As Baptists, many would refer to us as evangelicals. They do this because we put a high focus on evangelism. Evangelism is vital, but as Bereans, we must see that there is so much more than just evangelism in the life of a believer.
I don’t often use alliteration, but below you will find 8 verbs that all start with the letter E. I start with evangelize but then I also point out how we should engage, establish, exhort, encourage, edify, equip, and that the Holy Spirit empowers the believer to do all of this.
We, as Bereans, need to create a church culture where these 8 E’s are happening as we are disciples who make disciples. The mission of Berean Baptist Church is to Proclaim Christ to Make Disciples. Within this Great Commission mission, believers evangelize, engage, establish, exhort, encourage, edify, equip, and are empowered. All of them, not just one or two, or at least half, but all of them!
- Evangelize: Responsible Christians sharing the gospel with others in hopes that the unbeliever will believe in Christ for their personal salvation (1Co 15:1-4). Evangelism takes place through the sharing of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life.
- Engage: We must engage one another relationally as we are engaging God (Acts 2:41-47). This is where invitations to participate in activities, studies, classes, groups, outings, coffees, etc., are given in the hope that the recipient will get engaged in the life of the body of Christ. This is the hard work of getting involved in each other’s lives. You do not come to church for yourself, you come to Berean to be for others.
- Establish: Our goal is to see new believers or new Bereans get established in the faith and family—that’s us, one big family with no desire to be “mega” anything. Bereans must be rooted and grounded deep in the soil of the Word of God and the body of Christ. This starts with what is your name and are you connected to a Sunday school class? We want 100% of the church connected to a Sunday school class. Are you connected? See Col 2:17.
- Exhort: This word reminds us of the teaching ministry of the church. We see this in Luke 3:18, “And with many other exhortations, John preached the good news to them.” Exhorting is not limited to the elders—all teachers need to teach from the perspective that obeying God’s Word is imperative. The third aspect of the Great Commission from Jesus is “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt 28:20, NET).
- Encourage: I need to be encouraged. Do you? How can we encourage one another if we are not engaged with each other’s lives? I encourage the people I know, and I am sure you do too. See 1Th 5:11. Put simply: you don’t encourage people you don’t know.
- Edify: Webster-Merriam defines edify as instructing and improving, especially in moral and religious knowledge. Obviously, our goal is not religion or mere morality! But we do want every minute with the body of Christ to be edifying—that is, you are being built up in your relationship with Jesus, others, and the faith. See Acts 9:31.
- Equip: In Ephesians 4:12, Paul instructs the elders who teach to equip the saints (holy ones) for the work of ministry. The goal of the teaching and preaching ministry of the local church is to equip the saints to evangelize, engage, establish, exhort, encourage, and edify.
- Empower: Finally, the born-again believer realizes all he or she does is utterly in vain if it is not done in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit in the believer is the means through which we access God’s power to evangelize! and to edify! and exhort! Thus, we pray for one another to be empowered to do the work of the Lord for the glory of God. See Acts 1:8, Rom 1:16, 1Co 2:5 and 5:4, and on and on.
Evangelize, engage, establish, exhort, encourage, edify, equip, and seek to be empowered (filled) by the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18).
