Dr. Larry Gilbert

Many people will come into a church and announce publicly or privately that they accept Christ, but they really have not sincerely accepted Him as their Savior.

Often people know of Jesus and have an interest in Him, but they haven’t quite reached the point of truly accepting Him into their heart and life as their Savior.

When this happens, these same people may drift out of the church due to lack of interest or lack of connecting with others in the church before the real event of Salvation in their lives takes place, when they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

George Hunter III, the Distinguished Methodist Professor Emeritus of Asbury Theological Seminary, wrote that “Most of the people who became Methodist converts first joined a class, and some time later became conscious Christians.”

This is why is it so important to connect people into your local church, to help them to build relationships with the people of your church.

If we let people drift into and out of church without true relationships and a path to Christian conversion, are we really helping the cause of Christ? Are we really showing His love to others? Do we really care?

This is where Team Ministry is so important, where every person knows and uses their Spiritual Gifts in ministry with others in their church, home and community.

People in your church with the spiritual gifts of evangelism, teaching, exhortation, shepherding, serving and mercy-showing can minister to the needs of others and serve to connect visitors and new members to the people of your church, whether or not they have truly accepted Christ into their hearts at the time.

The odds of a person coming to a true conversion is many times higher when they participate in the life of your church.

You can begin to develop Team Ministry to enfold people into your church, through the network of ministries and lay ministers who touch their lives, teaching God’s Word, building relationships, meeting needs, and influencing them for Christ.

This article is excerpted from the book Team Evangelism: How to Influence Your Loved Ones for Christ When You Don’t Have the Gift of Evangelism by Larry Gilbert.
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For help on teaching about evangelism and how to lead others to Jesus Christ, see Team Evangelism: Everyday Evangelism for Everyday People  More…

Dr. Larry Gilbert is founder and chairman of Ephesians Four Ministries, and founder of ChurchGrowth.org. For more on spiritual gifts, see Dr. Gilbert’s books: Team Ministry: Gifted to Serve (for pastors, teachers and group leaders) and Your Gifts: Discover God’s Unique Design for You (for individuals and groups).

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