Leadership
Seven Tips for Soul Winning
By Michael I. Shukrani
No one having gone through the book of Acts can contend that the Early Church was exceptionally fruitful. The key fact that testifies the fruitfulness of the apostolic Church is the fast and perpetual increase in the number of souls. Many passages support this truth:
¡°¡And they were added unto them three thousand souls ¡ And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved ¡ Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of men was about five thousand ¡ And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both men and women.¡± (Acts 2.41,47, 4.4, 5.14)
Do our congregations today produce the same result as the apostolic church, or even more? If yes, praise the Lord! Otherwise something must go wrong and needs to be fixed the soonest.
Frankly speaking, if we fail to produce the same results as the apostolic church, no matter the reasons that might be put forth, we have no excuse before the Lord. This is because we have within our reach many more resources for evangelism than the Early Church had. First, we are dealing with the same God as theirs. Second, we have well-constituted Bibles containing a great deal of well-ordered divine knowledge necessary for great soul winning. (Yet they did not have Bibles as we do today.) Third, we have at our disposal more sophisticated means of transport and communication, which they did not have at all. Moreover, the Lord has assured us that we can do all that He did and even more (John 14.12) ¨C including soul winning.
In the light of this view, I would like, in the few lines below, to suggest seven tips which do not only lay down the main reasons why many churches prove unsuccessful in soul winning, but also show what buttons to press in order to achieve tremendous winning of souls.
1. Knowing the Value of a Soul
The fact of knowing how valuable something or someone is really determines your attitude toward them. The reason why people are so busy hunting for money to the point of even committing murder is that they are convinced that money is valuable. That many today afford to toil for the sake of money is because their minds are impressed with the idea that money is of great value.
Similarly, your attitude toward souls depends on how impressed your mind is about the value of souls. Should you really know how so valuable and precious are, you will certainly be available to sacrifice for them and reach them willingly, whatever the price.
Standing on this view, it is mandatory for those who bear the label of soul winners or evangelists to deeply know how valuable souls are, no matter their social conditions.
2. Knowing God¡¯s Vision on Souls
Willing to win souls is good. But on top of that, it is vitally important to know exactly what to do with the souls won. It is quite worrying that many church leaders are more concerned with having figures swollen than the fate of the souls who join their congregations.
Let¡¯s reason together: Can the Lord put His souls ¨C who are so precious to Him ¨C in the hands of leaders who know little about what steps they must help souls pass through? Reason why it is essential for spiritual leaders to value this aspect because the Lord will not send souls to a congregation for nothing. But He always has a specific plan for each of His souls.
In general, God¡¯s vision for every human is Rebirth (John 3.3-5), Spiritual Growth (III John 2), Ministry (John 15.16, Luke 3.9, Matthew 28.19), and finally the Rapture (I Thessalonians 4.16-17).
3. Initiative and Strategy
Some congregations fail to grow in number either because they take no initiative to win souls or because they implement ineffective strategies.
It is noteworthy that unless man wants to do his part, God will not force him to. God is always available to help us in every good initiative. But it is our part to make the first step.
Besides, it is also essential to make sure that the strategy set up will prove effective. To do this, it takes much of subtlety, wisdom, and creativeness. By the way did you also know you can win souls through SMSing and e-mailing? This is to show that there are so many effective strategies that can be implemented in order to win souls on a large scale.
4. Real Motive for Soul Winning
The real motive for which you win souls does determine whether the Lord will assist you or not. In fact, several spiritual leaders fail in their soul winning schemes simply because they have no valid motive. To be more specific, some want to win souls to increase their finances. Others want to win souls to please their superiors in order to have a good report. Some other leaders want to win souls in order to brag about the huge number of souls filling their premises.
Will God really send souls where He knows they are going to be harnessed as ¡°money-trees ¡±? Will the Lord support an evangelistic scheme designed to inflate the leader with pride? This is food for thought!
5. Ministers Competence to Care for Souls
Another reason why the Lord is reluctant to support some evangelistic initiatives is that the organizers are not sufficiently competent ¨C it means spiritually mature ¨C to care adequately the many souls they wish to win. Well, this is quite logical. Is it reasonable to ask someone to lift a fifty-kilogram parcel while they are unable to lift five kilograms?
In this regard, should we expect the Lord to send souls to congregations consisting of only few competent ministers while the others shine in incompetence to care for souls? Certainly, if the Lord does, the few qualified ministers will be overloaded and see their performance reduced.
Based on this view, it is vitally important for church leaders to highlight the necessity of their ministers to grow mature enough to care for souls, and carry out some practical initiatives designed to increase the ministers¡¯ competence to care for souls.
Moreover, it is essential for pastors to encourage the saints to become active ministers, and impart them the essential training while offering them also the opportunity for practice.
6. Cooperation with the Boss
Unquestionably, Jesus is the Boss of the Church (Ephesians 4.15, Colossians 1.18). This means it is aberrant to hope for success in any Church-related scheme without cooperating with the Lord Jesus. No matter how effective the evangelistic plan might sound, Jesus is indispensable for success (John 15.5). It is here the importance of special earnest prayers for the evangelistic work. This is because it is Jesus who does touch the souls we reach through the various strategies implemented. Moreover, it necessary to seek His will and His guidance so that things can be carried out according to His own plan. Can Jesus¡¯ plan fail?
7. Souls¡¯ Interest
Want it or not, souls cannot join a congregation until they find any interest for them to. Forcing them to believe in the passages preached to them is ineffective unless the soul winner unfolds the interest of becoming Christ¡¯s disciples and the dangers of not being any.
It is here I usually ask soul winners to behave like marketers, who endeavor to convince the ¡°customer¡± (the soul) that the ¡°new product¡± (the Gospel) is far better than any other thing they have tasted on earth.
Note also that soul winners should prove the interest of being a Christian not only by convincing verbal arguments, but also by their own behaviors and, of course, by the signs and wonders the Lord will work. (Just as marketers cannot present a product they have never tried!)
Furthermore, once the souls join the congregation, they must feel that it is profitable for them to be part of the hosting assembly. (Just as marketers endeavor to increase customers¡¯ loyalty.)
Of course there is so much to say on this so broad an issue as soul winning. However, the little discussed in this publication can, if well implemented, help our congregations achieve global impact.
Definitely, this truth never fails: WHEN MAN DOES HIS PART, GOD WILL DO HIS; SHOULD WE MAKE THE FIRST STEP IN SOUL WINNING, GOD WILL CERTAINLY DO THE REST; And Mass soul winning will be a fate!
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