Some time ago Jim came into my office to visit. He had recently graduated from college and had been called into the pastoral ministry by the conference where I was serving. He was considered a promising young man who was very confident about his call to ministry.
But as we visited he revealed the fact that he was questioning his call. He was bewildered and disappointed, fearful that he had spent his time in college preparing for something that held little future for him. As we explored the reasons for his frustrations, he explained that what was actually happening in his pastoral experience did not coincide with his concept of ministry.
During the following months I visited with Jim to support and encourage him while he was in this period of indecision. He explored other areas of ministry and spent some time in experiencing them but was finding it difficult to make a decision. He was groping for some key to fulfillment in his ministry, a key that he could not find.
Then the senior pastor of the church in which Jim was working accepted a call and Jim was thrust into the position of interim pastor. During the next few weeks we checked with each other often, carefully reviewing what he was doing and what he could be doing. He seemed to be ministering with excellence, and the lay leaders of the congregation were happy with his contribution.
One day when Jim came into my office I noticed that the sparkle had returned to his eyes. My greeting "Well, how is the new pastor of the Lakewood church?" triggered a series of interesting stories that he told with excitement. In fact, I had never seen him so animated. Then he lowered his voice and became very serious. "I have just discovered what brings real satisfaction to me. It is witnessing the change that can take place in a person's life. I have discovered what ministry is all about and now I know what I want—I want to work with God in changing lives." Jim then explained that one of his Bible study interests had accepted Christ and decided to be baptized.
Nothing so galvanizes ministers as when people with whom they have been studying the Bible decide to become Christians. Nothing so electrifies congregations as when they see people become Christlike and join the family of God.
Three essentials of Christian ministry
Second Corinthians 5:17ff., one of the greatest declarations of Scripture, introduces us to three essential characteristics of Christian ministry: reconciliation, commitment, and compulsion.
How can people be freed from the bond age of a distressed conscience, the fear of a hopeless death, or the dread of the accusing finger of God? Shall they ignore the enslavement by dizzying themselves on the merry-go-round of pleasure? Shall they rebel against God or declare that He is dead? These escapes are futile. Those who try them still experience the lonely, lonely pangs. The absence of God is the malady of our age. We were created to need fellowship with God.
In our text Paul portrays God as the first cause God takes the initial step to correct the wrong conception concerning Himself and to reveal His deep love for the sinner. The reconciliation Christ effected grew out of a love that sacrificed: "For God so loved the world that he gave . . ." (John3:16).*Christ gave up all He possessed His dominion and honor, heaven's beauty and comfort and then sacrificed Himself. Far from being the victim of evil men, He was the Master of the Crucifixion event and thus He was the victor. John reports that He told His disciples, "I lay down my life only to take it up again" (John 10:17).
The message committed to those who minister is absolutely fantastic: "God is making friends of all men through Christ, not counting their sins against them." The great reformer Martin Luther prayed "Thou, Lord Jesus Christ, art my Righteousness. I am Thy sin. . . . What Thou wast not Thou didst be come, that I might become what I was not."
The reconciliation Christ effects leads to the second element of ministry that Paul announced in these verses that of commitment. To every individual who has accepted Christ as Saviour and Lord has been given the word of reconciliation.
We are not the agents of reconciliation. Only Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, could become our substitute by receiving the consequences of our rebellion. So only He can serve as the agent of reconciliation. But God has charged us with the message of reconciliation. He has commissioned us to represent His kingdom. We are His ambassadors. Ambassadors represent their country, their ruler. They speak only as their ruler would speak and say only what their ruler would say. Their role is to conceptualize the philosophies and objectives of the government.
This ministry of trust is essentially an experiential ministry, which is to say that the ambassador cannot explain something he has never experienced. Commenting on our text, Halford Luccock said, "He who has never known in his own life reconciliation with God is a bungling, incompetent ambassador."
The lives of the ambassadors must endorse their ministry. If they don't, their ministry will lose its power.
The third element of ministry that Paul mentioned is that of compulsion. Paul was the model soul-winning pastor. Our text reveals his concern for his readers—in it he interrupts his explanation of reconciliation to appeal to his readers: "We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20; note also chapter 6:1, 2).
After Paul's encounter with Christ on the Damascus road, he never forgot the trust Christ had placed in him. Aware of the lengths to which Christ will go to save a person, Paul was convinced that he had no right to keep the gospel to himself. He too would sacrifice comfort and even safety and necessities to win people to Christ.
In fact, a passion for lost humanity possessed him: "When I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1 Cor. 9:16). He longed for others to experience the fellowship that he found so necessary.
That passion for souls has gripped many people. John Knox cried "Give me Scotland or I die," and Wesley declared "The world is my parish." Emil Brunner added, "The church exists by mission as fire exists by burning."
It is so easy for Christians to fall into the particularism that characterized Judaism in Jesus' day. We tend to speak to ourselves while remaining oblivious of the needy world. We think of God's kingdom as composed of people like our selves. But God is looking for pastors who burn with the desire to save people.
Fulfilling our commission
How do ministers who have experienced reconciliation, who are willing to serve as God's ambassadors, and who in fact feel compelled to carry Christ's mes sage to people fulfill their commission?
Paul believed that soul-winning pas tors must become acquainted with the people to whom they intend to witness. How could they speak to the needs of people if they were not aware of their needs?
Jesus, a master at human relations, mingled among people so that He could understand them. We need to learn about people's cultural background, their interests, their goals in life, how they think, their educational achievements.
Before Paul attempted to appeal to the Athenians, he toured their city and noted their cultural and religious interests. And of his methodology, he wrote to the church at Corinth: "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible" (1 Cor. 9:19). His vision of every person as potentially a Christian led him to make whatever personal sacrifice was necessary to adapt to their custom or culture to achieve his goal.
Paul also identified with people in such a way that they did not see him as a person who felt that he was better than they. One of my favorite stories illustrates the importance of this point. Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull, a devoted personal worker, lived in Hartford, Connecticut. Boarding the commuter train one morning, he sat down by a young man and began to read a newspaper.
After a few minutes the young man pulled from his valise a bottle of whiskey and a metal drinking cup. Before taking a drink himself, he offered some to Dr. Trumbull.
Trumbull thanked him kindly but declined, and returned to reading his paper. Meanwhile, he was wondering how he could approach this young man with the gospel. He didn't appear to be much of a prospect.
Soon the young man turned to his bottle again. Once more he offered Trumbull a drink before he imbibed. When Trumbull again thanked him and declined, the young man queried, "Don't you drink?" Upon Trumbull's admitting that he did not, the young man said, "I guess you think that I am a pretty rough fellow."
Here was the crucial point of the experience. How would this man of God reply? He smiled and said, "No, my friend, I do not. I think that you are a very generous fellow." Before I read this story I am sure I would have answered the young man's question with something like "No, thank you, I don't drink" which the other party could have interpreted as suggesting that I think I am better than he. Trumbull's response, coming as a commendation, pleased his seatmate. Before Dr. Trumbull left the train he had appealed to this gentleman to accept Christ as his personal Saviour, and the young man had done so. 2
As soul-winning pastors, we need to be sensitive to even the unlovable people in our communities. Oh to have the mind of Jesus! As Phillips Brooks said, "If we could see how precious the human soul is as Christ saw it, our ministry would approach the effectiveness of Christ's."3
Soul-winning pastors evaluate people's interest carefully. It is important that pastors study the clues that reveal people's interest in spiritual things. Even then, we may give up sooner than we should. An interesting survey conducted by the National Dry Goods Association revealed that 40 percent of the people in sales make one call and quit, another 25 percent quit after two calls, and 88 per cent of salespeople make no more than three calls. But the 12 percent who are willing to keep on calling after a third rejection make 80 percent of the sales.
In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus illustrated the necessity of persisting. The shepherd searched for the lost sheep until he found it. The search may have gone into the night. It may have cost him several tears in his clothes. But it is clear that he did not end his search until he found the lost sheep.
Our mission field challenges us
George Gallup, Jr., surveyed unchurched Americans, of whom there are, he claims, 61 million. When queried whether they would join a church if someone asked them, 50 percent of them replied that they would if the conditions were right. Gallup points out that these unchurched people are not unlike their Christian counterparts. A large percent age of them said that they believe in the inspiration of the Bible. More than 70 percent said they want their children to receive religious education.4 Here are tens of millions of people who are receptive to the ministry of reconciliation—what a mission field for the 1990s!
There is another mission field as well. Pastors with soul-winning vision also realize that every member of their congregations needs the ministry of saving grace and power. To most Christians, soul-winning means finding unchurched people and bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to them in such a way that they discover that Christ's way of life is what they want. Unfortunately, too often this concept alone is used to judge pastors as successes or failures.
For my definition of soul winning I would like to retain this extremely vital concept of winning the unchurched and add to it the continuous ministry of reconciliation to all within the Christian community. Both church members and their children who have not yet become members need ministry to grow in grace and knowledge. Becoming a Christian is not a "once for all" experience. E. Stanley Jones once made this significant statement: "Our churches are filled with people who 'know about God,' but don't know Him; are informed about Christ, but are not transformed by Him; who know about the moral laws, but are powerless to fulfill them."5
The Christian life is a progressive experience, a life-long succession of renewals. No doubt that is the reason Paul appealed to his beloved church members at Corinth to be reconciled to God. To him fellowship with Christ must be renewed daily. The great physician Sir William Osier confessed, "At night, as I lay aside my clothes, I undress my soul, too, and lay aside my sin. In the presence of God, I lie down to rest and to waken a free man with a new life."
As we view the minister's responsibilities as a soul winner, the task of ministering may appear to be impossible. How can we accomplish all there is to accomplish? I've felt the strain. While I was a pastor in the city of Los Angeles I often prayed, "Lord, this whole city needs Your Spirit desperately. What can I do to make it happen?"
At this point it is well for us to remember again the value Jesus placed on a single person, and why He saw such value. When He spoke to someone, His primary concern was for the salvation of that individual. But He was also looking ahead. He knew that one could win 100.
On one occasion He focused His attention on an outcast woman from a Samaritan village. When the disciples brought food for Jesus to eat, they ignored her. But they could not ignore her very long, for she soon returned with almost the whole village. To His disciples Jesus declared, "Open your eyes, the fields are white ready to harvest."
I have also witnessed how salvation multiplies. A humble, uneducated ship builder won more than 50 people in five years. Upon his conversion, a fiery restaurant owner who was unfaithful to his wife and who heat his children when drunk became a beautiful Christian. As a result, I had the opportunity to study with three families who marveled at the change that had come to this family.
Ellen White put it well when she wrote, "For the conversion of one soul we should tax our resources to the utmost. One soul won to Christ will flash heaven's light all around him, penetrating the moral darkness and saving other souls."6
Christ did not lay the burden of the world on us. He only asks that we work where we are.
We may not have the gift of evangelism. We may not be great theologians or even great preachers. But soul-winning pastors have a dream. They view every person they meet as a potential Christian. They love people, caring for them in much the same way as they care for themselves and their families.
One of the great soul-winning pastors whom I admire is Sam Shoemaker, who pastored in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. Portions of his poem "So I Stay Near the Door" recapitulate what I have said:
"I stay near the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world—
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There's no use my going way inside, and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it...
So I stay near the door."
*Bible texts in this article are from the New International Version.
1. Halford E. Luccock, More Preaching Values in the Epistles of Paul (New York: Harper and Brothers Pub., 1961), p. 73.
2. Charles Trumbull, Men Alive (New York: Association Press, 1912), pp. 80-83.
3. Phillips Brooks, Lectures on Preaching (New York: The Seabury Press, 1964), p. 257.
4. George Gallup, Jr., The Unchurched American (Princeton, N.J.: The Princeton Religion Research Center and The Gallup Organization, Inc., 1978), pp. 7-10.
5. Earl Stanley Jones, Conversion (New York: Abingdon Press, 1959), p. 180.
6. Ellen G. White, Testimonies (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1949), vol. 6, p. 22.
