After serving as a pastor for 31 years, I transitioned to serve Georgia Baptists in pastor wellness. I asked pastors the same question: “What’s your greatest need, and what’s your greatest struggle?” Regardless of their ministry context, I learned their greatest need was encouragement and greatest struggle was isolation.
The fact is, if you’re a pastor, you probably experience the same need and struggle. If you’re seeking to create a culture of evangelism in your church, you may wonder what these personal feelings have to doing with sharing the gospel.
I’ve learned that a drowning person is rarely focused on saving anyone else. In other words, if we’re attempting to serve the Lord with a depleted, empty soul or an unhealthy marriage, then it’s very difficult to have the strength and focus needed to lead the church to be evangelistic.
Because of this, I want to encourage you, pastor, to examine yourself and your church in three key areas before you seek to launch an evangelism movement.
- A Healthy Soul
Before you can lead your church to embrace a new gospel-sharing culture within your church, you must examine your own soul. A healthy soul requires the right pace, diet, and rest.
First, pace means resisting the urge to rush and finding a sustainable rhythm that allows space for God to restore you, knowing your own limits and caring for your inner life as attentively as you lead others.
Second, diet refers to consistently nourishing your spirit through prayer, time in God’s Word, and service that flows from intimacy with Him. When these practices align, ministry becomes fuel for your soul rather than exhaustion.
Finally, rest is about stopping before you have to. It’s about building regular rhythms of renewal into your days, weeks, and seasons. Resting, praying, and disconnecting help you trust God with the results while you simply obey His call. Together, pace, diet, and rest position you to receive the restoration that only the Lord can bring.
- A Healthy Family
You probably heard the statement, “If things aren’t right at home, they aren’t right anywhere.” Families are vitally important and the primary place we need health and wholeness. None of our marriages will be perfect, but they can be healthy.
One practice that will contribute to creating and maintaining a healthy marriage is praying daily for your spouse. I mean, really pray. Lift their name before the Lord each day. The Lord Jesus responds to our prayers. He works in the one praying and the one that’s being prayed for. So let me give you an outline for praying for your spouse each day.
- On Sunday, pray for God to use His word to enrich their lives for His glory.
- On Monday, pray for God to give your spouse a great week and to show them His love.
- On Tuesday, pray God would guard their heart from temptation and Satan’s attacks.
- On Wednesday, pray God would stir your spouse’s heart with a supreme desire to honor Him.
- On Thursday, pray God would grant them spiritual wisdom and decision-making skills that glorify Him.
- On Friday, pray for continued growth and maturity in their relationship with God.
- On Saturday, pray for God to help you show genuine, unconditional love to them.
The integrity of our own souls and home lives must align with who God has called us to be. Without this, our outward efforts in leading our churches to evangelize will be short-lived and unable to produce the amount of eternal fruit we long for.
- Healthy Work/Ministry
The third area that you must examine is the present state of your church’s evangelistic culture. I hope that every pastor and ministry leader would desire for their church to be fully engaged in evangelism. We must take an honest look at the culture of our church because, for many, our desire to be evangelistic isn’t matched by reality.
I’m afraid that too many of us are like the man who goes to the circus. He looks at himself in the warped mirror, then he walks away believing that he’s the strong man. We can’t make a healthy, true assessment of our evangelistic culture by looking in a mirror that only reflects our desires. We have to see and acknowledge a clear reflection of reality to know what we need to do and what we need to change.
Take the Assessment
If you’re a pastor or leader who is interested in prayerfully examining each of these areas, I invite you to utilize an assessment tool designed to help you better understand the health of your soul, your family, and the evangelistic culture of your church. This assessment is not scientific or exhaustive; however, I believe it can be a helpful snapshot in understanding the present condition of your life and the church you serve.
I pray the Holy Spirit will give you insight into your personal life and church work so that your congregation becomes one which faithfully proclaims the name of Jesus until the whole world hears.
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This article was adapted from sessions of the Creating a Culture of Evangelism online training course. To learn more or take the course, click here. Also available in Spanish.