According to Miller one of the principles for Outgrowing the Ingrown Church is simply a more biblical faith; specifically it is believing in the promise of the presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit with us in our mission and ministry to the world. He says that it is “the Lord’s missionary presence which enables congregations to fulfill the Great Commission.” (28) He deals a lot with fear and unbelief. I have a lot of positive thoughts on this, but am waiting to share – I am dealing with some of my own fears and failures in this area, and don’t want to jump the gun.
In the book he points to John Stott’s Our Guilty Silence, a book I haven’t thought of in some time. So after playing with the kids this afternoon I went to my study and pulled that little baby off the shelf. I want to re-read that thing tonight before going back to Outgrowing‘. But here’s Stott on evangelistic effectiveness.
Zeal for the glory of God, loyalty to the biblical gospel, and the mobilization of the local church will not in themselves promote successful evangelism or win men for Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. For ‘the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth’. And without the power of his divine witness all human witness is impotent. ‘The Spirit is the great interpreter who can break all sound and language barriers’ and communicate the gospel with effect.
Our Guilty Silence, pg. 90
