Evangelism
Evangelism Starts with Relationships!
We are still too EVENT oriented, a model passed down to us from another time. For most people today receiving Christ will happen at the end of a process that takes T I M E. Outreach events have their place but are no longer the "end all" of our evangelistic activity as they may have been in the former paradigm. The beginning of the process is all about building relationships. Our challenge is to help our church members develop trusting and meaningful relationships with unchurched people. It all starts here.
Evangelism involves having a plan!
Our churches must think strategically about what they are trying to do and who they are trying to reach. Our culture today is too diverse for one church to be a "one size fits all" operation. The most critical issue for the long-term future of the congregation is to discover the group or groups of pre-Christians that God has called and gifted them to reach, and to develop relationship experiences that will help the congregation do evangelism, new member recruitment, assimilation, fellowship and care, spiritual growth, leadership development, and missional involvement with these pre-Christians in mind. This is what evangelism as a process will require.
Evangelism planning will lead to some churches restructuring their ministries!
Effective churches today are finding ways to move evangelism out of the board structure as a separate department, where only a few reach out to the lost, and reshape the whole mission and structure of the church to be geared toward including outsiders in their plans and programs. This involves implementing a thorough-going process of inclusion and involvement of pre-Christians at the heart of their communal life together. Every department, every committee, every program of the church has an evangelistic component and everyone knows where they fit in the church's larger mission to the community.
Evangelism must be central to the church's intentional identity!
Congregations will be wise to have clear, concise, present-day, mission statements which guide the decisions about where they invest time, energy, and other resources. Pastors and church leaders must frequently ask such questions as: What about our church . . .? Is our mission clear? Is it aligned with the Great Commission? Is it known by our people and uppermost in the minds of our leaders? Is it concise and memorable? Does it really guide our ministry priorities and decisions?
Evangelism Resources
I want to commend several resources to you, and hope to expand further this page and others, in coming days, as we seek to be aware of good resources that will enable and enhance our sharing of the Christian Message, in the context of our own story and of our own faith.
I am especially excited about, and supportive of, their teaching and equipping-models, based on helping the local church as it seeks to discover, develop and deploy those who are especially gifted by the Spirit in sharing the Good News (in word and action), as well as helping every congregant/disciple in the privilege of telling and living the Gospel Story, in the context of all of daily life.
Ephesians 4:11 indicates to us that not only has God given pastor/teachers to the local church, as necessary to building up the Body of Christ (ie. the local congregation for its missional tasks), but also that God has given apostles and prophets and evangelists. They too are to lead and to assist the local church in the various aspects of its life and ministry. While some (say, evangelists) may be itinerate, perhaps more are needed to day in our local congregations and church clusters (regions, areas, associations) to assist the church in response to the challenges and opportunities God gives for outreach, in local as well as global contexts.
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Under the leadership of Dr. Walter DeSousa, is Mission Evangelism International. As a gifted evangelist he can assist your church through a more regional and public proclamation of the Gospel. Through church- based seminars, he also teaches and equips evangelists in and for the context of local church and every-day life-ministry.
Why not get in touch with these leaders and these respective ministries? They could be helpful to your church in its ministry goals as you seek to build up and work out the ministry God has given you.
