Ben Maulis left a great quote on my post “Why The Church Can’t Win the Coffee Wars” from March 12th. It explains why outreach just for outreach’s sake comes short of being evangelism. I thought his comments deserved to be out front, not buried in the comment section of an old post that might never get seen, so I’ll let him speak for himself.
The post that this was from was just saying that while it’s perfectly acceptable for the church to do outreach events and to offer things like great coffee, that’s not what we’re here for, ultimately. If we do anything well it shouldn’t be coffee, it should be presenting the Gospel. (And I should mention that I’m a serious coffee snob and think that a great coffee bar is a wonderful thing to have at a church… I brew my own Sumatran in my office every Sunday and can only long for the day when we have a real espresso machine in the foyer. Still, I want us to be known for our message, not our coffee!)
Anyway, here are Ben’s comments:
The church should provide hospitality, but I don’t see any instruction or precedent for “pre-evangelism” in the scriptures. By pre-evangelism, I mean any effort, activity or program intended to court unbelievers while witholding propositional truth. A good number of churches and ministries do just this.
Churches have “outreach” events and programs that are designed to promote the church and invite people without calling them to repent and believe the gospel. Pressed for an explanation of why their event or program is essentially void of the gospel message, they claim that it is “pre-evangelical.” Supposedly, the people will come to know the truth after they’ve become comfortable in church.
Churches do picnics, bar-b-ques, concerts for the community, and all kinds of programs to entertain the youth, but too often come short of calling for repentance.
The doctrine of Christ to which we are adjured to abide in requires repentance. There is no salvation without repentance. Jesus said he came not for the righteous but to call sinners to repentance and, “unless you repent, you will likewise perish.” He never had communion with sinners that were not in repentance (except for Judas, Matt. 21:28-32). He preached, repent, repent and repent (Matt. 3:2, 4:17, Mark 1:15). He commanded us to preach and his disciples went out and preached that men should repent (Mark 6:12), repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38), repent and be converted (Acts 3:19), commanding all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30), and that they should repent and turn to God (Acts 26:20).
So then churches, whether they have a do or not, ought to tell the truth and withold nothing of the gospel for discretion’s sake. It will only result in the impression that they are lukewarm and lacking firm conviction. Likewise, individuals who are often depended upon when the rest of the church is busy trying to get a better venue for its next gig, need to tell it like it is and call people to repent and trust Christ besides inviting people to church and offering to pray for them. If you want to buy them a coffee and a biscuit, it’s ok too.
