California Pastor Emphasizes Role of Baptism and Local Churches in Evangelism

Mark France, the founder of Evangelism Group, recently highlighted the importance of water baptism and the necessity of maintaining healthy local churches for effective evangelism and community resurrection. Last Sunday, coinciding with Pentecost, he led a Baptism’s America event involving over 600 churches and more than 28,000 participants across various locations.

“I think the best way to evangelize cities and nations is by planting healthy local churches,” France stated. “And connecting someone to a local church is truly the quickest way to make a disciple.”

The organization is also active internationally, with around 1,100 people attending events in countries like Canada, Paraguay, and Sweden.

In a recent interview, France reiterated, “The biggest way to evangelize cities and states is to plant healthy local churches. The fastest way to disciple someone is to connect them to a local church.”

He added that organizing large baptism events with local churches in the U.S. serves as a great method to foster community involvement and volunteerism. Many local churches collaborating with Baptisma America will create substantial events to engage their communities.

“We’ve noticed that pastors who are enthusiastic about this have concluded they’ve achieved great results over the past years,” he explained. “Some churches are experiencing growth of 5 to 10%.”

France emphasized the significance of water baptism, calling it “one of the greatest evangelistic tools we have to reach the world.”

“Invite your neighbors who might not be fond of the church or of God; tell them your kids are getting baptized, and they will show up,” he explained. “Two years ago, I baptized 4,166 people. At one location, there were 12,000 attendees and 4,000 baptisms.”

Candi Bailey, a care pastor from Land O’ Lakes, Florida, shared that her congregation was part of the baptism movement and celebrated 22 baptisms.

“We wanted to be part of something bigger. Many feel called to declare themselves as followers of Jesus,” she reflected. “It must have been a beautiful sight to see so many people coming forth in faith.”

Bailey expressed the belief that a divine movement is occurring in this generation, affirming God’s love for the world and the desire for a relationship with humanity. She hopes individuals will recognize the beauty in professing their faith and inspire others to do the same.