| Church Development Churches Starting Churches: Effective Evangelism
By Dr. Montfort C. Duncan Jr.,
Executive Director, Church Development
 Did
you know that 66.3 percent of the population of the state of Florida
is unchurched? This fact should prompt us, as a conference and as
local churches, to raise the temperature on evangelism and
discipleship. Is this statistic due to our lack of effort or our lack
of concern about the lost and hurting? What can we do in our local
churches to help reach this huge part of our population?
Church planting is perhaps the most effective
way to reach people in a community for Christ. In fact, statistically,
more people come to Christ in new churches than they do in established
ones. According to a recent study by Fuller Theological Seminary in
Pasadena, Ca., a link has been discovered between the age of a church
and its evangelistic effectiveness. It found that the younger the
church is, fewer people are required to win new people to Christ. Here
is some of the information discovered in that study:
For churches 10 years or older, one person will come to Christ for
every 85 church attendees;
For churches four to seven years old, one person will come to Christ
for every seven church attendees; and
For churches less than three years old, one person will come to Christ
for every three church attendees.
What can our existing churches do to win new
people to Christ? Here are several suggestions.
Look at your church’s vision and mission statement and its stated
core values. What do they say about how you value lost people?
Assist your attendees in discovering their spiritual gifts, especially
those with the gift of evangelism. Use these laypersons to help raise
the evangelistic temperature in your congregation.
Become a supporting partner with the Conference Committee on New
Church Development to give birth to a new congregation in your
district.
To say that your church is too old, too small or
too inconsequential to participate in birthing a new community of
faith is to deny that God can work in any situation. In reality,
church planting can greatly expand the impact of your church’s
ministry and influence in the community. Helping in the multiplication
process may require less time and resources than expected. |
