6 ways pastors can lead to a more Gospel-focused church culture

By Jay Lowder

A pastor recently called me seeking advice on how to create a culture of evangelism in his church. This young man was concerned about the lack of Gospel outreach among his congregants, and though he has extensive knowledge of the Bible and pastoral training, he wasn’t sure how to activate his church members to share the Gospel.

This pastor is not alone. A 2023 Barna study revealed that only 12% of pastors reported they felt their church’s evangelism was “very effective,” while 55% viewed their efforts as “not very effective” or “not at all effective.”

Evangelism at its core is the act of sharing the “good news,” the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

That good news truly saved my life.

When I was 21 years old, suicidal and battling demons of failure and depression, I held a gun to my head, ready to end my life.  An unexpected interruption led me to put the gun down and accept an invitation to an evangelistic event. It was there that I heard the Gospel, committed my life to Christ, and eventually became a full-time evangelist. This simple act of concern for my life and destiny became a cradle for a new beginning.

Evangelism should always come from compassion for others. If Christ followers truly believe the only way to salvation is through a relationship with Jesus, then the greatest way to display their love for Him and others is to make Him known.

The biblical mandate to share the Gospel is often incorrectly viewed as an optional spiritual practice for believers, which may be a hurdle you are experiencing with your own congregation. The Bible is explicitly clear that every person who has a relationship with Christ is both called and commanded to share this good news. Jesus told his disciples He would make them “fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). Paul, the writer of most of the New Testament, echoed this privileged responsibility in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 when he stated that God gave us the ministry of helping to reconcile others to God’s Son.

In addition to these Scriptures, we hear this command directly from Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 when He gives the Great Commission to His disciples. The Bible makes it clear that sharing the gospel is an expectation of all believers. Yet many struggle to make evangelism a part of their daily life and their church’s ministry. This is where you, as a pastor, play an important role.

You set the tone for your entire Church. When you lead the charge in evangelism, you inspire your congregation to step out in faith and share with confidence. It’s not just about preaching about evangelizing from the pulpit; it’s about creating an environment where Gospel outreach is a natural part of living out faith.

As referenced above, many leaders feel the weight of igniting a passion for evangelism among church members. But achieving this goal doesn’t require programming, extra costs, or more volunteers. It begins with your intentional leadership. You have the unique opportunity to shape how your church lives out the mandate to share the Gospel. Here are a few ways you can lead your church toward a more Gospel-focused culture.

1. Increase your personal Gospel outreach. A lack of evangelism among your church members could be a reflection of your own personal evangelistic efforts. Churches with a thriving culture of evangelism are most often led by a pastor who prioritizes Gospel outreach in his own ministry and life.

2. Patiently invest. Improving a church’s focus on evangelism takes time and is not something that happens overnight. Commitment and diligence are key. As the church has explored how to evangelize effectively, programs like Evangelism Explosion were developed and led to success in some instances. However, in today’s church landscape, more groundwork needs to be put in place to help congregants warm up to the idea of Gospel outreach. This hurdle is overcome with a continual emphasis on what God’s word says about evangelism and regularly reiterating both the privilege and the need of sharing the good news.

3. Equip your church members. Many people want to reach others in their social pipeline but feel ill-equipped or intimidated. Strategic training, workshops, and preparations must be put in place to build their confidence in sharing the Gospel. There are many ways this can be facilitated through avenues such as counselor training for those responding in worship services.

4. Conduct unconventional outreach to non-believers. It’s sad how many churches seem out of touch when it comes to getting non-believers under the sound of the Gospel. I have personally seen multitudes come to Christ through outreaches geared specifically towards hunting, family fun days, holiday services, motocross, athletic events, etc. Many thriving congregations have also used church programs to the homeless, natural disaster relief, domestic violence shelters, and addiction treatment centers as an inlet.

5. Focus on targeted prayer. One of my all-time favorites and most effective tools I have seen in 20-plus years of full-time evangelism was used at a megachurch in Florida. It started with weeks of nothing other than asking the church to begin praying for one specific person they knew without Christ. As God continued to increase each individual’s burden for their unsaved friends, the staff placed a large glass container, about six feet tall, in the front of the sanctuary. Each Sunday, members placed ping pong balls that represented people being prayed for or someone who had received Christ as a result of their prayers in the container. It created believability as attendees could see the visual result of how God was moving. Other churches have held 24-hour prayer rallies for cities and communities, which brought unthinkable results. Think outside of the proverbial box and don’t underestimate the power of prayer!

6. Recognize “old school” can be the new. I talked with a pastor recently who was doing the unthinkable — knocking on doors. His church had visited over 400 homes and cultivated some strong connections. While this doesn’t always bring immediate results, it can be a huge link when someone hits a difficult time in life and is looking for spiritual guidance. I have also witnessed some common ideas lead to amazing results, such as churches providing gift cards to members who bring an unsaved friend to church so they can treat them to lunch afterward. Even Gospel tracts, which have been around for ages can be an easy and accessible tool to grow a church’s evangelistic outreach.

Nothing injects life into a church like seeing others come to Christ. This is also true in the life of each individual believer when they witness firsthand how God wants to use them. We live in a world that is not where people don’t want to hear the Gospel, but where some don’t want or know how to share it. It’s time to change this dilemma, and God will pour immeasurable blessings on the leadership who will do it!