Evangelism in the Local Church

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But how does the local church exercise her role in evangelism? She does so, quite simply, by being the church that Jesus designed her to be. The Lord gave specific responsibilities to the church: to maintain the apostolic teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42). That sounds very much like the regular ministry of Word, sacrament, and prayer. The Lord also called his church to live together in a particular way, characterized by love, fellowship, worship, and care for others (2:44–46). As they did this, the Lord added to their number each day those who were being saved (2:47). We need local churches that function as the Lord directed, because Jesus designed the church with the gospel in mind. He uses such congregations to spread the gospel and gather the lost. We also need local congregations that have a zeal for evangelism and a love for the lost. We need local congregations filled with people who love the gospel and love the lost in such a way that they will invite them to church and warmly welcome visitors.