By Sarah Guldalian, Editor Equipping Newsletter and Coordinator of Equipping to Share Program, Lutheran Hour Ministries, St. Louis, Missouri.

I recently received an email from a passionate servant of the Lord, Dr. Frank Mwakasisi, the Director of Evangelism and Missions at St. Michael Lutheran Church and School, in Portage, Michigan. This gentleman, who moved to the United States from Tanzania, Africa in 1990, brings with him a contagious enthusiasm for the Lord in every conversation. I was incredibly encouraged and felt further trained in evangelism myself by a recent phone call with him and by the email he sent. I trust that you will feel the same. He is joyful in my sharing it.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about evangelism and it is our job, as leaders, to help our people overcome that and empower them by helping them to discover their own personal styles of evangelism. Once they discover their style, it becomes easy to put into place what you teach in ‘Equipping to Share’.

People have seen too much of either Mormons or Jehovah Witness; and, the majority may not like that type of evangelism of knocking on doors. Some have seen a great experience of crusades conducted by people like Billy Graham and they know they’re not like him. Their answer to evangelism is: ‘Sorry, I can’t do it because I can’t be one of them.’ Discovering their own personal style has to overcome that.

Imagine the impact in our homes, and in our community, if everyone in our church became spiritually contagious! That is exactly what happens when Christians begin to understand their personal, God-given evangelism style and learn how to naturally communicate their faith with others.

Today you asked me twice if I am a pastor and anytime I open my mouth and boldly share something about God, the same question arises again and again from other people. Right now, my passion is to share about God and train other people to discover their style of evangelism so that they can go out and boldly proclaim the Gospel.

I’ve totally, I mean totally, surrendered to God and asked Him to use me mightily any way He wants. I am a former professor of Civil Engineering but should God tell me today to go back to school like a seminary, I will jump in a heartbeat. The only thing that I don’t want is to jump ahead of Him. I want Him to pave the way for me and send me in the direction He wants me to go. That way, failure is impossible as His presence will be all over me.

As a Civil Engineer, for years I have been designing and constructing bridges so that people can have a good experience on the highway. However, now I’m designing and building bridges to connect people’s souls to God, what a joy that is! It is an amazing privilege.

That is why for now I’m focusing on training saints to catch the vision and set their hearts ablaze for God. I want people to have a testimony of God’s glory in their lives. Because when you experience that intimate presence of God in your life, Sarah, God becomes so real such that there is no faking anymore. When God is real in your life, you get transformed inside out. That is my prayer for my people here at St Michael as well as all Lutheran churches and of course for all people of God worldwide. That’s why we started a Prayer for Renewal for St. Michael, as I want my people to be on fire for God.

My prayer is for my people to have a jumbo size passion for God, craving for more of God with thirst that doesn’t get satisfied. Getting involved in small group Bible studies, craving for reading the Bible daily, chewing the word of God and coming to a point that if a day passes without reading the Bible or coming into God’s presence is like they’re missing air to breathe. We need to come to that level, Sarah.

Please read Ezekiel 33:1-7 to get the context and then read verse 8, again and again, to get God’s command to evangelize. It is not a choice: It is a command otherwise somebody’s blood is on us for letting him or her die in sin on our watch. May God bless you, your family, your work and everything that your heart cares for.”

When I spoke with Dr. Frank over the telephone last week, he asked me what my style of evangelism is… Confrontational like Peter? Testimonial like the blind man? Servanthood like Dorcas? Invitational like the situation with the woman at the well? His point is: No matter what your area of talent is, God wants to use your talent mightily towards spreading His kingdom message to the entire world.

Dr. Mwakasisi is on fire for the Lord and His calling upon His life as one of His disciples. We are all Christ’s disciples! And, I am especially thankful for this reminder and the refreshment of Frank’s passion. If you have questions for Frank, he is available via email at frank@MightyOutreach.com or by snail mail at Mighty Outreach Ministries, PO Box 1655, Portage, Michigan 49081, USA.

Praise be to God!

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Why are people lost? People become lost because:

• Satan blinds their minds (2 Corinthians 4:3).
• Sinfulness dominates their lives (Psalm 51:5).
• Surroundings shape their values (Romans 12:2).
• Selfishness controls their hearts (James 1:14).

In Luke 15 Jesus tells three stories back to back as a response to Pharisees and scribes who were mad at Him by being a friend of sinners. This entire chapter was a call to understand how God the Father feels towards lost people outside His family. Lost people stir the heart of God. This story highlights three themes about lost people.

• Something of great value has gone missing (sheep, coin, son).
• That was missing was so important that it warranted an all-out search. Sent Jesus to do redemptive work on the cross. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)”.
• Retrievals bring rejoicing … when lost people are found, there is a cosmic celebration in heaven. There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10).

Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). No matter what one have done, no matter how distance one may feel, no matter how far one has wandered, no matter what one may think, there is love, forgiveness of sins and peace waiting for him whether he is aware of it or not.

Imagine… cosmic celebration going on in heaven for you the day you were found and the banner over the table with your name written on it, all the heavenly hosts led by Jesus Christ himself taking a time out to celebrate you being found. Take that visual challenge. It will remind you afresh how much we matter to God and the price that was paid for our redemption.

When you’re out there in the world, you never lack to see people who doesn’t matter to God, who doesn’t warrant an all-out search. We never come into contact with someone for whom all heaven won’t rejoice if they were to repent and receive forgiveness and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

At Mighty Outreach International, our hearts are set ablaze and fired up for God, and we have become all things to all men for the sake of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:22-23). We found great joy and unique privilege to Help Churches Reach More People for Christ by equipping and training pastors, church leaders, and members how to share their faith and how to reach out to lost people, find them and keep them. We offer seminars on Evangelism and Church Growth.

At Mighty Outreach International, we view as an opportunity that God has given us to tell someone outside the family of God whether he is aware of it or not that:

• He matters to the father.
• The price has been paid for him.
• An all-out search is out for him.
• That a party would be thrown for him if he repents his sins and gets adopted into the family of God.

We view Evangelism as an opportunity for us to live a Contagious Christian Life. As co-author of the Becoming a Contagious Christianprogram Bill Hybels, Senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church shares his remarkable passion for lost people, defines contagious to mean “that the love of Christ is so active in our lives, and the perspective of Christ is the one that we carry around in our mind when we look at the people outside the family of God”.

When your church leaders and members go through this Becoming a Contagious Christian training (among other training), they will begin to see Evangelism in new ways. We pray that there will be an authentic desire to just lead a contagious Christian life in ways the Holy Spirit can use to let lost people know that they matter to God!

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Increasingly, men and women choose to live as husband and wife without being married. This pamphlet will answer some questions asked about living together.

What is Marriage?

We learn from the Word of God that marriage is the lifelong, exclusive union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife. Marriage is a part of God’s creation. Thus, we read in God’s Word, the Bible: “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Gen.2:24; cf. Matt.19:5–6; Eph.5:31).

Elsewhere we read, “Since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband” (1 Cor. 7:2). And, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Heb.13:4). Marriage is such a precious blessing that God inspired the Apostle Paul to describe marriage as a picture of Christ’s relationship with His bride, the church (Eph. 5:22–33).

Why is it wrong for a couple to live together without marriage?

Simply stated, a couple that lives together as man and wife without being married is sinning. God’s Word is clear: “You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. …Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Eph. 4:17-19). Our Lord Jesus Christ once helped a woman living with a man who was not her husband to recognize that what she was doing was wrong (John 4:16–18).

Lutheran Christians believe that the sixth commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” means, “We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do; and husband and wife love and honor each other”(Luther’s Small Catechism [CPH: 1986], p.10).

All of this is another way of stating the obvious: Men and women are not to live together as husband and wife unless they actually are husband and wife. This is as true for 80-yearolds as it is for
18-year-olds.

Why does the church care about what two consenting adults do?

The church cares because God cares. The Lord’s Word is very clear in its condemnation of sexual activity outside of marriage. Consider these passages:

“Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers. . . will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10).

“Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people”(Eph.5:3).

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery. … I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19–21).

Why is living together such a serious problem?

Because God’s Word clearly shows that it is sinful for couples to live together without marriage, people who persist in behavior that God rejects and condemns as sin are choosing a course that may lead to eternal punishment. God’s Word is clear: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left” (Heb. 10:26).

And again, we read: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God. … The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life” (1 Thess. 4:3-7).

Isn’t the church being ‘judgmental’?

The church is declaring the truth of God’s Word. On behalf of Christ and His people, pastors have the responsibility to speak clearly to couples living together and to proclaim the Word of God to them, both Law and Gospel. It is never easy for a pastor, or a congregation, to deal with couples who are living together without marriage. It is important for both pastors and congregations to deal with these situations pastorally and faithfully, in a caring manner. Couples, and their parents are tempted to say, “So what? Everyone else is doing it; and besides, we live in changing times.” In proclaiming the truth of God’s Word about these situations, the church is being faithful, not judgmental.

Shouldn’t a couple find out if they are compatible?

Secular research has demonstrated that living together without marriage results in a relationship that it less stable and less fulfilling than marriage. Furthermore, couples who live together have a much higher risk of divorce when they finally do marry. Living together is a bad idea, even from a purely human perspective.

One study notes, “Those who cohabitate before marriage have substantially higher divorce rates than those who do not; the recorded differentials range from 50 percent to 100 percent higher” (“The Relationship Between Cohabitation and Divorce”[1992],Demography, 29:357–374).Studies conducted at Yale and Columbia Universities found that “the dissolution rate for women who cohabit premaritally with their future spouse is, on average, nearly 80 percent higher than the rates of those who do not” (“Commitment and the Modern Union,” American Sociological Review,[1988], 53:127–138).

How does the church deal with these situations?
The church and the church’s pastors will inform couples living together without marriage that what they are doing is sinful. These conversations will take place in a loving manner; but in faithfulness to the Word of God, such conversations need to take place. These situations cannot be ignored or overlooked. It may be necessary to place unmarried couples living together under church discipline in order to help them realize the seriousness of the situation.

This response may offend people. They may become angry at the church, or the church’s pastor. Sometimes an entire family is upset when a situation they have ignored is finally dealt with. The Word of God has a way of cutting through all issues and exposing our sinfulness. That is the work of the Law of God, which shows us our sin.

Offending people is certainly not the church’s goal, nor is it the church’s desire only to have people recognize their sin. The church wants people to see their sin, so that they may see their Savior. The proclamation of the Gospel is the church’s highest priority. The church proclaims the Law of God so that people are able to hear and believe the good news that “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The church wants people to hear and believe the Gospel, for only the Gospel has the power to change lives and behavior for better.

How can a couple living together resolve the situation?

A couple living together without marriage needs to take concrete steps to end the situation. They may choose to separate, with no plans for marriage. They may choose to separate until they are married—hopefully soon.

It is important that they make a commitment to marriage counseling before their wedding, and perhaps also after their wedding. Some couples may choose to be married by an officer of the court. This is a completely valid marriage in the view of the church. Couples choosing this option are encouraged to have their marriage publicly recognized by the church as well. No matter what the decision, they will want to seek their pastor’s counsel.

What is the ultimate solution to this problem?

There are many solutions we can identify. Christian families need to understand what is right and wrong. Early on, parents need to speak with their children about God’s expectations in regard to marriage.

Pastors and congregations will want to work patiently and lovingly with couples caught up in this sin. Concerned Christian congregations need to pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the hearts and lives of those involved in this lifestyle in order to break down their resistance to God’s Word. Christian congregations must not ignore the problem, but must deal with it faithfully. Congregations need to speak about this matter.

Couples that recognize their sin need to hear God’s comforting word of promise: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). If they choose to be married, they should do so with joyful confidence in God’s forgiveness and His blessing on their marriage.

Scripture taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version.© 1973,
1978, 1984, by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of
Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Dr. A. L. Barry
President
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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