Re. choosing a church...
A) What does its statement of purpose say?
B) Does the statement of purpose mention the Great Commission?
C) Does the Church primarily grow by:
1- Transfer growth
2- Biological growth
3- Conversion growth
D) Or is the church growing?
F) Does the pastor model soul-winning?
G) Does he train the membership to become soul-winners?
H) Are you impressed by the "pastor" when you leave the church, or are you impressed with Jesus, the Kingdom of God, the Word, etc. when you leave the sanctuary?
I) Is the Church one you could bring your friends to and be reasonably sure they will be presented with a clear presentation of the gospel within a relatively short period of time?
J) Is the Church planting any new churches, sending out missionaries, developing ministers?
K) Do they have their books audited yearly?
L) Do they have bonded counters for the offering?
The above should give you some direction---don't get too discouraged about finding a perfect church. None exists. Why? When you and I attend them, we show they are not perfect.
Soul-winning can and should be a norm for all healthy churehes, however, not just by the pastor (that too), but by the laity...
One pastor can lead 52 people a year to Christ and in ten years have 520 people---with moving and dropouts, he will have 20% of those people. OR that pastor (or a trained layperson) can train two people a year to become soul winners, and those two train two more, etc. and the growth eventually becomes astronomical:
2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
1024
1048
And those are soul-winners alone.
Kennedy of Florida has done a superb job at Coral Ridge Presb. in Florida.
John Maxwell has done a sensational job in Lancaster, Ohio and San Diego, Calif. utilizing the above approach.
When I was younger, I use to go and "sit at the feet" of these soul-winners---to learn how to do it.
Remember, the core of the gospel is the GREAT COMMISSION.
Most churches are, however part of the GREAT OMMISSION.
Have a great week.
Jack |
