How can a pastor develop a church’s corporate evangelistic witness?
- Preach expositionally. As your people hear God’s word every week they will increasingly reflect his glory to the world. Week by week their lives will become a more focused picture of their savior, Jesus Christ.
- Preach the gospel every week. As your people hear the gospel every week they will grow in their appreciation for it, their understanding of it, and their ability to share it with others.
- Address non-Christians in your sermons. This will encourage your church members to bring non-Christian friends to church. It will also teach them how to effectively address non-Christians.
- Teach individual church members to evangelize. Teach Sunday school classes on the gospel and evangelism. Give out books on evangelism. Encourage church members to share evangelistic opportunities with the church so that others can participate in and pray for them.
- Teach a biblical understanding of the gospel and conversion. Make sure that your people understand the gospel and how someone becomes a Christian.
- Be careful to admit only Christians into membership. If the church is filled with genuine, growing Christians, it will broadcast the truth that God is a holy and gracious Savior. If the church is filled with non-Christians, it will broadcast lies about God and the gospel.
- Promote holiness. Preach God’s law. Call your people to live lives that reflect God’s holy character. Doing this in your public preaching and teaching will help craft a culture of holiness, a collective expectation and standard of holiness. The goal is to have a church that shows the world what God’s grace, holiness, and love actually look like.
- Practice church discipline.Unrepentant sinners are to be expelled from the church so that their influence doesn’t corrupt the whole church. A church that doesn’t practice church discipline will eventually succumb to hypocrisy and develop a corporate testimony that flatly contradicts the gospel. Consistent church discipline will preserve the church’s holiness and ensure that it practices what it preaches, giving unbelievers a consistent portrait of God’s own character and love.
