In my last article, I encouraged churches to take the time this Summer to pause and do a checkup on your local church body’s vital signs based on the principle that healthy churches are the ones that grow.

In Anglican Revitalization Ministries (ARM), we define those vital signs using the acrostic VITAL:

• Vision for Evangelism/Mission
• Intentional Worship
• Transformation to Christlikeness
• Authentic Community
• Lay Mobilization

Over the next several articles, I want to review each one. My hope is that they’ll help you better diagnose each area with the goal of making plans to strengthen what needs attention this Fall and beyond.

Today we’ll look at the first vital sign, Vision for Evangelism/Mission. Specifically, there are three questions to ask as you do your checkup:

1.       Does our church have a vision for doing local evangelism? And if so, is it clear and doable?

We find that there are two major problems churches have when it comes to their vision for evangelism. First, the vision is too small. In these cases, the church doesn’t really have any stated vision to do evangelism other than occasional sermons that we should do it. In churches with little or no vision for evangelism, there is usually some outreach ministries to the community. However, they often do not lead individuals into the Church to become born again and be made disciples.

Or second, if the church has a stated vision, it’s too big. For example, the church’s vision may be something like, “We want to reach the world with the Gospel,” or “We are sent to reach our City.” Well, that’s good, however it’s way too broad to be practical and generally doesn’t lead to any fruitful evangelism.

So if your church doesn’t have a current vision for evangelism, a good next step this Fall would be to prayerfully establish one. Or if your church’s vision is too broad, a good next step would be to discern from God who He wants your church to be focused on reaching in your surrounding community.

2.       Who specifically is God calling your church to be on mission to in your community?

I’ve written and spoke about this principle a lot in other articles, my Revive Book, and in our Vital Podcasts, but to summarize, here it’s simplest to use Jesus’ analogy of fishing to illustrate evangelism. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus says, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” (NIV)

Notice he said he’d send them out. You want to see your surrounding community as your “fishing pond.”  If that’s the case, then you have to go out into the pond where the fish are swimming to “catch” them where they are. Fish don’t just jump out of the water onto shore and very rarely do lost sinners just show up to church. Yet, for too many congregations, their vision for evangelism is simply that: waiting for the fish to jump inside.

Does your vision for evangelism involve you going outside the church into the community? That is what healthy growing churches are doing today in our post-Christian culture.

You also have to define the specific fish you’re fishing for in your pond. What kind of fish are in there? Of those fish, which ones are you called to catch? Not all fish are the same, and how you fish for them requires different tactics. It’s the same with evangelism. People in your community are not all the same. Have you specifically defined who you’re called to reach in your community? The more clearly you do, the more you can learn about them, and the more effective you can be at reaching them with the Gospel.

If you need to get more specific with your vision for evangelism, this Fall would be a great time to develop that vision, so you can start implementing specific strategies in 2026.

3.       What high priority goals does our church have for the next 12 months to fulfill our Vision for Evangelism?

When a church has a vision for evangelism that is specific and doable, it can often get derailed by a lack of actionable next steps. The “tyranny of the urgent” and general busyness of local church ministry can take over the leadership’s life, and the next thing you know, six months or a year go by, and you realize you didn’t really get anywhere with your vision. It’s important to break down the vision/strategy into accomplishable next steps that you can track over the course of months to make sure it’s happening. And if you have a point person responsible for those next steps, it’s easier to make sure it’s getting done.

As you do your church checkup on this VITAL area, just remember it’s the area most churches struggle with the most. Well over 90% of the churches that took our Revive Church Health Assessment scored the lowest in this vital area. So don’t beat yourself up about it. Just begin the process towards greater health this Fall! You can absolutely lead your church to greater health and growth, and we can help. Feel free to schedule a call today by going to www.churchrevive.org. You can share with us your current situation and learn how we can partner with you on the mission field!