Have We Been Trained NOT To Win Souls?

[BroJoe]

Very good article I found.

Have we been trained not to win souls?

http://jonathanjordan.squarespace.co...win-souls.html

[Dordrecht]

Man made "programs" will not win souls.
Only the Holy Spirit draws people to Christ.

[bbyrd009]

Amen. Unfort, they usually feel compelled to go thru a "church."
The author of this thread is being kind, and I think
"Being trained not to win souls" might be
a nice way of saying "Antichrist."

[tv1a]

God called to disciple people. Unforunately people take that as an excuse to get people saved. Our mandate is teach people to follow Christ. Today's discipleship is nothing more than denominational indoctrination disguised as discipleship.

[bbyrd009]

Yup.

[AreYouReady?]

This article shoots straight into my soul. It is spot on!

When I was a young convert from Catholicism at the age of 24, I knew little of the Bible. But I was so happy upon learning about God and that He still lives and brings about His will in this day and age, that I would try to spread the word with my very, very limited knowledge of the word.

One evening I was talking to a lady who was about my age now about God's saving grace and Biblical salvation. She looked up at me with some anger in her face and asked me if I was saying that she was not saved. My response was that the Bible was saying it.

So...perplexed at her reaction (ignorant as I was) I went to my pastor to tell him about the exchange between the two of us. Instead of educating me and having someone from the church to disciple me, he got angry at me and told me that I was not called to preach. That was his job! My job was to bring them to church so that he could preach to them!

That most definitely squelched me.

It took me several years of trying to bring people to the Pentecostal church that I finally realized that people will not easily come to the church and they responded more to one on one discussion rather than group worship. However, I was basically "forbidden" to teach Bible on my very limited knowledge at that time in my life.

So I wholehearted agree with this assessment about our churches.

[jediwill83]

Its not just about getting people to come to church.The body must become more active in true ministry.Its like what happened in the instance of the lame man laying in the gate Beautiful...if you meet their needs outside the church they will gladly follow you in.I think God has especially impressed this upon me because of my job.We refer to the church as a hospital all the time but as a medic on an ambulance I am well aware that some need lifesaving help and treatment well before they darken a hospitals door....its not enough to simply invite the patient to the hospital or simply "transport"....its a messy affair and you gotta get your hands dirty...no longer can the priest or the Levite ignore the need or cross to the other side of the road....Its not only for the "patients" good we do this but also for our own...we limit exposure to His annointing therefore become unused to becoming comfortable being His hands and feet and voice when we say "God is available for you at these times and at this location all you gotta do is show up" What kind of harvest would break out if the church would be ready to be a spiritual "medic" anywhere at any time?

[Michael The Disciple]

It is pretty rare to see anyone out witnessing for Christ anymore. Those that do seem to be counted "odd" by Church people. When we started attending a UPC Church a few months back I had hopes of being able to stir people to street witnessing. So far the Pastor has not seemingly had any desire to have any fellowship with me period. I dont know if he has ever seen me on the street maybe not. My thinking is if they wont even reach out to me, someone who is trying to already attend their Church why would they actually reach out for souls?

Most Churches dont like the idea of trying to win souls. They promote Church attendance and inviting the lost to Church. Its quite formal and unlike what I experienced in the days of the Jesus Movement when almost all of us were witnessing.

[AreYouReady?]

Originally Posted by jediwill83

Its not just about getting people to come to church.The body must become more active in true ministry.

I agree, but this was my pastor's ruling. He insisted on being the "head". When our Assistant pastor left to take a church in another state, he told the people that no church can operate with "two heads". Therefore, he was not going to look for an assistant. No man in the church was going to "correct" him. The board did not either. So...in this case, the article was spot on when it says that church leadership will not train people to disciple others. I've found that for many years, the church leadership in this area only wants total obedience out of people. They want full-grown adults to "ask permission" to do any type of discipleship with the lost. One church kicked a man out because he wanted to reach the lost people that would never step foot in the UPC church he attended. He also had friendly get together on non church service days with other denominations at his home...BBQ's etc. He was strongly discouraged from doing this, saying it may get "out of hand". So he put up a tent anyways.

Discouraging believers from trying to do something for the Lord is not New Testament teachings. It is more like teachings from Diotrephes. Those pastors run the church like it is a business instead of Christ's bride.

.

[BroJoe]

Originally Posted by Dordrecht

Man made "programs" will not win souls.
Only the Holy Spirit draws people to Christ.

I agree with this. No program will do the job.

John 6:44 shows us that no man can come to Him unless the Father draws him.

John 12:32 says "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me".

I wonder how much lifting we do. People need to see Jesus elevated in my life, so He can draw them.