I Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

INTRODUCTION: The PCA is Reformed, Protestant, Presbyterian and Calvinistic. It is also "Evangelistic." There is no conflict with Calvinism. We must evangelize 1) because we are obedient to Jesus, and 2) because we have hearts of compassion toward the lost. Every Christian is called to be a "missionary" where he/she is.

I. The word EVANGELISM is directly from Greek: "to preach the good message." The word "gospel" is from Old English "God's Spell," = God's Story= the good message about Jesus Christ coming from Heaven to be our Savior.
We believe in the reality of both Heaven and Hell. We believe that people absolutely NEED to hear the Gospel, and believe in Jesus.

II. There are SIX BARRIERS to reaching the world with the Gospel:

1. Government Opposition: Islam (Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, and so on) Communism (China, N. Korea, N. Viet Nam, Cambodia, Cuba and so on) Secular or Nationalistic (India, or Israel for example).

2. The Liberal "Christian" doctrine of UNIVERSALISM.

3. Immorality and worldliness in the Christian Church as a whole. People won't be witnesses because they would feel too hypocritical. Many Christians prefer to be accepted by the world, rather than to bear the offense of the Gospel.

4. IGNORANCE: Many Christians don't know what the Gospel is, or how to present it in an understandable way.

5. MATERIALISM: Both in the Church, and in our American Culture. We have Heaven on earth now, why bother about Heaven someday in the sky?

6. The NATURAL resistance, antagonism, antipathy of the normal human being toward spiritual things (the REAL spiritual things).

III. THE PCA IS AN EVANGELISTIC DENOMINATION:
A. We don't accept universalism.
B. We acknowledge our Bible-taught responsibility to be witnesses.
C. We have developed evangelistic programs (Evangelism Explosion, Mission to the World, Mission to North America, etc).
D. BUT: As Individuals, how are we doing? Do YOU personally care about the lost? Is there some non-Christian that you love and are praying for?

CONCLUSION: The PCA is Reformed, Protestant, Presbyterian, Calvinist and Evangelistic. May God help us to be compassionate toward the lost, and obedient to the commands of Jesus Christ!