Ten Reasons Why Christians Should Share the Gospel by Ray Comfort

1. We have been commanded to do so.

We have been commanded to preach the gospel to all creation. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). We need no other reason.

2. Hell exists.

Jesus said, “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:5). If Hell didn’t exist, we would have a legitimate excuse for passivity. But we have God’s Word (and reason) to tell us what awaits guilty sinners. How coldhearted would we be to not warn of its reality!

3. We strive to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.

A firefighter rescuing people from a burning building may be fearful and prefer to be home with his family, but he ignores his fears and denies himself. Like him, our thoughts are not on ourselves but on the fate of the perishing. “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 22,23).

“A firefighter rescuing people from a burning building may be fearful and prefer to be home with his family, but he ignores his fears and denies himself. Like him, our thoughts are not on ourselves but on the fate of the perishing.”

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4. Obedience is evidence of salvation.

The Bible says that Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to those who obeyHim (see Hebrews 5:9). We are not saved by our obedience; we are obedient because we are saved. Jesus said, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

5. To remain in silence is a sin.

As soon as the Holy Spirit was given, the apostles began to preach the gospel. God had granted everlasting life to dying humanity! They could not stay in the Upper Room because God’s love provoked them to reach out to the lost. “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

“As soon as the Holy Spirit was given, the apostles began to preach the gospel. God had granted everlasting life to dying humanity! They could not stay in the Upper Room because God’s love provoked them to reach out to the lost.”

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6. Evangelism deepens our walk with God.

Nothing teaches a fisherman like fishing. Interacting with the lost results in greater confidence and faith in God. “…hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus” (Philemon 5–6).

7. It causes us to search the Scriptures.

Wanting to know how to answer every man will send us to God’s Word. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

8. It deepens our gratitude for the cross.

As we continually preach the cross, it will deepen our understanding of what God did for us in Christ. We will find ourselves practicing what we preach, so we will be frequently thinking about the cross. “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

9. It deepens our prayer life.

“Our fears and sense of inadequacy will also drive us to our knees—the safest place for a Christian.”

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We reveal our love for the lost by pondering their fate, and as a result we cannot help but cry out to God for them. “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).

Our fears and sense of inadequacy will also drive us to our knees—the safest place for a Christian. “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

10. We have been commanded to imitate Paul.

Paul showed his love for God and for sinners by his obedience to the Great Commission. “I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:33—11:1).

Ray Comfort

Ray Comfort is the Founder and CEO of Living Waters and the bestselling author of more than 90 books, including God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life, How to Know God Exists, and The Evidence Bible. He cohosts the award-winning television program Way of the Master, airing in every country in the world, and is an Executive Producer of “180,” “Evolution vs. God,” “Audacity,” and other films. He is married to Sue and has three grown children, and hasn’t left the house without gospel tracts for decades.

Watch Out for the Wolves Within -John Piper

Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

One way to summarize the first part of Paul's message to the Ephesian elders is this: he is emphasizing that he has done all he can do for their salvation. He has lived a life of lowliness and labor and tears and trials and utter dedication. And he has taught them the whole counsel of God. He didn't shrink back from any demand or any danger or any doctrine. He has done all he can do to deliver them from the destruction of unbelief and disobedience and lead them to everlasting life and joy.

Perseverance and the Role of Elders 

But Paul knows well that in order to be saved in the end—in order to inherit the kingdom and enter life—a believer has to persevere. For example, in 1 Corinthians 15:1–2 Paul said, "I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast—unless you believed in vain." Paul knew that there was such a thing as believing in vain—false starts in the Christian life.

That means very practically that once you've poured part of your life into a ministry—into a group of people—you can't ever walk away and glibly say, "Well, I've taught them all they need to know. They accepted it. So they are now safe and secure. Onto a new work."

The reason you can't say that is because God has ordained that his people persevere to the end through the faithful ministry of teaching, prayer, and care. And so when Paul is done with his three-year investment in the church of Ephesus—teaching, praying, caring day and night with tears—he does NOT say, "So long, hope you make it." He makes sure that there are elders who will stay behind and who will pick up where he left off and teach and pray and care the way he did. Because if they don't, the church will not survive. And many would-be saints will perish. (See Revelation 2:5–7.)

So in this next section of his message to the elders of Ephesus (verses 28–31) Paul tells them how utterly crucial their role is in the survival and health of the church when he is gone. He gives them a general command. Then he applies the command to themselves and to the flock. Then he gives them four incentives to throw themselves into this work with the same dedication he did.

As far as I can tell, virtually nothing has changed between the day this was written and today that would change the teaching at all for our own elders. So let's listen very carefully to what this means for Bethlehem.

The General Command for Vigilance

First, let's notice the general command.

Verse 28 starts, "Take heed . . . " Or: "Be on guard . . . " Then verse 31 (at the end of this paragraph) starts, "Therefore, be alert . . . " Or: "Be on your guard . . . " So the paragraph begins and ends with a call to vigilance. Elders must be alert, awake, open-eyed, watchful.

This is Paul's way of saying that the church is always a threatened church. Satan never takes vacations. Sin lurks at the door waiting for the moment of doctrinal or moral carelessness. The command for the elders, therefore, is: Stay awake. Be alert. Watch.

But watch what? Paul applies our vigilance in two ways: Elders must watch themselves; and the elders must watch the church.

Verse 28 starts, "Take heed to yourselves." Now that could mean two things. It could mean, "Elders, take head of each other's needs and weaknesses and faults." Or it could mean, "Elders, each of you take heed to his own heart and doctrine and behavior." Probably it means both.

It's not surprising that Paul says this first, is it? He spent half his message talking about his own life and work. The point was: it matters what kind of person the elder is, not just what he believes. So the first command to the elders is to watch over themselves. Robert Murray McCheyne said, "What my people need most from me is my personal holiness." I think Paul agrees. That's why it comes first: "Elders, take heed to yourselves. Your first duty to the church is to be a certain kind of person."

Application to the Elders' Oversight of the Flock 

Then Paul applies the command for vigilance to the elders' oversight of the flock. Verse 28 goes on, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock." Notice three things here that are very important for our life as a church.

1. First, the church is like a flock of sheep in need of shepherds.
2. Second, the elders are the shepherds.
3. Third, it is the duty of shepherds to care for the sheep.

All of this is set out in verse 28: "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock [so the church is like a flock], in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [so the elders are the overseers or shepherds of the flock], to care for the church of God [so it is the duty of the overseers or shepherds to care for, or tend, the sheep—to see that they have food, like Jesus said: "Feed my sheep," and to see that they are protected from wolves, as we will see in a moment]."

If we had the time we could show from other passages (e.g., 1 Peter 5:1–3; Titus 1:5, 7; and 1 Timothy 3:1; 5:17; Philippians 1:1; Acts 15:22; etc.) that this was not just the way things were organized at Ephesus but in virtually all the New Testament churches.

Pastors/Elders in the New Testament 

If you ask, Where does the title "pastor" fit into this, the answer is that the word "pastor" is based on a Latin word that simply means shepherd. Pastors are the shepherds being spoken of here. The New Testament does not distinguish between elders and pastors and overseers—they are all the same. The term "Elder" highlights their maturity and respect in the church. The term "Shepherd" or "Pastor" highlights the responsibility to the church as a flock. And the term "Overseer" makes that same role even clearer without using the image of sheep and shepherd. In summary then, "elder," "pastor," "shepherd," and "overseer" (sometimes translated "bishop," 1 Timothy 3:1) all refer to the same person in the New Testament church. They aren't separate people or separate rolls.

And in the New Testament, churches always had more than one elder or pastor or overseer. A one-pastor church is unknown in the New Testament. This is true whether the churches are small and new or older and large. In Acts 14:23, as Paul and Barnabas returned from their first missionary journey, it says, "And when they had appointed elders [plural] for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed."

The Duty of Caring for All the Flock 

I point this out because the duty of elders is to "take heed to all the flock." Notice: ALL the flock. Not just the healthy sheep, but also the sick. Not just the strong, but also the weak. Not just the responsive, but also the unresponsive. Not just the faithful, but also the wayward.

If you want to feel how overwhelming that is, listen to Richard Baxter, in his book on this text entitled The Reformed Pastor (1656):

It is you see, all the flock, or every individual member of our charge. To this end it is necessary, that we should know every person that belongs to our charge; for how can we take heed to them, if we do not know them? . . . Doth not a careful shepherd look after every individual sheep? a good schoolmaster after every individual [student]? a good physician after every particular patient? . . . Paul taught his hearers not only "publicly but from house to house": and in another place he tells us, that he "warned every one, and taught every one, in all wisdom, that he might present every one perfect in Christ Jesus." Many other passages of Scripture make it evident that it is our duty to take heed to every individual of our flock. (pp. 90f.)

What would he say of Bethlehem? And of my ministry? You can see perhaps why a text like this, along with the struggle to think through the future staffing configuration of the church, has caused a great deal of heart searching for Noël and me.

The Number of Elders Proportionate to the Flock

Of course, one answer in a church this size is to have enough elders (that is, overseers or pastors) so that every single church member is known by name and is fed and helped and disciplined according to his or her own particular need.

Baxter says, rightly I think,

O happy Church of Christ, were the laborers . . . proportioned in number to the number of the souls; so that the pastors were so many, or the particular churches so small, that we might be able to "take heed to all the flock." (p. 90)

So we have seen so far that Paul gives the elders a general command to be alert and awake and on guard—to be vigilant in their spiritual life and ministry. Then he applies that general command specifically to the elders themselves—they should take heed to themselves, their doctrine and their life—and then to the flock of God—ALL the flock.

Four Incentives for Shepherding the Flock

Now what Paul does is to give four incentives, or motivations or encouragements to the elders to do their work with great diligence and seriousness. It is not merely a job. It is not a profession among other professions like lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc. There is laid upon the elders of the church of Christ a responsibility unique in all the world. And Paul really stresses how high the stakes are in this work.

1. The Flock Purchased by the Blood of God's Son

The first incentive for the elders is that the flock they are to serve cost God the blood of his Son. Notice the end of verse 28: "to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son."

It's clear that Paul wants the elders to be shocked by this. The argument is plain: if God almighty—sinless and free and high above all things—was willing to shed the blood of his Son for a sinful, messed up, unworthy church, then the shepherds must be willing to pour out blood, sweat, and tears in season and out of season for the flock of God.

Suppose I am a single dad with four sons. And you and your spouse and my family are deep-sea fishing off the Florida coast. My youngest son gets too close to the edge, and when a wave tilts the boat, he loses his balance and falls into the water and disappears beneath the surface. In a split second I dive in after him. After about ten seconds of breathless suspense I burst out of the water and I've got him. I hand him up over the side and just as I am getting into the boat a shark cuts out of nowhere and hits me from behind and takes away half my side. You pull me into the boat and just before I bleed to death I look up into your face and say, "Take care of the boy for me."

That's a pretty strong incentive. Jesus "loved the church and gave himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25). An elder who is not willing to pour out blood, sweat, and tears for the faith and holiness of the church of Christ does not know the worth of the blood of the Son of God.

2. Shepherds Chosen by God for This Work

The second incentive Paul gives to the elders is that they have been chosen for this work by God not themselves. Verse 28 says, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." The Holy Spirit chooses who should be the elders in the church.

It's hard to imagine incentives that are more gigantic, more powerful, and more awesome in scope than these two. The sheep are gathered by the blood of God's Son. And the shepherds are given by the call of God's Spirit. How can they not pour themselves out with every ounce of energy and life that they have for the faith and holiness of the church!

3. Great Danger Always Awaits the Church

The third incentive Paul gives to the elders is that great danger always awaits the church. Verse 29–30, "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them."

The incentive for vigilance here is the danger that inside the church men will aspire to the Eldership who are wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). They will slowly begin to speak twisted and distorted things about Scripture. And unless the elders are spiritually alert and thoroughly biblical in their vigilance, the wolves may decimate the flock.

Let me just mention one feature to watch out for in the recognition of wolves. As I have watched the movement from biblical faithfulness to liberalism in persons and institutions that I have known over the years, this feature stands out: An emotional disenchantment with faithfulness to what is old and fixed, and an emotional preoccupation with what is new or fashionable or relevant in the eyes of the world.

Let's try to say it another way: when this feature is prevalent, you don't get the impression that a person really longs to bring his mind and heart into conformity to fixed biblical truth. Instead you see the desire to picture biblical truth as unfixed, fluid, indefinable, distant, inaccessible, and so open to the trends of the day.

So what marks a possible wolf-in-the-making is not simply that he rejects or accepts any particular biblical truth, but that he isn't deeply oriented on the Bible. He is more oriented on experience. He isn't captured by the great old faith once for all delivered to the saints. Instead he's enamored by what is new and innovative.

A good elder can be creative. But the indispensable mark when it comes to doctrinal fitness is faithfulness to what is fixed in Scripture—disciplined, humble submission to the particular affirmations of the Bible—carefully and reverently studied and explained and cherished. When that spirit begins to go, there's a wolf-in-the-making.

So the third incentive for elders is the ever-present danger of wolves in sheep's clothing who twist the truth and lead the people away to destruction.

4. Paul's Personal Example

The last incentive for elders to be vigilant is Paul's personal example. Verse 31: "Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears."

If the great apostle worked night and day; if he worked with everyone; if he worked with tears; then how much more should little peons like me and the other elders of Bethlehem pour out our lives day and night with tears for this church!



John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.

Further Dangers of Attractionalism - Dave DeVries

Dr. Dave DeVries 

This is a continuation from a previous post entitled: The Danger of Attractionalism

Attractionalism is the belief that creating an appealing church service and programs will attract unbelievers to come to church.

A second danger of attractionalism is that it misdirects the focus of church gatherings. When the church comes together, the purpose is not primarily to evangelize lost people. Rather, believers gather together to worship Jesus corporately and to be equipped for mission and ministry. It is not about “what the church service does for unbelievers as much as how well the service equips believers to ‘be’ in the world.” (Tim Willard, “Brilliant Irrelevance”)

A third danger is that people are attracted and won to the church instead of to Jesus
It’s possible for us to witness to our friends and get them all fired up and started to church without ever mentioning Jesus. The result is that they’re won to the church rather than to the Lord. They come into the body with all kinds of false assumptions and unrealistic expectations. They begin their faith experience with their hopes and dreams pinned on a group of imperfect people rather than the Lord of the universe. How can they help but be disappointed? (see Atteberry’s The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do, p25)

A fourth danger is that this strategy often grows a local church without enlarging the kingdom. Ed Stetzer points out: “Advertising claims of ‘programs for the whole family,’ ‘quality Bible teaching,’ and ‘full-featured choirs’ seem designed to attract members from other churches. But Jesus claimed that he had come to call outcasts rather than the righteous.” (Planting Missional Churches, p 43)

To truly be missionaries in their neighborhoods, Christians must not focus on attracting people to church. Instead, efforts must focus on incarnationally displaying the gospel to everyone everywhere. “It can never be sufficient to constantly construct programmes designed to pull people into sacred space, we have to also consider how we might invade secular space.” (Invading Secular Space, p 29)

A fifth danger in the attractional-invitational strategy is that when believers try to “invite, entice, coerce, or otherwise lure the unchurched to become involved in church life,” it requires an unbeliever to “take the first step and cross a cultural boundary in order to connect with God.” (Ortlip, “The 7 Languages of Culture”)

Jesus did not seek the lost in this way; Jesus always took the initiative to cross cultural barriers in order to reach people. He entered their world. He did not require them to enter His world.

Churches should not focus all the energies on marketing and making church attractive to lost people. Frost and Hirsch believe that “the attractional mode is so pervasive and so entrenched in the Western church that those who have grown up in it sometimes have a kind of default program in their imaginations.” (p 67)

However, imagine if the energies focused on getting lost people to come to church were invested in training and equipping every believer to be a missionary in their neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. Imagine if church services were intentionally focused every weekend on equipping believers as missionary disciplemakers. What would happen if churches stopped trying to attract “unchurched” people to come and hear the gospel in church and started equipping believers to go and proclaim the gospel and make disciples?

Disciplemaking has the potential to reach many more people for Christ. As Len Sweet observes, “The time for getting people to come to church is over. It is time now to get people to come to Christ.” (Faithquakes, p 28)

Attractionalism (the belief that creating an appealing church service and programs will attract unbelievers to come to church) needs to be abandoned!

Dr. Dave DeVries is a coach, trainer, author and founder of Missional Challenge. He is passionate about coaching and training church planters and missional leaders. With 30+ years of church planting and leadership development experience, Dave brings his passion and encouragement to those he trains and coaches.

The danger of Attractionalism - Dave DeVries

Dr. Dave DeVries

Attractionalism is the belief that creating an appealing church service and programs will attract unbelievers to come to church.

I begin here with an important distinction: Attractionalism is not the same thing as being attractive or seeking to attract people to Christ. Some members of “attractional” churches are adopting missional behaviors and practices. However, the majority of members in these churches have abandoned personal responsibility for showing and sharing the truth of the gospel. Instead, they expect the church services and the paid professionals to accomplish the evangelistic ministry of the church. This abdication of personal responsibility to join Jesus in His mission, coupled with churches that design church services to attract unbelievers to church, are significant obstacles to missional activity.

Many churches in America have adopted an approach to church services that seeks to remove any and all barriers that keep unbelievers from coming on Sunday. Yet in the first century, the “fellowship meetings of the Christians were not at all meant to be attractive for outsiders, because they were not designed for them.” (Simson, Houses the Change the World, p 45)

This strategy of designing worship services for unbelievers has been described in Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church. In Part Four: Bringing In a Crowd, Warren explains how to design seeker-sensitive services, select your music, and preach to the unchurched. Since Jesus attracted enormous crowds (multitudes), it is suggested that a Christlike ministry will attract crowds. All you have to do is to minister the way that Jesus did.

Certainly, if Christians loved unbelievers like Jesus did and started meeting genuine needs in the community beyond the walls of the church (physical, emotional, relational, and financial), then many more churches would be truly missional. I agree with Warren that it is both right and necessary to emphasize the need for churches/Christians to meet genuine needs.

Look behind the hype of every growing church and you will find a common denominator: They have figured out a way to meet the real needs of people. A church will never grow beyond its capacity to meet needs. If your church is genuinely meting needs, then attendance will be the least of your problems—you’ll have to lock the doors to keep people out. (p 221)

However, many Christian leaders think this “attraction evangelism” is in conflict with Jesus command to “Go therefore and make disciples” (Matt 28:19). The argument is stated in Invading Secular Space by Robinson and Smith: “The world is asked to come and see, rather than the church going, living, and telling in and through all of its normal daily activities and relationships. What had been designed by God, and empowered by the Spirit to be in the world, becomes locked away in place and programme.” (p 99)

While Warren argues that “both ‘Go and tell’ and ‘Come and see’ are found in the New Testament” (p 235), Frost and Hirsch insist that “the Come-To-Us stance taken by the attractional church is unbiblical. It’s not found in the Gospels or the Epistles. Jesus, Paul, the disciples, the early church leaders all had a Go-To-Them mentality.” (The Shaping of Things to Come, p 19)

The issue is not that unbelievers should never come to a worship service. Paul instructed the church in Corinth to be aware that unbelievers may enter when the church is assembled together (1 Cor 14:23–24). It is often natural for Christians to invite their unbelieving friends to attend with them. Certainly many Christians in America first heard the message of the gospel in a church service. The issue is, as Ed Stetzer states, “attraction is not enough.” (Planting Missional Churches, p 17)

In American Christianity, there is a growing tendency among churches to believe that if they change the worship service to be more appealing or attractive to the unchurched, then unbelievers will start coming to church. Making changes because you believe it will get unbelievers to go to church is attractionalism and it is an obstacle to missional activity.

Under the banner of reaching the unchurched, we spend much time thinking up ways to make this sacred hour on Sundays relevant to them so that they will want to come Do we really think that they will actually be impressed by our performance and that this will lead them to want to be among the church? Is making them churched a sufficient objective? (Cole, Organic Church, p xxiv-xxv)

Attractionalism is dangerous for several reasons. First, it falsely assumes that non-Christians are simply turned off to church; that people do not come because church is boring or irrelevant. If we can convince them that our church is not like the church they do not want to go to, then we might just convince them to come.

Frost and Hirsch observe:

By anticipating that if they get their internal features right, people will flock to the services, the church betrays its belief in attractionalism. It’s like the Kevin Costner character in the film Field of Dreams being told by a disembodied voice, “If you build it, they will come.” How much of the traditional church’s energy goes into adjusting their programs and their public meetings to cater to an unseen constituency? If we get our seating, our parking, our children’s program, our preaching, and our music right, they will come. This assumes that we have a place in our society and that people don’t join our churches because, though they want to be Christians, they’re unhappy with the product. (p 19)

When I started Lake Hills Church in Castaic, California, we went door to door and asked the question, “Why do you think most people don’t go to church?” We thought this question was a clever way of asking, “Why don’t you go to church?

We compiled a list of answers and concluded that we could reach the people in our community and get them to go to church if we started a church that removed these barriers. Our focus was to create an environment that would welcome unchurched people and hopefully provide a place where they would meet Jesus and choose to follow Him.

We mailed several flyers to the community with this underlying message: come to our church because we’re not like the church you don’t want to go to.” We saw ourselves as a church for unchurched people. We consciously made decisions to change the way we did church, believing it would enable more people to enter the kingdom. And to some extent, it worked. Unchurched people came and some became followers of Jesus. But I wonder if we created the wrong expectation that church is all about you.

The more we attracted people, the more we needed to keep doing the things that attracted them. Our energies were consumed with preparing an attractional event on Sunday, which left less time and energy to devote to disciplemaking. Neil Cole observers, “Do we really think that our great programs will impress the non-Christians in our community to such an extent that they will say, ‘Hey, that’s a nice sign. And check out the parking lot. Wow, I want to be a Christian, too.’” (p 95)

Here is the reality: your neighbor or boss is not likely to get excited about coming to your church because you have a great worship band with beautiful back-up singers and video announcements and practical teaching and excellent children’s programs and an offering box in the back instead of an offering plate that is passed down the aisle. And the checker at the grocery store is not going to suddenly want to come to your church when you tell her you have rugs and candles and dim lighting and stations for journaling and reflection and prayer.

There is nothing wrong with changing the way you “do church.” Quite frankly, many changes are necessary. The problem is when someone thinks that changing the worship service will actually make going to church more compelling or attractive to non-believers. Designing worship services to appeal to spiritual seekers misses the entire point of the Great Commission. Jesus did not send His followers to invite everyone to a church service to hear about the cross and the resurrection. He sent them to go and proclaim the good news of the cross and the resurrection.

I am not against Christians inviting their friends to church. I have invited my friends to come to our church to see what it is about. I have encouraged believers to bring friends with them. I have attempted to warmly welcome visitors and to explain the Bible, the gospel, and what it means to follow Jesus. It would be rude to be unfriendly or to assume that what we do makes sense to unbelievers. Much about the way we do church needs to be explained to unbelievers when they come.

However, changing the way we do church to attract non-Christians is a slippery slope. How far will you go to accommodate non-believers? How many barriers are you willing to remove? Will you choose not to confront sin in order to get them to come back? I was amazed when one large church in Southern California changed the words to the song Amazing Grace, removing the word “wretch” from the third line. Many churches have compromised the truth in order to attract people to their church. They have paid too great a cost

People don’t need to go to church to find Jesus, grace, forgiveness and transformation. They need to repent after embracing the gospel of the cross.

Changing the way you do church will not necessarily get people to come. The mission of the church is not to get more people to go to church; the mission is to “go and make disciples.” Let’s learn to incarnationally display the gospel to those around us. That’s attractive!



Dr. Dave DeVries is a coach, trainer, author and founder of Missional Challenge. He is passionate about coaching and training church planters and missional leaders. With 30+ years of church planting and leadership development experience, Dave brings his passion and encouragement to those he trains and coaches.