The Local Church Has Been Commissioned to Do More Than Just One Thing.

Preacher-writers like to narrow the purpose of the church down to the area they are good at, and like best. But to define the local church's function as primarily evangelism is as limiting as defining it as primarily worship, or primarily edification. The church is multi-faceted -- Christ has commanded the church to do a great many different things. The preachers who are strong in one of those given areas seem to like to criticize other churches that are strong in the other areas -- worship pastors complain about our lack of verticality, Calvinistic Bible-teaching pastors complain about the lack of exposition in the pulpit, evangelists like Rick Warren or Andy Stanley complain that we aren't attracting the lost. This is why we should build our view of the church on the total testimony of the Bible, not as an intellectual extension of our own passions and gifts. Of course Andy Stanley thinks we should be all about evangelism! That's what he does. A good, rounded model keeps you from being a reactionary.