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What’s Up
The way most churches do evangelism hasn’t worked in decades, and deep down, you already know it. The 21st century didn’t break our evangelism strategy … it just exposed what wasn’t working all along.
So What
Here’s a question worth sitting with: Are you the first pastor at your church who believes the real key to growth is equipping your members to go out and make disciples? Probably not. And here’s the follow-up that stings a little more: What makes you think you’ll get better results than all the pastors before you who tried the same thing? The honest truth is that most “evangelism strategies” aren’t strategies at all. They’re hopes dressed up in church language. Your people aren’t going door-to-door. They’re not sharing their faith at the office. At best, they’re maybe, occasionally, inviting a friend to a service. What the 21st-century church actually needs isn’t a better program. It needs a completely different posture.
The Point Is
The “Go” got swapped for “Come.” Somewhere around the fourth century, the church stopped sending people out and started building buildings to draw people in. That shift has had a 1,700-year run. It’s over. The neighborhoods around your church aren’t going to wander in because your sign looks nice or your website is clean. The mission was always dispersed. It was always relational. It was always go.
You can’t delegate what you won’t model. If you want your congregation to reach the unchurched, they’ve got to see you doing it first. Research from Paul Borden’s work with growing churches across the country found that their pastors were spending at least 50% of their working hours out in the community … not in the office. For smaller congregations, that number needs to be closer to 80%. That’s not a typo. The pastor has to be a persistent model … they’re the catalyst. Pull the catalyst out, and the reaction stops.
Hospitality is evangelism’s front door. When someone does walk through your doors, your members have one job: Make them feel like they belong. Not with a handshake and a bulletin. With a conversation, a lunch invitation, a genuine relationship. Studies show that if a first-time visitor hasn’t built at least one significant friendship within 6 to 12 months, they’ll slip out the back … quietly, usually unnoticed. Friendly isn’t the goal. Friends are the goal.
And … ?
There’s a saying that’s been around long enough to have lost its edge, but it’s still true: When the horse is dead, dismount. The pastoral care model, the come-and-see attractional model, the hope-that-members-will-evangelize model … these aren’t tired horses. They’ve been dead for decades. Most churches have just kept saddling them up, wondering why they’re not going anywhere.
The 21st-century version of evangelism looks less like a program and more like a posture. It’s a pastor who’s out in the community, building relationships with people who’d never set foot in a church on their own. It’s church members who’ve been equipped, not just to invite, but to actually build bridges to real relationships. It’s a leadership team that models full commitment so visibly that the congregation can’t help but notice and follow. None of that is complicated. None of it requires a big budget or a brand-new strategy. It requires a willingness to stop doing what hasn’t worked and start doing what Jesus said to do in the first place. Go.
Action!
If you want to go deeper on what evangelism actually looks like in the 21st century, join me this Thursday at 10 AM Central for our free Catalytic Conversation webinar … register right now at https://effective.effectivechurch.com/webinar-registration.