volume 12, number 33, August 15, 2013

What's Our Problem?

And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved, Acts 2:47.

The great evangelistic preacher, D.L. Moody, died in 1899 and his death seemed to leave a vacuum in the evangelical world. Who would take up the mantle of evangelistic preaching? John H. Converse of Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia had designed a most efficient steam engine and consequently had become very wealthy. He knew a thing or two about managing people and instilling vision. He also was a fervent Presbyterian. He believed that evangelism could go forth, as in the days of Moody, if churches and evangelists would work together in what he called Simultaneous Campaigns. He promised to give $25,000 per year (a vast sum of money in those days) to fund evangelistic preaching throughout the United States. J. Wilbur Chapman, a Presbyterian pastor and evangelist in Philadelphia, became the leader of the movement. Simultaneous evangelistic preaching campaigns in various cities moved forward for a number of years, beginning around 1905, and these spread to sixty cities in the United States. In 1909 Chapman preached a series of meetings in Boston before thousands of people, calling these evangelistic meetings the greatest experience of his life.[1]

In the early 1900's the Presbyterian Church of the United States (PCUS), the so-called Southern Presbyterian Church, was also deeply concerned about the waning of evangelistic zeal. So church leaders prayed earnestly for God to raise up evangelistic preachers. From 1912 to 1925 the one million member PCUS averaged 24,000 people per year joining the church by profession of faith. By 1935 zeal was again waning so the General Assembly created a Permanent Committee on Evangelism. In 1939 a record 25,500 joined by profession of faith.[2] Dr. Benjamin Rice Lacy, Jr., the President of Union Theological Seminary at the time, in his book, Revival in the Midst of the Years, said this increase would not have occurred had it not been for their strenuous evangelistic effort. At the time, there were three synodical and twelve presbyterial evangelistic preachers traveling around the churches. Lacy says that at least another fifty men were doing similar work.

In contrast, I don't know of any Presbyterian preachers today given over exclusively to evangelistic preaching. And for the first time in years, the Presbyterian Church in America, the denomination in which I have my ministerial credentials, has fallen under 5000 adult professions of faith in 2012.[3] Many evangelical denominations are bleeding members.[4] We are losing ground. Not only that, but surely you will agree that the plethora of pastoral problems which plague many churches ought, at least, to raise the question-perhaps we have members who are not truly born again. After all, we cannot seem to get people motivated to pray, evangelize, repent of their sins, or stay in their marriages. Maybe some of our people slipped by the Session in their interview for church membership, giving the right words, professing a faith that they genuinely do not own. What must be done?

We need evangelism, all kinds of evangelism. We need one-on-one Evangelism Explosion type of evangelism. We need long term evangelistic Bible Studies like Christianity Explored and open forums by Search Ministries. We need long term, one-on-one approaches like Randy Pope's Life on Life Discipleship. We need street preaching. And yes, we need to revive evangelistic preaching. Keep in mind that the great revival, evangelistic preachers, men like George Whitefield, John Wesley, Howell Harris, Daniel Rowland, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Davies, et al preached to church goers. Almost everybody back then went to church. These preachers did not assume, however, that all their hearers were truly in Christ. I suggest that we in the evangelical world in general and the Presbyterian and Reformed world in particular are where we were in the old Southern Presbyterian Church in the 1950's and 60's. In the early days of the PCA, conservative, evangelical PCUS congregations left their denomination to join the PCA. So it is quite possible that most of these early members were truly born again, giving evidence of regenerating and justifying grace. I don't think we can still make that assumption. I reference again the many problems we find in churches, not the least of which is the hyper-grace movement which seems to cut the heart out of personal holiness, failing to consider seriously the call to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, to put off the old man and to put on the new man (2 Corinthians 7:1, Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:9-10).

So, most practically, what needs to happen? Pastors and Elders, I challenge you to do at least three things. First, make personal evangelism a priority. Teaching about it is not enough. You must model it. And your people will not learn how to share their faith in a classroom. One does not learn to swim in a desert. He must go into the pool. So, start taking people out weekly to share the gospel. I have lots of friends who will come to your church and help you with it. Just let me know if you want any evangelists to come your way. Second, I challenge you to preach evangelistically at your church. This obviously starts with serious revival prayer, but it should lead to evangelistic preaching by the pastor. Ideally, I believe you should resurrect the Sunday night service, perhaps tweak your music a bit, and urge your people to bring their friends and you preach evangelistic sermons. Or have a Saturday night service at your church or even some neutral venue (like a coffee house), have some music, and then preach the gospel. Preach it boldly, uncompromisingly, full of grace and truth. And third, I challenge you to bring in an evangelistic preacher for either one service on a Sunday morning, or better yet, a series of meetings over several nights. I know we cannot get our people out to lengthy meetings, but perhaps we should pray about this, asking God to send a revival of hunger for the word, bringing conviction of sin to people in our communities and churches.

The American church in dying. When are we going to wake up and face the music? With a few wonderful exceptions, a kind of oasis in the desert, the church is in trouble. We must again do what John H. Converse did, what the PCUS did so many years ago-ask God to raise up preaching evangelists and to send them forth to the churches and world. It is still through the foolishness of the message preached that people are saved (1 Corinthians 1:21).

1. Colliers Magazine, Volume 50, January 25, 1913, Peter Clark

MacFarlane

2. Watchman, Tell It True, by Otto Whittaker, page 301-302.

3. Administration Committee Report, <www.pcaac.org In 2008

the PCA reported 5446 adult professions of faith. By 2012

the number had fallen to 4839, a twelve percent decrease.

4. The Southern Baptist Convention membership numbers have

fallen for the third year in a row, while cults like the Mormons

have grown by 1.4 % and Jehovah Witnesses by 4.37 %.