Why Should Churches Evangelise?

Mark Tooley has an interesting and lengthy article on the doctrinal decline, followed inevitably by the membership decline, of mainline liberal USA churches in general, and the United Methodist Church in particular.

http://juicyecumenism.com/2015/02/19/mainline-protestant-decline-and-hope/

He writes: "A 1967 survey found 60 percent of Methodist clergy, for example, disbelieving the Virgin Birth and 50 percent disbelieving the Resurrection.

The impact on Mainline membership was predictable. Absent the imperative for soul-saving and confidence in Christian doctrine, gaining new adherents became more of a sociological exercise or a bid for institutional preservation. Neither inspires great zeal.”

I am intrigued by the observation that, in the absence of the biblical Gospel, the attempt of Mainline liberal churches to gain members is nothing more than “a sociological exercise or a bid for institutional preservation.”

If the Gospel were not true I cannot see any appeal, especially for men, in the vague, woolly message of “Be nice, just like God”. As an individual what possible reason would there be for wanting to worship a God who is so nice that he doesn’t mind if I worship him or not?  If such a God existed, and everyone will be saved regardless, then most individuals would see no point in Sunday worship or commitment to a local church.  Similarly, if I were a member of such a church and believed that all men will be saved whatever their religion or absence of religion, then there would be little incentive for outreach.

Tooley puts his finger on the fact that such outreach as exists in liberal churches is for the preservation of the institution not the saving of men’s souls.

I am rarely ever in a liberal church,  (my blood pressure usually goes through the roof and it is wisest for me to avoid the gut reaction of spiritual distaste, anger, and, to be honest, at times pity that I feel for those who lead such churches.)  When I am in such places I cannot see any reason to be there, or any formidable argument for their continued existence. I have no sorrow when such churches decline or close, as they are not true churches. Such institutions do not deserve to be preserved.

The lessons are obvious: deny the truth of Scripture and you guarantee the eventual demise of the church. Conversely, living evangelism begins in part with a high view of Scripture and a faithful commitment to follow its teaching.