Is the assignment Jesus gave us bigger than just preaching salvation?

For as long as I can remember, the message of the church has been the salvation of souls. Evangelism is taken to the streets as normal people share the good news of God’s forgiveness for everyone. Perhaps it is the beauty of that message that has lulled us to sleep concerning the rest of our assignment. It is bigger than that.

Jesus clearly taught us that we were to preach the message of the kingdom to every nation before the end would come (see Matt. 24:14). That message releases the kingdom through miracles.

The Holy Spirit is working in places you might never expect. The move of God happening in these 12 locations is notable, and these hot spots are great places for evangelists and missionaries to set their sights.

China.  Nothing in the history of missions rivals the success story that is China. Mao Zedong tried to wipe out Christian faith in the 1970s when there were only 2.7 million believers. Today, the most conservative estimate is that China had 75 million believers in 2010. A few years ago the greatest growth was among rural “house churches.” Today Christianity is also growing in China’s major cities, and charismatic renewal has infiltrated state-sponsored churches.

India. Despite language barriers, tribal divisions and violent attacks by Hindus, indigenous church-planting movements have flourished all over India in the last 40 years. Fifteen years ago in Andhra Pradesh, a woman who heard a gospel radio broadcast, asked if someone could plant a church in her remote village. Within the first year after a pastor came, the church had 75 converts. After a church building was constructed in 1994, this church planted 125 churches with a combined membership of more than 5,000. This type of growth is occurring throughout India today.

I'm convinced that God's will for you is to talk with other people about Christ.

While witnessing to a guy on the streets of Denver once I explained how he could give his life to Jesus Christ. His response was, "That's too easy." I replied, "Do you want me to make it difficult?"

Now, when I say "easy" I am not talking about what some call "easy believe-ism"--meaning if you simply mumble a quick phrase you will be pronounced "saved." No way!

On the other hand, though, it is quite clear that we Christians in the 21st century have made the sharing of the simple gospel way too complicated. All you have to do is read some evangelism-training materials to know that.

There's nothing more exciting than leading someone to Christ through a "power encounter" hosted by the Holy Spirit. I've seen a waitress come to Christ because a group of us out for lunch simply showed Christ's love and talked to her and gave her words of knowledge-even one about her cat! I've also experienced times in which the Spirit of God is so tangible during ministry or a personal interaction that people have asked me, "What is this, and how do I come to know this Jesus you are talking about?"

When Jesus spoke brief words of knowledge to the woman in Samaria, she told the entire village about the Lord. I believe these types of power encounters have been God's preference for evangelism all along. Other methods have some impact, but nothing gets your attention like finding out that God "has your number."