Romans 1:20 tells us that from the very beginning creation has been making known to all humanity the reality of God. But when does Scripture tell us that humanity began to declare who God is? Sometimes we can think that “evangelism” is a New Testament concept and that before the establishment of the church that…
The Witness Of Creation
When God created this world, His creation (the trees, land, sky, water, etc.) was not just created to be a backdrop for humanity. But the natural world was created to declare the existence of its Creator. And so when Genesis 1:1 begins with the phrase, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” it was also…
What Does It Mean To Build Up The Body?
When Paul instructs us to “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ”, he is telling us something about what the body of Christ should be doing and becoming. First of all Paul is telling us that the body of Christ is a not a stagnant organism. That it…
Does Equipping The Saints Call Us Inward?
One of the reasons that churches tend to move inward is the call of Ephesians 4 to equip the saints for the work of ministry. We can find ourselves thinking that the role of the church leader is to equip church people to be involved in church ministry. And as long as church people are…
The Five Great Commission Passages
When we think of the commission by Jesus to go and make disciples we tend to think of Jesus’ words in Matthew 28. But four other books in the New Testament also include commissioning passages. In Mark, Luke, John and Acts, Jesus makes similar statements about sending the disciples out into the world to proclaim…
Outward Living Can Be Awkward
I recently did something that was a little weird. A couple weeks ago I ordered two red foam-board signs. Each one had a short phrase on it in white letters. One said: ‘You Have Purpose” and the other said: “You Are Loved”. The idea behind the signs was to simply stand at the entrance of…
Are Some Called To Only Equip The Saints?
I was recently with a group of pastors and one of them asked this question: “How do you respond to someone in your church who says that they are not called to evangelism but rather to equip the saints?” This is a common question that pastors recieve from those who feel they have not been…
What Happened To The Great Commission In The Local Church?
For many Christians the words of the Great Commission are familiar words: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Churches root their mission statements in these words. They declare that the purpose of their…
Suffering And The Gospel
I am not one to write boldly about suffering for the sake of the Gospel. There are Christian brothers and sisters around the world and even in American who have personal stories of being persecuted for the sake of Christ. I have never truly experienced persecution. But as I seek to live a more outward,…
Prayer As Evangelism
I imagine all of us have said to ourselves, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” Or maybe we have thought that we don’t have time for evangelism. But did you know that simply praying for someone is a part of evangelism? You are going before the Father asking that a specific family member, friend,…