Casting a Line or Hauling a Net?

I’ve never been much of a fisherman, but I do know enough about the sport to realize that there is more than one way to catch a fish. You can dangle your line off the side of a dock. You stand on the beach and cast into the surf. You can take your rod to a flowing stream and entice the fish to bite. All of these sound like fun (if, unlike me, you can actually catch a fish.)
But when Jesus called his disciples to be “fishers of men” (Mt. 4:19), he didn’t have any of these images in mind. He wasn’t referring to the skilled activity of a solitary angler whose individual effort can hook a fish. In the context, he was referring to a team of people who all join together to haul in a net.

Why is this important to know? Because, when it comes to reaching the world for Christ, too often the church has emphasized the isolated efforts of the gifted few. We have overlooked the communal aspect of evangelism through the life of a local church.

Some Christians are amazingly good at connecting with others, communicating their beliefs and leading people to Christ. Thank God for people like that! But most of us are not designed that way. We often feel very discouraged over our limitations in sharing the gospel, not realizing that Christ has called us to “fish” in an entirely different way ... not as individual anglers each holding a different pole, but rather as a team of people working to bring in a very wide net.

In his book "Powerful Evangelism for the Powerless", C. John Miller writes that “for the church in Acts, evangelism was something that involved everyone — and they were often involved together.... Our shared life as the company of Christ’s redeemed is at the very center of our gathering in of the lost.” Miller points out that four aspects of a church’s communal life are essential if it is to win people to Christ: our united testimony, our worship, our ministries of mercy and our hospitality.

It is easy to understand why a united testimony helps to communicate the gospel to the world. In John 17, Jesus prayed that his followers would be one, indicating that through this unity the world would believe that the Father had sent him. When a local congregation functions as a “gossip-free zone”, in which people from different backgrounds unite together and love each other because of their shared connection to Christ, people who do not know Jesus are able to see the beauty and reality of his truth.

The worship of the church is also important in proclaiming the gospel of Christ. When the Lord is praised in reverence and joy, and when the word of God is proclaimed in the Spirit’s power, a compelling witness is offered to the world. Such worship serves seldom occur where there is strife and discord, and usually only happen when the entire gathering is bathed in prayer. But when the church does worship this way, even casual visitors often find themselves drawn to Christ. 1 Cor. 14 says, “if an unbeliever or outsider enters ... the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.”

The mercy ministries of the church also serve to communicate the gospel to the world. Christians are called to care for the poor, the elderly, the immigrant and the sick. When churches find creative ways to do this, the surrounding neighborhood cannot help but pay attention to the story of Christ. When I was a boy in New Jersey, a fire in my hometown left a local family with nowhere to live. Members of our church rushed in to help. Though they were complete strangers, the homeless family moved into one of the church homes, where they lived for several months. Not surprisingly, members of that family came to faith in Christ, and eventually became leaders in our church.

Miller also mentions the importance of hospitality. In the Bible, the Greek word for hospitality literally means “love for the foreigner.” Hospitality does not mean that you can cook like Rachel Ray or decorate like Martha Stewart. It just means that you open your heart and your life to people on the outside or your group. It means that you never let anyone feel like an outsider for long. Usually this involves some form of invitation: inviting a family to lunch, inviting a person to a Fellowship Group, inviting a newcomer to join in a friendly conversation after church.

When, as a body of believers, these things are going on in our church, we all play a role in proclaiming the gospel to the world. To use Christ’s metaphor, we all become “fishers of men.” We do not do this, however, by each casting a line into the water and sitting alone, waiting for something to bite. We do this by joining together as a community of love, extending a net of hope into the world and hauling it in as a team.