Your church isn't big enough

In the late 1970s I was privileged to attend the Billy Graham School of Evangelism in Indianapolis. For five days we sat under the teaching of some of the best Christian leaders in America, and each night we attended the Billy Graham Crusade. One of those leaders was D. James Kennedy. He was the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from 1960 until his death in 2007. He was also the creator of Evangelism Explosion, an evangelism tool that was very popular for many years.

He told of speaking in a church. After the service ended an individual approached him and told him that their church was big enough and didn't need to grow. He disagreed with the individual. After some discussion he explained to the person that his mother lived in that city and was not a Christian. He said no church in that city was big enough until it had reached his mother with the gospel.

Churches know they have been charged with the Great Commission which is to reach the world for Christ. We talk about evangelism far more than we actually do it. Many of us open our doors each Sunday and hope some unsaved persons will walk in asking how to be saved. Jesus told us to go, but we wait for people to come. And they don't come. Frankly, it doesn't bother us too much because we forget that these are people for whom Jesus Christ gave His life. We forget that they are somebody's mother, or father, or child, or grandparent. We seldom stop to think that they are the sweet, older lady next door who brings us cookies for Christmas or the young single mother who checks us out at the supermarket. Because we don't see them as individuals with a face, and a soul, we don't think about what will happen to them if they die without Christ.

We spend so much time focusing on trivial things. We worry about the color of the carpet in the sanctuary. We argue over clothing styles and make-up. Many churches will spend more time discussing how much of a raise, if any, the pastor should get than they will discuss how they can more effectively reach people for Christ. We will sit in a business meeting and discuss a $10.00 line item in the budget longer than we will talk about how to improve our ministry to young people.

Many churches will talk about how they want to grow. Most churches will say they want a pastor who will grow the church when they are seeking new pastoral leadership, but what they don't say is that they want a pastor who will grow the church without changing anything in the church or neglecting them in the process. I've worked with too many churches over the years helping them find pastors who were told to grow the church only to see the church slam on the brakes about the time he or she actually starting doing anything that might bring more people to Christ and the church.

Like Kennedy, I've had people in churches tell me they didn't want to see their church get any bigger. They liked the fellowship they had with the ones who were there and feared new people might upset that fellowship. I usually told them the story of Kennedy and his mother, but I doubt I got through to any of them. Like someone once said, reason can't take something out of a person's mind that it didn't put there in the first place.

Your church isn't big enough because there are lost people who live in your community. You are responsible to reach out to them with the gospel. If they die apart from Christ, they will spend eternity in hell. That should matter more than the color of your carpet or if someone is wearing too much lipstick. It's time the church took the Great Commission seriously and began to find creative ways to reach out to our communities. Someone's mother lives there who needs Jesus Christ.