Gospel Outreach Ministry Update 
May, 2006

The spirit of New Testament style evangelism has been nearly lost in many places today. As a result, the understanding of true salvation from all sin, Bible holiness and the present reality of the kingdom of God, has reached an all time low among a lost and dying world. Instead of sharing this truth, we have buried it within our walls, expecting people to come to "church" to find it. 

In earlier days, teams of saints called “flying ministers” were sent into various fields of labor with the express purpose of winning souls to Christ and building up the kingdom of God. These teams did not consist of a select few persons who were at the distinguished head of a movement, but rather they were made up of common people who had experienced a common salvation and who had a common vision and burden. The results were truly amazing. Congregations were planted all across North America, and the spirit of evangelism extended into many foreign lands, with God confirming His Word with signs following. This reality is reflected in one of the early holiness reformation songs that says: “There’s a mighty reformation sweeping ore the land.” Can this be said yet today?

Sadly, as lukewarmness, apostasy and compromise set in, God began to withdraw His presence, and the spirit of evangelism began to diminish. From time to time, the spirit of evangelism has been somewhat revived but it has been short lived, as a result of numerous splits primarily over issues of doctrine, race relations, worldliness and ministerial disputes. It is said that the early church turned the world upside down. Today it would seem that the world has turned the church upside down!

At the height of the holiness movement, the thrust of evangelism was to reach souls for Christ and then make disciples of the converts. As it was in the days of the early church, everyone was called to minister in some capacity. Much effort was expended in exhorting the saints to seek spiritual gifts and callings. The more seasoned ministers in the faith spent much time training, mentoring and encouraging the younger with one sole purpose in mind; to send them into the fields of harvest. This same pattern is yet followed in various foreign mission fields today. It is in these places that the God's church is expanding, and God’s divine favor is resting upon the people.

The thrust of today’s church seems to be that of maintenance. By that, we mean that the church seems to be reaching out primarily to those whom its members are already in immediate contact. The average non-churched person is unaffected by the church's message and is not likely to come in personal contact with it. World population is estimated at 6 ½ billion people and the United States population is at 300 million people. Very few people have come in direct contact with truth, yet, evangelistic efforts dedicated at reaching out solely to the lost are a thing of the past. “Revivals” are primarily focused on messages to the saints. They come and go and not too much lasting “reviving” seems to take place. Old fashioned campmeetings, which in earlier years were focused on reaching the lost in a local community, have turned into social gatherings of persons from established congregations. Now these meetings come and go, and our local communities are unaffected or not even aware that a campmeeting is being held. In days gone by, the saints spent much time in prayer and fasting for such gatherings. Today the focus seems to be upon temporal preparations. As one minister put it “The church began in the upper room with the saints agonizing, and it's ending in the supper room with the saints organizing."

While we have the theology of unselfish service, it would seem that we have come up short in actually living out our theology when it comes to reaching the lost or those snared by false religion. Many congregations today have become sponges rather than watering pots. They absorb truth, but give out little. How often do we hear of a new congregation being established through sacrificial outreach? Many of the smaller congregations have less than 20 – 30 saints in regular attendance. Do we expect them to sacrifice a major percentage of laborers into the fields while the larger congregations work to get even larger? Are the larger congregations to tear down our buildings and build bigger buildings, incurring more and more temporal costs, while there are places all around where there are no congregations at all? This approach is what we see in the institutionalized churches and is what the early pioneers came out of. It takes tremendous sacrifice to get out into a new field of labor and leave our comfort zones, our padded pews and our comfortable buildings. It takes courage to witness to the lost and to testify to religious people who are different than us. Someone has to do it. Jesus said the greatest commandments are to love God supremely and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Can we say we really love them while we do little to seek them out? We say ‘No’. Saints, it is time that the church wake up from her long sleep, face reality and be about the Father’s business.

This includes us as well.

For the past few years, our burden has been to reach out in a greater way with the true message of the gospel. Besides laboring in a local Springfield, Ohio congregation, we have been involved in various outreach efforts, including working with a couple of smaller congregations, writing and distributing books and tracts, foreign mission field work, holding services in an assisted living center, Internet and website ministry, etc... But, this is not enough. We are not satisfied with the little we have accomplished for God. After much prayer, we have moved out further in faith on our longstanding burden. We are taking the teachings of truth and holiness that we have come to know, understand and love into places where they are needed. In Luke Chapter 14, we read an account of the great supper, which is symbolic of New Testament salvation. The workers were sent to the highways and hedges to compel them to come in. This expression, “come in”, was not referring to a local church assembly nor a "sacred building", but a call to come into the family of God, into a personal relationship with Christ. The highways in Palestine were filled with rocks, bushes and shadowy places. Souls perishing in the highways of life are those whom we will have to go search for. Inviting them to “church” is not the answer.  We must meet them on their ground. Paul said he became “all things to all men” so he could win some to God. To successfully work with people, we cannot always expect them to come to where we are. We have been commissioned and called to go into all the world and preach the Gospel! In days gone by, the saints preached and sang in public places, they passed out tracts and literature and God blessed their efforts--those who needed the true gospel heard about it. God sent the message to the audience that needed to hear it. That is our burden!

Today we have a new generation to reach and we would rather attempt to reach them and fail, than to do nothing and succeed. 

Please remember us in prayer that we will be faithful to all God is calling us to do.

Prayerfully submitted,

Bro Joe and Sis Joanne Coons
Bro Dale and Sis Debbie Rude