I do :)
> Our job is to get them to the place where they are confronted by Christ and his word. Christ's job is to convict them of their sins and draw them unto repentance. Or don't you believe that?
I do
Obviously you disagree with Gill who insisted that we need to compel them to come into the place where they are then confronted by the word of God, i.e., the house of worship.
Gill is one of my favorite commentaries. That is the "great commission" . It is our job to give the gospel message, it is the work of the spirit to fertilize that seed, to bring repentance and faith.
I just told someone on another thread, I never worry about it being rejected by the one I write it to, cause it is God that opens hearts and eyes. It will do just as he has intended, my intentions mean nothing. We are to press the gospel on men, invite them to church or do what ever is necessary for them to hear the gospel call.
In the reformation period they didn't have to entice people with smiles and coffee and a relaxed atmosphere to get the unchurched in the door, they could simply threaten them with bodily harm. We don't have that luxury anymore. Now all we can legally do is to entice them with our love and hit them over the head with the Gospel when they show up. Cast your line and reel it in. Tough love.
You know I really believe that God will work in us and in spite of us. We will invite many that may come for ever and never be saved, but that is not our concern, it is God that gives the increase.
I have no problem with having kids programs or vacation bible schools or young adults classes or even bowing if the only purpose is to see the gospel presented in some way. All too often it is cause the Pastor or leader wants good "numbers", so there is little to no investigation into the "results" of the altar calls. I wonder if they would rather not know :(
My major problem is that way too many churches never give solid meat to their members because they are always serving milk to the new comers/ visitors.
The church is to build up believers making them mature Christians able to take Christ out into the world (have an answer for the hope that is in you). The church was never the primary place of conversion, as you know during much of church history ( and Jewish tradition that the apostles came from) proselytes were not allowed into the church until they were baptized believers. The idea of making the church service the place of conversion is a fairly new phenomenon, and I see many problems with that practice and having the expectation that is where someone should be saved.
Amen and Amen! Well said. That is what I had been trying to say (without much success) on this thread. Taking it a step further, I believe that it is actually dangerous, (as in not giving the sheep all their nourishment) if they think that they have to "sell" coming to such and such a church for their unsaved friends and loved ones.
If they are properly nourished in the Lord and in the Word, then they should be ready, willing, and lovingly able to speak the gospel - in however way that the person may need to hear it. If they do not know what to say, then they should be taught that the answer is in prayer, not in bringing someone to a church or handing them this book or that book. That may include going to church (or reading such and such a book), but it is not to be the main option. Evangelizing is first an individual not a corporate duty because it flows out of our response to His grace and it makes it a personal faith. Making it a coporate duty takes away from the need of the individual sheep to feed on the Bread of Life and to seek His face when witnessing to someone in their walk or with their words. Seeker churches make the corporate preaching of the gospel the main source of hearing. They steer the people in the pews toward their methods and away from scripture, little by microscopic little.