Ministries
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). It is the privilege and responsibility of every born-again believer to be a personal witness to others for Jesus each and every day. Below are some of the gospel outreach ministries sponsored and organized by our church.
Personal evangelism is obedience to the Biblical command given by the Lord to all believers to tell everyone everywhere the good news of the gospel. Nothing is more effective and nothing bears more fruit than the individual Christians telling individual sinners what Jesus Christ has done for their salvation.
By public ministry we simply mean going where people can be found and giving those people an opportunity to know the Lord Jesus. This is done in a park, on a city street, or at a staged event such as a ball game or a parade.
One effective and easy aspect of public ministry is the distribution of literature. We politely offer people tracts and pamphlets containing the gospel. Our youth have always enjoyed this work.
Another way to reach multitudes is by use of printed signs and banners displayed along public thoroughfares. A Bible verse held aloft at a busy intersection will be read by hundreds or thousands of people in an hour’s time.
Like all the prophets, all the apostles, and Jesus himself, we lift up our voices in public places and preach the gospel. To crowds large and small we proclaim the wonderful words of life.
We attend fairs, parades, sporting events, shows, and gatherings of all kinds to which the general public is invited and offer God’s gift of eternal life to any who desire to make heaven their home.
Sitting in area nursing homes are two groups of people:
- There are dear Christians trapped in failing bodies who need the joy and uplift of a visit from brothers and sisters in Christ.
- There are dear souls at the door of eternity who need to be rescued from the final wages of sin and introduced to the Savior.
Regularly-held services where the residents join in song, hear God’s word, and fellowship with our church members are a genuine blessing to all who participate.
Visitation is the term used for two aspects of evangelism. One is the cold call, for lack of a better term, where those who know Jesus move from house to house offering the gospel to their town. The other is a requested a visit — taking time to sit in the home of a lost person, a new Christian, or a church member in need of spiritual assistance.
Our recorded sermon and book ministry is our most extensive and fruitful outreach. In 1987 we began sending cassette recordings of our sermons to a couple of missionaries we knew, and we told them they could have more at no cost. Word spread of good teaching available at the right price. Letters began to pour in. We have now sent several million recordings to people in 180+ nations. We have also published over forty book titles, several of which have been translated into other languages. These teaching tools are being used around the world, with over one million books in print.
We began airing The Preaching of the Cross radio broadcast weekly in 1981 and daily in 1991. This thirty-minute program of Bible teaching by our pastor is heard on radio stations in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Uganda, and many places in between.
More recently, making our sermons available on streaming services online has enabled us to reach many precious souls with the truth of God’s words.
The Lord has given us open doors into area jails, prisons, and rescue missions, where evangelistic services and discipleship classes are offered to men and women with time to think about their need for life-changing faith in Jesus Christ.
For many years, the Lord has provided a tremendous opportunity for us to reach boys and girls (and by extension, their families) with the gospel by conducting after-school Bible clubs in local public elementary schools and child care facilities. Each club requires teachers, coordinators, and other helpers. This is a most worthy investment of a few hours per week on the part of our many volunteers.
We regularly organize visits to public university campuses to take the light of God’s word to the students, many of whom have been educated out of their belief in the existence of God, or of truth itself. These outreach efforts regularly yield interesting and productive conversations.
We count it a great blessing to pray for and help fund the work of dozens of missionary families around the world, and we regularly organize short-term missions trips to fields at home and abroad.
As you attend faithfully and we get to know one another, you will have opportunities to be directed by the Lord into some area of service for Him. We will gladly instruct you and show you how to be a good soldier in the Lord’s army.