The greatest barrier to winning people for Christ is spending too much time in the church and not out in the world making friends with pre-believers.

We spend too much time in the church attending class after class, training after training, going from conference to conference, and we just don’t have the time to be in the world making friends with pre-believers, getting to know them, having fun times with them as well as supporting them through difficult times.

In fact, the best people to win others for Christ are brand new Christians! They are excited about their newfound faith in God and their relationship with Christ. And, as new believers, most of their close friends and family members are pre-believers. 

These infants in Christ are the best candidates to share their new joy in the Lord with family members, colleagues and friends within their network of relationships. 

Unfortunately, we often place them in all sorts of church activities and training, distancing them from the relational network they have formed over the years. And we wonder why they are not winning people to Christ. 

My favourite seminary professor, Dr Hendricks, used to say: “Most believers are over-exposed and under-developed.” 

We grow as believers by winning people to Christ and discipling them to be soul winners as well.

Out of the church to the highways and byways of life

This is why I have always challenged believers to spend time with non-believers, to make friends with them, to find opportunities to share with them how God has changed their lives. 

If you enjoy cycling, join a biking group of pre-believers so that you can develop a relationship with them. If they share their problems with you, pray for them. If you enjoy movies, don’t just go with your church friends but invite pre-believing colleagues, neighbours or classmates to come along. If you play tennis, join pre-believing friends who share the same interest. 

This has always been the focus of Jesus’ ministry with His disciples.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

Feel the heart of our Lord Jesus when he said in Matthew 18:12-14: “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

George Macleod, the founder of Iona Community, once wrote: “I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the centre of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church.

“I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew, Latin and Greek; at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because this is why He died. And this is what He died about.”

Let us not surround our lives with just believers, going to Christian meetings only, good as these things may be. Rather, let’s walk with pre-believers and develop friendships among those who are lost and desperately need the salvation of God.

Let’s get out of the church to the highways and byways of life, drawing near to those who need to know the Gospel of Christ.

Finally, let’s take that one step further. Let’s take those connections and friendships even beyond Singapore. There are millions in Singapore who don’t know Christ, but there are billions more beyond our land. 

The same principles apply: To win them over, we need to spend time with them making friends, then share the Gospel with them. 

Get out of the church, and for those of us who are able, get out of Singapore and bless the nations with the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ alone!

Let us pray.

Father in heaven, we thank You that You love us so much that You sent Your only Son who did not count His equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself and was obedient even to the point of death on the cross for our sake. 

Father, implant that heart within our hearts so that we will be like Christ, going out to share with those whose lives are broken as a result of sin and other challenges in life. And let us love them with the love of Christ, so that our lives will become a blessing to them and we will see salvation coming to Singapore and around the world. We commit ourselves to You that we will be a light for the Gospel of Christ. 

We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Reflect

1. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) What is your honest response to this sending? 

2. Consider this: “I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves.” (George Macleod) How does this change your view of Christ’s mission to the world and, by extension, our calling as believers?

3. What do you enjoy doing outside of work? Are there pre-believers with whom you can enjoy this pastime? 

Pray

1. Pray the Word: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)

2. Pray the Promise: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

3. Pray that God will show us how to persevere in the ongoing fulfilment of His desire to bring every individual in every nation to the knowledge of His saving grace.  

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