A Note From Pastor Eric "We Have an Evangelism Crisis" Earlier this month I was sitting in my church office around 8pm and I had just started packing up to head home for the evening. Just as I was getting ready to click on the shutdown option on my computer, I heard the sound... "ding." We all have heard that familiar sound before. A new email had just arrived, and I thought to myself, do I look at it or do I just shut down and head home, it will be there in the morning. If you know me well enough, there was no way that I was not going to at least peak at the subject line.
Here is what I saw, "We Have an Evangelism Crisis"
Wow! Now my curiosity has peaked, and I must open this. The email had way too many data points to cover in this monthly post, but there were two specific points that really stood out to me. "Only 1% of pastors say their churches are very effective at evangelism. Only 1%! That means 99% of pastors say their churches are not!" 1. "72% of Americans describe themselves as spiritually open, with younger generations more open to God since the pandemic." 2. The biggest takeaway for me was that I should have hit the shutdown button so I could have slept that night! Kidding....Kidding.... My biggest takeaway was that we are living in a time where 72% of people say they are open spiritually, but only 1% of pastors say their church is highly effective at evangelism. Wow, what do I do with that information? What do we do with that information? I initially started thinking about Violet Baptist Church and how we are doing with this as a church. I have not fully vetted this out, but here is where the processing has led me so far. We are passionate about the importance of discipleship and evangelism in our church. These two aspects are inseparable, they are interwoven, which creates a solid foundation for our church to reach out to our neighbors and those in our communities around us. We must all be hungry for true discipleship and the process of growing deeper in our relationship with God, learning more about His word, and following in the footsteps of Jesus. It is through discipleship that we are equipped to share the love of Christ with others and make a positive impact in our homes, neighborhoods and communities. When we invest in discipleship, we are not only strengthening our own faith but also preparing ourselves to be effective ambassadors of the Gospel. (continued on the next page)
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator