What this thread tells me is that it clealy takes sharing the message of the Gospel in conjunction with demonstrating Christ’s love and compassion for others in order for the church to be effective.  I can preach til I’m blue in the face about the need for repentance but if I am unable to share Christ’s love and demonstrate it through my actions, then what message am I ultimately sending?  And if I do good deeds and reach out to my community to make a difference but do not share the one thing that will make the ultimate difference in a person’s life, then I’ve missed that opportunity.  You’ve got to be able to do both.

That is a bogus answer. 
You nitpick a sinner because souls are in the balance?  You nitpick me because souls are in the balance?  You nitpick other posters here and have for some time because souls are in the balance?  No, I don’t think so.

jud you are describing people that just went and was not sent, some of these people think they have a better plan than god to bring people to salvation, but in reality they are just bringing them to a building not repentance. a lot of times ministers are saying[but not out loud] just give me your money and i will tell you what you want to hear. i do not know rw , nor do i know much about him, but before his own master he will stand or fall. but one thing i can say , if he are anyone else does not preach the good news like the scriptures asys, if they are preaching another gospel, then they are false teachers or preachers, people has so many gimics to draw a croud, its almost unbelieveable,people can draw a croud, but what you do when they get there is the question.the bible says that the gospel is the power of god unto salvation, why people has this other hoop-fla i will never understand it, every thing that glitters is not gold, the main theme of the letters to the seven churches is, love god and people, and keep away from people that teaches thing that are wrong, we have to look after our self, god said what have you gained if you gain the whole world and loose your own soul.gods word is the word of life, not somthing that some person makes up . the bible does say in the last days there will be false teachers, and we are suppose to know them if we come in contact with them and listen to them, and the bible does say , narrow is the way and it will be few that find it. but broud is the way that leads to destruction.it sounds to me there are a lot of things in this world to follow, and just one jesus on the narrow path.thats why it is a narrow path, because it is just one to follow. rw wroth the book purpose driven church, he should write another book, following jesus purposelly, jesus does not drive his church, he leads them. my three cents worth.

There’s a lot of ‘doing’ mentioned here.  The thing that is missing from the world is the Church “BEING” the Church.  Preaching the Gospel is certainl one of the important part of the Mission.  Pressing forward with BEING is our part.  It seems like scripture says that ‘strategy’, etc., is exclusively reserved to God and how His Spirit directs us. 

It seems to me that Rick is talking about BEING in his way of talking about it.  Just because I don’t appreciate the way that denomination X pursues evangelism doesn’t make their way wrong.  I must trust that God has led and gifted them in that direction.  But Evangelism is the command; God provides the how thorugh us. 

I think that Rick sees the world as a place where God has something going on and as best I can tell his heart believes that God is calling him and those that will be inspired to that calling, to pursue the world in this way. 

Don’t forget what BEING the church is.  That is the biggest rock in all our jars.

Brian L:

“In Matthew 11, Jesus said, “Come to me and you will find rest for your souls” (sorry for the paraphrase - I’m not in my office right now.) No mention of repentance.  Did Jesus get it wrong there?”

This is why proper hermeneutics is so important.  To whom was Jesus speaking in verse 28?  He was speaking to two of John The Baptist’s students.  And what was John The Baptist teaching back in Chapter 3, Verse 2?  “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” So, we have Jesus speaking to two people who had already heard the message to repent, and He was providing additional teaching and context in justifying who He was / is / shall be.

In those situations when repentance was not mentioned, there were typically three reasons for its omission.  First, the person responding to Jesus was being proud and boastful, such as the rich young ruler.  And like it says in James 4:6, God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.  Secondly, those people were likely acquainted with repentance, such as the verse you cited.  And third, it was likely discussed behind the scenes, just not documented.  With the importance placed on repentance throughout the Bible, omitting it seems like an odd thing to do in speaking with someone about salvation.  When we have a situation like Philip and the Eunuch, my bet is that it was discussed in their conversation, but not recorded.

“Also, allow a bit of cynical nit-picking: if a person needs to hear the gospel, can a deaf person be saved?”

You’re right.  That is a cynical comment.

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CS