Evangelistic Growth

A message from Acts 2:47 by Dave Rogers 16/12/07

To listen to Dave's message click here mp3

This verse is the climax of the whole passage. Read Acts 2:42-47. Where are we now after BYC & People Full of God series? Churches put on programmes to reach people with the hope that some might become Christians. But is this how God wants us to do church? What if we cancelled every organised meeting and stopped all our programmes? Are we a community? Would we still be together? Or would we move to another church for their meetings? I’m not advocating we stop Preschool, Toddlers, LDL, Resonate etc, but do we have the right underlying attitude as we help in our church programmes?

"And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Only the Lord saves and adds people to the church - a major point of BYC, that lifts a great weight off our shoulders. GOD SAVES, NOT US!! Trying and save people ourselves won't work. It is impossible. People don’t know God gave us a Saviour. So how will they hear. Read Rom 10: 13-15 By being filled with the Holy Spirit, God can work through us and we will be more like the early church. But breaking bread, fellowship, praying, listening to the apostles teaching don't seem overtly evangelistic yet people were being saved. Why did God add to them those who were being saved?

•Devoted to the Apostles teaching about Jesus!! They would have had his last words ringing in their ears.“Go and make disciples of all nations...”
•Devoted to fellowship. They brought others into authentic, real friendships.
•Devoted to sharing meals together, which doesn't happen often in our society or church. “People are very suspicious if you invite them to your house, your private personal space, for dinner. - take them to the pub first” (Scott)
•Devoted to Prayer. They took their commission seriously and prayed for their friends, corporately. Did they have BYC friends lists? May I encourage us all to be at the week of prayer early in Jan. one of the most important times for ABC to hear God speaking to us as a church.
•They were filled with awe as signs and wonders were done by the apostles. We are seeing more of this today. People see that God is real and are more ready to follow him. e.g. Newday over the last 4 years. Biblical evangelism is Signs > Word > Salvation.
•They had all in common. Unity and teamwork. They were not lone anglers, but fishermen who caught people together.
•They sold their possessions and goods and gave to those in need because they had a global call to reach the nations. Reaching out to those in need is essential to the great commission of bringing people to God. e.g the noise, Festival Manchester and Hope '08. Have we forgotten why we do church?

Everything the early church did was with the mission in mind. Sunday mornings, small groups, training, CBSi, courses, BYC, conferences are not for our own personal improvement and blessing, but to equip us to make disciples of all nations - making them his fully devoted followers. “God will not give us converts if we are not prepared to look after them” This community was geared up to welcome and integration. Salvation belongs to God who makes things grow. Rev 19:1 ff, 1 Cor 3:5-10. We may well realise that we can't save anyone, God does the saving, but do we realise the crucial part we play? Our task is not to further ourselves but to fulfil the mission God has given us to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. Everything we do must have mission as its primary backdrop. As we take Jesus Christ to everyone the Lord will add to our numbers. Over recent years we have looked at making our groups outward going, rather than inward looking, we have done BYC to enable us to be ourselves, learn how to tell our story, and to have our friends who don't know Jesus high in our minds. What is the fruit? Let us make 2008 a year when we really press into taking the good news to all those around us, like the early church. Let everything we do at ABC have this mission in mind, as we sit learning what the Bible says on a Sunday morning, or at small group or at CBSi, remember why we hear the word of God. To equip us to serve God in his mission on this earth, to make his Son famous and to bring people into relationship with him, and then the Lord will add to our number those who are being saved.