Explosive Evangelism - Conclusion and Epilogue 
         

         
        CONCLUSION
        Many Christians are fed up with the churches today because they are not 
        sensing the movement of God in them. They realize the great contrast 
        between the dynamic life and vigor of first century Christianity and 
        what they see today. And they ask the question, Why should I serve in a 
        church that in reality is doing so little to meet the needs of people? 
        Churches don’t even meet the needs of their adults and young people, to 
        keep them out of trouble, let alone the problems and heartaches of those 
        outside. Yet it often happens that greater and greater demands are made 
        on the time of Christians because more are "turned off" and there are 
        fewer left to carry the institutional burden of the church program. The 
        church emphasis has practically become one of works-churchianity. 
        Christians are pressed into duties for which they are not qualified; 
        they are worked to death. In the process they are not getting fed 
        themselves; and they are rebelling.
        Yet in a real sense, the Christians who are "turned off" are the ones 
        who have spiritual depth and sensitivity. They are the ones who have 
        sensed that something is wrong. In contrast, many who work away in the 
        churches do so out of an unreasoned sense of duty or because they think 
        that God will somehow look down in favor upon them for their efforts. A 
        few serve because of their love for Christ, realizing the sad shape that 
        their church is in but continuing anyway because of the great need. But 
        most Christians do not have that much spiritual maturity, and they have 
        rebelled. These are the ones that count.
        Many churches have tried to remedy the situation with programs that are 
        designed to appeal to the people as being "relevant." These may vary 
        from rounds of suppers and ingrown "growth" groups under the guise of 
        "Christian fellowship," all the way to practical social action and 
        community-renewal efforts. This is futile. It is true that many 
        Christians can be diverted from the real problems of a church by such 
        means, but in the long run they will see that there has been a lack of 
        spiritual growth and it will all be empty. True Christians will always 
        be able to see that such works without the love of Christ in meeting the 
        spiritual need of men for salvation profits nothing. This is why 
        evangelical Christians are always concerned about evangelism. Their 
        deepest desire is to be used by God in bringing lost people to salvation 
        in Christ.
        The main concern here has been the depth and extent of this evangelism. 
        The subject of evangelism has become a sacred cow. No one is willing to 
        criticize the tradition that has grown up about how conversions should 
        take place. The matter has become too sacred to analyze in terms of 
        Scripture. But conversion is too serious a matter to treat in this way, 
        and there has been no neglect here in being negative where there is a 
        God-given responsibility to state forthrightly that Christians should 
        stop following tradition and follow the Word of God. In this matter of 
        the depth of evangelism there must be more concern that those who make 
        "decisions" for Christ are truly converted and not deceived into 
        thinking that they are being saved when they aren’t. "Post-conversion" 
        conversions show that those who have "received" Christ must be put into 
        a situation in which they are challenged with the message of evangelism 
        in the same way as those who have made no decision at all. Furthermore, 
        by following the Biblical command to make disciples, there is a 
        spiritual screening process. Those who are not truly God’s own will soon 
        drop out automatically because of the offense of the Gospel.
        The extent of evangelism must be thought of in terms of the message to 
        introduce it to every person throughout the world. There must be a 
        realization that every Christian ought to become directly and personally 
        involved. As has been indicated, there must be a systematic, coordinated 
        effort if every person is to be reached, because the work of individual 
        Christians apart from one another would be a hit-or-miss affair. A local 
        church is at least responsible for every resident who lives in or passes 
        through its community. Hence, a program of visiting each resident is 
        essential to completing that part of the task. But the conversation of 
        most Christians and the time involved are inadequate to make the message 
        clear — the barriers in men’s minds being what they are — and the Holy 
        Spirit must be given enough of God’s Word to do His work. Consequently, 
        other means are needed to bring the message to men in addition to 
        personal evangelism.
        When these things are realized, it becomes clear that it is necessary to 
        integrate evangelism into the program of the church, because too many 
        resources are required for an individual Christian to follow up converts 
        in the right way. And if such a program is implemented, suddenly there 
        is a chain of far-reaching side effects. First, a new schedule is needed 
        to make room for an activity that has been largely neglected since the 
        first century. Then too, heavy pressure is put on the Christian 
        education department of the church, because converts are going to come 
        in who have had no church background and who consequently need something 
        that it is not offering. It then finds that it has an entirely new 
        purpose, for the demands are too great to allow it to cater to the 
        fleshly hangers-on who call themselves "Christians." It will also be 
        found that the unbelievers who are supposed to be saved through 
        Christian "fellowship" are too much in the way, keeping the tender young 
        plants from taking in the food that they need and keeping Christians 
        from getting the needed strength to meet the enemy when they go out to 
        snatch men from his clutches. So changes will have to be made in this 
        area of church life. There will have to be changes in other areas of 
        church life, too. There will be a squeeze on peripheral programs of 
        outreach that were introduced many years ago as stopgaps to reach people 
        when there seemed to be no other way. Now they will be found to be too 
        inefficient to compete with dedicated Christians obeying their Lord.
        But there will always be objections to following the teaching of the 
        Bible, made by Christians who have been lulled into following tradition 
        and have not had their mental faculties exercised to distinguish bad and 
        good. But the objections of true Christians will melt away when a new 
        expression of love is manifested. The Lord Jesus Christ promised to 
        always be with Christians in their work of serving Him to make disciples 
        of all nations, and that is when they will find true fellowship. When 
        Christians are working together for the sake of others’ eternal welfare, 
        they cannot help but express the love of Christ that they have in their 
        hearts.
        There will also be practical outcomes if a program of evangelism is 
        brought into the church. When the command is obeyed to evangelize every 
        person and to make disciples of every convert, there will be a concern 
        for each case, and not just for those who feel that they want "to go to 
        church." The multitudes who have been neglected because they do not fit 
        into the traditional pattern will become painfully visible. Concern will 
        grow to help those in economic need, when Christians see them come to 
        Christ. The church will no longer be content to have only those people 
        come to Christ who will clearly be a positive asset to it. When God also 
        calls out for Himself some of the alienated in the locality surrounding 
        the church, the eyes of Christians will be opened to other needs. And if 
        Christians are faithful, they will also see God call out some of the 
        leaders of this world, to bring about Christian solutions within 
        industry and government. When Christians begin to see the problems and 
        heartaches of non-Christians, an interest in the problems of society 
        will inevitably develop. Here is a great danger, because there is a 
        natural tendency to respond and fix one’s attention on the seen rather 
        than the unseen, man’s physical and natural needs rather than his 
        spiritual plight. God’s viewpoint must always be kept foremost. Yet 
        there is a proper place for social and political action when put in 
        relation to God’s declared purposes, and Christians should be involved 
        in them to be a blessing to the world. This is the final visible outcome 
        of evangelism when it is seen in its Biblical perspective and practiced 
        by Christians within the fellowship of the church.

        EPILOGUE
        Author to reader, will you now consider with me what we have 
        accomplished so far with this book?
        We has e found out that evangelism is basically going out with God's 
        message to men, with the goal of telling it to every person and making 
        some disciples in every nation. In examining the various types of 
        evangelism, it became clear that only a combination of personal 
        evangelism with visitation of each individual within every locality has 
        the capability of coming anywhere close to being able to reach the goal. 
        But situation personal-evangelism is inherently inadequate: the varied 
        talents of different individuals in the church are needed, and there is 
        another need in connection with the follow-up of those who have 
        responded. So further evangelistic efforts in connection with the church 
        are essential. However, in spite of the inherent inadequacy of personal 
        evangelism, such evangelism is the necessary first step in reaching the 
        goal, and the rest of the hook has been devoted to it. That undoubtedly 
        leaves you wondering what happened to the other efforts which were 
        declared to he so essential.
        Personal evangelism in connection with systematic visitation is of key 
        importance in reaching the goal of reaching every person, but it is less 
        than half of the task of evangelism. The simple fact is that time 
        limitations have kept me from giving you my thinking, except in brief, 
        about the rest of the task. Yet this remaining portion of the task is of 
        utmost importance in evangelism. Evangelism includes not only reaching 
        every person with the message but also the task of following up those 
        who respond, in order to make disciples of them. You can see that 
        because this involves the church and affects its entire program, it 
        can't be discussed in a chapter or two. And because you can't tell 
        whether a person who has responded has actually been converted or not, 
        evangelism must continue as they are brought into the church.
        The remaining portion of the task of evangelism, then, takes up where 
        personal evangelism leaves off. As I have discussed it, personal 
        evangelism is the primary way in which initial contacts are made. The 
        remaining task of evangelism follows this, and therefore I call it 
        follow-up evangelism. But it cannot be an adjunct to the main life of a 
        church. Dear reader, have you re ally seriously considered the 
        implications of that verse in II Corinthians that says, "Examine 
        yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye 
        not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be 
        reprobates?" (II Cor. 13:5). The Apostle Paul was writing to Christians, 
        who professed Christ. Those who believe they are Christians are to 
        examine themselves, to see that Christ is in them. actively working out 
        His salvation in their lives. The church has an evangelistic task for 
        those who have become "Christians," to make sure that they know 
        themselves, that Christ is in them.



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