We’ve been working on seeing the church as Christ sees her, and we’re ready for a look at whole-church evangelism.
It’s quite easy to preach on the need for evangelism. We’ve all heard lots of talks and sermons on it.
But if you can see the church as Christ sees her, and if you can get a hold of what we mean by “whole-church evangelism”, then hopefully you’ll feel more empowered than burdened. And it’s all rooted in the nature of God.
These notes accompany a sermon on YouTube delivered at Bromborough Evangelical Church in February 2025. You can find more in the series in our Sermon Index.
The Lord is glorious
We read Psalm 96. Verse 3 says, “Declare his glory among the nations, his wondrous works among all peoples.” The essence of evangelism is to make the glorious God known to everyone. To know God is to enter into the highest state of bliss a human being can ever know. And that’s Good News.
Everything that is good flows out from him, from his very nature:
- He exists in Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- Each is God, and God is One.
- The Father exists in eternity, without beginning or end, without source or origin.
- The Son is eternally begotten of the Father.
- He is without beginning or end, eternally ‘of’ the Father.
- The Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and Son, eternally God, knowable and glorious in his personhood, co-equal with the Father and Son.
There is an eternally-flowing Niagara Falls of existence, goodness, blessing, and love that flows from the Father to the Son and to the Spirit – God within himself, glorious and spectacular in his own nature. So read Psalm 96:3-6.
When he created the world he communicated existence (“let there be…”) and goodness (everything was declared “good”). Psalm 96 goes on to call everything in creation to rejoice and celebrate this God. His blessing pours out incessantly into creation, to the world, and to his people.
The Lord of glory of Psalm 96 doesn’t keep his glorious blessing and bliss to himself!
Blessed to know God
We read what are known as “the beatitudes” – the “blessed are…” statements in Matthew 5. Jesus was introducing his Sermon on the Mount in beautiful style: If you’re a disciple of God then you are blessed. His people will inherit the kingdom of heaven, and the earth. They will be comforted, filled, shown mercy. They will see God and be called sons of God!
He delights to lavish it out on the poor in spirit, those who mourn, everyone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, and so on. This Niagara Falls of love and blessing is poured out into his church. To you.
So when we think of evangelism we need to get our heads on straight: The church is not empty, in need of filling with more people. The church is filled to overflowing with the goodness and blessing of our creator! Evangelism is God’s good news flowing out into the world, inviting people to turn and enjoy God as they were created to. Evangelism is an overflow of blessing.
But people turn to all sorts of junk instead. And so:
The Lord has compassion
Read Matthew 9:35-38.
Over and over in the Bible we read of how God’s heart is moved by the state of his people. Jesus, Son of God in human flesh, “felt compassion” for those around him “because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Psalm 96 refers to how the world goes after gods and idols. Everyone knows that life could be better than it is. Paul Simon has a line in one of his songs: “The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains.”
You know it. God knows it too. And he’s the God of a Niagara Falls of love and blessing waiting to shower goodness on you, if only you’d turn to him.
And that’s the nub of the problem: People don’t want to turn.
- Everyone has a yearning for some kind of peace or happiness, some security or rest, but they won’t turn to God for them.
- You have your pension plan, your savings, or your reputation or friend network – whatever it is you’ve worked hard to get for yourself.
- But all that will pass. You’ll lose it all one day.
- You’ll stand before God – maybe even hoping for a passage to heaven – even after rejecting his love all your life.
You have sinned. That means you have hurt people and offended God. The God of infinite justice will punish you for the harm you have done, and he will confirm your choice of rejecting him. Hell.
But here’s the thing: He has compassion on you in your sin.
God’s compassion in action
So read John 3:16. His love compelled him to act: Jesus came into the world to take the punishment your sins deserve. God himself calls you now to repent. Turn from your sin, pray to God for forgiveness, and he will forgive. He’s promised, and he’ll do it. Then those promised blessings of Matthew 5 are yours! You’ll be a child of God forever, gathered into that infinite bliss and joy of who he is. So do it. Repent of your sin. Pray to God for forgiveness. Know his love, extended to you in the work Christ has done.
And for those who have, you need to realise that because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, he still looks on the people of Bromborough and Wirral with compassion. They are still sheep without a shepherd. The world is still full of distress and dejection. People are limping from one life stage to another, investing themselves in Christmas, holidays, family, health, fitness – all things that will only ever bring short-term pleasure.
So how was Jesus’ compassion displayed in Matthew 9? He told his disciples to “pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” That is, pray for people to go out to point lost people to life with God.
But why did Jesus say that? Why couldn’t he do it himself? Two reasons:
- Jesus was going away, returning to heaven.
- Every generation is lost and needs to hear the Good News.
The Lord works through us
Jesus’ disciples were dismayed to hear that he was going away. But he said some interesting things to them on the night before his death:
- John 14:16-17 “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth.”
- John 16:7 “It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counsellor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.”
The word “counsellor” there relates to the Holy Spirit of God, and the word may be translated in a number of ways:
- It can mean Comforter. The Holy Spirit will bring comfort and help to the disciples after Jesus’ death.
- Or it can mean Advocate. Someone who will speak up on someone else’s behalf.
- The idea of a Counsellor is that it’s someone who combines comfort/help and advocacy, especially in court.
The Holy Spirit is “another” Counsellor, because that’s what Jesus was: He advocated for the Father in the world, and he brought help and comfort to his people. But Jesus was physically limited: He was just one man.
The Holy Spirit’s work in the world is the same as Christ’s: To advocate the Father to the world, and to bring help and comfort to the church.
But here’s the thing: The church is Christ’s body. The Spirit’s advocacy of the Father to the world is carried out through the church. Christ is still growing the church, and he does it as the Holy Spirit fills the church and overflows in goodness to the world.
Salt & Light
Yours is not a private faith. You are part of Christ’s church to be used by him to grow his kingdom.
Remember what he said in Matthew 5:13-16:
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
That is the church as Christ sees her. And if you’re a Christian, you’re in his church.
A tiny amount of salt is highly noticeable. Be pure; stand out. Stand up for Christ.
You can imagine a tiny candle in a vast dark space. Your eyes are drawn to the candle irresistibly. This is the church as Christ sees her: Shining in the darkness.
We’re his bride: To be pure and blameless, so that we shine.
And his body: He works in us as we’re invigorated by the Spirit.
So we have gathered worship: To be reminded of God’s mercies, encouraged in faith, spurred on in love and moral purity, delighting in Christ.
And our scattered worship: Out in the world is where you shine!
And because we’re all members of one another, we shine like a connected constellation of stars!
Shine where you are
The “Evangel” is the “Good News”. “Gospel” is another word. Evangelism is “Good News-ism”. It’s telling people who need to hear some good news the Good News. And we’re all to shine like stars in the darkness, connected to one another as the bride and body of Christ.
You are the star where you are.
You’re where the Lord has put you so that you will shine where you are. Some will shine brighter than others, but even a tiny birthday cake candle offers its light.
So you are to tell others this Good News, this gospel.
Do that in the context of the church, and everything we’ve said.
Draw on the resources Christ has given you:
- The Holy Spirit. He is in you, to be your comforter and helper, and to work Christ’s advocacy of the Father to the world flowing through you.
- That’s pretty enabling, when you think about it.
- The gospel. Romans 1 speaks of how the gospel is the power of God to save people.
- 1 in 5 adults who come to faith say it was after conversations with Christians they knew well.
- You can’t save anyone; but you can tell them about Jesus. Trust the gospel.
- The Bible. The nature of God and the salvation he offers in Christ is all there in the Bible.
- 1 in 5 people who come to faith as adults do it through reading the Bible.
- Trust its promises for yourself; share it with others.
- Prayer. Ask God for help. He desires to save people. He’ll hear your prayer.
- The church
- 1 in 5 adults who come to faith do so after coming to normal church services.
- When was the last time you invited someone to come to church? Not a carol service, just a regular week?
Church activities aren’t evangelism
As a church we have things in place that enable evangelism.
Those things aren’t evangelism; what you do is evangelism.
- So you need to ask yourself how you view those things: Are you a consumer or a deliberate witness?
- If you see Knit2Tog on this week and think, “That’s not my cup of tea” you’re missing the point. It’s not about you.
- If you do go only to sit with church friends and never think about taking non-church people along, you’re missing the point. It’s not about you.
- If you invite non-church friends and sit with them and ask them about spiritual things, you’re being a deliberate witness. Christ will work through you. Exciting!
- People are rarely saved listening to sermons, though it happens. Your witness to Christ will probably have far more impact than anything I can do or say.
Knit2tog is just one example. It’s the same for Connections, our meals together, Saturday Sparks, or anything. They’re tools in your evangelism; please use them.
And don’t underestimate the power of a loving community. The world is starved of community.
Jesus said that people will know that you’re his disciples if you love one another. See the church as Christ sees her.
Invite people into the sphere of the church so that they will see what a Christ-enabled loving community can look like.
Summary
God is glorious, and his blessing flows to all the world.
He has compassion on the broken world, and Jesus saves.
He works through all of us, his church, to make the gospel known. So you’re counted in. Shine where you are.