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In 1996, I undertook a serious personal study of the book of Acts. When I came to Acts 5:41-42, the Holy Spirit spoke to me powerfully:
“The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 5:41-42)
What struck me was the fact that the Apostles, the Church leaders, were active in evangelism. After a careful study of Church history, I discovered virtually the entire Early Church had been mobilised, and they reached pretty much the known world with the gospel. Then I discovered that today only 2% of Christians in the Western Church regularly engage in evangelism.
How had we moved from everyone doing it, to only 2%? Who or what had caused this gigantic shift? How had we regressed 98% over 2000 years?
I clearly felt the Holy Spirit challenge me to find answers to these questions. For 10 years, I sought God and undertook serious study. Over this time He revealed 66 reasons why this shift had occurred.
What’s interesting is that each of these ‘reasons’ is really a ‘device’ of the enemy which Paul speaks about in 2 Corinthians 2:11. A careful study of the word ‘device’ in the lexicon reveals that ‘devices’ aim to change people’s minds, perceptions, and thoughts about something – in this case ‘evangelism’ and ‘the gospel’.
So what’s the bottom line? The reason the people in your church don’t do evangelism is that the devil has messed with their thoughts, perceptions and minds. If a Christian under the influence of just one device will not do evangelism, imagine how paralysed is one who is influenced by all 66?
You see, these ‘devices’ can be likened to computer viruses. Without anti-virus software installed, computers eventually crash. It’s the same with the Church. The statistics show the Church in the West has ‘crashed’ with respect to evangelism. And, like a computer, the only way to re-boot the hard drive and get it functioning again is to deal with the viruses – in the Church’s case, the ‘devices’.
So if you want to reverse the 2000 year, 98% regression, and come to know what is causing you and your church to shut down in evangelism, and become part of the solution, the EVANGELISM DISCIPLESHIP DVD SERIES for small groups ought to be the first course you take your whole church through on your road to recovery. As anti-virus software is to computers, so this course is to churches which have crashed with respect to evangelism.
Say no more. I urge you, for the sake of the glory of God, the eternal destiny of the lost, and the spiritual health of your people: expose your church to the teaching in these resources. It’s time to re-boot your church’s evangelism hard drive and get it up and running again!
What’s the investment? $49
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