Archive | Evangelism RSS feed for this section

Don’t even have to leave the couch…

When you think of successful evangelists and missionaries, you think of godly men and women serving in Africa, or the gifted preacher announcing the gospel to the thousands… But as I read the scriptures and reflect on experience some of the best evangelism can happen in the comfort of your own home – you don’t even have to leave the couch.

The home was an important place for the early church – that is where people met for church, where Christians could show compassion and care for the needs of the saints and the stranger.

This is especially the case in our society where we have lost that sense of community. Family don’t live near each other, we work in a different place to where we live and play, we don’t know our neighbours… we have lost a sense of belonging that I think is important to our emotional health and general relational well-being.

As Christians Christ calls us to love our neigbours and this love cannot be content with words. This love is a call to It show real compassion, hospitality and generosity. It is a call for radical hopsitality in all its messiness; It is a call to welcome the stranger into our homes, to sit at our table, no matter what the barrier might be.

When you read Hebrews 13:2 you can’t but help think about the far-reaching implications for our willingness to extend hospitality.

How to steal mission ideas…

Each year the college I study at goes on mission.

All students get sent out in teams with faculty members and they share the good news of Jesus…

This year there college has put together a blog to keep updated on all the mission teams activities: Moore College Mission 2010

It is an exciting read with lots of opportunities and stories.

It is actually a great place to steal ideas:

  1. Read the stories and be inspired by the many ways people are trying to share and show the love of Jesus with their local communities.
  2. Steal some ideas that the mission teams alongside the churches are doing.
  3. Appropriate them to your context…. what changes or alternatives would you need to come up with to ensure it suits your areas demographic.
(And why not pray for them as you read about their efforts.)

6 tips to read the bible with an unbeliever…

  1. Be brave and ask them to read the bible with you.
  2. Start with a gospel and get them a copy.
  3. Make sure they understand they aren’t signing their life away. Give them a time frame… “Let’s do coffee for the next five weeks on Wednesday”.
  4. Understand you are in for a good chance for being stood up. This is much lower on the priority list for them than perhaps you.
  5. Don’t turn it into a lecture. Keep it short and sweet! (45mins?)
  6. Invite others along… don’t limit it to just one person.

Back to the Bible…

I‘d heard through the grapevine that two coworkers, Martha and Maria Claudia, had expressed some interest in spiritual things. So I dropped by their office one day and said, “Hi! I’ve been meaning to ask you both: Would you be interested in reading the Bible with me?” They looked at each other, then back at me, and said yes.

I was surprised by their enthusiasm. When I didn’t get back to them as soon as they expected, they called me to find out when we could start!

It’s an easier enough question. “Would you be interested in reading the Bible with me?” but why do so many of us fear asking it to our unbelieving friends? In this article on Kyria.com the conviction that scripture is powerful and personal is evident in Laura T. De Gomez writing.

Reading together also exposes people directly to the power of Scripture. The God who encourages, convicts, corrects, and sometimes bowls you over with his Word can do the same in an unbeliever’s life. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord said, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud … My word that goes out from my mouth … will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

I don’t know what all my friends go through, or what they think—but God does. And I’ve seen him use Scripture to meet their needs, quell their fears, and dispel their misconceptions.

Agree? Start praying for God to open up the doors of opportunity to you and for the people at your church.

Read the full article

Easter Challenge…

I was at a gig last week with something like 200 people gathered to hear the band play.

And I began to wonder… “what would it take to convert these people?”

As the band played it began to dawn on me that their best chance would be for each of them to read the Bible and in so doing give the Spirit opportunity to  illuminate and convict them of the truth of the gospel as they read it.

So I began to pray that each of the people there would meet someone who would ask them to read the bible with them and I left the gig with a challenge to myself… ask 6 people to read the bible with me who aren’t Christians by the end of the year and to come up with a A1 poster to put outside church to challenge the passer-by to do it on their own.

Chuck the question out there this week “have you read the bible for yourself as an adult?” and offer an invite to read it with them.

Website Review | Whos Jesus?


Christianity Works has developed this WHOSJESUS  to detail and explain the life of Jesus and his relevance.

It gives the website viewer access to the Jesus All About Life book; video answers to common questions and replys to common objections to the Christian faith.

Its an interactive and modern design for a website and looks a whole lot better than other ‘who is jesus’ websites currently out there. This website is clever in choosing the topics that appeal to our broken and selfish world as well as including stories that are of interest and perhaps relevant: Forgiveness; Shattered Lives; Healing;  Columbine High School – Rachel’s Story; What I really want?; What is Christianity and Who is Jesus?

Practically though, it is a little difficult to navigate and you can easily miss out on the goodness that is locked away. You need to have intuative navagation skills to make the most of this website I think. One thing that becomes quite annoying is that you have to open little windows for each bit you want to explore and to move on from that scree you can’t just click on something else you have to click the X.  I think I would not be alone to find this annoying  – but it isn’t the end of the world, just got to remember to click X before wanting to click something else.

The site is also a little mysterious. We are not introduced to the voices that you are listening to and their isn’t much consistency between the media chosen. Every little section has different voice backing the video, some are more 80s than others and some are just still pictures with audio clips.

Plus, there isn’t much much opportunity to go further or to be followed up. But hopefully  if you were referred to the site by a friend you could ask them further information about how to become a follower of Jesus.

Nevertheless, the guys have built this site to keep sharing the story of Christ Jesus. Its interactive nature means you do spend more time on the website and as such sees you exploring more. I pray God uses this site to win people to him.

18 Confessions… Staddling both worlds | 2

My hope is that this series of posts "18 Confessions" will deepen the believers empathy 
for those seeking out the faith and bring insight into the internal wrestles of a new 
Christian or perhaps if you relate to the thoughts or struggles in  these posts that 
you would consider the lasting satisfaction and joy that can  only be found in Jesus.

Easter Resources…

Has your church thought about making the most of Easter by doing a letter box drop inviting your parish to church?

Thought about it but don’t know anyone who could do you up a nice little postcard to get printed? Not every church has within its body of believers a gifted graphic desinger. So Praise God he has gifted his wider church with people who are willing to share their gifts in this area.

A website I am frequenting a lot a the moment is CreativeMYK. Its inspiring and has some great graphics I am using for our welcome screen at church and also for my macbooks background. My favourite image is this one at the moment. This site is full of sermon slides images, great scripture graphics, and resources for event brochures, postcards, powerpoint etc.

Some are .jpg, some are .psd which you can edit in Illustrator and customise them to your church needs. Either way this is a valuable resource to any church.

Who is Jesus?

Read more about who Jesus is here

Gospelling Astonia…

Check out what Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is doing in Astonia

http://mediasuite.multicastmedia.com/player.php?v=k112bx8p

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 377 other followers