I praise the Lord for the tremendous response our church people showed by coming to the church-wide canvassing time last Saturday. What a blessing! I am happy to get the gospel to the folks of Medford. Doing the work of the ministry is a responsibility that belongs to the whole church, and a major aspect of my role as a pastor is to prepare our people to do ministry.
Paul said in Ephesians 4:12 that Christ gave both the evangelist and the pastor/teacher “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” The word perfecting has the idea of equipping. The pastor is to equip the saints, that is, to develop the church so they are rightly prepared and fully furnished to do ministry, which technically is evangelism and discipleship.
I want our people to have skill in preaching the gospel, which includes knowing what the Bible says about the gospel and being prepared to declare it confidently to the lost. I also want you to know how to deal with spiritual strongholds, wrong thinking that holds people back from believing the truth. The teaching and training we give on evangelism will help get you ready to preach the gospel.