Posted on April 1, 2015 at 5:45 PM
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teaches; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:" Ephesians 4:11-12 We living in a day that we need to see so many more people brought to the Kingdom of God; more evangelism and witnessing going on, but it is lacking in most churches. Week after week the pastor asks people to share their faith or at least bring someone to church, but week after week he sees the same faces with no new growth. Over at period of time a pastor can begin to feel that his ministry of building the kingdom is just not a part of his calling, or he lacks the gifting to do it. We at Abiding Love Worship Center Ministries first want to encourage every pastor; to remind them that they still have the calling of Christ, to stay the course, don't back down or give up! "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Galatians 6:9 (NKJV) So the question has remained - "What has happened to the ferver to win people?" One of the reasons is that the church as a whole as told God, "we don't need your gift of evangelists." Now we would never say it out loud, but it comes to the church from two seperate ways; from the pastors, and from the people. Let me explain. From Pastors: Now I have been in the ministry as a pastor for 17 years and I can say that I failed to see the importance of the evangelist as well. It usually is displayed two seperate ways. (1) "I have to guard the pulpit from false doctrine with my life." Although this is good and right, it can go too far in that a pastor does not even recognize the need and calling of Christ for the evangelist. There is a remedy for this - the pastor needs to get to know the called evangelists in the area and others as they contact him. Many pastors never return the calls or tell the secretary to screen all calls and not to forward any that may be asking for a speaking egagement. This can be very detrimental to the ministry, for there may be a divine appointment for someone to come into the Kingdom of God through the ministry of the evangelist which he may be denying. (2) The second reason is one that most pastor's do not want to recognize, but one in which did filter into my ministry. This is something that once corrected will open up many ways of reaching others. The second reason is pride. I know, I know, that may sting. It is not a pride that makes the pastor puff out his chest and say "look at me," but one in which he feels bad, because he can't "do it all." Pastors do many aspects of ministry from evangelism, to discipleship, to teaching, to training others for ministry and a host of other tasks. For this they are to be commended and prayed for diligently. The thought can creep into a pastor's mind that says, "I preach the gospel almost every single week, and if they don't respond to my preaching, I'm sure they won't respond to someone else's. While this can be true to an extend, sometimes familiarity gets a person numb to the message. It is actually good and right for the people to hear the same message from someone else. I remember having a guest speaker one time, and he preached almost the exact message I preached the week before. I had a few respond, but when he gave the response, many came. What was the difference? The answer is, not much. The answer was that they heard it from a different person...and sometimes that is all it takes. For that reason many pastors don't invite an evangelist to preach, but isn't souls won to the Kingdom of God more important that who the message came from? That answer is a resouding "YES!" From the People: Sometimes the people don't support the pastor when he does call an evangelist. Here is what happens many times. The pastor schedules and three day revival - Friday through Sunday. He gives out flyers to pass out and asks everyone to attend. Then what happens is that hardly anyone from the congregation comes to it, let alone new faces, because they didn't invite anyone. The pastor is embarrassed for the evangelists and for himself because it reveals that the people don't have a passion for the lost. The remedy for this it is actually pretty simple. The pastor needs to share messages throughout the year speaking about the calling gifts of Ephesians 4:11 as well as stressing the need for evangelism in their everyday lives. I need to mention a third fault here though; the fault of the evangelists themselves. What I mean by this is that there were in the past many false evangelists that were more led by greed and also very sensational in their practices. Many times, a pastor as well as the congregation has been burnt by the evangelist and it is hard to bring someone in again for fear of a repeat performance (pun intended). We at Abiding Love Worship Center Ministries are called to come alongside, to partner with the pastor and church leaders; to complement them in everything that they have worked so hard to build. We are called to bring the awesome news of Jesus Christ to a lost and hurting people; to bring them into the Kingdom of God, but also to motivate and help train believers in their calling of witnesses for Christ in their personal mission fields. It is our experience that when believers know that they are on the front lines of ministry that the problems that usually happen in a church fall by the way side. We ministry by the Word of God - the standard for all faith and conduct. We minister in the power and freedom of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to touch hearts and lives as He wants. We minister out of our own experiences - we see the people really connect with Christ as He hears how He has ministered to us in our own brokenness and brought healing. Contact us for a speaking time and see Christ bring freshness into you and your congregation! Pastor Aaron L Gravett
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