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THEOLOGY AND EVANGELISM IN THE LOCAL CHURCH by Chuck Lawless
The first church I attended was a Southern Bap-
sic doctrine, even while those same members are
tist church in Ohio. That congregation gave me a
learning their theology from TV talk show hosts,
solid belief in the inerrancy of the Word of God
popular television preachers, or the latest reli-
and an undeniable passion for evangelism. It was
gious novel. Few — if any — of those sources teach
not until I began graduate education that I learned
a theology that leads to an evangelistic lifestyle.
that others questioned both commitments. Some argued that inerrancy is unsupportable and evan-
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Consider these guidelines for teaching theology and evangelism in your church:
gelism is unnecessary. I realized quickly that
Do not assume your church members don’t care
standing on the Word and sharing that Word with
about beliefs. Too many church leaders give up on
others does not always happen naturally. Indi-
teaching theology before they even try. “Nobody
viduals, churches, educational institutions and
cares about theology anymore,” they think. Not
denominations alike default into theological and
only does this thinking ultimately question the
evangelistic apathy apart from an intentional plan
power of the Word, but it also denies reality. It is
to avoid this slide.
precisely because people do care about beliefs that
We who are “Bible believers” know this truth
they turn to places and people other than the
and we are quick to remind others of this fact.
church for their belief system. Where the church
What we are not so quick to acknowledge is this
fails, somebody else fills the void — and that
truth: our churches do a poor job of teaching the
somebody else is often unconcerned about biblical
very theology we claim is so important, and we do
truth and evangelism.
no better with evangelism training. We think our
Realize that attending worship and small
church members understand and believe our ba-
groups does not automatically lead to doctrinal