Why are we not seeing more conversions?

In parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, China, etc., there seem to be many people turning to Christ. What are the reasons for fewer conversions in the UK?

The need is there, the gospel is the same, Christ is the same, God is unchanging. Many factors may be suggested, sociological, political, economic, and above all spiritual.

Should we make appeals?

Calling people forward was popularised by Charles G. Finney, but the church grew marvellously for 1,800 years before Finney without that practice. Many great evangelists, such as George Whitefield and C.H. Spurgeon saw thousands converted without calling for such outward demonstrations. So this suggestion is not acceptable. But perhaps the question may be asked, has Reformed theology blunted our evangelistic zeal? Has belief in the sovereignty of God made us feel less responsible for reaching people with the gospel? Perhaps we can truthfully answer that it has not. We do not have to call people forward to appeal to them, to try to persuade them. The apostle Paul wrote, 'Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men'. Do we reason with them? Are we filled with eager zeal to see them saved? But perhaps the reason why our zeal has waned in our preaching, and our efforts to persuade men are not so strenuous, is because we see so few non-Christians in our services.

Regular contact with unsaved?

Church-going is not popular today. Many years ago it was the respectable thing to do. Ministers could then preach the gospel to a more-or-less captive audience. Those days are gone and in any case it is doubtful if that ever was the ideal practice. In the early church it was Christians who met for worship. The implication of 1 Corinthians 14.23-25 is that the presence of unbelievers in a church service was unusual, a comparative rarity. The church went out to evangelise, and much of this was done by the members of the churches. Today we often rely on 'indrag' rather than outreach. But is it not true that with many churches their idea of preaching the gospel is more or less limited to a Sunday sermon in the church building? And in how many churches are the members regularly witnessing to neighbours and friends?

Too friendly?

The 'user-friendly' approach has taken the edge off our evangelism. Because churches rely mainly on non-Christians attending church to hear the gospel, the tendency has arisen to shape services so that non-Christians feel comfortable. Examples range from Robert Schuller and his Crystal Cathedral, to the Willow Creek methodology.

But many evangelicals who would not employ such practices can sometimes be influenced by this idea. How easy it is to choose hymns and tailor the sermon so that non-Christians do not feel threatened. How significant it is that Paul begins his amazing exposition of the gospel, of which he is 'not ashamed', with a declaration that 'the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness....' (Romans 1). How often do we preach God's requirements? It is surely obvious that no one is going to submit to serious surgery unless they are convinced that they are in danger of losing their lives from some other life-threatening condition. Few people will want to become Christians unless they are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit. Are we so afraid of putting people off that we preach less than the full counsel of God?

Affected by liberalism?

Recently I heard a well-known evangelical minister claim that a large evangelical publishers, once known for its conservatism, now issues books containing statements that years ago would have been rejected as liberal or modernist.

Recently the General Secretary of a City Mission expressed concern in a letter that many graduates of British Bible colleges do not know their Bibles. Do they believe that the Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God or not? Has the pluralistic society in which we now live caused some ministers to have doubts about the uniqueness of Christ and his salvation?

The hold of secularism

Has the secularisation of society made it more difficult to attract men to Christ? The media, by and large, is not in our favour. Television constantly promotes evolution. Plays and soaps present fornication, adultery, homosexuality and agnosticism or atheism as normal. Recently the Head of Religious Broadcasting in the BBC resigned because he said that religion was being side-lined. Now an agnostic has taken his place. What is presented as Christianity is barely recognisable as such from a biblical perspective. But this cannot be the answer because Christianity is spreading rapidly in atheistic China, for example. The early church laboured under immense difficulties and yet quickly spread all over the then known world.

Not our turn?

Is it another nation's turn to be blessed with the gospel? This also is worth considering. Just as the tide is out on one side of the world when it is in on the other side, so it may well be that the years of privilege that we have enjoyed are now being shared by others. Countries which once languished in spiritual darkness are now enjoying unprecedented spiritual blessing.

Not praying enough?

An American army chaplain came to the minister of one of Korea's huge churches and said: 'I have a problem. I have been a USA army chaplain for some years. For a long period I was chaplain to the US forces in Germany, and now for a few years I have been a chaplain here. I have preached the same sermons, taught the same Bible studies, did everything the same here with the American forces that I did in Germany. In Germany I was hardly successful, but here I have built up the largest constituency among the troops of any unit of the American forces worldwide, and I cannot understand why.' 'Oh, that's easy', replied the minister. 'Here in Korea we have broken through in prayer so that anyone who works here will have greater success than elsewhere.'

Do we really believe that earnest, believing prayer makes a difference, that something happens as a result of such prayers? If we do, then does it follow that if we do not pray as we should then those things will not happen? Or would we object and say that God in his sovereignty would work anyway and that our lack of prayer will not hinder him? But surely that is tantamount to saying that our prayers make no difference.

Is it not true that the Cinderella of the church is the prayer meeting? Is it not also true that in the average church not only is the prayer meeting poorly attended, but the prayers are often very feeble, not backed by Scripture, not argued out as though pleading with God?

How many ministers, let alone church members, know what it is to spend a whole night in prayer? How many have spent a half-night in prayer, or a day in prayer and fasting? Is it not true that such activities are very rare in the churches today? And if so, what does that say about our belief in prayer? What do we make of such promises and exhortations as the following: 'Call upon me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know' (Jeremiah 33.3); 'And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive' (Matthew 21.22); 'Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full' (John 16.24).
Why does the prophet Isaiah lament that 'there is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you...' (Isaiah 64.7). Is not prayerlessness a sin? (1 Samuel 12.23).

The hand of God

Has God taken his hand off Britain? There is not much doubt that God has had his hand on us for blessing in the past. For many, many years we have known an evangelical ministry. This country has been a missionary-sending nation. The English Bible has had a profound effect and a huge number of sound evangelical books have been published. We have known revival after revival. But let us not delude ourselves into thinking it was all just for our sakes. It was for God's glory and for the blessing of other nations. Are we under God's judgment? Remember the letter to the Laodiceans in Revelation 3.

Many missionaries have testified that they have experienced great blessing overseas, but have come home to Britain and their ministry has seemed dead. We know that God will never forsake his church, but can we forfeit blessing because of our sin and disobedience?

Are we too distracted?

The apostles insisted that they must concentrate on prayer and the ministry of the Word. (Acts 6.2-4). Do we? Has obsession with management techniques, committees, plans, programmes, technology and techniques replaced a serious prayer life? Are souls our priority? Are we like Murray McCheyne, 'greedy for souls' or are conversions just one of the things we might hope for if possible? How high on our list of priorities is the need for conversions?

Are we earnest enough?

Does the fate of the lost grip us? Do we weep over them? Or have we dropped into lecturing mode, and deliver our sermons without passion, without tears, and without genuine expectation of success? The late Dr. G. Campbell Morgan wrote that preaching consisted of truth, clarity and passion. Is there passion in our preaching?

Are we too worldly?

Are there things in our lives that should not be in the lives of ministers of the gospel? Or are there things that, although not sinful, are not the best and take too much time? Do we spend too much time watching television, going to the cinema, playing golf or other sports? The last verse of Romans 1, after a catalogue of dreadful sins, speaks of those 'who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practise such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practise them' (NKJV). The Authorised Version renders the last clause, 'have pleasure in them that do them' (emphasis added). Do we get our pleasure, our entertainment and relaxation by watching murder, adultery, fornication and so forth? Are many of us in danger of becoming voyeurs? Has our worldliness made us unfit to become channels of blessing to others. 'Be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord' (Isaiah 52.11, cf. Psalm 24.3-6).

These, then, are perhaps some of the questions we ought to be asking ourselves.

Copyright Stanley Jebb

This is an edited version of an article which first appeared in the FIEC's Table Talk newsletter for March 2002 and is used with permission of the author.