Author : Keith Sharp
In the late summer of 1945, my father, twenty-nine years old and fresh out of Freed-Hardeman College, preached a ten night gospel meeting in the tiny Southwest Arkansas village of Kings Rider. One hundred ten souls were saved. Dad said later, “I thought Pentecost was happening all over again.”
About thirty years thereafter I, twenty-nine years of age, preached a seven day gospel meeting in the tiny Southwest Arkansas hamlet of Burg. It was the most successful meeting I ever preached in terms of baptisms. Six people became Christians. What a difference a generation makes!
From 1945 to 1965 the church of Christ was the fastest growing religious body in the United States. But from 1965 to 1980 the Lord’s church in this country actually lost membership. Since 1980 there has been a barely perceptible increase (Flavil R. Yeakley, Jr. Why Churches Grow. iv,v,1). How can local churches recapture the astounding evangelistic successes of bygone years?
Jerusalem the Model
The church in Jerusalem is the preeminent model for local church evangelism. Three thousand were baptized the first time the gospel was preached there (Acts 2:41). More were added daily (Acts 2:47). Then many, including five thousand men, believed (Acts 4:4). Next, “multitudes of both men and women” were “added to the Lord” (Acts 5:14).
Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7).
Incredible! How did they do it? However they did, if we are to be successful in reaching the lost in our locality, we must follow their example. We may not reach thousands as they did, or even hundreds as fifty years ago, but we can reach the honest people desiring to be saved in our locality.
The Secrets of Their Success
First and foremost, the church in Jerusalem was composed of saints who were truly converted and faithful to Christ (Acts 2:42). We will never reach the lost until we too are steadfast to Christ and His church. Lukewarm, disinterested, slothful brethren will never take their community for Christ.
They were an attractive church. This does not mean they owned a beautiful building. In fact, they didn’t even own a meeting place. It means their lives attracted others as an adornment to the gospel (Acts 2:47). They had a deep love for one another manifested by sacrificial giving to help the needy in their midst (Acts 2:44-45). They were united in faith and love, as evidenced by unity in worship and hospitality for each other (Acts 2:46). Their lives were godly, and sin was not allowed to continue in their midst (Acts 5:1-11).
They employed every scriptural means available to proclaim the gospel to the lost (Acts 5:42). Methods are matters of judgment. Try as many as possible. Don’t discard a method just because there are no immediate results. Don’t be afraid to try new methods. Actively getting the word before the lost is more important than the method used.
They let preachers preach and teach the word rather than be tied down with mundane matters. The apostles refused to “leave the word of God” to “serve tables” even though there was a legitimate benevolent need involved (Acts 6:1-2; cf. 2 Timothy 1:11). Many today are more interested in a preacher who “visits” for and with the members than one who will effectively preach and teach “publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20). They simply want a denominational pastor and are crippling the preacher’s work of reaching the lost.
They met and vanquished false teachers in public controversy (Acts 6:9-10). Because the disciples led many to salvation, false teachers, stung by envy and loss of followers, attacked them. Steven was ready to defend the truth. Those in error resorted to dishonest, even vicious, tactics (verses 10-14). But they could not resist the wisdom and the pure spirit of Steven. When we begin to make an impact on denominational bodies, leading their members from the darkness of human creeds to the pure light of the gospel, we too will be attacked, sometimes viciously and dishonestly. We too must be ready to defend the truth with wisdom and a pure, gentle spirit.
They let no obstacles hinder them from preaching the word (Acts 8:1-4). We will face discouragement and persecution, probably not as violent as the brethren at Jerusalem met. Regardless, we as they must go “everywhere preaching the word.”
The only organization they employed in preaching the gospel to the lost was the local congregation, the divine organization designed for this purpose (Acts 11:22). They relied upon divine wisdom rather than human and did not try to supplant or supplement the local church with evangelistic organizations designed by men.
Conclusion
When Dad was quite young, he worked for his grandfather, a carpenter. Grandpa Brewer had Dad saw the rafters for a small storage building. He sawed a two by four for Dad to use as a pattern and told him to saw eleven more the same length. Dad used the pattern to measure the next rafter, sawed his rafter, threw away the pattern and used the rafter he had sawed to measure the next. As he sawed each rafter he used the last one he had sawed as the pattern for the next. The last few rafters would not fit. He had gotten gradually, imperceptibly farther away from the correct length as he got farther away from the original pattern.
The church in Jerusalem is the divine pattern for local evangelism. No other congregation in history has enjoyed the success in reaching the lost in their locality that Jerusalem did. The farther away from this pattern we get, the less successful we will be and the less pleasing to God we will be. Will we carefully follow this pattern or be content to drift along while our friends and neighbors are lost?
