Frequently Asked Questions and Objections

1. I've seen evangelistic churches before. It's salvation every Sunday in the services, people are pressured into coming forward to make a profession of faith, and you never see them again.
   
   As good as their intentions are, they've missed something. In an ideal situation, the services are held for the edifying of believers. Then the edified believers minister to the people in their worlds during the week.
   
   There will always be unsaved people in the services. Because of that, there should always be a appeal and an invitation to receive Christ in every service, regardless the subject of the sermon. Dr. C. Sumner Wemp taught us, "It's a very short distance to Calvary from any verse in the Bible."
   
2. Our church seems to win a lot of souls to Christ, but very few of them "stick." What's wrong?
   
3. 1. I would start by examining the way the Gospel is presented to them.
   2. 1. Was it a quick "let's-get-to-the-prayer" presentation that did not give a clear understanding of the main points of the Gospel?
      2. Do they have a solid understanding of what the Gospel is (1 Cor. 15:1-4)
      3. Did they really understand in their hearts that they are sinners in need of the Savior?
   3. I would examine the follow-up program of the church.
   4. 1. Do you have a good follow-up program in place, or is it haphazard?
      2. Has the church taken care to follow up and assimilate them into the fellowship?
      3. Do you have a class for new believers?
      4. Do you assign a mature believer to befriend the new believer and encourage him or her in the Christian life?
      5. Do you have any special events to welcome and to get to know the new believers?
      6. Have you trained your church people to be friendly and open with new people when they come to church?
      7. Have you mobilized the church to pray for all the new believers, by name, daily?
         
4. Our area is different. Things that work in other areas don't work here. 
   
   I would like to address this concern in two parts. I'm located in the United States. Most of the rest of the world is far different from the U.S. in terms of openness to the Gospel.
   
5. 1. In the United States, parts of Africa, China, the Philippines, most of Latin America and, to a lesser degree, Canada, people are more open than they are in Europe, the middle East and much of Asia.
   2. 1. If you are in one of these areas, there is no reason you could not have a very fruitful soul winning ministry - even in the more difficult areas. It just might go a lot more slowly in areas where people aren't as receptive.
      2. Trust God to do a great work through your church, even if your area is more difficult than another part of the world.
   3. In the other parts of the world, the work could go much more slowly, so be faithful and patient. It can happen there too. Be faithful to the work, and never lose sight of the goal of reaching everyone in your area with the Gospel.
   4. 1. Adonirum Judson labored 6 years in Burma before leading his first soul to Christ there. After his death a government census recorded 210,000 Christians - almost 2% of the population of Burma.
      2. William Carey did not see one convert during his first 7 years as a missionary in India. "When he died at 73 (1834), he had seen the Scriptures translated and printed into forty languages, he had been a college professor, and had founded a college at Serampore. He had seen India open its doors to missionaries, he had seen the edict passed prohibiting sati (burning widows on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands), and he had seen converts for Christ."
         (Profiles in Evangelism, by Fred Barlow, Sword of the Lord Publishers, ©1976)
         
6. We've tried a program like this before and it failed.
   
   Many people give up too soon. The secret of success isn't the program. It's commitment, equipping, prayer, obedience and patience. Sometimes God doesn't move as fast as we would like Him to. Regardless of how quickly He moves, He still expects us to faithfully obey Him.
   
   God has given us a job to do. Depending on your circumstances, it might take longer to bear fruit than it does in other churches. Don't let that become an excuse for not obeying God in working the Great Commission.When
   
7. I'm not comfortable with the idea that everyone should win another person to Christ every year. That's God's business.
   
   

   . . . But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (Matt. 13:23)

   Jesus taught that a Christian could be expected to reproduce 30, 60 or 100 times during a lifetime. That would figure out to one or more souls per year for most believers. One a year is definitely a Scriptural goal. Of course, we have no control over how many people will actually respond and get saved, but as stewards we are to be faithful (1 Cor. 4:1-2). 
   
   If you have a better way of equipping believers and for obeying the Great Commission, do it! Whatever you do, don't sit there and do nothing and criticize those of us who are seeking to obey God.
   
   The bottom line is that God called you to reach everybody you possibly can (Mark 16:15), and that He expects every believer to be a witness. It's crucial that we obey God and reach the lost for Christ.
   
8. My church doesn't want to grow. We are comfortable the way we are. 
   
   Your church sounds like the church in Laodicea. The Lord's message to that church was:

   As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
   Therefore be zealous and repent.(Rev. 3:19)
   
   It might be time to find another church, unless God specifically tells you to stay and turn things around.
   

9. People have gotten so ungodly, nobody's interested in the Gospel any more.
   
   People have always been ungodly. Our job is to faithfully reach them with the Gospel. The Holy Spirit will convict even the most hardened sinners when the Gospel is preached. Certainly it's more challenging to reach them than it was 30 years ago. America was very ungodly in the early 1800's. Secularism was gaining. God used the ministries of Charles Finney and others in the 1820's and 1830's to bring the nation back to God. By the 1890's it was estimated that 75% of all Americans were members of Gospel-preaching churches.

10. We can't do that. In our church tradition, we baptize infants.
    
    I would suggest two things.
    

11. 1. Examine the Scripture and give God's Word priority over your tradition.

    2. 1. To say babies were baptized in the Bible it to make a big assumption. It's safer to follow theology by Scripture than theology by assumption.

       2. The divine order in Scripture was always Believe first, then be baptized. (1 Cor 18:8). I rest my case. I don't want to argue baptism when millions of people are dying and going to Hell. We could be reaching them. Please read on.

    3. If you choose to stick with that tradition... do the rest of the plan. Reach as many people with the Gospel as you can and let God sort out your theology at the Judgment Seat of Christ. As important as Scriptural baptism is, it won't save a single soul from Hell. Reaching them with the Gospel will.

12. Our church is a "teaching church." This plan doesn't fit our ministry.
    
    Every church has the responsibility of teaching its people the Word and developing them into Godly followers of Christ.
    
    One of the things we need to teach them is how to follow Him, obey Him and serve Him. And our task as a church is to present the Gospel to everybody we can possibly reach - beginning in our own city (Acts 1:8). 

13. My pastor isn't interested in evangelism. What should I do?
    
    Pray for him. Share this web site with him. Give him a book on soul winning. Ask him to go soul winning with you. If he doesn't respond, get a new pastor or find a new church that is committed to obeying Christ in the Great Commission. Don't follow a disobedient pastor.

14. I'm a pastor, and I can't get my church to do anything. How can I motivate them to get involved?

15. 1. Lead by example. Be a soul winner yourself. Ask the church to pray for the people you are witnessing to.

    2. Mention soul winning in every sermon. Use soul winning stories as sermon illustrations. See some here.

    3. Ask God to give you a couple of faithful people who are willing to obey God. Work with them. Train them. Go soul winning with them. Praise them publicly in the church for their obedience in this vital area of the Christian life.

    4. As you work with those faithful people, pray with them that God will give you a few more to work with. When new people get saved, invite them to fellowship with you and those faithful people you are working with. Your goal is to grow the group of involved people within the church, and to eventually attract and invite other people in the church to get involved.

16. How can I start implementing this plan?
    
    Click here to build up a Great Commission Church