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Christian Leadership Training Course

By J.C. Choate

Lesson 28

Converting Souls

The preacher, as well as all members of the church, have been commissioned by the Lord to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). This is to be done through teaching, presenting the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, which is designed to make believers out of them (Romans 10:17), and once they believe, then to encourage them to obey the commands of the Lord that they might be saved (Acts 2:38). Another way of putting this is that through preaching the gospel, including the commands of the Lord, they are attempting to convert souls to Christ or to change their thinking, their actions, and their state from being a sinner to that of being saved (Acts 3:19).

The world is a big place, so how can the average Christian, or even the preacher, go into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature? Of course they must begin where they are, preaching and teaching the gospel, as well as using their influence, to their family members, their friends, and the people living in the cities, villages, and communities around them. In continuing, they grow in numbers and in strength, so they just keep moving and reaching out to more and more. This is the way the gospel spreads and finally covers the earth.

Since the preacher in many cases is giving his full time to the Lord’s work, or more than the average member of the church, then we are going to talk more about the preacher and his work of converting souls to Christ. Naturally, he must be converted himself and fully believe what he is preaching if he is going to be able to influence anyone for Christ, and to encourage them to obey the Lord.

First, one is going to have to know and understand the truth concerning what one must do to be saved. He must know that one must hear the truth, since faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). He must know that one must believe in God and that Christ is the Son of God and that without such faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6; John 14:1). He must know that one must repent of all of his sins or turn from them, and that without repentance one will perish (Luke 13:3), and that God commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). He must know that one must confess Christ as the Son of God to have Christ to confess him before the Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32). And he must know that one must be baptized, buried in water to be saved or to have the remission of his sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38).

Now one must not only know these truths, along with the scriptures, and cases of conversion found in the book of Acts that he can refer to as an example of what people did to obey God and to be saved, but he must also be able to convincingly present these truths to the individual with whom he is studying, or to the people to whom he is preaching. And to do that, he must put forth an effort to go out and meet people and to create situations where he will have the opportunity to teach them. The same is true with preaching. He must arrange to preach to a congregation of the church or go out and find groups to preach to. The opportunities to do this will be as many as the preacher can handle, provided he has a desire to preach Christ and he takes the initiative to do so.

But let’s go on to stress the fact that the preacher needs to have a good knowledge of the Lord’s church, where it began, when it began, who built it, how many churches there are, the name of it, the foundation of it, who the head is, who the saviour of it is, etc. Of course Christ built the church (Matthew 16:18) in Jerusalem, in approximately A.D. 33 (Acts 2), He built one (Ephesians 4:1-6), it wears the name of Christ (Romans 16:16), its foundation is Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11), Christ is head (Colossians 1:18), and Christ is the saviour of it (Ephesians 5:23). One will also have to be aware of the denominational teachings to justify their churches, and to prove from God’s word that the Lord’s church is the one that they must be members of to be saved and to go to heaven. Point out that Christ adds the saved to His church and to no other (Acts 2:47). The church doesn’t save, but Christ does, and therefore He saves the church, and that means that one must be in the church to be saved.

Going on, the preacher will need to know what the Bible teaches about worship, that the Lord’s people are to meet on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7), that they are to study God’s word (2 Timothy 2:15), that they are to pray to their Father (Acts 2:42), that they are to sing praises to the Father, and that should be vocal only (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 13:15), and that God’s people are to give each first day of the week as they have prospered (1 Corinthians 16:2).

The preacher must be able to convince his hearers that the Christian life offers more than anything that the world can give. He must be able to convince them that they need to prepare now to meet God, that one day they will die, appear before the judgment of God, and spend eternity either in heaven or hell (1 John 2:15-17; Colossians 3:17; Hebrews 9:27; Matthew 25:46).

The preacher will need to know many other truths, as well as how to answer a whole variety of errors, if he is going to be able to convert souls to Christ. It will take a lot of study and work. It will mean that he will have to sincerely be concerned about the lost, find them, and convince them of their need to obey God. He can’t do that by being lazy, indifferent, unconcerned, spending all of his time in an office, not following up on his contacts, and not showing interest in people. Neither can he do it if he is going to argue, fuss, and fight with every one he meets. Rather he must have love for people, enjoy his work, and seek out souls to teach and convert to Christ. He can be successful if he wants to be. If he will do his job right, the Lord will bless him, and his efforts will win souls for Christ.