Outreach & Discipleship

Everyone appreciates light. It does not matter how small it may be. If it is shinning, it can lead us out of darkness.

In 1954, on Thanksgiving evening, I made my calling to preach known to the Black Oak Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana. I knew I was saved. I knew Heaven was my eternal home. And I knew I had a desire to tell others about Christ. I remember saying to Derwood Humble—the person who prayed with me at the altar that night—“I know that God has called me to preach, but I don’t know how I can do it.”

We recently had our annual Christmas musical at Lancaster Baptist Church. The amount of work put into these productions is staggering—not just in the thousands of hours given by the choir, orchestra, and drama teams, but also the thousands of invitations given out all across our community in the weeks preceding the musical.

One of the reasons I love the Christmas season is that it is such a great time of year for initiating gospel conversations. Between the special church events and the fact that many people still do want to go to church to celebrate Christmas, this is also the easiest time of year to invite people to church.

There is nothing more rewarding than to come alongside a new Christian and help ground him in God’s Word, encourage his faith, and guide him in new patterns of Christian living.

As a young man, I was touched by the truths of Psalm 126:5–6, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” These verses moved me to be active in the harvest fields of the Lord.

We know that Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). But sometimes we forget that He actively sought those who were lost. For Jesus, gospel outreach was no passing interest or occasional hobby. He looked for lost people and personally brought them the message of salvation through Himself.

We have all met people who don’t understand God. They blame God for a lot of things He didn’t cause.

1. Pray for Them

Diligently ask the Holy Spirit to work in their heart. It’s not by your power or your arguments that they will be saved.

2. Become Friends

Don’t rush. Friendship develops trust, and trust opens many doors.

3. Witness to Your Same Gender

Men should witness to men, and women should witness to women. Muslim men will not respect a woman.

We should strive to make disciples, and that process of discipleship should begin at the doorway of the local church when someone desires to unite with the body of Christ.

Because reaching our community with the gospel is so important, I believe it should be approached with both passion and organization. The 4Outreach program is an organized plan that we use at Lancaster Baptist Church to help us share our faith passionately.

We cannot always measure effectiveness by visible fruit. Some of my favorite testimonies of salvation are of people who trusted Christ after repeated witnessing attempts by multiple people.

A lot of fear that Western Christians have about Muslims comes from a lack of understanding of the Islamic faith. Some Christians are deceived and pulled away from the faith. Others, such as Christians who burn the Koran, fail to show Christlike love and undermine missionaries’ efforts to win Muslims to Christ. There is a spiritual warfare raging between true Christianity and the Islamic world. We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, and this war will not be won through military might or political demonstrations. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to overcome the darkness of this world.

One of the core ministries that God has greatly blessed in our church is the organized discipleship on Wednesday evenings. Not only are there new people continually being enrolled in discipleship and others completing the course, but the biblical grounding and personal mentoring that takes place during the weeks of discipleship continues to bear fruit in people’s lives years after they have finished.

I believe the Great Commission is worthy of—and even calls for—purposed times and strategic plans for spreading the gospel. Thus, we have several times and locations each week available to members of our church to meet up with a partner for the purpose of saturating our community with the gospel.

Two hundred thirty-seven years ago, our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence—a document that shaped the future of the American colonies, setting their destiny as a mighty nation. By signing this document, courageous men boldly stated the value they placed on freedom. And they proved it with their lives and fortunes in the ensuing war for independence.

Last words speak volumes. They reveal priorities and hopes. Before Jesus ascended back into Heaven, He gave His disciples this daunting command, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19–20). Let us consider four important facts from Christ’s great last words.

If there is one thing that is clear in the New Testament, it is that the gospel doesn’t end with receiving it. It is a truth to pass on to others.

Any reader of the divinely-inspired record of early Christianity written in the book of Acts will note the attention given to numbers. Those who were saved in the days after the coming of the Holy Spirit were “added to the church.”

It was 1948. A young soldier had been released from the Army after World War II and intended to go to Columbia University on the GI bill. General Eisenhower had become the president of Columbia University, and this young soldier thought, “If it’s good enough for Ike, it’s good enough for me.”