Pastors and full-time church workers do a great job inviting and welcoming people to the church, but did you know that the job to fill the pews with people who need Christ is not theirs alone?
We often pray for the day that our family and friends will get saved and we do our best to get our pastor to pray for and evangelize our family and friends. That day may come, but it may come quicker if we bring the church into our relationships through us instead of through the pastor.
The call to evangelism is not just for full-time workers. God has called for every believer and every church member to be a minister. Does that mean that everyone is ready to be an active lay minister of the church by bringing others to Christ? Not necessarily.
Here are three questions we must ask ourselves to get us ready for the ministry of reconciliation.
Do they see the church in me?
It is often said that the best evangelism tool is the life that you live. 1 Peter 2:16 says, "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."
And I hope we don't get this idea wrong by thinking "I have to be perfect before inviting others." Our families will never buy the message of freedom until they see our freedom, but our freedom comes not because we obey the rules, but because we trust in Christ to set us free from sin.
Do I love the lost?
Jesus loved the lost more than we will ever know. He came down on earth to preach, to heal and to die for the lost. 1 John 4:8 also urges us, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
We must be motivated not by the love of our church, not by the love of our own ideals, but by the love of those who need the ministry of reconciliation. If we are motivated any other way, we could most likely be inviting people to a membership instead of a relationship with Christ.
Am I ready to be rejected?
Here's news flash for you: Not everyone you share Christ with will say "yes." So what happens when they say no? We leave it up to Christ. God never called us to convince people. He calls us only to share our lives with others and let the Holy Spirit work in and through them.
John 15:20 reminds us, "Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also."
