Transcript Evangelism 2013 - Fresh Expressions News

The
E word
‘ Today's changed world calls for local congregations
to take new initiatives. For example, in the secularizing
global north, new forms of contextual mission, such
as new monasticism, emerging church and fresh
expressions have redefined and revitalised church.’
A new WCC Affirmation on Mission and Evangelism, 2012
Christine had been raised Anglican.. Religious
people of any serious kind made her nervous:
They were like men in rain coats who might or
might not be flashers. You would be going
along with them in a normal way, and then
there would could be a swift movement and
you would look down to find the coat wide
open & nothing on under it.
Scarlet Ibis by Margaret Atwood.
‘The Church exists for nothing else
but to draw people into Christ,
to make them little Christs.
If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals,
clergy, missions, sermons, fresh expressions,
even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.
God became Man for no other purpose.’
C. S. Lewis
How do you feel about evangelism?
What does the Bible say ?
• euangelisasthai
52 times
• euangelion
72 times
• euangelistes
3 times
David Bosch 1929-1991
What is the relationship of mission & evangelism
1. Mission/evangelism is all about soul winning for eternity
2. As above but other good activities might be optional
3. Its all about soul winning but service is useful as part of this.
4. Personal transformation first and then transform society
5. The total ministry to the world outside the Church
6. It does not always include a call to repentance but is about
changing structures
What is evangelism ?
1.Evangelism is at the core,
heart or centre of mission.
‘it consists in the proclamation of salvation in Christ to
nonbelievers, in announcing forgiveness of sins, in
calling people to repentance and faith
in Christ, in inviting them to become living members
of Christ’s earthly community and to begin a life
in the power of the Spirit.’
What is evangelism ?
2.Evangelism seeks to bring people into the visible
community of believers.
What is evangelism ?
3. Evangelism involves witnessing
to what God has done, is doing and will do.
Word and deed but …………..
‘ The verbal witness indeed remains indispensable,
not least because our deeds and our conduct are
ambiguous ,they need elucidation.’
What is evangelism ?
4. .Evangelism is invitation
We are drawn by love not by guilt
What is evangelism ?
5. Evangelism is only possible when the church
is a radiant manifestation of the Christian faith.
‘ So what the churches often do get involved in is
not evangelism, but propaganda, that is, they reproduce
carbon copies of themselves and impact their own
ghetto mentality to the people they reach.
What is evangelism ?
6. Evangelism is about risk taking .
We do not control how it comes alive
We get changed in this process
What is evangelism ?
7. Evangelism is not a self centred
consumer product.
Not only called to receive life but to give it
What is evangelism ?
8. Evangelism is calling people to
be disciples of Jesus .
It is enlisting people for God’s mission
What is evangelism ?
“evangelism is that dimension and activity
of the church’s mission which seeks
to offer every person, everywhere, a
valid opportunity to be directly challenged
by the gospel of explicit faith in
Jesus Christ, with a view to embracing
him as Saviour, becoming a loving
member of his community and being
enlisted in his service of
reconciliation, peace and justice on earth.”
What is evangelism ?
“Evangelism focuses on explicit and intentional
articulation of the gospel, including the
invitation to personal conversion to a new life
in Christ and to discipleship……..
Not only individuals but also the whole church
together is called to evangelise.
If we claim to love God and to love our fellow
human being but fail to share the good news
with them urgently & consistently , we
deceive ourselves as to the integrity of either
our love for either God or people.
WCC Affirmation on Mission & Evangelism
1. What was the one thing that most struck you
from the article by Bosch.
2.What was the one thing that most challenged
you from the article by Bosch
‘ As for you, always be sober,
endure suffering,
do the work of an evangelist,
carry out your ministry fully.
2 Timothy 4 v5.
Envision
‘How does the church become the
evangelising centre it was meant
to be?
Before we think of programmes
or techniques, we need to be renewed
in our vision of who Christ is and
what God’s purposes are for the world.’
Rebecca Manley Pippert.
Encourage
Equip
Example
Expectancy
“These people who have been
turning the world upside down
have come here also.”
Acts 17 ;7
‘We live in a culture so saturated with self,
in which humans have placed themselves
in the centre for so long, that our natural
tendency ,even as Christians ,is to focus
on the human aspects of evangelism and
not the divine. Yet it is God who takes the
initiative to pursue seekers, it is his Spirit
who converts, it is his gospel that saves.
Evangelism is God’s business from start
to finish.’