“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Luke 10:1-2

God has given every believer the mandate of going outside of the church, and away from their normal comfort zones, to share the gospel with non-believers; to evangelize. Evangelism is sharing the “good news,” which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel must be more than a testimony of natural things that He has done for us and provided us with. It must include the spiritual, life changing, free gift of grace which is obtained through faith. It needs to be understood that we are all sinners and only saved by grace through Jesus Christ, and that God the Father, sent His only begotten Son to be the “instead of” for our sins. Finally it must be understood that only through saving faith in Jesus Christ, do we have access to eternal life in heaven, and liberty, peace, and freedom in the present life. This is the message that God has given us to take, and the gift we must offer to none believers as Soul Winners and Laborers for Christ.

We have so many churches in Hinesville and the surrounding areas that are doing great works for the Kingdom; such as, providing food, clothing, book bags, water, furniture, and the like. However our work should not end there, Jesus left us with The Great Commission, a mandate to go and take the Gospel. We should be sharing the Gospel when visiting the jails and prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, as

well as on our jobs, in parking lots, laundry facilities, and door to door. Other religions are required to spend many hours in their local mission field, and they zealously do so, carrying the wrong message with the right idea. Evangelism is more than missions, it’s more than passing on information, it’s not being self­ righteous, arrogant, or superior, and lastly it’s not a choice. (See Matt. 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:44-49, and Acts 1:8)

Pastors and leaders have been given the assignment, according to Ephesians 4:11 to equip the saints for the work of ministry as well as for edifying the believers themselves. It is our responsibility as leaders to ensure that each congregation is equipped to take the Gospel outside the church. Every believer should have a clear understanding that they are held accountable for this charge and that it is not solely set aside for a select few members in the church, or the Pastor. Believers must know with assurance in what they believe, what salvation entails, and they must be certain that they are saved, and not trying to work their way into heaven, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” - Ephesians 2:8.

Leaders of this great gospel, it is high time that we adhere to the clarion call through purposeful, deliberate, and premeditated evangelism carried out by trained laypeople who can make a difference in their families, communities, jobs, and churches. When laypeople evangelize with intentional and relational evangelism, it puts the will of God in action, it increases souls coming to Christ, it increases church membership, helps members grow spiritually into reproducing disciples. This results in less crime, safe neighborhoods, and schools. However, for this to occur believers must be sure of what they believe, positive and enthusiastic about what they believe, and able to passionately communication this truth to non­ believers.

Destiny in focus is an outreach ministry with the sole purpose of coming along beside pastors and leaders to assist in training their congregations to go outside the church walls and intentionally share the Gospel with positive results, through the Holy Spirit. We use an easy to learn, hard to forget method involving the marvelous hand.

We encourage pastors, leaders, and laypeople who desire to be more effective in sharing the Gospel to meet us at Mt. Zion MBC on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 8:30 a.m. The cost is $20, and you can register at www.syfonline.org or call Cynthia Bryant at 912-980-1686.