turn people, through the gospel of

Christ Jesus, from self-glory to the glory of God.
May the Lord bring revival in the local churches
to become Christ-centered, kingdom-minded and
mission-driven. Let our passion for the glory of God
drive us to become missional. Are we, the local churches,
willing to become missional?
By C. Stephen David

The last commission of Christ is

the great commission to the church.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only agent of God on earth
to spread the gospel and His glory.
If Christs church doesnt go and
proclaim the gospel, who else will do
this task?.
The biggest problem with our

local churches is that they have

become spiritual entertainment clubs
than mission entities. The focus
of todays believers is on attending
church programs and activities with
no passion for the spread of the gospel
of Christ. The pathetic thing is that
there is not even guilt for not doing
so because thats not the emphasis of
todays churchianity.

For a person to be saved, he has

to believe. In order for him to believe,

he has to hear. For him to hear,
someone has to preach. And how can
they preach unless they are sent? It
ends with the word sent because
missions begins with it. Without
sending, nothing of the rest is going
to happen. And who will send? Is
this not the responsibility of the local
churches? And is this not what we are
neglecting?
11 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

CONNECTING EVANGELISM
AND CHURCH

s evangelism an individual sport or a team sport?

Really, its both. Think of shing. There are times
you might saunter down to the dock by your
lonesome, dangle your feet o the side, and cast
in a line. But ask the men on an ocean trawler what it
takes to haul a ton of wriggling mackerel out of writhing
seawaters. They desperately need one another.
The shing analogy does not say everything we would
want to say about the relationship between evangelism
and the local church, but its biblical, and its a start.
Jesus told the disciples to follow him, that he would
make them shers of men, and then he sent them out
two by two to preach that people should repent (Mark
1:17; 6:7, 13). Like shermen on a trawler, we need the
church to do the work of evangelism.
Yet theres a bigger picture to see in relating
evangelism and the church. Think of the rst chapters
of Acts, where the apostles proclaimed the resurrection,
and behind them was the church, living together and
sharing everything in common, praising God and
enjoying the favor of the people (2:47; also 5:13).
Somehow, the life of the church, sitting there as a
backdrop to the proclamation of the gospel, served as
a witness to the gospel. It caused many in Jerusalem

12 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

to view the saints with favor, and it seemed to lead to

more conversions.
Was it these early days in Jerusalem that Peter had
in mind when he later described the church as a people,
a priesthood, and a nation that you may declare the
praises of him who called us out of darkness, and to
live such good lives that pagans would see our good
deeds and glorify God (1 Peter 2:9, 12)?
In both the early chapters of Acts and 1 Peter 2,
one gets the feel of the church as a beehive, a buzzing
ball of honey-making sweetness, swarming with the
comings and going of busy worker bees. The hive is
essential to the individual bees work, and part of the
work. What might all this say about the relationship
between evangelism and a church?
No analogy goes all the way and captures everything.
Lets see if we might sum up the relationship between the
church and evangelism in the Bible in four systematic
statements, and then ask what practical lessons follow
for churches.

Like shermen on a trawler, we need the

church to do the work of evangelism.

1. EVANGELISM POINTS TO GOD,

NOT THE CHURCH
If you were trying to convince someone to join your
club, you would point to all the benets of the club:
the fun members have with one another, the annual
table tennis tournament, and so forth. This is not how
it works with evangelism and the church.
Evangelism points to God, not to the church. Thats
the rst statement.
Paul tells the Corinthians that Christ had given
him (and them) a ministry of reconciliation and
a a message of reconciliation. He (and they) were
Christs ambassadors, as though God were making his
appeal through us. And this message of reconciliation
is simple: Be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18-21).
The evangelists good news is not, Be reconciled to
other people, even though the good news will lead to
being so reconciled. Rather, the evangelists good news
is how a person can be reconciled to God. Everything
else ows from this.

2. THE CHURCH IS ONE

OUTCOME OF EVANGELISM
By the same token, the rst hoped for outcome of
evangelism is reconciliation with God. But there is a
second hoped for outcome: reconciliation with the
people of God, the church.
If your doctrine of conversion is missing the
corporate element, its missing an essential piece of
the whole. A covenant head must have a covenant
people. Our corporate unity in Christ is not just an
implication of conversion, its part of the very thing.
Being reconciled to Gods people is distinct from but
inseparable from being reconciled to God (see my The
Corporate Component of Conversion).
All this is put on display wonderfully in Ephesians
2. Verses 1 to 10 explain forgiveness and our vertical
reconciliation with God: By grace you have been
saved. Verses 11 to 22 then present the horizontal:
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both
one and has broken down in his esh the dividing wall
of hostility (v. 14). Notice that the activity of verse
14 is in the past tense. Christ has already made Jew
and Gentile one. Its what they are because God has
done it, and God did it in precisely the same place he
accomplished the vertical reconciliationin the cross
of Christ (see also Eph. 4:1-6).
In short, we are saved into a people.

The early chapters of Acts demonstrate what this

looks like in practice: Those who accepted his message
were baptized, and about three thousand were added
to their number that day (Acts 2:41; see also 2:47;
4:4; 6:7). People trust in Christ and are added to the
number of the church in Jerusalem. They are counted.
Their name gets added. If they had had cameras, a photo
no doubt would have gone into the church directory!
The converted life is congregationally shaped.
Christians belong in churches, and so this is where the
evangelist will send people.

3. EVANGELISM IS THE WORK OF

THE CHURCH
Third, evangelism is the work of the church.
Once a person is reconciled to God and
(therefore) to Gods people, he or she gains a new
job: sharing the gospel with others. Follow me,
and I will make you shers of men, said Jesus
(Mark 1:17; also, Matt. 28:19). Every Christian
and church member, in other words, is charged
with sharing the gospel (see Timothy Beougher,
Must Every Christian Evangelize?).
The rst chapters of Acts emphasize the
preaching of the Apostles, but when persecution
broke out in Jerusalem and the church scattered,
Those who had been scattered preached the
gospel wherever they went (Acts 8:4).
Local churches exist to worship God and
share the good news of Jesus Christ. This is why
the teachers teach and the members learn. In
fact, Jesus gives the so-called evangelists, pastors,
and teachers to the church to equip them to do
ministry (Eph. 4:11f ), a ministry that surely
includes evangelism.
We work together to haul in the sh.

4. THE CHURCH IS AN
APOLOGETIC IN EVANGELISM
The life of a converted people, grouped together
in congregations, should also commend the gospel
that saved them. Gospel doctrine, Ray Ortlund has
written, creates a gospel culture. And that culture,
embodied in our churches, should be attractive to
outsiders, at least to some (see 2 Cor. 2:15-16).
This brings us back to the picture of the church as
a humming, honey-lled beehive. We see this in Acts
and 1 Peter 2. We also see it in Matthew 5, when Jesus
talks about the church being salt and light (vv. 13-16).
And its remarkably pictured in John 13, where Jesus

13 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

observes, Just as I have loved you, you also are to love

one another. By this all people will know that you are
my disciples, if you have love for one another (vv. 3435).
Our good deeds toward outsiders and our love
for our fellow church members points neighbors and
colleagues to Jesus!
All that to say, the local church is an apologetic in
evangelism. The life of the church argues for the gospel.
Believers living with one another testies to the power
of God in salvation. As we sit under the preaching of
Gods Word week after week, and as the Spirit conforms
us to the image of the Son little by little, we exemplify
what the gospel can do to us as individuals and as a
people.
Slowly, we are becoming the new humanity,
following after the one who is the rstborn of the new
creation (Col. 1:15). And this new humanity serves as a
wonderful backdrop or billboard in our evangelism. It
oers a contrast culture to the cultures of this world.

PRACTICAL TAKE-AWAYS
What are some practical lessons we can take from
these four systematic principles? Often, pastors try to
strengthen a churchs evangelistic ministry by exhorting
people to share the gospel. Surely thats one piece. But
its also critical to grow the church as a contrast culture,
which acts as this attractive backdrop for evangelism.
1) Evangelism should lead to baptism and
membership. Churches should not evangelize and then
leave new converts out on their own. Nor should they
evangelize, baptize, and then, maybe, someday, get
around to bringing someone into church membership.
Except for exceptional circumstances (e.g., Ethiopian
eunuch), churches should do what the church in
Jerusalem did: baptize people into their number (Acts
2:41). Baptism, after all, is the corporate and authorized
sign by which a church formally arms a person as a
believer. That armation should then be protected
and nurtured by the ongoing oversight given through
membership and the Lords Supper. We dont leave new
hatchlings outside of the nest, but bring them inside.
2) Teach members to integrate their lives with one
another. In order to strengthen a churchs apologetic
power, members should constantly be reminded
through the teaching of the word and the celebration
of the Lords Supper that we are one body (e.g. 1 Cor.
10:16-17; 1 Cor. 12). Hardly a Sunday should go by
when members are not reminded to build relationships
with one another so that they might encourage, build

14 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

up, strengthen, speak truth, warn, and love one another

(e.g. Rom. 12:9-13; Eph. 4:11-32). They should be
exhorted to show hospitality (Rom. 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9).
All this creates an attractive witness for the gospel.
3) Teach members to sacrice for one another. Even
more specically, Christians should think about how
they might better sacrice for one another, nancially
and otherwise (e.g. Acts 2:42-46; 2 Cor. 8-9; 1 Peter
4:10). In a consumeristic nation, especially, the example
of shared generosity among believers presents a powerful
contrast culture. Remember, Jesus told Christians to
love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34)a
sacricial love if there ever was one.
4) Practice church discipline. Christian hypocrites
and heretics in our midst compromise the witness of
the church. When the church members in a community
are known as liars, backbiters, and adulterers, that
churchs evangelistic work will not go so well. Thats
not to say that a church should discipline every saint
who still struggles with sinning in their midst. Then
there would be no church left. Rather, churches should
confront and discipline unrepentant sin. This serves,
ironically, to evangelize the unrepentant member (see
1 Cor. 5:4), as well as a churchs city more broadly (see
1 Cor. 5:1-2).
5) Equip members to share the gospel. Church
leaders should look for various ways to make sure every
member can explain the basics of the faith. This can be
done from the pulpit, the Sunday School classroom,
the membership interview, and elsewhere (see Kevin
McKay, Overcoming Objections to Evangelism).
6) Encourage members to live lives that bless
outsiders. Church members, hopefully, are known as
kind, friendly, and quick to lend a hand. We should
be quick to jump in with a rake to help clear the
neighbors leaves, quick to oer help to an oce-mate,
quick to defend a victim of abuse, quick to work hard
at preserving the jobs of hard-working employees in
dicult times, quick to bless in all sorts of ways. Good
deeds should adorn our evangelistic words.
7) Invite people into formal and informal gatherings
of the church. Countless stories could be given of
how non-believers heard the gospel and then watched
the church in motion, both in formal or informal
gatherings, and then came to faith. The churchs life
together compelled them. It pointed to something
they had never known in their family, school, or
workplace. In other words, inviting outsiders into the
life of the church surely must constitute one part of our
evangelism.

8) Set the example in evangelism. Wherever a

churchs elders are known for their evangelism, you can
expect to nd an evangelistic church. Where the elders
dont, you wont.
9) Feature evangelism and conversion stories.
Church leaders should pepper stories of evangelistic
encounters into their sermons and lessions. Church
members should share prayer requests for evangelistic
opportunities. Baptismal candidates should be given
the chance to share their conversion experience. Things
like these all help to make evangelism a normal part
of the Christian life and the church experience.
10) Brag about your church. The apostle Paul
sometimes boasted about his churches as a way of
boasting about Christ (see 2 Cor. 9:2; 2 Thes. 1:4; cf.
Phil. 2:16). Christians, likewise, should look for ways
to speak positively and gratefullynot obnoxiously or
pridefullyabout their churches around non-Christian
friends. When a colleague asks about the weekend,
mention how your church gave your wife a wonderful
baby shower. Mention something encouraging the
preacher said on Sunday. Mention the work your
congregation is doing at the shelter when the subject
of homelessness comes up. Doing this well, no doubt,
takes practice.

CONCLUSION
Rightly relating church and evangelism in our
understanding and practice requires more than
exhorting people to evangelize. It requires attending
to matters of polity and governance, membership and
discipline. It requires building a healthy church that sits
under Gods preached Word, and knows what God has
tasked the church to do.
It requires godly leaders who teach and set the
example. And it requires members who love Jesus and
increasingly cant help but sing the praises of him who
brought them from death to lifeinside and outside
the church building.
Jonathan Leeman is the Editorial Director of 9Marks, and
an elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington,
D. C. Printed with permission from www.9marks.org

Evangelism is the work of the church. Once a

person is reconciled to God and (therefore) to Gods
people, he or she gains a new job: sharing the gospel
with others. Follow me, and I will make you shers
of men, said Jesus (Mark 1:17; also, Matt. 28:19).
Every Christian and church member, in other words,
is charged with sharing the gospel.

Question: Should missions be secondary in the life

of a local church?
No. In fact, the very mission statement at the center
of our church is, We exist to spreadthe key word
there spreadspread a passion for the supremacy of
God in all things for the joy of all peoples.
The very last thing Jesus saidwhich I assume
means it is importantbefore he went back to heaven
was, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have
commanded you. And lo, I am with you to the end of
the age (Matthew 28:19-20). So the very last crucial
thing he put on the church until the end of the age
and were not there yetis making disciples of those
who are not yet believers in Jesus.
The reason missions has to be so central is because
the glory of God is central. And people who dont
believe in Jesus are trampling the glory of God in the
dirt because of their unbelief or indierence. But we
love the glory of God, and we want them to see and
savor the glory of God and magnify it in the world.
Therefore missions, for anybody who loves the glory
of God as the central reality in the universe, has to be
one of our central tasks.
By John Piper. Printed with permission from www.
desiringgod.org

WRITE TO US.....
You may write your questions to us and by
Gods gracious wisdom, we will endeavor to
answer your queries. We also appreciate
your honest feedback about how you
have been blessed with the messages in
this magazine or you can also share your
constructive criticism. We would love to
hear from you.
E.mail: mailekklesia@gmail.com

15 ekklesia | oct - dec 2015

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