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Brazil, in a partnership with local Lutheran churches and youth leaders, promoted an evangelistic event in the city of Santiago in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Over a thousand people received evangelistic materials, that included CPTN (as LHM is known locally) booklets. Check out the video below.
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Prime-time media campaign puts Jesus on the agenda
Jesus. All about life campaign runs across NSW and WA in Australia
By: Martin Johnson
Wednesday, 2 December 2009, 11:36 (EST)
“In a word – sensational!” said Bible Society NSW CEO, Daniel Willis when asked to describe the impact of the just concluded ‘Jesus. All about life’ campaign across New South Wales and Western Australia.
“It was bigger than we ever thought it would be in terms of the number of churches who registered and the amount of exposure and coverage we received in local, national and international press,” Daniel said.
“Throughout the almost eight weeks of the campaign, conversations about Jesus were a part of everyday life,” he said. “The campaign raised an awareness of spirituality and people seemed more willing and prepared to speak about their beliefs,” he said.
The ‘Jesus. All about life’ campaign has been six years coming to NSW and Western Australia. Developed by Bible Society NSW as a way of ‘engaging with culture’, the campaign has previously run in Adelaide (South Australia), Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory and across all Tasmania. It ran across Sydney, NSW and Western Australia, ‘book-ending’ Australia with the Gospel, during September and October, 2009.
Go to the link for more information and the complete article.
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An Australian born Chinese, converted in High School at age 14 and on staff of the Chinese Christian Church in Sydney, had this to say. ‘Stop organising evangelistic events and start evangelising.’
November 26, 2009 by Pastor Ying
I was talking to someone about their ministry and their plans for next year. They spelt out their bible study program for the group, the topics they’ll be working through, and what they hope to train people in. Oh, yes they also talked about organising some evangelistic meetings during the year. At this I asked if they had thought through a mission/evangelism strategy to engage with our community to which he said “They hadn’t thought much about this.”
The tragedy I observe in many churches is that we spend more time organising an evangelistic event than actually doing the evangelism itself. Now I’m not against organising these events. I’ve organised heaps and will probably organise many before I go to glory. However my beef is when the event consumes all our time and energy so much so that very little time is given to helping people engage with our community. Organising an evangelistic event is a great thing. It can certainly give us a real sense of being part of God’s work in reaching the world. However it can also subtley distract us from reaching the world. Organising an event is cushy. But talking to friends about Jesus is scary stuff. Organising an event can give you a real high particularly when it’s well run, but explaining why people are under the judgement of God and in need of rescue can be very costly, particularly in terms of personal relationships. So it’s no wonder that it’s far easier to get people to help organise something that to go and talk to people about Jesus
Think of all the man-hours we spend setting up an event and then translate that into hours that could be used to train and help people share the gospel with their friends? Now again, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against having well run evangelistic events. I think some of the evangelistic meetings I’ve seen are so poorly run it could be used as a solution to insomnia. (Ok I need to remember that God’s is sovereign and works inspite of us. Thanks for the reminder. ) But I think something is seriously wrong when all the energy is put into this and very little is directed to training people to engage with those around them and to proclaim the gospel in a clear, relevant and interesting way.
In fact when you think about it, evangelistic events work best when the congregation is fired up to do evangelism. When the congregation is NOT doing their part, in most cases, the evangelistic event will merely be preaching to the converted. Yes it’s great that the converted hear the gospel preached regularly and frequently. But that being said, as an event for unbeliever, I think often times it seems we’re doing a very poor job.
So the please is don’t let the Evangelistic event become the excuse not to evangelize.Don’t let the event overtake the evangelism.
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How to Share Your Faith During Holidays
1. Pray ahead of time.
Ask God to make you sensitive to His leading about when and what to share during the Holidays.
Approach the Holidays with the idea that you’ll have opportunity to share with family and friends what you are truly thankful for: the outrageous grace offered to you in Christ Jesus. When you pray, you’ll be ready to notice when God underlines a moment for you.
2. Brainstorm some possible discussion questions.
It may seem that discussions of Holiday shopping plans, the weather, football, are meaningless and dull.
Retelling old family stories can be an embarassing rehashing of events that would better left to the dustbin of history, or they could be a good part of family identity and bonding.
For example,
If you could ‘do the Holidays’ in a fresh, new, totally different way, what would that look like for you? Would it include a God-focus? Why or why not?
What’s the one thing you are most thankful for this year? Why?
Are the Holidays more of a time for being thankful to God or being thankful to others? How?
Is it tough to be thankful this year? Why or Why not?
3. Look and Listen for the Spiritual Thirst
As conversations unfold, a person might share a spiritual need. You might not even need to ask questions to find it.
Or, questions like the ones above could open conversation paths into spiritual needs.
These can naturally go on to deeper things about your relationship with Christ and the gospel.
You might hear of a person’s spiritual thirst and can appropriately point them to the water of life.
The key is to look and listen.
You’ve been praying. Watch for how God will answer that.
4. Take the time to share.
If you are noticing people, spiritual thirst can lead to moments of conversation in divine appointments.
Take the time to share your experience of God’s working in your life.
Feel free to tell appropriate stories of God’s current activity in your life, particularly where you are thankful.
Look for those moments to talk about your thankfulness for what God has done for you in bringing you salvation.
Look for those “natural” conversational opportunities.
Some evangelism practitioners will not only look for conversational openings, but will create them or cause them to happen. Go for it.
You might still be learning how to confidently talk about their faith and need other people to start the conversation.
Either way, look for those opportunities to share and go for it.
Have fun this Holiday.
Chris Walker
(Edited)
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November 19, 2009
Angry Preachers or Gospel Musicians?
What types of witnesses are our churches forming?
by David Swanson
There wasn’t much that could have distracted me on the way to the train station on a recent Saturday evening. After two days at an outdoor music festival—in the rain one day and under the blazing sun the next—I wanted nothing more than to return to our apartment for a long shower and some blessed quiet. Lollapalooza was a blast, a great opportunity to see some new bands and observe Chicago’s diverse youth culture. I might have stayed for the day’s final acts, but I’m a pastor and my ringing ears and tired legs needed a good night’s sleep before Sunday morning.
Before I’d walked even a block from the festival, I bumped into a small crowd whose attention was fixed on two men speaking loudly to the bedraggled onlookers. One held a handmade sign that read—I kid you not— “TURN OR BURN!” He spoke into a bullhorn, warning the young people of God’s coming judgment and listing in vivid detail the sins that would lead them to an eternity burning in hell. The other man held an open Bible and vigorously debated anyone who disagreed with his companion’s portrayal of God.
Continue reading “Angry Preachers or Gospel Musicians? “…
David Swanson is Community Life Pastor at New Community Covenant Church in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood
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