Dear BPCWA worshipper, Perhaps, like me, you are thinking, “It’s already December and 2026 is coming soon!” As the saying goes, time and tide wait for no man. We would have had interactions with many people in our lives in 2025, whether as casual contacts with friends or relatives or through other avenues. We often say we want to be a good testimony to them. Being a good testimony, but neglecting to bring to some of these the Gospel of salvation is insufficient. As the year ends, let us pose ourselves this reflection question: “How has my personal evangelism this year been to those who have passed through my life?”  

Evangelism is every Christian’s duty. Many are eager to serve, as we indeed should be. But I wonder, how eager are we to serve in the ministry of personal evangelism? Personal evangelism is not organised. We may participate in something because it is organised by the church, but we can still neglect it on an individual basis. No one sees, no one knows . . . well, except God! It reveals our desire to expand God’s kingdom to those around us. Yes, some work rules genuinely prohibit evangelism. But before we consider the hindrances, do we even have a burning desire for others to know our God? Or are we ready to conveniently excuse ourselves? Do we prayerfully think of how we can bring the Gospel into our conversations? If we have been reconciled to God “by Jesus Christ” and consider ourselves Christians, then we must realise that together with this reconciliation with God, He “hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2Co 5:18). God further emphasises that when “reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them”, He has also “committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2Co 5:19). When we say we must bear a good testimony because “we are ambassadors for Christ”, then we have a charge from our King to beseach others, on God’s behalf and plead in Christ’s stead for them to be reconciled to God (2Co 5:20). In this duty, God does not differentiate between the pastor and those holding some official function in church, from the men, the women, the elderly, or the young ones in the pew. And when it comes to those we reach out to, we must seek all for the Lord because the same Gospel does not differentiate “between the Jew and the Greek”, so neither should we. Jesus Christ is “the same Lord over all” and “is rich to all that call upon him” (Rom 10:12).

Evangelism’s purpose. We want BPCWA to grow, but that is not the reason for evangelism. It is not because it would be so nice to have my good friend also come to church, so I can say I have a Christian for my best friend. Neither is evangelism merely to deliver the person from the punishment of hell. Certainly, these factors are what will drive, and have driven us, to humble ourselves before God to plead for the unsaved. But the greatest reason and joy in evangelism is to have God’s kingdom enlarged, which ultimately brings souls into His church to glorify Him. Since it is a ministry of reconciliation to God, those who are saved become citizens of heaven and subjects of our Lord to serve Him. The natural consequence of the right focus is to desire primarily that this part of the world where God has placed us will be our mission field to know and serve Him. Hence, our motivations must not merely be for our loved ones to get to heaven, but for God to be magnified and served. Moreover, the purpose of evangelism is to build up saints for God. It means that our ongoing witness after a soul is saved is what matters most. We must not be happy that our loved ones and friends are saved. We should lead them in the right path by our lives, in all our interactions with them. If we ‘live and let live’ or take the paths of least resistance and least trouble, then we fail to understand the purpose of evangelism fully.

Evangelism’s channels. If our hearts have been cold to God’s purpose and excuses have multiplied for “why I cannot reach out” rather than “how can I reach out” to souls, then the first place to start is repentance. We have many ministries to spread God’s Word, and that is good and important to continue. However, until each of us realises that we have a role to be the individual “sound bites”, not just our church’s online sermons or YouTube channel, that carry the Word of reconciliation out into Perth, we will never get down to it. Christians (i.e., you) are God’s intended channel for this message. It begins with us humbling ourselves to acknowledge and internalise that this is why God put us here. When Christ sent His disciples out in the power of the Holy Spirit, it was to “be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Act 1:8). There is a right place for missions to “the uttermost part of the earth”. However, the test and immediate response of obedience will be your burden for souls, starting in the place where God has called you to be in His purpose as a witness. If our hearts are not committed to act on it personally, then any actions to share the Gospel will be in spurts at best, e.g. only when we are prompted or reminded to. We must, together with Apostle Paul, moan, “woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1Co 9:16). There must be grief in our hearts if we have not been faithful to God in this task. We must chide ourselves for having so little care and love for the unbelievers that we come face to face with every day. However, this woe must be accompanied by the fruits of repentance to run to do His good pleasure. 

With this weekend being Evangelism Weekend, let us redouble our efforts and not end this year failing to be the channels of the Good News that God intends His children to be. Our love for God must be evidenced by our desire to see many realise His greatness and worship Him together with us. Conversely, our lack of love for God will be evidenced by the lack of desire to have others know and be reconciled to Him. Applications are now closed, but I hope that every one of us made the effort to seek out someone to invite for our Holiday Bible Program. The invitations for the Christmas Gospel Service and Worship Service are ready for you to use. May every worshipper avail themselves of these to spread the Good News of reconciliation to those around us, that more may sing the angels’ song,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luk 2:14)

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor