Shane over at WesleyBlog raises an interesting point today in his post, entitled Church Music & Your Soul. He says that most people who convert to Christianity (at least, those who do so before age 20) do so as a result of camp and retreat ministries and parachurch organizations (and I might add “personal evangelism” to that list), rather than through the ministry of local churches. I think that he might be onto something. Is there something wrong here?
Obviously, God will use whatever means he determines necessary to bring his sheep into the fold . . . but beyond our knowledge of that fact, upon whose shoulders does the responsibility of evangelism fall? Does God call local churches to call unbelievers to repentance? Does he call us to form organizations exclusively devoted to evangelism? Does he only call us as individual believers to do this work?
While I think that there’s a real danger in a church’s main focus becoming evangelism or outreach, there seems (to me) that there’s something fundamentally wrong with the fact that so few come to repentance through the ministry of local churches. As far as I know, God did not appoint it for Campus Crusade, InterVarsity, Young Life, etc to make disciples of all nations. That mandate was given to the Apostles, and by extension, the church. The work that those organizations do may end up leading to wonderful things, but do ends always justify means? The church is here to edify the saints, yes, but it seems that it’s leaving the job of disciple-making to emotion-driven rallies and camps and parachurch organizations.
I long for the church to return to the days when “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
8 comments ↓
Yeah, it is disheartening. My conversion experience came inside the bounds of a church, and I’m happy for that.
[And wow, you're reading and linking to a Methodist weblog?
]
Those are some good questions, Rae. I don’t think I’d go so far as to say that since the means of reaching the kids (camp, etc) was less than optimal that therefore their salvation is somehow less than optimal. God works His will either using us, or in spite of us. That means either using the church, or in spite of the church. Either way, people are being drawn to Christ, and we can rejoice.
Geof – I know, can you believe it? Not only that, but there’s a link to an Anglican one over there too!
Chris – Yeah, I’m not trying to suggest that anyone’s salvation is somehow “less than optimal”. Anyway, it’s God who does the saving, so any way it happens, it’s optimal.
It just seems that the church-at-large is slacking, so God’s essentially “resorting” to other options. Kind of how he’s largely using pagans to take care of the environment, since his people are such poor stewards of it.
:chuckle:
But on the other point, yes, I agree.
I went forward in a church to accept Christ, but it was only through the outreach and the relationship(s) I developed with some of that church’s members, one on one, that I finally committed my life to Christ.
It’s an interesting point brought up in this post, and I often wonder how many of those who accept Christ at those retreats and youth gathering actually “stick”? I have a bit of skepticism in those situations because of the high emotion those experiences bring to an individual and what actually prompts a decision.
Since I can not know the heart of an individual like God does, I can’t judge a committment. I also know that God will save souls through a church, the Body, one on one relationships, retreats, tragedy, and if the Holy Spirit so moves, even at a Benny Hinn crusade! (I winced when I typed that, but it’s true, the Spirit can do all things!)
God is always at work around us…maybe, if souls aren’t being added to the Kingdom through the church…maybe, just maybe…the Spirit isn’t moving there?
As Christ followers we should be asking why not? Falling to our knees, repenting, and working to get that fixed! WHERE ARE OUR HEARTS?
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