Great Soul-Winning Churches - Elmer Towns

The words of George Mueller are applicable when building a church: “Nine-tenths of the
difficulty is overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatsoever it may be. The
difficulty rises when we ask God to reveal His will before we are ready to do it unreservedly.”
2. Ability to know God’s will for Christian service.—There are many orthodox preachers
who have failed in their Christian service. A minister may know the Word of God and adhere to
its conservative beliefs, yet miss God’s will for Christian service. Some men who believe in
God’s Word are swept into small-group dynamics, others follow the thinking of evangelicals
from Wheaton and drift into mod music, relevance-oriented ideas, or they incorporate methods
from the world. The pastors in this book know the will of God and how to discern it for their
lives. They are students of the Word of God and here find the will of God for Christian service.
They are able to match their own desires and circumstances to the power of God, resulting in a
large church.
These men are able to detect what up-to-date technique to use and what to reject. They
use streamlined accounting procedures, computers, the latest media techniques and will
incorporate any new invention to save money in building additional facilities. Some buildings
resemble the new architecture; other auditoriums look like factories from the outside. Yet all of
their buildings have a practical function—they are built to preach the Word of God, not as
liturgical monuments.
Many preachers wear the latest fashions, including flare trousers, white-collar double-knit
suits, and drive a late-model automobile. Yet the same minister realizes that smoking harms his
testimony, X-rated movies pollute his mind, rock gospel music is a compromise with the world,
and alcohol is wrong no matter in what form it is served.
These men are successful because they have the wisdom to know what up-to-date
techniques can be used to build a great soul-winning church. At the same time, they recognize
adverse influence of compromise with the world. Then they have the determination to not
compromise but to follow God’s will.
3. Mature leadership.—Spirituality can be gained overnight by letting the Holy Spirit
control one’s life. The ignorant carpenter can be saved, surrender to God and be spiritual, simply
because he is controlled by the Holy Spirit; however, he is not instantly a mature leader. Maturity
takes time whereby the man of God is faithful to the many commands of Scripture and develops
a pattern of godliness and a reservoir of wisdom upon which to base his decisions.
Mature leaders have learned to overcome the simplest form of temptations. Their
continued walk with God makes them mature and qualifies them for leadership of a large church.
But this does not mean that these men are perfect.
A leader has learned to overcome criticism by rejecting that which is false and listening
to that which is wise. Also, he is wise enough to recognize his ignorance and to educate himself,
either by attending college, reading, attending seminars or counseling with mature friends.
The pastors in this book have keen understanding with ability to overcome problems that
choke smaller churches. An old Italian proverb, “Clear understandings develop long