Outreach AND Evangelism

Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:10-11, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” Knowing the terror of the judgment of God and the wonderful free gift we have available in Christ, Paul was constrained to share this saving message with any and

all who would listen cf. v. 14. Knowing of the same terrible judgment and the grace of God that is the means of escaping that judgment, we also should be moved to be ambassadors for Christ, cf. vv. 18-20.

Northside's purpose for existence is not to have a place to “hang out” and act religious. Our purpose individually and collectively is to bring glory to God by manifesting His grace demonstrated in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). Can one rightly extol and praise the grace of the Almighty when he keeps it locked up and refuses to share it with others? As the Lepers of 2 Kings 7 state “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace...” Does the Northside church of Christ have good tidings? Do we hold our peace? If that is the case, “we do not well”.

In discussions of church growth, the terms outreach and evangelism are often used synonymously. This is unfortunate because it lures one into thinking they have evangelized when all they have really done is outreach. They are not synonymous. They are both necessary.

Outreach consists of those things we do to generate interests or open doors of opportunity to share the gospel with others. A salesman would call this “prospecting”. Having VBS, the fall festival or any community focused event is designed to “reach out.” Once this is done we then need to “work the leads”, that is, follow-up on any contacts we have made and see if there is an interest in pursuing further Bible study. We have not really evangelized until we have done the work of confronting the lost soul with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sharing the gospel, person to person with an open Bible is evangelism. VBS and the fall festival are methods of outreach.

Why do I drive home this distinction? We may feel tempted to think that our job is done once we've put all the VBS material away or cleaned up after the festival. In reality, we're just getting started. Let us keep this in mind next week. Let us be ever vigilant for those who are or may be interested in spiritual things and seek to set an appointment to study the bible with them.

Remember, we need to do outreach AND evangelism. One is plowing, the other is sowing. Let is not neglect either. Both are needed to have a harvest.

....Paul