Mobilising our churches in evangelism Key questions for
Mobilising our churches in evangelism
Key questions for reflection 1. How many people have made professions of faith in or through our church…. … in the last year ? …in the last 5 years? What questions does this raise in relation to our engagement with the community, culture/communication of the Gospel?
2. What can we learn from the New Testament in relation to how the early believers shared the Gospel? They… • gossiped the Gospel. (Acts 8. 4 -5, 11. 19 -21) • met from house to house(small groups? ) • proclaimed(preached the Gospel in public(Acts 2, 11, 17 etc. ) • community living (Acts 2. 42 -47)
We need to use the structures of the Christian group in a strategic way Public The Antioch Model Proclamation Small Groups Personal Frienships Prayer
• dialogued in public, in neutral territory (Acts 17. 18 -31, 19. 9 -10) • lifestyle (Matt 5. 13 -16, Phil 1. 21, 2. 15, 16) • storytelling(John 4. 39 -42, Luke 15) • prayer-prayer triplets? The importance of CREATIVITY.
3. What are the issues with which people are grappling? Anxiety, suffering, identity Significance/ meaning/purpose, hope, love/loneliness/intimacy…. . Honest answers to honest questions.
4. What are we doing to equip believers to bear witness to Christ? -how to share our testimonies in a nonjargonised way? -how to explain the essence of the Gospel. -how to lead someone to Christ -how to answer clearly the big questions e. g. 1 Peter 3. 15……Becky Pippert’s DVDs
5. What cultural connections can we make? E. g. meals , book clubs Debt or marriage counselling Funerals Language teaching for immigrants. What other approaches have you found helpful?
Perhaps the key is to … • Provide leadership in bringing all of these things together in an integrated year-long approach, and • to persevere over the long-haul, • trusting that we will see fruit in due course. 1 Cor. 15. 58.
An example. Monmouth mission • Sunday January 13 th. Launch • Sundays Feb , 17, 24, March 3, 10, 17 -5 BIG QUESTIONS. • Tuesday February 12 th Emyr Macdonald in schools and pm ’has science buried God/’ • Tuesday February 26 th From Mafia to Christ. Slavko Hadzic-in schools and pm. Monday 4 th March. Garin Jenkins-In Monmouth Rugby club March 6 th. Ann Brown-the search for the transcendent in Western Art
• Tuesday 12 th March-decluttering your life. Gwen Montgomery. • Tuesday 19 th March-where is God when it hurts? - searching for hope and comfort in the face of suffering-Dr. James Kennedy.
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