Evangelism

I had this dream

I was needed to start and oversee a long term evangelistic thrust in a city far away which would need my presence weekly.

I would require loads of money on a weekly basis as I would be going there by sea, a substantial journey. But cost is never an issue to God, the source of that burden.

I then found myself in that city with partners doing a survey of sorts.

As we were winding up, I remembered a church I had ministered to on the other side of the city. I decided to call them so that we meet before we left their city.

Of course they hastily prepared a seminar for my team to train them on evangelism, something I had done the last time I was there. They had even prepared materials and charts on the same as we arrived.

I started examining the materials they had made as my team went about teaching the many young people who had come.

There was a chart in the shape of a huge tree with tentacles explaining the impact of evangelism from one person to the next, generations down the line. But it was in the shape commonly used to explain multi level marketing.

Then the training came to an end and I was given money to distribute to the trainees for attending the seminar.

I was chagrined. How does one get paid for attending evangelism training? I refused to be part to that, even vocally so. Then the dream ended.

I then got to reflect on evangelism with respect to our faith.

What is Christ’s take on evangelism?

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall BE witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

We BECOME witnesses.

Witnesses are not coached, unless their purpose is to defeat justice. Witnesses simply are. The power of the Holy Spirit makes us better witnesses, not more polished ones. And we become better through the transformational power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

God pointed me to another passage, John 15. And it is the same even here.

Let us look at verse 5.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

It is our connectedness to Christ that enables us to bear fruit.

It is worth noting that plants do not struggle to bear fruit. They just need to be rooted in the right soil and they will produce fruit.  They do not sweat or do push ups to improve their production. Their only need is to be rooted.

Then, from their scents to their sap they will bring out what distinctly defines them.

As a student who learns from everything God brings around (many people wonder why my e-mail is gitumastudent) I find nature being an excellent tutor of spiritual things.

On my ministry to the Coast the other day, I saw a felled baobab tree, huge. Standing, I was much shorter than its diameter.

But it had already started sprouting other babies everywhere.

I was told that a baobab tree will never dry by being cut down. It has enough water inside it to nurture a forest even in a drought.

The only way to make sure it does not grow back is by digging deep into the trunk (standing or felled) and poisoning it. Then the sap will be poisonous to the new sprouts. The other one is to burn it, an almost impossible feat considering its size and the amount of water it contains.

What does this have to do with evangelism?

Everything, I may say. A healthy tree will automatically bear fruit. A healthy tree will endure hardship and adversity.

It is only when you poison its makeup that it can stop bearing fruit.

You see, evangelism is the natural outcome of a healthy Christian life just like a plant will naturally emit the scent it was created with. It is not an activity in which we expend our energies to perform. Evangelism is what results from a life lived in close fellowship with God. One verse is instructive.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1Peter:3:15)

We give answers because we are asked questions. And the questions will be prompted by what people will see as the outflow of our connected life.

Paul did not win his jailors to Christ by holding crusades and evangelistic thrusts into the prisons. He was a prisoner who happened to be living right with God, jailed for that precise reason. Look at this.

But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. (Philippians 1: 12 – 14)

Paul was a different kind of prisoner because he was connected to Christ. Anybody in his vicinity who needed to get saved knew exactly where to run to for eternal life. And of course any conversation originating from him was from the sap of that connectedness.

Remember in Acts 16 the jailor rushing in with the question ‘What must I do to be saved’? Whose altar call was he responding to?

His need met people connected to the life he craved.

Paul’s responsibility was simply point him to his Savior.

That is evangelism simplified.

Why than am I an evangelism trainer? You may be wondering.

I will use a passage many people use wrongly.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; (Ephesians 4: 11 – 14)

The responsibility of our calling is to prepare believers to become better ministers and witnesses.

The purpose of that verse is not to give particular people offices and titles as God does not look at us with titles but functions.

There is an effective witness and there is a powerful witness. And of course there is a fake witness.

Remember Stephen giving his defense and people close their ears and shout because they could not resist the power of that witness?

I will continue training on evangelism. But I will not shy from emphasizing that the witness must BE before he is trained.

What do I mean?

One must be being transformed by the Gospel to properly qualify to be trained on evangelism. One must be a growing disciple to even need evangelism training.

It is possible to harden someone against the Gospel by training him to evangelize before he is properly connected. He may start counting the stars of the conversions that occur as he evangelizes that he completely forgets that he also needs that conversion. He may also start thinking that those conversions (decisions, actually) are an indication that he is already converted or qualify him for heaven on their strength. And that is very dangerous. Remember Matthew 7: 21 – 23?

One must be walking with God (connected to the vine) to be able to bear spiritual fruit.

How are we connected? I know someone is asking.

Two basic essentials: God’s word and your obedience to the same. It is as simple as that.

Let me elaborate a little.

By the word I mean a wholesome intake of the same. I do not mean the snippet and selective reading of the same as you will then get what you want as opposed to what God gives.

Knowing all the promise verses in the Bible is not the same as knowing the Bible. Knowing the eschatological calendar is not the same or even similar to knowing the Bible. Having all the sermons of all the famous preachers is not the same as knowing the Bible. I am writing this as a preacher.

Only a consistent and complete intake of the whole Bible comes close to knowing the Bible as you only have the Bible as your text and the Holy Spirit as your teacher.

I do not despise preachers and teachers as I am one. But I know enough about God to know that He never employs brokers for His revelation. I also know from experience that the clearest one is able to hear from God is directly proportional to the consistency and amount of Bible one consumes.

You see, God can only bring to life (rhema, inspire) what is already in you.

It is sad that there are pastors who do not consistently read the Bible. But it is equally sad to hear of a believer who does not read the Bible for himself.

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17: 17)

Our sanctification is the product of our intake of God’s word.

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. (Psalm 119: 130)

But above that, we must swim in obedience to that word. It makes no sense to know the word just for our profession. That sanctification is effected by our obedience.

We must be sold out to obeying God’s revelation as we read His word. And we must make all the effort to ensure that God’s word defines us. Otherwise explain this verse to me.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1: 8)

We can’t meditate on a word that we spend a few minutes each woeek hearing about, or even a few minutes daily reading. We can not have that word as vomit (forgive my crudeness, but allow me to illustrate) if we spend more time watching movies or news and reading comics and novels than we do it. We will never vomit something we have not swallowed.

We cannot be speaking the word as the verse commands if we have not consumed it. We cannot meditate the word if we spend more time feeding our minds and hearts on other fare. And that is the reason we have these very strange doctrines. They are the product of a hybrid heart that feeds on the world mostly taking morsels of scripture to validate the same since the mind has no capacity of vomiting what it has not consumed.

That is why I will always be producing and giving out reading plans to help believers establish the discipline of consistently reading the Bible. And I always ask whoever needs to ask me for one, or more to start a reading club with friends for fellowship and accountability purposes.

It is the reason also that I offer Audio Bibles when God provides as it is good to listen to the spoken Bible. In fact, I put it on when I sleep so that any time I wake up I am listening to it. And I believe the mind is not completely dead when I sleep and so there are benefits for the same. Incidentally there are many free ones online for someone who needs to download. But if you are near me, I can bring you the download to save in your gadgets.

I also buy a radio and modify it to become an Audio Bible (I completely disable the radio and everything else). Unfortunately I only have Kiswahili and English Audio Bibles. We can talk if you also need one. Of course I have a few partners who will step in to offer Audio Bibles or some money to help in making them free especially for those who are unable to afford even the price of the radio and memory card.

Some older people have issues reading the Bible due to their eyes (I am already there). Again I look for cheap, many times unwanted gadgets (tablets especially) because they are out of fashion or are unable to do certain tasks. I then install as many Bibles and Bible Study applications in them. They will then give the price of the tablet as I have the Bibles and they can be downloaded online. And there are a few vernacular Bibles there too.

I feel that is where we should start in our evangelism.

God bless you.

Garbage In, Garbage Out 3

Let us look at another dimension to my last message. And I want to look at believers who are young in age.

What are we doing with those uniquely gifted and talented in our churches? How do we treat a youngster with a silver tongue or excellent instrument mastery?

Do we treat them like the children they are or do we think their gift makes them instant adults?

You see, we are killing children and youth when we start treating them as adults because their gift is exceptional. We choose to forget that they are still children without spiritual muscle to handle that exposure.

Yet we know that even in the secular where there are no holiness standards, exposure to the limelight early is destructive in the later years. Many child stars rarely make it in life as their stardom becomes a block to a balanced life.

It is even more destructive in the spiritual realm.

Why did God order the priests, who were born into the priesthood and lived in priestly cities start ministering at thirty? Though ministry was in their makeup and they were introduced to it since birth, God knew they would not be able to handle the pressures their ministry required.

What makes us think that a teenager is qualified to be made a leader just because they are gifted?

The other day I heard on radio a child (less than ten) being introduced as a bishop and given a lot of time to ‘minister’ on air. Incidentally many people thought that it was a good thing without realizing that it could actually be an abomination as we are killing an innocent child with adult responsibilities he has no capacity of handling.

Though Samuel started hearing God’s voice as a child, we do not see him getting the limelight before he became an adult. I am sure Eli protected him when he realized that probably the reason his children blundered was because they were exposed to the ministry responsibilities too early. Jeremiah was also called as a child yet we do not ‘see’ him before his adulthood.

And do you wonder why Jesus started public ministry at thirty yet He had given a glimpse of what He was at twelve?

Incidentally, I think this is the reason the Bible forbids women from ministry leadership. And stop deceiving yourself that the verse was directed at particular people and culture. Look at these verses.

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (1Tmothy 2: 12 – 14)

Do you realize that the verse points at creation before the fall? It means that that was God’s order for His creation.

Exposing women to ministry leadership exposes them to things they were not given capacity to handle.

Let us be careful lest we kill people God entrusts us to nurture.

Yet it is important to point at the source of the whole matter.

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. Amen. (Matthew 28: 19, 20)

We are not making disciples. That is the reason we are jumping at pre-cooked ministers, however poorly cooked they are. We are scared of the sacrifice required to walk with the children God gives us to raise that we are jumping at adopting a neighbor’s child without realizing that he will be like ours that we have neglected.

I thank God that He connected me with very old people to walk with me as concerns public ministry. They would come for me when schools close so that we then would be involved with ministry, from open air meetings to camps as one of their own. Then I would be part of their discussions and history.

That is why I understand so much about the East Africa revivals; from ’39 to ’49 to the 60s because I walked with those old men who got saved then. That is why I felt as if I had arrived home when I went to Kampala and heard a church sing ‘Tukutendereza’ perfectly in its native tongue.

Those old men were not scared of walking with me, giving me adequate opportunities to minister as one of them.

Incidentally that is what I feel God has called me to be doing in this my old age as I have explained elsewhere on the blog.

If you are a young man God has called to ministry and you feel the church is killing you with responsibility because of your gift instead of nurturing you, pray that God connects you with someone who feels strongly that it is dangerous for young people to be given adult responsibility before their time. If you do not get someone, please connect with me. I already have a team with the same vision.

Otherwise you are likely to become a statistic of the fallen giants.

Garbage In, Garbage Out 2

I know many have concluded, wrongly, that I meant that these fraudsters and wrong people in the pulpits are not believers. Nothing can be farther than the truth. Yet there might be some who are not regenerated and are in the ministry for the money. An example is these secular producers of ‘worship’ music.

My last post was meant to bridge the conversion and callings of these people in a healthy and fruitful way.

And I used the verse about novices to get us appreciate the fact that we are experiencing these abuses in ministry because we have overshot God’s target. In short, we have decided that we know better to establish our own standards.

I know many will ask what scriptural example I have apart from that single verse. And I got plenty.

But today I want to focus on one, Paul of Tarsus.

Paul’s background was one for which Christ Himself said that unless our righteousness exceeds theirs we cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. He was thoroughly instructed in the scriptures, and observant too.

Yet why did he not venture straight into apostleship? Why did he not immediately become apostle to the gentiles?

I want us to notice this.

Why did God Himself call Paul as the assistant of sorts to Barnabas yet He knew that he would eventually become a leader? Why did Barnabas have to go for him in Tarsus? Why did the same guy introduce him to the church in Jerusalem? And why did he require Ananias to introduce him to the faith?

He was a new believer. Despite all his qualifications and skills, he was not ready to be launched into the nations as an apostle as he needed to grow in his new faith. Even his theological training was not sufficient in his new faith.

That is why Jesus Himself told him to wait for instructions, from men who were in the faith before him.

And we can see the progression in the growth when we read the book of Acts.

Yet what do we see when someone with the kind of CV converts into our faith?

Most will Ooh and Aah him to the pulpit. I suspect some pastor will readily welcome him to take over the pulpit so that he can then become a bishop.

No wonder we have so many backslidings. No wonder so much burn out. No wonder so much arrogance.

You see someone was not allowed to grow in a healthy way in his faith. He was launched into the deep end before he was taught to swim in his new faith.

He was like a child launched to the kitchen even before he can stand on his own. The best we can expect is a less than serious accident as an accident is inevitable.

How do we expect someone who was singing the devil’s song all of a sudden become fluent in composing balanced spiritual songs? How do we expect someone who has no idea about the Bible become full of the same Bible as to instruct people who have been in the faith all their lives? Do they even know how to instruct themselves in the faith?

That is why they will use the tactics they used in the world to run ministry as the new faith is actually foreign.

And that is the crux of my last post.

(I am posting this now as I might be unable to post next week on time since I am leaving for the Coast for ministry and might not have the chance or material to do it then. I will prayers and other support)

Garbage In, Garbage Out

A bishop is trending for all the wrong reasons

Of course this hurts any minister of the Gospel however removed he is from such scandalous activities.

I am not writing this to defend him as he is indefensible. Nor am I vilifying him as he has enough people in his circles to properly rebuke him.

I want to explain why a minister can sink that low by stating that probably he has not sunk anywhere; he has just displayed what was in his heart.

Christ said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Let me illustrate it in another way. Pressing an orange releases orange juice; Pressing a lemon will release lemon juice; and pressing an apple will of course release apple juice.

In short, the makeup of the heart will release its overflow very accurately under pressure.

We are surprised when the overflow of his heart is not pleasant in our sight. Some are even defending him by saying it was his moment of insanity but I differ.

Enough pressure was applied to his heart that it was able to extract the dregs of its makeup. The apple gave up its juice. Then we were shocked when we discovered it was not an apple after all.

Under normal circumstances pastors are reverent and sober. It is under pressure and crushing that the real person comes out.

How do we as ministers avoid that stupidity?

We must immerse ourselves in God’s word. We must make that word the thing we most ingest. Then, and only then, will we be so full of Him that crushing us will release it. Pressure, even crushing will only release what will be beneficial to the Gospel.

Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee (Psalm 119: 11)

That is the grace that God has released to us through His Spirit.

But it goes deeper and farther.

Many ministers do not know any better. And I blame the quick fix quick fame craving our generation adores.

What do I mean?

Look at this scenario as it is replicated enough times as to be treated as normal.

A very famous sinner (thief or prostitute or drug dealer or entertainer) receives Christ.

The church then treats him as its prime catch. But that alone does not cause the problems we are seeing.

They start ‘preparing’ him for ministry immediately. His former status in darkness causes him to overtake people who have been deep in the things of God all their lives because they believe his conversion weighs better than twenty people who have served God faithfully since their youth.

He therefore becomes a pastor before he understands what his new faith is like. In other words, we have not detoxified the world and devil he was serving from his new faith. We have not allowed him the time to tune out the world from his spirit, let alone mind.

How do we expect him to minister?

He will use the standards and strategies that he used to gain fame or infamy in darkness for the Gospel, as if the Gospel was in want for new things.

Under normal circumstances very few notice any difference. In fact only the spiritual can see it as his success in the worldly and demonic starts producing results in the ‘spiritual’ without any realizing that it is the devil reproducing in church.

Of course those who can see will question these things. But they will either be silenced or kicked out of the church for it, leaving the church only with the blind being led by the demonic trained.

And the devil will now fill the church, as he now runs it, with all manner of success, from money to extensive development to crowds.

Have you ever wondered why no scandal can make people mad enough to desert these pastors? The truth is that they may not be seeing anything inherently wrong with those scandals. They do not use the spiritual standard to test their man as they have all along been following his former successes in the world to lead the church. Sin is therefore not a major issue, unless for the image.

That is why the said bishop is safe, insults, threats, blasphemy and all as his flock is just like him. They are fast growing disciples like mushrooms. But they lack spiritual fibre to enable them to stand on the strength of God’s word or the character consistent with it.

What do you expect from someone who was taken on the express lane from the depths of Satan to the limelight in God’s kingdom?

We can be sure to see more of this from such pastors when they are under pressure or when they go through hardship or persecution.

Until we take God seriously enough to take this little verse in consideration when thinking anything spiritual leadership.

Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. (1Timuthy 3:6)

And that is what most churches are doing nowadays. In fact they have been doing it for generations. And they are surprised when they have to put out one fire after another.

In fact there is a denomination that does not employ a pastor who has no experience with mammon. You are disqualified from being a pastor in any of their churches if your first degree is in Theology or Bible. This of course means that to qualify as a pastor there you must have served the devil (he is the god of the world) before seeing the light to serve God.

This trashes a huge bulk of the Bible we teach. Imagine John the Baptist is disqualified as is Samuel. Even the priests and Levites would not be allowed to serve as pastors in that denomination.

The world can NEVER qualify a minister. A past in sin is no qualification to serve as a minister. And that is the reality of the faith we practice.

I am convinced that is the source of the drama we continue to see in ministry.

Therefore, instead of simply blaming these ministers for their error, we should point the blame where it really lies. And that is to the people who qualified them and encouraged them to be pastors in a hurry before completely detoxifying their pasts out of their faith through thorough and intentional discipleship.

I am not saying that they cannot be pastors. I am just trashing the speed at which they are made pastors or even given any leadership in the church.

A family conglomerate will not make someone they just picked from the Ivy League university to be their CEO however good his grades are. They will train their son to take that responsibility.

And the church is a family, God’s family. Why are we doing it differently, especially as God has expressly given His direction of it?

Churches must start raising pastors. It is sad to see a mega church outsourcing for a pastor when they have thousands of diligent young men yearning to serve God who are getting frustrated for lacking opportunities to serve God in the same churches.

Will we disciple the way Christ did it?