PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

in evangelism are effective in making disciples of various types of people through their personal
evangelistic efforts.
During the late sixties, the author began compiling lists of the largest and fastest growing
churches in America. The Ten Largest Churches described ten churches which had experienced
significant church growth. 1 Other books including America's Fastest Growing Churches
described churches which rose to prominence because of their commitment to and effectiveness
in reaching their community for Christ. 1 Pastors like Rick Warren, Bill Hybles, Lee Roberson,
Richard Lee and Jerry Falwell are widely recognized as pastoral leaders of evangelistic churches.
THE STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE EVANGELISTIC
CHURCH
The strength of the Evangelistic Church is found in its commitment to evangelism. Most
pastors of Evangelistic Churches would agree with Spurgeon's claim, "There is no wrong way to
win people to Christ." As a result, evangelistic churches have produced outreach ministries
which have become prototypes for others committed to evangelism. In recent decades, several
highly effective outreach ministries have been born out of the evangelistic zeal of these churches.
Before the 1950s, local church evangelistic crusades were a highly effective means of
reaching people for Christ. Churches would erect tents on their property or conduct week long
evangelistic meetings. The gospel was preached and people were won to Christ. Also, great
youth rallies would be held on Friday and/or Saturday evenings and similar results were achieved
among students.
Visitation evangelism was a widely used means for reaching people for Christ. On a
designated evening, evangelistic teams would go out from the church to visit prospects for
salvation. If there were no prospects, visitors would simply knock on doors "cold turkey" to look
for those who might prove to be prospects for the gospel.
During the 1960s Sunday School busses were being widely used to reach people for
Christ. Long bus routes were established and bus captains spent most of their Saturdays
knocking on doors to find riders for their Sunday School busses the following day. In some
churches, over a hundred children would come to church from a single bus route. By the peak of
the bussing movement, many churches were purchasing Sunday School busses assuming the bus
itself would result in increased attendance.
During the seventies and eighties, many other evangelistic strategies were developed and
used to reach people for Christ. Coffee houses and concerts, telemarketing and television, drivein
films and bumper stickers were all used as means of communicating the gospel. Some proved
to be more effective than others in achieving their desired end, but all were born out of the vision
of evangelistic churches. Denominations composed largely of evangelistic churches experienced
significant growth as new churches were established to reach new communities. Indeed, starting
new churches appears to be the most effective means of reaching people for Christ.