An alternative title could be: Why Good Partnerships are Essential in Gospel Work.
A friend of mine approached a well-known street evangelist (who keeps getting arrested and/or moved on by the police.) She asked questions about what he was doing, where he went to church and where he referred any interested people for follow-up. He basically replied that he wasn’t particularly concerned about these things as he was an evangelist and his job was just to share the Gospel…
I’ve seen this attitude before in people who often seem very zealous for God but, on closer acquaintance, aren’t even attending a church. A recent survey of those who attended one of the "Christian" nationalist rallies found that only one third of those marching went to church regularly.
A few years ago, I was in a bit of a muddle about whether to stay in a church where I disagreed with the theology just because they were doing a lot of outreach. The advice I was given was that I needed to prioritise my own spiritual walk even if that meant there would be less outreach opportunities. Looking back, that was good advice even though it was a little unpalatable at the time as I wanted to get on with the evangelism. God is more concerned about our faithfulness to Him than our ministry for Him.
Evangelism should always start in local churches and organisations that are facilitating evangelism should always work in partnership with local churches. It’s worth asking whether we are fit to witness to others if we aren’t being obedient to God ourselves.
Here are some reasons why we should always work with others in evangelism:
1. It’s Biblical- If anyone could have operated by Himself, it would have been Jesus, yet he chose 12 disciples and a further 72 others to work with. The disciples were sent out in twos and rarely worked alone. There were occasions when solo evangelism was necessary, but it wasn’t the norm.
2. It’s Easier- I’m sure that most of those who are forced to witness by themselves due to a lack of available partners wish that it wasn’t the case. It’s difficult enough to get motivated and encouraged when working with others, but when you’re by yourself, the temptation is always not to bother and when you do go, it’s hard going. We need others for encouragement, motivation and support.
3. Checks Pride- Naturally, we love to hear about our own success in witness, but are we as joyful when we hear about someone else’s fruit? When I hear of leaders who reject partnerships with like minded churches I wonder whether pride is at the root. Recently, I've seen Christian street preachers setting up virtually on top of other preachers and seemingly trying to compete for listeners no doubt greatly irritating passers by in the process. If our ultimate goal is the same; that people hear the Gospel, are saved and are added to Gospel preaching churches, surely we should be willing to partner with others that share that vision even if we or our churches don’t directly benefit. Are we working for God’s Kingdom or building our own castles here on Earth?
4. Gets Others Involved- There are always those that cannot go out on the streets or go door to door due to age, infirmity, lack of time or other reasons. There are some who find it virtually impossible to speak and share their faith. Yet, most can pray and many can give financially to support the work. We should all be involved in evangelism in one way or another. The church is like a body with each part having different roles and responsibilities, working together to get the job done. I’ve heard older people say that they can’t do much but they can pray. Yet, prayer is a vital part of the work and without it we won’t get very far.
5. Training Opportunities- If Paul had been a lone ranger, how would Timothy have learned how to share the Message? The role of an evangelist is not only to share the Gospel, but also to train others to do the same. If no one is trained, there will be no leaders among the younger generations and no men learning how to preach. An individual can only do so much with their gifts, time and money but if they train others they can greatly multiply the work and vastly increase the reach of the Gospel.
6. Inspires Others- Seeing a team of people from all different nationalities and backgrounds working in partnership with a common goal will inspire those outside the church as well as those already within the church who aren’t involved in evangelism. They might ask if they can join in as they realise that evangelism is not just the job of those who seem gifted for it. Everyone should be involved.
7. Reflects Diversity- The fact that people from diverse nations and backgrounds can work well together is attractive as it’s rarely seen in the world. It’s one of the reasons that ideally we shouldn’t have separate nationality churches. In Heaven we will be every tribe, tongue and nation all together worshipping God. We should start now and deal with language barriers as they arise.
8. Safety and Accountability- It’s obvious that there is safety in numbers and there are situations where it isn’t safe to work alone. A lone evangelist invited into a lonely old person’s home is putting themselves at risk of allegations. Similarly, the temptations to laziness and time wasting lessen when we are letting others down if we give in to them.
9. Friendships, Networking and Learning- We meet like minded people when working with others. We might learn new techniques or be able to ask for advice when faced with difficult questions from non-believers. We can also have rough edges knocked off as we learn to compromise on secondary issues for the sake of the work. We should always be learning as nobody knows everything and our different personalities mean that there may be someone better suited to speak to an individual non-believer. Sharing successes and failures multiplies the joys and eases the burdens.
10. Keeps the Focus on the Gospel and Avoids Error- We are all prone to wander and most of us would acknowledge that it’s easier to do so when we are by ourselves. Working with others keeps our focus on the Gospel and if we do head down a rabbit hole, usually there will be someone to pull us back and remind us of our goal.
Should we partner with everyone?
This is a question that arises when discussing teamwork and the need to avoid operating by ourselves. The answer is obviously no because the Bible tells us to avoid unequal yokes. We should not join with those who aren’t believers. This sounds obvious but with multi-faith movements and other crazy things in the mix it needs to be said.
We also shouldn’t partner with those who are markedly different to us in theology if they are going to be focusing on things other than sharing the Gospel. An example might be healing on the streets or those who want to practice deliverance ministries or someone wanting to sell their own products or promote their own wayward church. There are many different circumstances that could mean that a partnership is unsuitable. We need wisdom in this area.
Let’s work together to share the Good News with as many people as possible believing that God is at work saving souls for eternity.
