By David Leavell
President Of The Tennessee Baptist Convention / Senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Millington
In my travels across Tennessee, I’ve learned many cherished lessons about Baptists. Each church has a uniqueness that makes them special in the eyes of God and in their community. Being a lifelong Baptist and having a father that spoke extensively across our denomination, I discovered that churches have temperaments and temperatures. You can walk into a church and quickly assess if it is friendly. You can determine spirituality to some degree by the singing of the congregation and preaching of the Word. You can determine if they expect guests or not by signage and greeters at the door or parking lot helpers. In fact, one study indicates that most people decide if they are coming back to a church within 11 minutes of being on the church property. They decide before hearing the preacher preach or the singing of the congregation. Some of the culture of a church is easily assessed when you walk in the door.
Some of the culture of our churches is more difficult to determine. This brings me to a premise. The culture of many of our churches are anti-evangelistic. This shouldn’t be too alarming. Everything fights against a church becoming more evangelistic and intentionally reaching lost people. The devil doesn’t like the kingdom of God advancing. Some Baptists, though, think that is why they pay the preacher and staff. It is their job to reach the community for Christ while the laypeople “run the church.” Others are so bogged down in committee structure that they spend all their time in meetings and don’t have time to engage their community for Christ.The outcome of that priority is a full church organizational chart but a church that is not reaching its community for Christ. We generally get what we prioritize.
How do we develop a culture that fosters a spirit of evangelism in our churches? Here are some ideas:
(1) Trust the Holy Spirit and pray! The Holy Spirit is in the business of calling people to Jesus Christ. Reread Acts 1:8 and Luke 10:2. Pray expectantly for God to move in you and in those to whom you share John 3:16!
(2) Celebrate baptism! Jesus was baptized. At salvation, we should want to follow His example. Under normal circumstances, baptism is the first step of Christian obedience — the first step of Christian discipleship. I have had the privilege of worshiping with Pastor Fred Luter and the believers at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. It is always a joy. When they observe baptism, it is a party. Family and friends bring signs congratulating the candidate. They bring helium balloons, streamers, and noise makers. It is a Mardi Gras atmosphere for Jesus. The devil doesn’t rejoice when someone gets saved. Through baptism, the devil is reminded that he is a defeated foe.The church ought to have a culture of joy and celebration around baptism. Make a BIG deal of someone following Christ in baptism. If we can hoot and holler when the University of Tennessee scores a touchdown, by golly, we ought to be able to shout to the Lord and celebrate someone following the Lord in baptism!
(3) Become more open to change. We are in a 17-year decline in baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention. If we don’t change, we will die as churches and as a denomination. This reminds me of a joke that you have probably heard. How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? CHANGE? Most times, we don’t like or embrace change unless there is no other option. Notice though, we don’t change the message! It never changes. But we must always be changing our methods or ways of engaging a culture that is far from God. An entrepreneurial spirit needs to invade our churches. The old adage is true. If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten. Change is the road to our future with God.
(4) An evangelistic culture change must affect all organizations in the church. What if our meetings began with a personal testimony of a gospel conversation? Can you imagine what would happen over time if we began deacons’ meetings with testimonies by the deacons of gospel conversations they had within the last month? How would that affect our prayer time? How would that affect the content of our conversation during the meeting? What would happen if the Finance Committee began with testimonies of gospel conversations by the members of the group? That principal applies to every area of the church from Sunday School teachers to church committees. Church culture can change but it takes intentionality and accountability. Developing an evangelistic culture is hard work but it can be done!
(5) Another area of culture change is calling people to Christ during the invitation and at other times. I am noticing a trend among some of our churches moving away from a public invitation at the end of their services.
They have other means by which a person can be saved or join their church but they have dismissed the calling of the lost to Christ in their actual worship services. I am for all opportunities to give people chances to respond to Christ and church membership. Because I am for all opportunities, I suggest giving a public invitation.
Call people to Jesus! We are not aware of the good work of the Holy Spirit in each person’s life in our services. Giving a public invitation gives opportunity for people to express the good work of God in their life. We are a harvest denomination as Southern Baptists. Let’s call people to the harvest. Let’s give folks the opportunity to respond.
If the John 3:16 Challenge is ever to take root in our state, it is going to take the men and women that are in our pews and who know the Lord following Christ obediently. It is going to take pastors and leaders, intentionally developing an evangelistic culture in our churches. It is going to take the blessing of God above all. But all of those things are possible! Just re-read Philippians 4:13.
The John 3:16 Challenge: Share John 3:16, once a week, with a lost person, with the intention of leading them to personal faith in Jesus Christ. With God’s help, we can do this! B&R