Evangelism in a Large Church
One of the common accusations of a large church is that they water down the Gospel. In my personal experience, this has not been the case. In fact, I feel like I can boldly proclaim the Gospel more in a larger church in a couple ways:
- This may seem like a weird statement, but I think it is true: in a large church, you have a little more freedom to “offend” with the Gospel. I have met some smaller church pastors who walk on eggshells with new people / unbelievers because they don’t want to “lose them.”
- I meet more unbelievers every week than I ever have and it gives me a lot of opportunity to share the Gospel. They just walk in the door to check out Riverview and the opportunity presents itself. For instance, on Easter we had 62 new families fill out a tear-off. I sent them each either an email or a hand written note. Several have responded to chat about the service. Here’s part of one email, and my response:
Riverview Visitor: I do have one “technical” question, which I’m not trying to be a smartass or anything like that, I just really want to know. Do you think that all the Jews and Buddhists and Muslims and Hindis in the world go to Hell when they die? Because one of my primary problems with the Catholic Church has always been the statement “I believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Even as a kid, I sort of thought it was wrong to say that–like it negates the most personal and profound beliefs of billions of people, even other Christians. Personally, I’m inclined to think that we’re all praying to the same God. Do you think that makes Him mad?
My Response: Your question is not a smartassy one at all (and I should know…I am accused of being a smartass often). In fact, your question may at the most basic level be one of the reasons I do what I do for a living.
When I was a student at MSU, I spent some time researching a whole bunch of faith systems. I was questioning the faith I had grown up with (very conservative Christianity). All the religions I studied seemed to communicate the same thing (like you have observed). The one thing they communicated was that there was a god (or gods) out there somewhere and we have to do a bunch of stuff to appease him/her/them. To me, these systems were like a giant ladder that went up into the clouds and disappeared into space. If I was to believe them, then I would have to start climbing the ladder to reach god, heaven, nirvana or whatever.
I then spent some time reading the New Testament (in the Bible) and I was struck by how different Christianity was. It was the one faith system I found that said I didn’t have to climb a ladder. Instead, Jesus climbed down to me, which is what I talked about on Easter. There was nothing for me to do except believe in him. That distinction began to drive me to Jesus in a lot of ways.
So, in that sense, I think Christianity stands as different from all other faiths.
Additionally, Jesus made this rather outrageous claim in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Then, his friend Peter said essentially the same thing in Acts 4:12 “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Again and again in the Bible, this message is repeated: Jesus is the only one who has come to save us. No one else is coming.
I have met many many sincere people who believe in other faith systems. And yet, if I am to believe Jesus is who he says he is, then I must believe they are sincere, yet wrong.
That’s why I do what I do for a living. I want to let everyone possible know that Jesus wants to save them and that no one else can.
Now, with this said, I would encourage you to not let this keep you from exploring Christianity. We have lots of people at Riverview from a lot of different backgrounds. They are at very different places in their journey, and you are certainly welcome to journey with us.
The sheer number of visitors we get give me opportunities like this all the time.
Tags: Evangelism, Large Church, religion