Many traditional churches have been successful in converting themselves into house churches. But few of them are successful in soul winning. And a church that is not successful in soul winning is not a house church in the true sense because a true Biblical house church cannot help but attract and convert the unsaved.
Many people have been saved through our church. I want our church members to why this is so that they can answer pastors who attend our house church seminars or spend time here as interns.
First, our church places its highest priority on obeying the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) and on reaching the unsaved. Many house churches put their focus on members who are already followers of Christ, not on the unsaved. They spend their energy turning them into disciples. As a result, nonbelievers are ignored and there are few conversions. Sometimes, churches like these report numerical growth but a close look reveals that this growth stems from believers who come from other churches, not evangelism. Our ministerial focus is on nonbelievers so we see plenty of conversions.
Second, we separate discipleship training from Bible study. A lot of churches use Bible study as the only tool for discipleship training. As a result they make scholars, not disciples. Scholars are more interested in study, not in evangelism. It is no wonder that churches which equate Bible study with discipleship training show little conversion.
We on the other hand consider house church meetings the main arena for discipleship training and use life sharing as the major tool for training. We make disciples by having new Christians observe and emulate those who became Christians sooner. Nonbelievers do not feel as uncomfortable in house church meetings as they do in Bible study groups or in a sanctuary. So they start attending house church meetings regularly, eventually accepting Christ and becoming disciples.
Third, we divide evangelical tasks between several parties. In a traditional church, evangelism training includes contacting nonbelievers, developing relationships with them, answering all their questions about faith, personally leading them to Christ, and training them to become disciples. Few people are capable of doing all these things and many are simply overwhelmed by such a big task, failing even to attempt evangelism.
We divide evangelical tasks among ourselves so that each party can accomplish his or her individual task quite easily. House members’ primary task is to invite their non-Christian friends to house church meetings. There, the shepherd and other house church members take care of them. The shepherds’ primary task is to encourage them to join the introductory Bible study the senior pastor offers 3 times a year. Shepherds are not required to answer Biblical questions and lead them to Christ by presenting the gospel. My task as the senior pastor is to teach them the Bible and lead them to Christ. I don’t need to spend a lot of time finding nonbelievers and cultivating relationships. Each person does what he or she is good at.
I believe that these are the primary reasons that many conversion occur in our church.
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