Let's
Baptize More Converts
by
Dr. Jack Hyles
I. Find New Avenues of Prospects
II. Make Every Service Evangelistic
III. Baptize Converts Immediately, Each Sunday Morning and Evening
IV. Pastor and People Set Personal Goals for Soul Winning
V. Bathe the Church in Soul Winning
VI. Have a Soul-Winning Course Annually
VII. Good Soul Winners Take Others Along to Learn
VIII. Give Invititation Periodically in Each Sunday School Class
IX. An Inside Church Census
X. Include a Mention of Baptism in Most Sermons
Introduction
(by John R. Rice)
The cover picture
shows Dr. Jack Hyles baptizing a man won to Christ in the First Baptist
Church of Hammond, Indiana, where he is pastor. Last year there were
more than 2800 public professions of faith in Christ in that church
and Dr. Hyles baptized 1410 of these converts.
On the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem
we are told, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:
and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand
souls" (Acts 2:41). And Acts 5:42, speaking of the same group
of Christians at Jerusalem, says, "And daily in the temple,
and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." And
Acts 2:47 tells us after Pentecost, "And the Lord added to the
church daily such as should be saved."
So it is proper for a local New Testament
church to be in the daily business of winning souls, and such a church
should baptize converts at least every week.
Records indicate that up until 1966,
only about 20 churches in America baptized as many as 200 converts
a year. The largest non-Catholic denomination in America baptized
about 11 1/2 converts per church averaging about 365 members or about
1 convert to every 30 or 31 members. Other groups with smaller churches
baptized fewer per church. Some smaller groups baptized more. Yet
a half dozen fundamental Baptist churches baptized from 350 to more
than 1700 converts per year. How do they win so many souls in a year's
time?
Dr. Hyles here tells how any pastor
and church not baptizing hundreds of converts in a year can set out
to win and baptize many more converts than ever before by God's blessing.
Not all converts will be baptized.
Some with an ingrained prejudice are not at once ready for baptism.
Some go to other denominations and some live far and thus prefer
some other church. Sometimes little children are saved and it is
wise to counsel with their fathers and mothers and to make sure that
they understand the plan of salvation and are definitely assured
of their faith in Christ. Thus not all converts will be baptized
in a strongly evangelistic church that wins them.
Yet all Christians ought to be baptized
and the number of converts baptized is the most fair and reliable
measure of the success of a church in following Christ's Great Commission
to, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt.
28:19,20).
Scores of churches are setting out
to win and baptize 200 converts or more in a year's time. We thank
Dr. Hyles for suggesting methods to help us in this holy business
of fulfilling Christ's command.
John R. Rice
February, 1967
Let's Baptize
More Converts (by Dr. Jack Hyles)
"Who baptized
Jesus?" asked a beginner Sunday school teacher.
After a few moments of deliberation
little Johnny raised his hand and answered, "John the Baptist
did."
"That's right," replied
the teacher. "Now another question: Who baptized John the Baptist?" This
was a real stumper. Finally, after much deliberation, little Johnny's
hand went up again. "All right, Johnny, who did baptize John
the Baptist?"
"Brother Hyles did," replied
the boy.
This took place in a little Country
church in East Texas in 1949. I was the pastor of the little country
church. The teacher was one of our fine teachers, and Johnny was
one of our beginner boys. Johnny said a great deal about his pastor
in that little statement. He was saying, "My pastor must have
baptized almost everybody because he baptizes so much." He was
also saying, "My pastor puts a great stress on baptism and even
John the Baptist would have been pleased to have Brother Hyles baptize
him."
Johnny was right in one respect. Brother
Hyles does place a big emphasis on baptism. To be sure, baptism is
not necessary to salvation, but it is necessary to obedience. There
are several reasons why it is important. The first is, baptism pictures
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We should tell
the world immediately upon salvation that we believe in these basic
truths.
Then, baptism also pictures what has
happened to us at salvation. It is somewhat like an X-ray. An X-ray
reveals internal conditions to the human eye; baptism reveals salvation
to the human eye. One says to the world, "Look, let me show
you outwardly what happened to me inwardly. As I go down into the
water, I am showing you that I have buried the old life; and as I
rise from the water. I am showing you that I have risen to walk in
the newness of life. I am a new creature and I want you to see it."
Then, baptism also identifies us with
Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Baptism is one of the few things that
we can do exactly like Jesus did. Oh, yes, we are to strive to be
like Him. We are to follow His example. The first and best way for
a Christian to do this is by obeying His command of baptism.
Jesus places a great deal of emphasis
on baptism. This is shown so vividly in the inclusion of this ordinance
in the Great Commission. Had it not been important to Him, He would
not have included it in what we commonly call "The Great Commission."
In March of 1965, I went on a tour
of Bible Lands. It was my privilege to baptize four people in the
Jordan River. We walked out into the Jordan River just where the
Sea of Galilee flows into the Jordan. With the Sea of Galilee in
the background and the Promise Land framing the scene, I, like John
the Baptist, baptized in the Jordan. As the five of us walked into
the river, a group of nineteen believers sang:
On Jordan's stormy
banks I stand,
And cast a wistful
eye
To Canaan's fair
and happy land,
Where my possessions
lie.
I am hound for the promised land ...
I am bound for the
promised land
0 who will come
and go with me?
I am bound for the
promised land.
What a thrill it was to baptize in
the Jordan River!
It is, however, my privilege to enjoy
that same thrill Sunday after Sunday, as newborn babes in Christ
follow the command of the Saviour in believers' baptism. It is my
desire in the next few pages to help pastors and churches around
the world increase their number of converts and the number of baptisms.
May God use these remarks to fulfill that purpose.
I. FIND NEW
AVENUES OF PROSPECTS
When most of us
think of prospects, we limit our thoughts to new families moving
in our area, or those found in a church census, etc. There are, however,
thousands of people who go practically unnoticed, uncared for, and,
sad to say, unloved by the average church. Now to notice a few of
these:
1.
The Retarded and Educable Slow
Recently, at First
Baptist Church, we became aware of the many children who are retarded,
and, therefore, unable to sit in the average Sunday school class
and be helped. This led us to start a class for children twelve and
under who are mentally behind their age. It wasn't long until twelve
to fifteen were attending every Sunday.
How did this help increase our converts?
In two ways: First, the fact that we had such a class made it possible
for the entire families to come to Sunday school who were previously
unable to do so. We have had mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters
saved because there was a class for the educable slow in our church.
In the second place, it is surprising
how many children who are twelve years of age and are somewhat retarded
still can comprehend the plan of salvation. We have a little fellow
who is about eleven and has the mind of a child about six or seven
who understood clearly what it means to be a sinner and that Jesus
died on the cross for sinners, and gladly received Him as his Saviour.
It was my joy recently to baptize him and share with his family this
happy occasion.
This class grew so rapidly that God
burdened us for a class for older retarded people. Now we have about
fifteen older ones attending this class. Think of this! Approximately
thirty retarded people are attending our Sunday school. The average
family has four members. That means there are three others in each
family who now can attend Sunday school also. This could be an increase
of one hundred twenty in Sunday school attendance and many more conversions
and baptisms.
2.
A Class Taught in a Foreign Language
We found that in
our area there are many people who speak only Spanish. Hundreds of
them attend no Sunday school whatsoever. God gave us a fine soul-winning
lady who speaks Spanish fluently. She now teaches the Sunday school
lesson in Spanish each Sunday. Scores of Spanish-speaking people
have been saved from this new class.
While in Ottawa, Canada, one pastor
said, "This would apply to us. We have many French-speaking
people in Ottawa. A Sunday school class taught in French would, no
doubt, enable us to reach many people that we have not been reaching."
3.
A Work With the Deaf
It is unbelievable
how many deaf people there are in the average city. The Sunday before
this writing we had forty-three deaf people in our Sunday school.
The lesson is taught in sign language and then the deaf come to the
regular preaching service and have the message interpreted to them,
during the service, by the deaf interpreter. We have many saved and
baptized from this ministry.
Think for a minute what we have already
done in reaching just the retarded, the Spanish-speaking and the
deaf. If we could reach one hundred twenty people in the families
of the retarded children, forty-three in deaf class and fifteen or
twenty in the Spanish-speaking class, we have increased our Sunday
school by nearly two hundred and have found avenues of reaching many
more for Christ.
4.
Work With the Shut-ins
One lady of our
church goes into the homes of each shut-in once a month. Shetakes
a tape recorder and plays one of the pastor's messages and a personal
greeting from the pastor. She will take some little gift from the
church, and spend a few minutes meeting the spiritual needs of the
shut-in. When the shut-in is won to Christ, we provide an ambulance,
if needed, or a wheel chair, a hospital bed and any other need that
will enable them to come to the services. We carry them bodily to
the dressing room and baptize them. Shouldn't the shut-ins have the
privilege or being baptized after they are saved? Certainly they
should.
It is often necessary to have a private
service for them. It is not too unusual for us to have a shut-in
baptized in the presence of the family and few friends on a week
day or a Sunday afternoon.
5.
New Buses
Probably nothing
would help to increase one's Sunday attendance and the number of
conversions and baptisms more than starting bus routes. At the First
Baptist Church of Hammond, we now operate thirty-seven routes bringing
between one thousand and thirteen hundred people to Sunday school
and church every Sunday. Though we will not go into the organizational
part of the bus ministry, and it takes organization and hard work,
let me stress the importance of adding new buses and new routes.
People who come on a new bus route are net gain. Many churches could
baptize hundreds more a year by adding buses and bus routes.
6.
Poor Children
We have found in
our area scores of little children from poor homes who actually never
eat a real good hot meal. We have started a Sunday school class for
them, and at noon on Sunday feed them a hot meal. Of course, this
is limited just to the poor. We are now having between fifty and
a hundred in this class. Many of these boys and girls only get one
good meal a week. And while they do, they get the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
There are many avenues of reaching
prospects. Such things as rescue mission work, work in the rest homes,
canvassing trailer courts, work with the blind, etc., will bring
eternal rewards and increase the churches' number of conversions
and baptisms.
II. MAKE EVERY
SERVICE EVANGELISTIC AND ADVERTIZE YOUR CHURCH AS AN EVANGELISTIC
CHURCH
It is extremely
important that the entire area be conscious that your churchis after
sinners and aware of the fact that at any given service you are trying
to reach people for Christ. This will encourage them to bring their
loved ones and friends to your services if they want to get them
saved. Your church should be known as an evangelistic headquarters
in the city.
Let me illustrate. A lady in our city
who attends another church recently called me on the telephone telling
me that her husband was coming to our services that evening. Then
she continued to say that her church was having a musical program,
and her husband finally consented to go to a service one time. She
knew that the First Baptist Church would try to get him saved. She
knew that no musical program ever takes the place of preaching in
our Sunday services. She could count on it. She brought him: he was
saved. He joined her church after he was saved and is now attending
faithfully. Scores of people do this each year.
One lady called me on the phone and
said, "I attend another church, but my brother is dying in the
hospital and I want you to try to win him." I asked her why
she didn't call her own pastor. She replied, "He does not specialize
in those cases." But she knew I did. So we reached him for Christ
before he died.
This will enable you to be a blessing
to other churches as well as your own. It is vitally important for
an evangelistic church to be known as such. And even if a sermon
is directed to Christians, there should be a strong evangelistic
appeal at the end of the message inviting people to come to Jesus
Christ.
Now, we do have musical programs,
but they are on week nights and announced as such. We do have Christmas
programs and Christian movies, but they are at times other than the
announced public preaching service. We always have the preaching
of the Word of God and a gospel invitation in our Sunday services.
Suppose that a person prays for a
lost loved one. Finally, his prayer is answered and the loved one
agrees to attend the services. Suppose that this particular service
is one where no invitation is given and no evangelistic appeal is
offered. What a tragedy this would be! Now I am not saying that everything
in the church should be evangelism, but I am saying that everything
in the church should ultimately end in the salvation of souls, and
that people should know they can bring their lost loved ones to the
services at any time to have them hear the message of salvation and
have an opportunity to be converted.
III. BAPTIZE
BOTH SUNDAY MORNING AND SUNDAY EVENING AND BAPTIZE THE CONVERTS IMMEDIATELY
UPON SALVATION
We should make it
easy for people to be baptized. It is a step of obedience. It is
the first step of obedience after salvation. Many churches could
double their baptisms simply by baptizing on Sunday morning as well
as Sunday evening and by having the baptistry filled at all times
and by having necessary preparation for such services.
This is not foreign to New Testament
practice. In fact, in the New Testament, baptism immediately followed
salvation. Acts 2:41 says, "Then they that gladly received his
word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about
three thousand souls." Notice the words "the same day." Hence,
on Pentecost the converts were baptized immediately.
Now turn to Acts 2:47. " Praising
God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved." Notice that the converts
were being added to the church daily. Since the converts were being
baptized before being added to the church, this would lead us to
believe that they continued baptizing converts immediately upon salvation.
In Acts 8:37,38 we read, " And
Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went
down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized
him." Now here was a man whom Philip had never seen before.
He was of another race and another country. He was just traveling
through, yet he was baptized immediately.
Now turn to Acts 9:17,18, "And
Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his
hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared
unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest
receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately
there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight
forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." The Apostle Paul likewise
was baptized soon after his salvation.
We also find the same thing in Acts
10:47,48. "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be
baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he
commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed
they him to tarry certain days." In the house of Cornelius Peter
had preached. Many had been saved. Now they are ready for a baptismal
service.
In Acts 16:14.15 we read. "And
a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira,
which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that
she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when
she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If
ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house,
and abide there. And she constrained us." Here again we have
a convert. Here is a lady that perhaps Paul had never seen before,
yet she was saved and immediately baptized. In this same chapter
we have a similar story. Look at Acts 16:33, "And he took them
the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized,
he and all his, straightway." Note the words "the same
hour."
Believing that our church should follow
the New Testament pattern, the First Baptist Church of Hammond has
practiced this for a number of years. To do so, however, there are
certain provisions that must be made.
1. Clothing. The ladies in
the church keep us supplied with baptismal robes or smocks for the
new converts to wear. We have all sizes and also keep a generous
supply of underclothing for the converts. This enables them to be
baptized in the same service when they make their public profession
of faith.
2. Towels. Scores of towels
are kept available for the converts to use. This means that the convert
has to bring nothing with him for baptism. He may be baptized, as
was the case in the Book of Acts, on the "same day."
3. Hairdryers. We keep a generous
supply of hairdryers available (especially for the ladies) to avoid
catching colds, etc.
4. Caps. We provide plastic
caps for the ladies with which to cover their hair if they prefer
not to get their hair wet.
5. Helpers. There are many
people involved in making an immediate baptismal service possible.
First, there are folks who work at the altar, talking to the new
converts and, after they have trusted Jesus and are assured of salvation,
explaining to them that they can be baptized immediately. These workers
also point them to the door leading to the stairs and the baptismal
room. Just inside the door there is a young man who is waiting for
the converts pointing to the stairs leading to the baptistry. Then
at the top of the stairs there is a young man to show them which
is the ladies' room and which is the men's room. Inside the dressing
room there are little stalls, about the size of a telephone booth,
where the people dress for baptism. Three to five ladies work in
the ladies' room, and three to five men work in the men's room passing
out the towels, smocks, etc., and helping the converts in preparation
for baptism. Then there is a person at the top of the steps leading
down into the baptistry who explains to them how to be baptized before
they enter the water. Then there are three of us down in the water.
While I am baptizing a man, one of the men In the water is getting
a lady down in the water. While the man leaves the baptistry, the
lady is coming in. While she is being baptized, the third man is
preparing a man and helping him down into the water. After the lady
leaves, a man comes. This enables us to baptize about four to five
converts a minute without any appearance of rushing and taking no
less time with each person in the actual experience of baptism. We
will baptize an average of twenty-five to thirty each Sunday morning,
and the entire service takes only about ten minutes.
It is sad that many churches make
it difficult to get baptized. Take this same logic and use it about
other things that a new Christian should do. Should we let a new
Christian wait awhile before he tithes? Should we make it hard for
him to tithe? Should we make it hard for a new Christian to quit
drinking and smoking? Should we advise him to go back to the bar
for awhile to be sure he is saved? Or should we make it easy for
him to quit his sins and start tithing? The sad thing is that many
of us do not look upon baptism as being an act of obedience on the
part of the believer. So in many cases we actually hinder him from
being obedient in baptism.
We should not overlook the fact that
the baptistry should be filled and warm at all services, and that
the baptismal service should be an impressive one. It should be done
smoothly and gracefully. People should get the idea that it is not
a hard thing to get baptized. Many people do not want to get baptized
because they are afraid of the water. Often times this fear is created,
at least enhanced, by a pastor not taking the proper care in the
actual administrating of the ordinance. If it is done in a crude,
jerky way, it may strike fear into the hearts of people, especially
little ones, who will not want to get baptized because they are afraid
of the ordeal.
IV. PASTOR
AND PEOPLE SHOULD SET PERSONAL GOALS FOR SOUL WINNING
Just as it is wise
for the church to have many saved and baptized, it is also wise for
the pastor to set a personal goal for himself and lead his people
in the same thing. For example, why couldn't a pastor be responsible
for baptizing fifty-two converts a year that he wins to Christ? This
certainly should be a minimum. I have numbers of people in my church
who are responsible for more than this, and I have several people
in my church who bring over one hundred converts a year down the
aisle professing faith in Jesus Christ. It might be well for the
pastor to preach on soul winning and for his invitation ask the people
to set a goal and ask God to give them that goal for souls for the
coming year.
Immediately someone will suggest that
numbers are not important and that we should not major on numbers.
That is true if you are majoring on numbers for numbers' sake. But
if you are majoring on numbers for souls' sake, certainly it is justifiable.
Any church should be more pleased at baptizing one hundred than fifty,
or two hundred than one hundred. Numbers are simply expressions of
the intensity of soul-winning effort.
Let us look in the Word of God. In
Acts 2:41 we find these words, "Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them
about three thousand souls." You will notice that the Holy Spirit
was very careful to say there were about "3,000" saved
at Pentecost.
Then in Acts 4:4, "Howbeit many
of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men
was about five thousand." Notice in this verse about "5,000" more
were saved. The Holy Spirit was very careful to deal in numbers.
Now turn back to Acts 1:15, "And
in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said,
(the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty)." Somebody
counted the prayer meeting crowd, didn't they?
Now to John 6:10, "And Jesus
said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place.
So the men sat down, in number about five thousand." This great
miracle of the feeding of five thousand men plus women and children
is called by most of us the "feeding of the 5,000." The
very fact that we have given it this title means that we are stressing
numbers.
Now look at John 6:9: "There
is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes:
but what are they among so many?" The Holy Spirit is very careful
to tell us about how many fishes and how many loaves.
In John 6:13, "Therefore they
gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments
of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them
that had eaten." Here we find that the Holy Spirit tells us
how many baskets of fragments remain.
These are only a few examples of scores
of others in the Bible where the Holy Spirit deals in numbers. Numbers
are important with God. He had rather see two people saved than one.
He had rather see one hundred saved than fifty. He had rather see
two hundred saved than one hundred because every statistic represents
a soul who will spend eternity with Christ and escape the fires of
Hell.
V. WE SHOULD
BATHE THE CHURCH IN SOUL WINNING
Everything we do
in the church should have behind it the underlying passion that men
are lost and must be saved if they go to Heaven. Soul-winning churches
must be made up of soul-winning ingredients. One cannot use pink
and white brick in a building and have a red brick building. A housewife
cannot use sand, red clay and mud and make an angel food cake. Neither
can our churches leave off soul-winning ingredients and have in the
end soul-winning churches.
Let us notice the necessary ingredients
if one is to have a soul-winning church.
1.
A Soul-Winning Pastor
It is utter folly
to think that a soul-winning church could exist without a soul-winning
pastor. Someone has said that everything rises and falls on leadership.
If a church is to be a warm, evangelistic, soul-winning institution,
it must be led by a soul winning pastor. Would God that every pulpit
committee in America when seeking a pastor would settle for nothing
less than a man who is an active soul winner.
"Is he married?"
"Does he have curly hair?"
"What seminary did he attend?"
"How old is he?"
"How many children does he have?"
"Is he handsome?"
These and many other questions are
asked concerning the choosing of a new pastor when a pulpit is vacant.
Oh, may God help us to ask, "Is he a soul winner?"
2.
Soul-Winning Deacons
If a church is going
to be a soul-winning institution, it must of necessity have soul-winning
ingredients. The second of these ingredients must be soul-winning
deacons. Far too many churches consider the financial standing of
a man when choosing him to be a deacon. Being a businessman does
nor make a man qualified to be a deacon. Being a successful politician,
an influential banker, or a wealthy financier should give a man no
advantage at all over any other man when it comes to choosing a deacon.
Literally hundreds of churches do
not have one active soul winner on the board, and yet, hope somehow
that this kind of an ingredient, added to others of similar weaknesses,
will in the end bring a soul-winning church. This, of course, is
foolishness.
At the First Baptist Church in Hammond,
we have sixty fine, consecrated deacons. These men are not chosen
because of their financial standing, their social position, or educational
background, but rather because of their love for the Word of God
and the compassion for lost souls. Let us choose soul-winning deacons.
3.
A Soul-Winning Staff
The idea of hiring
specialists for a staff is a dangerous one. To be sure, a music director
should know music. A secretary should be able to type. The youth
director should have a heart for young people. And the custodian
should use a broom. But this should not end their responsibilities.
At First Baptist Church, we require
every staff member to be a soul winner and spend at least four hours
a week in personal soul winning. We would not want someone leading
our choir in "Send the Light," "Rescue the Perishing," "Where
Be Leads Me I Will Follow," and other great songs who is not
a soul winner. I would not want anyone typing my letters who was
not a soul winner. How foolish it is to think that we can hire a
pastor who is not a soul winner, ordain deacons because of their
community standing, employ a staff of specialists and end up with
a soul-winning church. If this is true, then two plus two equals
eighteen.
4.
Soul-Winning Members
According to the
Great Commission, we are to teach new converts to go and get others
converted. How sad it is that in many churches it is years before
a Christian knows how to be a soul winner. And many a Christian,
it is sad to say, never learns to be a soul winner. He simply is
not taught. He is taught church doctrine, the Articles of Faith,
and even church history, but not soul winning. Yet, many churches
guilty of this error would consider themselves soul-winning churches,
or at least desirous of becoming so.
At our new members' reception, when
we welcome new members into our church family, we give them a copy
of my book, Let's Go Soul Winning. This gives them a step-by-step
set of instructions as to how to win a soul to Christ. The following
Sunday night they are taught how to win souls. This is the first
thing that our new members learn.
It is not unusual for a person to
be winning souls to Christ within the first week or two after he
is saved and many of our converts will win a dozen or more in the
first month. This is the New Testament pattern.
The woman at the well of Sychar in
John chapter 4 did not wait until she had a Bible institute diploma
before going to Sychar and bringing people to Jesus. Andrew did not
wait for a seminary degree before bringing Peter to Jesus, in John
1. Let us teach our new Christians how to become soul winners, and
have a soul-winning membership.
5.
Soul-Winning Worship
A pastor chosen
because of his good looks, a deacon board chosen because of financial
position, a staff chosen to be a group of experts and specialists,
an untrained membership, and a ritualistic, formal Sunday morning
worship service, do not equal a soul-winning church. If we are to
have the pie, we must have the ingredients. If we reach the result,
we must use the means.
Perhaps nothing hinders soul winning
any more in our churches than our misconception of what worship really
is. The Old Testament idea that God lives in the church house and
that we come by to see Him every Sunday, making us enter the church
as we would a morgue, and behave ourselves as at a funeral, is certainly
discouraging to New Testament evangelism and personal soul winning.
If we plan to have Billy Sunday results, we had better have Billy
Sunday services. If we plan to have an evangelistic end, we had better
use evangelistic means.
Now it may be that you do not want
an evangelistic church. If this be true, then, you certainly have
a right to use non-evangelistic methods. But for one to say he wants
an evangelistic church and use methods foreign to such results is
inconsistency. Let us have dignity in our services. Let them be planned
decently and in order. Let there be true Bible reverence, but not
the ritualistic order of service we have borrowed from Catholicism
which tends to deaden our services, drive away the common man, and
lessen soul winning and evangelistic fervor.
6.
A Soul-Winning Mission Program
If we are to build
soul-winning churches, we must build them abroad as well as at home.
It is not enough to give great sums of money to foreign missions
and not see to it that the foreign missionaries are winning souls.
Often times a church will boast concerning the thousands of dollars
it gives to foreign missions, and will actually get fewer souls saved
for its money than a church that gives much less to real warm-hearted
evangelistic missionaries. We should see to it the kind of work our
missionaries do overseas is typical of the kind of work we are trying
to do at home.
For a number of years now we have
required each missionary supported by the First Baptist Church to
fill out a questionnaire annually. He must sign a statement as to
his doctrinal soundness, personal separation from the world, and
loyalty to the First Baptist Church. He must give a report of his
soul-winning and evangelistic efforts. A missionary who is not majoring
on soul winning is dropped from our budget. Of course, we do not
leave him stranded on the field. If he is completely dependent upon
our support, we wait until his next furlough. I am simply saying
that every ingredient of a soul-winning church should be a soul-winning
ingredient if we are to have the desired end.
7.
Soul-Winning Music
Few things in our
churches have done as much to steal the spirit of evangelism as has
our music. If one would have Billy Sunday results, perhaps he should
try Homer Rodeheaver music. If one would want the results of Moody,
perhaps he should sing the songs of Sankey. The kind of music that
tends to build soul-winning churches is that kind which has been
tested and tried in revivals - the kind which the people know and
love; the kind which moves the heart and not the head, the kind whose
words bring out the deep truths of the Word of God.
We use no anthems in the First Baptist
Church. It is not because we do not like them but because we feel
they are not conducive to soul winning and evangelism. We sing the
songs such as "Rescue the Perishing," "Blessed Assurance," "How
Firm a Foundation," "The Old Rugged Cross," "There
Is Power in the Blood," "At Calvary," "At the
Cross," "Send the Light," etc. Yes, these songs are
sung on Sunday morning as well as Sunday evening. We do not delegate
the Sunday morning service to God the Father and the Sunday evening
service to Jesus Christ. We use the same type music in all of our
services, believing that the Gospel should be preached on Sunday
morning as well as Sunday night, and that Gospel music should be
used if Gospel results are desired.
One danger here is for the pastor
to leave the music entirely up to the music director. I do not mean
that the music director should have no freedom. However, I do mean
that the pastor should realize it is his right to have veto power.
The general type music should be approved by the pastor. It would
do many pastors and churches good to reconsider their musical program
and see that it is the type music that will bring soul-winning results.
8.
A Soul-Winning Invitation
There is an old
spiritual that says, " Ev'rybody talkin' about Heaven ain't
going there." We could paraphrase it and say, "A lot of
folks talking about soul winning ain't doing it."
If a church is to be a soul-winning
church, there should be a fifty-two-week-a-year consistency in its
program of soul winning. Invitations should be given both morning
and evening and a burden and compassion should be evident at every
invitation. I fear the trend toward simply asking interested people
to seethe pastor after the service, where no invitation hymn is sung
and no sincere heart appeal is made for people to come to Jesus Christ.
Let us train soul winners to work
with converts. Let us study carefully the invitations of the great
revival meetings of the past. If we would have revival results perennially,
let us have evangelistic invitations regularly.
9.
An Evangelistic Budget
Check the budget
of the average church and you will be surprised how little money
is spent for soul-winning purposes. Oh, yes, we say we believe in
soul winning, and at The same time spend our money for other purposes.
As we draw up our budgets, let us support schools that train soul
winners, missionaries who are soul winners, local mission projects
that are after souls, and pay the salaries of staff members who win
souls. Include in the budget such soul-winning ministries as bus
routes, rescue mission, tracts, etc.
l0.
A Soul-Winning Schedule
I have reviewed
and read many church calendars. After reading them it is not hard
to understand why our churches are not soul-winning institutions.
Check the average schedule of activities for a typical church. It
will include a mixed bowling league, the men's soft ball team, the
ladies aid, the children's party, the youth skating party. See how
many times you see anything mentioned concerning a soul-winning activity.
The poorest attended meetings of the
average church are the visitation meetings. Ten times as many people
will work in the church kitchen as will work on the church field.
We pastors certainly find ourselves guilty as we plan our church
programs. We preach on soul winning and schedule it right out of
the church. We have plenty of time for all of our meetings and plenty
of people attend, but so little time for soul winning. Yet we preach
on soul winning and say we want a soul-winning church.
We want to choose a pastor because
of the vocabulary, deacons because they are rich, have members that
have not been taught, budgets that bypass evangelism, ritualistic
worship, long-haired music, brief invitations, and using those as
ingredients, pull out of the oven a soul-winning church. Brethren,
it simply will not work.
11.
Soul-Winning Organization
Here is a sore spot
and a hindrance to building a great soul-winning church. Laymen who
work hard all day and have a limited number of hours to serve the
Lord or the church find themselves using these hours in unnecessary
committee activity and finding themselves with no hours left to go
soul winning.
It does not take a committee of five
to put the flowers on the Lord's Supper table every Sunday morning.
It does not take a committee of ten to tell the music director what
the special should be on Sunday. It does not take a committee of
three to put an ad in the newspaper every Saturday. Why couldn't
these same people organize soul-winning committees, rescue mission
committees, tract committees, house-to-house committees, visitation
committees, etc., thereby utilizing what spare time the laymen do
have in the fulfilling of the Great Commission.
We have trained churches full of specialists
who attend every meeting except the soul-winning meeting; do church
work, and yet, not the work that Jesus called us to do; and have
a form of godliness but know nothing of the power thereof. The average
church is so bogged down with too much organization that the people
simply do not have time to carry out the Great Commission in their
individual lives. Yet, we wonder why we do not have stalwart people;
we wonder why the prayer meeting attendance is down; we wonder why
the number of baptisms are down. We weep, and oftentimes even pray,
over our lack of soul-winning fervor and at the same time organize
soul winning out the back door of the church. Brethren, our people
simply do not have time to win souls when they are committed to committees
that have little or no purpose for existence.
At the First Baptist Church in Hammond
we have helped to solve this problem by having many deacons and choosing
each of our church officers from the board of deacons. Our board
of deacons meet regularly and when our deacons are in session, every
committee and officer in our church is present. There is no such
thing, then, as a week-night committee meeting in our church. We
operate on the democratic principle. Thedeacons are advisors, the
church votes the decisions for the business matters on the floor
of the church, and the membership is trained to do the thing that
Jesus left us here to do.
12.
Soul-Winning Liabilities
To be sure there
are many liabilities that come with a soul-winning church. A soul-winning
church may be a little noisier than the average church because it
will have a lot of poor people there who are unaccustomed to coming
to church. It will take them a while to learn how to behave as they
should. Then a soul-winning church will also have more dropouts than
a church that is not evangelistic. The more babies you have, the
more likely you are to lose one.
The same is true in a home. If a couple
wants to have clean walls, no dirty diapers, no baby clothes hanging
on the line, no burping on a clean dress, no broken vases, no fingerprints
on the mirrors, and no hand prints on the towels, then it is best
they have no children. With children comes these liabilities. But
blessed be God, they are worth every one of them! So are the souls
of men worth the price we pay.
VI. HAVE A
SOUL-WINNING COURSE AND USE SOUL-WINNING SKITS
Once a year at our
church we have a course on personal soul winning. This course is
sometimes taught on several consecutive evenings. Sometimes it is
over a period of several weeks on Wednesday nights, but every year
we teach our people how to win souls to Christ. We use the simple
little plan in my book, Let's Go Soul Winning, published by
the Sword of the Lord Publishers at $1.00 per copy. We do not go
into the details as to what Scriptures to use for what particular
kind of sinner. We simply teach the simple way to lead a soul to
Christ. We call it the "Roman Road."
Then, from time to time, we have soul-winning
skits. Someone that we have won to Christ is brought to the platform.
The experience is relived before the people. Such a skit is presented
on my long-play record recorded by Diadem Studios and sold at $3.79
per copy. This record deals for forty minutes with the soul-winning
course that we teach and for twenty minutes in an actual experience
of winning a soul to Christ.
A number of years ago we had such
a skit. The person who had been won to Christ was asked if he were
a Christian. He replied, "Yes." We paused for a minute
and explained to him that we were reliving his experience and wanted
him to act as he did the day he was saved.
Again we knocked on the door and asked. "Sir,
are you a Christian?"
He replied, " ... Yes ... I am
... ." Again we interrupted the skit and reminded him that he
was supposed to say, "No, I am not a Christian," because
we were showing the people what happened the day he was saved. It
seemed that he understood. Again, we knocked on the door and asked, "Are
you a Christian?"
"Yes," he replied. Then
he began to weep a little and said with puckered lips, "I am
not going to get lost again for nobody."
VII. THE PASTOR
AND GOOD SOUL WINNERS SHOULD TAKE PROSPECTIVE SOUL WINNERS WITH THEM
It is not a good
idea for two good soul winners to go soul winning together. It is
best for them to divide and each take another who can learn by watching.
When Jesus was on earth, He took twelve men with Him. They watched
Him, followed Him, and learned His work. Upon His going back to Heaven,
He left His work in their hands, they had learned by watching His
example. I take people soul winning with me very often. Some of the
finest soul winners we have in our church are people who have been
soul winning with the pastors and have learned by watching.
One of the finest things about personal
soul winning is that people won in the home by personal soul winners
become personal soul winners faster than those who are saved in the
public services. He sees a demonstration of soul winning at his own
conversion. Actually, then, we train a soul winner before we get
him converted. He sees how we work with him. Then, after he is converted,
he remembers how we worked with him and he, in turn, can use the
same method on another.
VIII. GIVE
AN INVITATION IN EACH SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS AND HAVE A BAPTISMAL SERVICE
AFTER SUNDAY SCHOOLThere
are many lost people in our Sunday schools who never attend the preaching
services. Many of these are children who are old enough to be saved
but are not allowed by their parents to stay for the preaching service.
Many of these never get saved, and thousands of people who are saved
and attend our Sunday schools never are present at a baptismal service.
It is startling to me that we have our baptismal service at the poorest
attended service of the day. During the Sunday school when the crowd
is the biggest, we do not give the folks a chance to get saved. The
morning service is a formal worship service (at least this is the
case in many churches), and we delegate the evangelistic service
to the Sunday night service when the people who need it most are
not there. Periodically in the First Baptist Church we have an invitation
given in each Sunday school class. It is amazing how many unsaved
people we could find who are saved through this means.
The Sunday school could dismiss ten
or fifteen minutes early some Sunday and come in the auditorium for
a baptismal service. Those who are saved in the Sunday school hour
and who will be baptized could be baptized then. This is simply another
way to increase the number of converts baptized in our churches.
IX. AN INSIDE
CHURCH CENSUS
When I was pastor
of a little country church, we took a census of our neighborhood
and only found seven prospects. Then we decided to take an inside
church census and found about forty-five prospects. Many of these
were won to Christ later. An inside church census simply is what
its name implies. Take a census of the house in which each member
of the church lives. Ask each member to take his own census bringing
to you the name, age, spiritual condition and address of every person
who lives in his house. It is shocking how many people live in the
houses of our members and do not attend our churches. This is an
especially good idea for churches in rural areas and small towns
where prospects are not abundant.
X. INCLUDE
THE SUBJECT OF BAPTISM IN A SERMON ALMOST EVERY SUNDAY
Just one sentence
could be said about baptism each Lord's day. In other words, the
general atmosphere of the church should be that for a Christian not
being baptized is a sin and that to be obedient a new convert must
be baptized. The people should get the idea that baptism has nothing
to do with salvation. However, they should be made to feel that it
is a very important step, and that when they get saved, God wants
them to be baptized. This certainly does not deviate from the scriptural
practice and the example as set forth in the Book of Acts.
Now look at Matthew 28: 19 and 20. "Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I
am, with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Notice,
if you would please, the imperatives in these verses: Go, teach,
baptize and teach. You will notice the simple command of Christ is
that we go and tell people how to be saved, baptize them after they
are saved, and teach than to do what God commanded us to do. Since
God's command to us was go and get people saved and get them baptized,
then we are to teach others to go and get people saved and get them
baptized. Notice the divine order: Go, teach all nations, baptize,
and then train them to be soul winners. This is God's plan.
Let us carry out the Great Commission
to its fullest, remembering that people are lost without Christ and
need to be saved, and they too need to be baptized and trained to
go back and bring others to the Saviour.
Let's increase our
converts and our baptisms.
