Can churches of Christ in the United States maintain and sustain long term, local evangelistic outreach ministry? That is the question I challenge all of my brethren to ponder, and to act upon. Let me share some characteristics of the church we read about in the Bible:

• There was numerical growth in the new testament church - she had the ability to reproduce herself.

• The new testament church was built on outreach ministry and evangelism, not lectureships, seminars and workshops.

• The churches of Christ we read about in the Bible worked together, in a spirit of unity, for the cause of Christ.

• The church we read about in the Bible took the mission of bringing the Gospel to an unfriendly, fallen world seriously - Jesus said "go", and they went.

Lack of Numerical Growth in the churches of Christ

The number of congregations of the churches of Christ (mainstream), and the number of individuals who claim membership of those groups has not changed significantly since 1965. There is a problem. I know, I've been pleading with churches of Christ to support, and get involved in local outreach ministry to the poor for close to two decades. I have to constantly stroke, encourage, and compel my brethren to be involved. With the Gospel being preached to the poor, and a local mission church (Inner City church of Christ) being the end result, you would think my good brethren would be knocking down my door wanting to get involved. Not the case. And while outreach to the poor is not the only method of local evangelism, Inner City Ministry would make a great case study of how well our brotherhood sustains, and maintains long term involvement in local outreach evangelistic ministry.

Academia has failed to produce a solution that brings long term growth and numerical strength to the Lord's church:

• The Gospel meetings of long ago have been replaced with meetings for the churched who come equipped with pens and highlighters. The days of having a two week long Gospel meeting and baptizing fifty plus souls has gone.

• We swarm to lectureships and seminars hoping to be enriched and yet, still, no one can seem to make application of all that knowledge. Try getting us to walk across the street to invite our neighbors to a home Bible study... ahem.

• Our young men are being taught to preach thirty minute text book sermons, but our schools have failed to teach them to lead their congregations in a ministry that reaches the lost and adds numerical growth to the Lord's church.

The solution? We need to emphasize, and put into practice the same as Jesus, His disciples, and the first century church. They followed His lead and brought numerical strength to the body of Christ. Join the ministry and evangelism discussion forum at this site and let's start the growth process of encouraging evangelism amongst the churches of Christ. Click here to visit the forum.

In Jesus,
Chuck Griffis, Evangelist