Three Important Questions

I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. —Luke 4:43

One summer I watched my teenage daughter and a few of her friends set out to catch fish from the dock of our lake house. They gathered a few fishing poles, loaded into the paddleboat, and headed out about thirty-five feet from the dock. After about an hour of casting and reeling in nothing, they returned frustrated, discouraged, and declared that fishing was "a waste of time and boring." When I asked what kind of bait they were using, they responded that they didn't have any bait. They thought the fish would just bite on the hook. I probed further and asked what kind of fish they had hoped to catch. The response was one of puzzlement. What do you mean "What kind of fish? Fish, of course." They had simply set out to catch "fish" without clarity of purpose, knowledge of the environment, or understanding of what might be needed to actually catch fish.

Sometimes the church's biggest hindrance to evangelism is a lack of clarity of purpose, knowledge of the community and needs of the people, and an understanding of what might be needed to reach them. As the leader, you must cast a clear vision for the calling and purpose for which God has called your church. Jesus was clear about his purpose. He was resolute on doing what his Father had called him to do. Even at the young age of twelve, he was clear that he was to be about his Father's business. He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49). Jesus stayed focused on his purpose throughout his ministry as seen in Luke 4:42-43. At the beginning of his ministry, we read in Scripture of crowds approaching him while in Galilee asking him to stay. But to them he stated clearly his purpose, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose" (Luke 4:43). Even as he was on his way to Jerusalem approaching the cross, Scripture tells us he knew exactly what he had to do. "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51, TNIV). Growing churches are clear on their purpose and resolutely set out to work with God to accomplish that purpose.

To have a clear purpose as a church means you know why you exist. The purpose at our church is clearly understood by everyone in our congregation and we all agree upon it. Our purpose statement defines everything we do: To build a Christian community where nonreligious and nominally-religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. Every person in leadership, and we hope, most of our members, can recite this purpose statement from memory. Our purpose statement is written in twelve-inch letters in our narthex so that all who enter or leave our building are reminded of why we exist. Visually, we have four tapestries that hang behind the chancel in our sanctuary. Each tapestry illustrates a scene from Jesus' life and ministry: his birth (Luke 2:1-20), his forgiveness of a sinful woman (Luke 7:36-50), his ministry to a tax collector (Luke 19:1-10), and his resurrection (Luke 24:1-9). The scenes show how Jesus reached out in love, offering forgiveness and salvation to the people society had abandoned, ostracized, or ignored—the least, the last, and the lost. The tapestries serve as a visual reminder of our purpose, to reach out to the non and nominally religious in our community.

After we had established a clear purpose, we had some more work to do. Before we made the phone calls inviting people to our first worship service, we needed to answer some key questions, the answers to which would drive everything else we did and help us live out our purpose statement. Our pastor knew it was his responsibility to cast a clear, compelling vision, and that without a deep conviction about the responses to these questions the church would flounder. He wrestled with these three questions in order to help us catch his vision for our church:

• Why do people need Jesus Christ?

• Why do people need the church?

• Why do people need your particular church?

Why Do People Need Jesus Christ?

Here we don't mean to ask why Jesus Christ would be a nice thing for people to have in their lives. Rather, we ask, why do people need him? You are making disciples of Jesus Christ and inviting people to follow him. You are inviting them to change their lives and commit or surrender to Jesus Christ. So why do people need Jesus Christ?

We need Jesus Christ because he alone satisfies the deepest longings of the human heart. Persons will not find their deepest needs met when they go to the shopping mall or in another person. The need for unconditional grace and mercy, the need to believe that there's hope for the future, and the need to know that in the darkest moments of our lives the darkness will not prevail, are met only in Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die" (John 11:25, TNIV). He gives us hope when we have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. When we are struggling with relationships and marriage, we can find no other hope than in the one who changes hearts. The great problems in our world—racism, poverty, and war—at their core are all spiritual problems. These problems have to do with the human condition that is broken in us, which can only be addressed by Jesus Christ. You must be absolutely convinced of this if you are going to reach people for Jesus Christ.

In Leading Beyond the Walls (Abingdon Press, 2002), Adam Hamilton shares,

Jesus Christ is the solution to the deepest longings of the human heart. He is the answer to the most serious problems that plague our society. When Jesus is Lord and the Holy Spirit enters the heart of the believer, we find the empty places filled, and the dark sides of our soul transformed. We are in the process of becoming 'new creatures in Christ.' Why do people need Christ? Because without him we will always be lost and our lives will never realize their God-given potential. He opens the door to a whole new world for us. He enriches every life he touches. He changes the world one person at a time, as his kingdom expands the globe (pages 22-23).

We must be able to communicate the answer to this question to people who are unconvinced of their need for Jesus Christ. We must be able to communicate in a way that is compelling to them, not just compelling to us. But first, we must believe it. It must be something we so believe in that when we are sharing it with people, they can see it in our eyes and hear it in our tone of voice. We must fundamentally believe that Jesus Christ is essential for being fully human. He is the answer to the deepest longings of our soul.

Why Do People Need the...