I don't care if non-Christians come to my church.

Yeah, I know, that sounds harsh. But hear me out. When the first church was meeting back in the first century, they met together for the purpose of fellowship, edification through teaching, eating (most people agree - in remembrance of Christ's sacrifice), and to meet one another's needs. Evangelism is not one of the reasons they met as a church.

But today, churches have taken on the responsibility of evangelism, in essence, taking it away from God's people. Churches often refer to Matt. 28 (the great commission) as part of their purpose for existing. "God tells to 'Go and make disciples' so we are here to make disciples." But the verse doesn't say "Go and start churches that can make disciples," or "Go and invite your friends to Church so that a pastor can make them disciples."

It gives the imperative to command to the disciples, that is, the people! People are supposed to go and make disciples. We should indeed then try to get those disciples connected in community of believers for edification, fellowship, remembering Christ's sacrifice, and meeting one another's needs. But the responsibility of evangelism lies on you and me, not on our respective churches; not on our preachers, but on us.

We should also note that the verse says "Go." We cannot passively evangelize the world by preparing a great program, having insightful messages, and inviting the lost into our environment. We need to go to them. The church as an organization is so limited in what it can do to infiltrate the community. People who are lost and need Jesus live next door, work in the cubicle next to us, and wait on us at our local restaurants. Individuals need to be reaching these people, because we can. Otherwise, we are just waiting and hoping that these people will as some point choose to enter an unfamiliar environment and come to us at church.

Let's Go!!!