Nearly everything we own needs a tune-up from time to time: computers, cars, equipment, children, youth and, yes, even adults. It is not that we are doing anything “wrong,” but it is preventive maintenance.
It should not surprise us that in church and in our personal walk with Christ we would need a tune-up, as well. “Evangelism Tune-Up” is a program that is an emphasis spearheaded by the Evangelism Office of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and provided by the Oklahoma State Mission Offering.
Evangelism Tune-Up is a threefold teaching that will be shared state wide with directors of missions, pastors and church leaders.
The first part is a teaching titled, “Beginning with the End in Mind.” Everything we do in the life of the church should include the focus of a soul being saved or a life being changed. Everything in the church should intentionally be focused in this manner. If it is not intentional, it will not happen.
I have never heard of evangelism just “happening” where it wasn’t intentional. We need to realize that evangelism is work. Areas that we do not even process and things that we take for granted are part of a soul being saved or a life being changed.
For instance, turning on the lights at church, carrying out the trash, serving during a funeral meal, a quilting ministry, running sound, playing an instrument, singing in a praise team and teaching a Sunday school class are all a part of a soul being saved or a life being changed. Even something like mowing the church yard. Everything!
The same is true for our everyday, individual lives as followers of Christ. Everything thing we do, we should be looking for a soul that we can share the Gospel with, a soul that needs Jesus, or a life that needs to be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Everything we do as followers of Christ, our job, school, hobbies, where we live, workout, shop, we should consistently be looking for the opportunity to share the Gospel or impact someone spiritually.
A soul being saved or a life being changed is why we do everything we do. The Word of God makes this very clear when it says, that we are a “royal priesthood” and “we are to declare the name of Him who called us out of darkness” (1 Pet. 2:9). And that we are saved to, “…no longer live for ourselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised” (2 Cor. 2:15). The Word of God also makes it clear that we are “…ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us…” (2 Cor. 5:20).
With these two areas being true, how do we accomplish them? By beginning with the end in mind. The end is a soul being saved or a life being changed. We start at the end desired result and work backwards. Asking ourselves, “What are the steps I need to take to get to that point?” This is where the teaching comes in. Through a Socratic method, participants will discover what needs to take place for the church and the individual to begin accomplishing our main purpose, a soul being saved or a life being changed.
Look for an Evangelism Tune-Up event in an association near you beginning in August 2017, and expect to read more about it in upcoming Baptist Messenger articles.
