By Gerry Wakeland

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20 NIV

The scripture is very clear in charging us with the responsibility to bring others into the Kingdom of God. For many this is a challenge. Sharing our faith with clarity and conviction, especially when that faith is such a personal thing, can be hard. But the scripture also tells us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”(John 14:15) Loving God and obeying God often takes us out of our comfort zone.

During the month of October our church focus will be on evangelism. The theme is Time for One. Our pastoral leadership is asking that we do three things to fulfill the biblical mandate placed before us in Matthew 28.

First, we should identify and invite One person to become involved in our fellowship. A great way to start is with prayer. Who would God have you invite? Your neighbor? A co-worker? The mechanic that works on your car? Ask the Lord’s guidance, listen to what He tells you and then follow through with the invitation.

Next we want to engage our One into the activities of our church. What does that look like? You could bring them to your life group or small group. Our 10:31 Bible Study on Wednesdays is an excellent place to integrate people into our fellowship. October 25th is our Night of Praise and Chili Cook-Off. What a great opportunity to bring your One to a uplifting evening of music, fellowship and food.

Finally, on November 1st we will celebrate our One in our Sunday morning worship services. Hopefully, by this time you will have established a relationship that allows you to invite your One to join in our Sunday morning worship where they will hear the Word of God and be surrounded by the love of the family of God.

However, we do not want the relationship to stop there. Our goal is to draw our One into the Body of Christ, thus fulfilling the scriptural command of Matthew 28.

So, have you identified your One? Are you praying, asking God to show you who to invite?

Luke 10:2 (NIV) tells us “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” It’s time for the people of God to take His commands seriously and show Him how much we love Him by reaching out to those who are lost and helping them to find a God that loves them and a church that will care for them.