When One Gets Lost in Many
We talk in terms of ‘world evangelization.’ We say that all people need the Lord. We pray for revival in our Nation. We focus on a tribe, an ethnicity or a language group that has yet to know the joy of salvation. That is good and proper, and every one of these things should deeply affect us.
However, sometimes, in generalizations like those above - the ‘One’ - the 100th sheep is lost in the anonymity of the generic, non-specific language we use.
When we think of evangelism only in universal terms, personal responsibility for reaching people is often shifted to others whom we determine have a specific call to the lost.
‘Proclaimer-Leaders’ can fall into the trap of believing that their primary leadership obligation has been met once they have delivered their homily to the congregation on a Sunday morning.
Leaders can assume that if they give and teach the church to give to Mission Global (and we should give generously), they have fulfilled their personal part in evangelism.
Leaders can think that if they pray and sponsor prayer for the faceless five million who do not know Jesus (and we should), they have fulfilled their responsibility to the lost.
But none of those things by themselves is enough. God is not willing that ‘even one’ should perish. Focusing on the ‘One’ brings evangelism right back to our own doorstep.
Nations may experience revival and turn to God. Whole cultures may be influenced by the good salt of the gospel. But people come into a life-changing relationship with Jesus, ‘one person at a time.’ It is not blanket salvation. It is an individual salvation.
Once someone has come to Jesus, they automatically assume a responsibility to evangelize the people within their immediate orbit of influence.
Evangelism needs to be specific. Before it is to the world at large, it is to the neighbour across the driveway, the cashier at the store, the homeless person on my street, and the refugee who moved into my community. These people all have names that I can know and meet their needs. The focal point of effective evangelism always starts in Jerusalem and expands outward in concentric circles until it touches the ends of the earth. Our primary mission field is right where we are.
Jesus came for all humanity, but He demonstrated the importance of reaching the ‘One.’ Track His ministry, and you will meet blind Bartimaeus, the Samaritan woman at the well, the demon-possessed Mary Magdalene, Levi, the despised tax collector, the little child in the crowd of adults, the Galilean fisherman, the rich young ruler and many others. While He preached to the masses, He drew each person to Himself individually, focusing His undivided love and attention on each of them.
Through the nature of Christ within us, we are compelled to love all the people of the world, but we are commissioned to reach them one at a time. There is an undeniable personal responsibility to develop a life pattern of sharing the gospel in our Jerusalem.
As leaders, we must set an example. We have no license to ask our people to do that which we are not actively doing ourselves.
Al is an experienced pastor and counselor who works out of our ABNWT District Resource Centre in Edmonton as the Pastoral Care Coordinator. A pastor to the pastors, Al is a friend, mentor, and confidante to all.