Corporate Evangelism, Part 1

In Evangelical churches there’s a lot of talk about “personal evangelism.” This is reasonable, as every believer is certainly called to participate in the Great Commission. But sometimes the emphasis on personal evangelism overshadows the importance of corporate evangelism—which is not to be discounted. After all, Christ charged His church as a whole with the Great Commission. Why is our communal witness so significant? Because of the power of multiplication. The witness of entire communities of Christ-followers working together testifies much more loudly about the grace of our Lord than the isolated testimony of just one or two.

Do we at CPC have a powerful collective witness? I believe we do. But how so? And how can we develop an even stronger culture of evangelism?  Stay tuned in the coming weeks: this is the first of a series of posts on corporate evangelism, inspired by a chapter in the excellent and highly-recommended book, Evangelism: How the Church Speaks of Jesus by J. Mack Stiles.

Imagine yourself in the shoes of an unbeliever with little understanding of the faith or of the church. What would it do for you to see how believers pray together, to hear how they struggle to live for Christ in the midst of a challenging culture, to notice how they handle difficulties and challenges? How would it impact you to see how the church members care for one another and how they interact with each other even when they disagree, and how they interact with their leaders, and vice-versa?

According to the Apostle Paul, here’s what can happen when an unbeliever walks in on a gathering of the saints who are prophesying, or teaching: “…If all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,  the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you” (1 Cor. 14:24-25). Our lives lend tremendous credibility to our words. And if not just my life, but the words and lives of a whole group of people around me speak to the truth of the things I am proclaiming, my unbelieving friend is confronted with a formidable witness.

There’s more to come. But step one of a powerful corporate witness is LOVE. This might sound overly simplistic, but mutual love testifies strongly to the grace of God at work in us.  Love is the beginning of any healthy culture of evangelism. So, are there any ways we can be loving our brothers and sisters here at CPC even better than we already are? Our Lord Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).  Let’s be praying for this!