Fishing Lessons
by Andy Lapins

We have probably all heard the old saying, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." This just makes sense, doesn’t it? It would be far more beneficial to teach a person to be effective at something themselves, rather than having that person be continually dependant on us. To devote time and effort to train someone to be self- supportive is a strategy that will result in fruitfulness and strength. To overlook this and continue to take on responsibilities that are not rightfully ours is a recipe for frustration and stagnancy.

At the risk of sounding critical, I would say this tragically describes the state of the American church. Many pastors are frustrated with the ministry and the vast majority of "evangelical" churches are completely stagnant and barren in their efforts to reach the lost. Current statistics prove the sad reality of what I am speaking about. Author Leonard Sweet estimates that approximately 75% of all Protestant churches are either dying or declining, 24% of Protestant churches are growing from Christians switching churches but only 1% of Protestant churches are actually growing by reaching lost people. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, estimates that only 2% of all born-again believers share their faith on a regular basis.

Now consider these statistics. The Institute of American Church Growth found that 85% of all the people who make true conversions to Christ do so as a result of a friend or acquaintance explaining the Gospel to them over a period of time. Only 15% of people who make decisions for Christ do so as a result of an event, i.e. a Billy Graham crusade, a Sunday morning worship service at a church, a Friendship Sunday, etc. Yet they also found that the vast majority of churches devote most of their time, money and efforts to these events. George Barna estimates that more than 2 out of every 3 Protestant churches have no evangelism training for their congregation.

So, if very precious few Christians are witnessing for Christ, and most churches are doing nothing to equip their congregation to be effective in Biblical evangelism, how is evangelism happening today? Well, for the most part it’s not. But, in the few cases where churches are making efforts to reach the lost, the majority of the responsibility is laid on the pastor. Many pastors are literally overwhelmed with the demand to come up with the next sure-fire method or event that will fill the church.

Pastors should bear some of the responsibility for reaching the lost in their community, but certainly not all of it. God never intended spiritual leaders to shoulder the full weight of evangelism. In Ephesians 4:11-12 God tells us what the main function and purpose of leaders, such as pastors, should be: "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service…".

The main purpose of the pastor is not so much to do evangelism as it is to equip people for evangelism. When the pastor is the main or sole source necessary for evangelism to take place in a church something very tragic and counterproductive takes place. Many congregations become co-dependant on their pastor for evangelism. They begin to feel less and less of a personal responsibility to reach the lost. They lose their sense of urgency and compassion for the lost. For many, their only efforts to reach sinners are to invite them to church. This certainly is better than doing nothing, but it is not all that we should be doing.

This mentality also produces another counterproductive mindset. The mindset that I am referring to is that evangelism has to take place in our church buildings. Can we win souls to Christ in our church buildings? Absolutely. Are church buildings the most effective means and place for evangelism? Absolutely not. The vast majority of unsaved people are not going to come to church regardless of how many times we ask them or what event is taking place. Church is not an enjoyable place for someone when they are still in their sins. We are about as likely to have unsaved people come to church as the police are to having criminals visit the police station. Neither location is a good place to be when you are guilty.

I would encourage you to do a thorough study of the book of Acts. If you want to see what a Biblical, powerful and growing church looks like, read about the early New Testament church. The Bible says that "daily" people were being saved and added to the church. Wouldn’t this indicate that evangelism wasn’t only being done on the Sabbath? This actually means that Christians were out witnessing and preaching the Gospel the other six days of the week! If that isn’t shocking enough, consider the fact there were no official Christian church buildings until the third century. Wow! They didn’t have a church building or state of the art facilities, but they continued to grow and radically change their communities. I once read a quote from Leonard Ravenhill where he said, "The early church had little equipment and much enduement, while the modern church has much equipment and little enduement." His statement certainly seems to be true today.

I am not advocating that we stop doing evangelistic events and burn all of our church buildings down to the ground. God can and does use both of these to spread His Word and save lost people. What I am encouraging is that we re-evaluate our efforts and priorities as a church and Christians. Are we really being good stewards when we are spending most of our time and money on something that has proven to only yield a 15% harvest, rather than focusing most of those resources on what yields an 85% harvest?

We should be encouraging more people to take fishing lessons and encourage them to fish for themselves, instead of looking at the "captain" of our respective boat to catch all the fish. Jesus calls all His disciples to become "fishers of men" (Mark 1:17).