Why the American church struggles with evangelism

People who care

about people they don't even know

will warn them.

Yesterday, I was in a pastor-training seminar on evangelism. The speaker was well-prepared, passionate and had the credibility to lead the discussion. His lecture was saturated with helpful ideas on how to make and keep an evangelistic culture in our churches.

Yet, as we went into small groups, a discussion ensued regarding the fact that the biggest problem in the American church isn't a "how to" problem ... it's a "why to" problem. It isn't that we don't know how to tell people how to get saved - after all, we just need to share with them what we have already experienced. The problem is that many people simply don't want to share their faith.

It's not a pragmatic problem that creative ideas can fix. It's a heart problem that only repentance and personal revival can fix.

It's just like God to help drive things home to my heart. This morning, a day after the previously mentioned discussion, I was reading in "Fresh Encounter" by Henry Blackaby and came across this:

"The problem today is that churches are striving to win their world to Christ without having first been revived themselves. The result is spiritually comatose church members going door-to-door asking unbelievers if they would like to have what they have—spiritual anemia! Such an invitation is patently unappealing. It explains the high dropout rate in the church today. Newborn spiritual babes are being placed into churches filled with spiritually lethargic people. It is a recipe for disillusionment."

We absolutely MUST tell people about Jesus. Whether we feel like it or not, people must hear about how they can be made right in God's eyes before they breathe their last breath. Yet, our efforts will be apathetic at best if we are doing so with a heart that has grown indifferent ("lost our first love") and isn't enjoying sweet fellowship with our God.