Church Services Should Be Evangelistic

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen
Email: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

Jesus Saves

Church services are mostly for the worship of God and for the benefit of Christians.

    In a recent posting called, "Some Thoughts About Church Services," I pointed out that church services should be primarily God-centered, not man-centered. That is, we should gather together as Christians to worship God. But it was also pointed out that one of the purposes of church services is to expose Christians to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, by which they can be made stronger Christians.

      According to the New Testament, evangelism is not to be the primary reason for church services. And when we make it the primary purpose for them, it often results in the Christians not being given enough spiritual food from the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Even worse, it often results in church services being designed to appeal to non-Christians. This is done by means that shift our focus away from the worship of God. This attempt to appeal to non-Christians is frequently characterized by making services seem less and less like worship services. It has correctly been called "Christianity lite"  and "cotton candy Christianity." Some churches even say their services are "fun." I like to have fun, but a  church service is not the place for it. That is what happens when we shift the focus from God to ourselves.
    Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to have special services for the primary purpose of winning the lost to faith in Jesus Christ. That is a good thing to do, so long as we don't compromise our message and methods in order to win the lost. But that is not my subject. My subject is the regular services of the church.

But church services should be evangelistic.

      Having said these things, let me clearly say that church services should be evangelistic. This does not mean they should always be evangelistic, or primarily evangelistic. It simply means that the Gospel should be made known at our services, and an opportunity given for any non-Christians in attendance to become Christians by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Some ways by which a church service can be evangelistic.

• A pastor's sermon can easily include the Gospel message, even if it is not primarily an evangelistic message. It can be stated briefly, but still be effective. He can give an invitation to believe in Jesus Christ at any point in his sermon.
• The Gospel can be made known through the music used in church services. Even if most of the music on a  given day is not evangelistic, some of it can be. The Lord has used such music to speak to the hearts of many non-Christians.
• Someone can give his or her testimony of how they came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, and what it means to them. This is a powerful evangelistic tool.
• Several persons can simply tell the year, and maybe the exact day, of when they got saved. This brief statement of fact gets the attention of non-Christians.
• An evangelistic tract can be handed out with the church bulletin. Non-Christians who are present will read it, and Christians can give it away.

Some concluding thoughts to the subject.

     We should remember that our primary reasons to have church services should be to worship God, and to strengthen Christians in their walk with Jesus Christ. This is done by preaching and teaching the Word of God to them. But we should always take opportunity to make the Gospel known to any non-Christians who might be in attendance. Countless persons have become Christians because this was done at church services.

Are you a Christian?

    If  you are not a Christian, and want to become one, click on the following link and read the message. It will tell you how you can become a Christian right now.
    Here's the link: http://www.godssimpleplan.org/gsps-english.html