Our Lord Jesus Christ before He was taken back to heaven commanded His disciples saying; ‘go therefore and make disciples of people of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit; teaching them to Observe all things I have commanded you and look I’m with you all the days until conclution of the system of things. Mathew 28:19,20 (NWT) In that verse of the scripture, what our Lord Jesus Christ was simply telling His disciples is to go and attract individuals, retain and develop them within the body of Christ which is the church.
The early disciples when they receive this commandment did not hesitate to carry it out. As soon as they received the Holy Ghost, they went about attracting people to Christ. In the day of Pentecost alone about 3000 individuals were attracted to the fold through the ministration of Peter. The 3000 converts were also retained and developed. The bible said in Acts 2:42 that ‘they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and in braking of bread and in prayers.’
The disciples in the bible days recorded huge success in this assignment due to the methods they used which were suitable in there time. They attracted people through working of miracles (Acts 3 & 4) going into the synagogue (Acts 14:1) and preaching in the streets. They turned the world upside down and planted churches everywhere. The effect of their works is what made us Christians today. Even when their generation passed away, the gospel of Jesus Christ continue to grow from one generation to another due to the adherence of each generation to this great commandment to go and attract people. However each generation used methods and approaches that were suitable in there time. E.g. the early missionaries that came to Africa brought education along with the gospel. Some came along with medical aids while others brought other valuables that were needful to the people they intend to attract.
Now that the baton has been transferred to us, how can we truly attract, retain and develop individuals within the church setting in this global age where every thing seems to be moving at the speed of light. To carry out this assignment successfully therefore, we need to understand the systems that control this present age and fine a way of colonizing them and making them profitable tools in this all important assignment. But if we fail to identify these systems, it will make our effort in this assignment fruitless, even when we manage to attract them; we will find it difficult to retain them due to the pressure of those systems.
There are about seven systems that control this present age. They include: The system of media, The entertainment system, The economic system, The political system, The educational system, The family system and The religious system. These are the systems that control human values; it’s these systems that made people behave the way they do. Take the media for instance; the influx of western lives into our media has influence our way of life so much that we now intend to emulate them in everything. Our manner of life, our mode of dressing and our political system is now characterized by western culture.
Having identified these systems, we must find a way of utilizing them in all our approaches; we must make use of the media in our outreaches. We must find a way of making use of entertainment to attract people; the world love entertainment so much. We must find a way of empowering our members economically; lake of finance is what had made many to leave the church today. We need to encourage Christians to participate in politics; by the time we begin to produce Christian leaders, all those places they called impenetrable places for evangelism will become penetrable. We must encourage and help our member to be educated; education is what drives the world today. We must begin to raise Christian families; Imagine a situation where true Christian families are raised, Christianity will spread all over the country and crime and high rate of sin will be reduced. Also we must fine a way to nullify all those indoctrinated pseudo religious belief from out system.
Having understood that, the church or any one who desire to attract people to God must take the following steps;
1. 1. PRAYER: A true soul winner must be and intercessor. ‘The harvest truly is great but the laborers are few, pray you therefore to the lord of the harvest that he may send more laborers into the field’. Pray for the missionaries pray for the soul of sinner you want to preach to and pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
2. PERSONAL EVANGELISM: It is the oldest and the most effective way of attracting people to Christ. It worked in the bible days and it is still working in out time. The bible said that ‘Andrew finds his own brother Simon (John 1:41) and Philip finds Nathanael (John 1:41) it’s easier to attract people closer to us. Personal evangelism also involves living a life that others will see Jesus in us; you can’t attract people to Christ if your life is full of questionable character.
The church must take advantage of the technological advancement to attract people. The media is the easies way of attracting people because of the number of people you can reach out to within few minutes. The media includes television/radio, the print and the internet. The church can organize television/radio programs where soul transforming messages will be preached. Magazines and tracks that contain soul transforming articles should be made available. The internet should be utilized through creating of interactive website where people can get feedbacks to question that borders their mind. Someone once wrote on her facebook wall that the evangelical field has been widened via facebook. Imagine the millions of people you will attract just by sending a soul transforming message across the internet.
Also, we must endeavor to follow up the young converts adequately. Follow-up involves getting closer to the individuals and knowing their personal needs and find a way of helping them in the area where they needed help. They should be encouraged to be coming to Church where they will be hearing soul lifting messages that will keep them strong in the faith.
The church should be organizing seminars/workshop where member will be empowered both spiritually and economically. This is an effective way of retaining them in the church. If one is empowered economically, there is no way he can leave the church when he remembers that it the church that helped him to become what he has become, but if such a person is lacking financially, he intends to seek for help else where.
No doubt in all generation, there had always been orchestrated attempt by Satan to frustrate the people of God in this all impotent assignment but if we employ the right methods that are suitable in our time, we would be enlarging the kingdom of God and depopulating the kingdom of darkness. The church is expected to be diligent in this task knowing how important it is in the mind of God, even when we are confronted with obstacles, we need to be encouraged by the fact that the will of God has always prevailed, never mind, He will make a way for us if we maintain the right approach. The church of Jesus must bury any racial, ethnic, intellectual or spiritual differences and work together towards achieving this all important common goal of attracting, retaining and developing individual within the body of Christ which is the church
Prince Emeka Anyaogu
