Complimentary Story
Summer 2026Be ready with your witness for Jesus Christ. Have a plan to introduce salvation to anyone lost in their sins. These are laws to live by as an evangelist. But if you are part of a Bible-believing church, you need to be ready with more than the gospel. Wisconsin churchmen, we need to strategize our salvation efforts. We need to have a planned and proven set of operations for communicating Jesus to hundreds of people in our own city, and thousands more throughout the state who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
If you are a regular reader of this evangelism column in Wisconsin Christian News, you will recall my December 2025 article spelling out how Wisconsin is one of the least evangelized states in the union. Only Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the northwest states of Washington and Oregon are less evangelized than Wisconsin. We live alongside God’s beauty in our lakes, meadows and waterfalls. But many Wisconsin citizens have abandoned traditional faith and church attendance. The middle years of this 21st century must now include a drive to bring the fear of God and the joy of knowing Jesus to more than 50% of Wisconsin’s nearly 6 million people.
I am calling all faithful Wisconsin congregations to take the strategic step of organizing their people, money and communication tools to reach more than half of unsaved people in Wisconsin’s cities, towns, universities and resort communities. Critics might insist that it is best to be ready with Christ’s answer to sin when one lost person comes our way. Certainly, we must be ready with the great gospel message for any person caught in sin. But at this point in modern history, we also need to “get ahead of the game” and develop the correct strategies that will reach the majority of Wisconsin’s people with the great news of salvation.
“Why churches?” you ask. “What not challenge Wisconsin’s Christian schools, seminaries, TV stations, even choirs to call the unsaved to Jesus?” The truth is that both churches and mission agencies share the opportunity of fulfilling Christ’s mission. And here is the case why churches are particularly equipped to do the job.
1) Christian congregations are just that: congregating places for God’s people. We are good at doing the work of the verb “congregate” — an action word that implies all the health, joy, fun and new life that people experience when they invite Jesus to take over. Churches are equipped to nourish, grow and strengthen new believers to become mature followers of Jesus, and evangelists themselves.
2) While churches are absent from some communities, most all Wisconsin cities, towns and rural areas are served by an existing congregation that has an excellent meeting place, good biblical leadership and a history of gospel proclamation going back 50 to 150 years. Wisconsinites know what institutions such as First Assembly of Green Bay, First Baptist La Crosse, or Tabernacle Community of Milwaukee mean: by their names, locations, beliefs and history of mission. Our churches provide us with good bases to re-start mission in Wisconsin.
3) Wisconsin churches need the challenge of evangelizing and discovering the 40-80% of people in their communities whom they have never met! In one sense, our churches stand guilty of not taking Christ’s Great Commission seriously. They have ignored large segments of the populations where God has located them. And in another way, Wisconsin’s churches are now poised to re-invent their facilities, their budgets and their mission in order to serve and save younger generations of people who no longer sing from either hymn books or praise bands, no longer reserve Sunday mornings for worship, evangelism and Bible study, and who are now asking hard questions about marriage, money, politics and education. God’s people and their churches actually have good answers to offer seekers.
Wisconsin’s mission agencies and para-church ministries share a big responsibility for preaching and teaching the gospel as well. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, headquartered in Madison, has built a long legacy of gospel proclamation on university campuses across the U.S. and around the world. Yet Madison itself remains a largely un-reached spiritual dessert. Let’s begin building a close working relationship with InterVarsity’s staff, student leaders and financial supporters. And let’s insist on growing evangelistic results in our cities.
Around the U.S., evangelism leaders have closely followed the good outreach strategies of some of Wisconsin’s churches. Thousands of people have come to Jesus at each of those locations. Now is the time for faithful churches statewide to call mission experts from larger churches to move to smaller, but growing areas where people have all but abandoned Christianity.
As people are flocking to Pleasant Prairie for its jobs and schools, so they are racing to Bayfield for its natural beauty and adventure. Churches, now is the time to strategize on behalf of the many families who are moving to Wisconsin. Our state is not only a place to fish, hunt and vacation. Wisconsin has become a life destination for people coming from Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Iowa and elsewhere. Churches, we must plan to offer newcomers the best in gospel sermons, Christian music and education programs that we can provide.
Begin by asking who (new home buyers, business commuters, students) you want to reach in your community, and how big you want to see your church grow. Traditionally, growth consultants have said that when a church grows by more than 11-13% annually, it risks losing its identity. I agree with the numbers but disagree with the identity factor. Our churches need to risk losing their small and ineffective identity in order to become attractive to both newcomers and older residents who have resisted meeting God. As we grow in numbers, we need to grow closer to Jesus’ teaching of welcoming the many! Do not be afraid to reach everyone who is hearing the Spirit’s call to come to Jesus.
Think closely about your church’s buildings, parking lots and money. You are probably richer in resources for growth than you realize! “Holding our own” has never been a good strategy. The fields are white unto harvest.
The most critical question for local church strategists to ask is, “Do I really believe that my neighbors who have not yet said “yes” to Jesus are on their way to Hell? Make strategic plans in light of the only right answer to that question. The local church is a huge part of Christ’s invitation to salvation and abundant life. We have the people, the welcome, the human caring and most importantly – the Spiritual Truth. Let’s proclaim Jesus on Sundays, but also on every other day of the week. Evangelism for the lost, education for families, care for the hurting — our churches are the best hope that Wisconsin towns can offer.
Make great use of the calendar. If you have not begun planning for fall, start now! Think short-term and be aware of the energy you bring to your town for September through December. And then make Christmas a spectacular series of outreach events for your neighbors. Take your strategic outreach plans into 2027 and beyond.
Church leaders: How in love are you with present church staff? Are you willing to bring in new preachers, even new stewardship leaders to reach lost and dying souls? If not, you’re failing at the Great Commission we, as Christ-followers, are called to.
Roger Johnson is an evangelist, writer and teacher from Kenosha. He served for nearly 40 years as an urban evangelist in Chicago. A graduate of Wheaton College and North Park Seminary, he completed the M.A. in Evangelism & Leadership at Wheaton Grad School in 2012.
