Ask any fundamentalist what the most important mission of the church should be and at least nine out of ten will tell you “winning the lost.” After all, in heaven’s eternal economy what could be more valuable than the saving of one soul which will live forever. Winning “souls” is the nominal focus of just about everything an IFB church does.
If you want to confuse a fundamentalist, however, you should then follow up with this question: “If souls are the most important thing, wouldn’t it be more effective to support any ministry that gives out the gospel regardless of whether they agree with you on things like standards, Bible versions, and politics rather than plant new churches and send out new missionaries as competition for them?”
About five seconds later you will learn that winning souls is actually NOT the highest priority. To a fundamental Baptist making people look like themselves will almost always outrank helping them look like Jesus.
