Jesus left us with one central mission: to reach the world for Christ. Most of us began our ministries with a passion for evangelism and an expectation for our churches to be engaged in sharing the gospel.
But the sobering reality is that most pastors struggle to keep their fire for evangelism. Busyness and perhaps some apathy creep in, and before they know it, pastors are managing the squeaky wheels in their churches instead of taking risks to share the life-saving message of the gospel with lost people.
So, how do pastors and leaders reinvigorate the evangelistic passion in themselves and in those they lead? We need a plan to stay on mission that applies to every context, one that is biblical and transferable.
Here are six crucial stages to build evangelism into your church’s DNA (as presented in my book, Becoming a Contagious Church).
Stage 1: Own and Model Evangelistic Values
Building evangelism in your church begins with you. I cannot stress this enough. You can’t build an evangelistic church unless you become an evangelistic leader. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). Leaders must have a contagious faith because people tend to do what the leader models more than what he teaches with his words alone.
As leaders, we must be vigilant to maintain our passion for evangelism in our own hearts and lives. Here are four practical ways to fan this into flame.
- Prayer
This isn’t just a challenge to pray more prayers; it’s a call to pray more focused Prayers where you ask God to renew the joy of your salvation and give you compassion for lost people. Prayers for a fresh appreciation for the gospel in your own life and honest prayers of confession where that hasn’t existed. - Passages of Scripture
There are certain passages in the Bible that just fire us up evangelistically. Go back to those passages, dwell on them, read them, memorize them, or do a message or series on them.Maybe your favorite is the Great Commission passages or the woman at the well in John 4. Some love the triple parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son in Luke 15. Let a key evangelism-oriented passage dwell in you richly so it shapes your priorities, heart, and prayers—in your own life, and then in your priorities as a pastor or leader in your church. - Partner
Hebrews 10:24-25 calls believers to spur one another on in love and good deeds. We all need an evangelistic partner who encourages us in this way. Who in your life fires you up evangelistically? This person doesn’t have to live locally. You might encourage one another via text, phone calls, or virtual meetings. Or if they’re in the same town, schedule regular lunches or coffees with them. We must have partners who elevate this value of evangelism in us and vice versa. We can spur each other on and grow in this area. - Person far from God
We need at least one non-Christian in our lives who we are desperate to reach for Christ. If we don’t have this person, then this all becomes theory—just something we should be doing. Knowing and caring for a person bound for hell makes this personal, and it becomes a passion because we’ll do all we can to reach this friend who we love.
Here’s an idea for getting more evangelistic opportunities: Let your church know you’d like to share your faith with more people, but you need their partnership. Ask church members if they know a nonbeliever who might relate well to you. Have them schedule a lunch or coffee with the three of you to discuss spiritual matters.
By doing this, you’re not just evangelizing their friend, but you’re also discipling your church member. Double impact! They will see your priority of evangelism and learn how to share their faith by watching your example (even if you’re learning in the process). Owning and modeling evangelism in your own life is the first stage of cultivating a culture of evangelism in your church.
Stage 2: Instill Evangelistic Values
As we own and model evangelistic values, we can now move on to the second stage: Instill those values into the people we lead. We’re no longer telling people what they should do, but rather, we’re saying, “Here’s what I do, and this is how you can join me.”
It will require courage and tenacity to stay on mission. Talk about evangelism in your vision talks. Preach about it in your sermons. Instill it in those you disciple. Use stories of evangelistic conversations to inspire those you lead. Start with your own. Then, let other people tell their stories so that it becomes normal in your church to talk about sharing the gospel. Over time, evangelistic values will be instilled in your congregation. Let this value permeate everything you do—because the enemy will do all he can to squelch it.
Also, challenge your leaders to promote and instill these values in their own arenas of influence. This value needs to become contagious inside your church before it’ll have a huge impact on the outside community.
Be relentless. Believers indwelled by the Holy Spirit will find it difficult to argue with a well-articulated, confident presentation of a mission to share Christ with their family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
Stage 3: Empower an Evangelistic Point Person
To really see evangelism become part of your church’s DNA, you’ll need someone to lead this area. The pastor should champion evangelism as he lives, teaches, and casts vision for it, but pastors do not have the capacity to do all that’s needed to build an evangelistic church. They need a partner.
It’s both biblical and practical that every church needs to empower an evangelistic point person who’s going to work with the pastor and other church leaders to help the church maximize its evangelistic potential.
Ephesians 4:11 discusses five different offices in the church. “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers.” This shows that it’s normative for a church to have an evangelism leader, but this person doesn’t do evangelism for the church. He equips the church to do the work of evangelism.
So, who’s in charge of evangelism at your church?
We intuitively know we need a missions pastor if we’re focused on reaching other parts of the world, but what about the local North American mission? If you really believe your local community is part of your mission field, then who is the North American missions pastor in your church?
Feedback from churches has told me that this is the most revolutionary part of the 6-Stage Process. Prayerfully seek out the best leader available. Find the sharpest, most respected person you can, and challenge that person to prayerfully consider becoming the leader of the most important ministry in your church: reaching your community for Christ.
Stage 4: Train and Equip Believers
Once you have a leader in place, stages 4–6 will form that person’s job description. The first job is to train 100% of the church body in evangelism. That’s the goal (over time). This training is not only for a few specialists. Jesus gave this mission to all believers. We want to see every person trained to naturally share their faith with those around them.
Sometimes pastors mistakenly think if they teach well, people will put it into practice on their own, but they need more than teaching—they need training. And training always involves trying. The training can happen in various ways, but it must be hands-on and include some practice.
I live in Colorado. If I wanted to help someone learn how to ski on the Rocky Mountains, I would have them start on the bunny slopes, learning first how to stand up, then how to move forward, and then how to stop on those skis. Then, they can gradually get on steeper slopes as their skills start to grow. It’s hands-on training. We need that kind of training in evangelism throughout the church.
The second mistake I see made in churches is putting all our eggs in the basket of one narrow approach to personal evangelism—one that a few people fit, but most do not. Let’s train everyone in a variety of approaches and then unleash them to do all kinds of sharing that fits who they are. So, the training must help them see that there are natural approaches they can use.
I developed a book and video course called Contagious Faith designed to do just that. It helps every participant discover which of five biblical evangelism styles best fits them—or usually a combination of two or three of those styles. And over the six sessions we have participants pair up and practice several key skills involved in sharing their faith. Other tools that may be helpful are 3 Circles, Life on Mission App, and Who’s Your One?
Let’s be persistent in training all of our people to share Jesus with others.
Stage 5: Mobilize a Team of Evangelism Enthusiasts
I always look for the 10% of those being trained who may have a gift or passion in the area of evangelism. Certain people will naturally want to take next steps in this area. When you train 100% of the congregation, you’ll find people who want to do more of this. When the training ends, they just want to keep going!
These are the right people to form a team that your evangelism pastor builds into and then sends back out into the congregation to be evangelistic heat generators among your church body. They spread evangelistic fervor throughout the ministry, serving in youth ministry, sports ministry, women’s ministry, the greeter team, and all throughout the fabric of the church. Bring them together every other month as a team for inspiration and encouragement, then send them out again.
Stage 6: Unleash a Variety of Outreach Ministries and Events
This is where it really gets fun. Building on the foundation of Stages 1-5, your church can host a variety of outreach ministries and events to reach people in a variety of ways.
Here are some examples:
- A youth event where you bring in a cool band or fun activity for the purpose of gospel engagement
- A marriage seminar with practical help and an emphasis on the difference Christ can make in the relationship
- A golf tournament with each team trained to initiate spiritual conversations
- An appreciation dinner for teachers or first responders that incorporates a believing teacher or firefighter sharing what Christ means in their life and work
- A debate between a skeptic and a qualified Christian apologist
- A series of classes or small groups designed for nonbelievers to ask spiritual questions
The sky is the limit. Creativity can open all kinds of doors and ideas. But now these kinds of events and activities will have much greater impact, because the culture of the church is already geared to praying for lost friends, deepening relationships with them, and taking risks to share the gospel. So when you add these Stage 6 ministries and events, your people will be primed to support and make the most of them.
This is a church that is fully on mission for Christ, one that is fulfilling Jesus’ command in the Great Commission to reach and make disciples. It begins with you cultivating your own passion for the gospel and for lost friends. Then, as those values spread through your efforts and the Holy Spirit’s work, your church can become one whose DNA is all about reaching people for Christ—increasingly becoming a church that will bear fruit for eternity.
This article is based on the content of the webinar, “How to Build Evangelism Into Your Church’s DNA” recorded in March 2025.