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Evangelicalism as Community Problem-Solving

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. This month, Andrew Kukla is curating reflections on being evangelical in the church. Have we connected our congregations to resurrection life? Have we taught them how to talk about it?  How to live it? How to connect others to that life-giving, life-abundant power? We invite you to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter!

by Wyatt Schroeder

The offering plate sits in my lap. I wonder if the offertory volunteers notice my hesitation. I’m a guest at this church. I don’t know well enough the cause of the congregation. It hasn’t been made clear yet what problem my money is solving. Am I donating to accrue more members? Am I reaching in my pockets to address deferred maintenance? Is this assuaging my guilt? It’s not that I don’t understand how unrestricted dollars can impact the depth of our work; I understand all too well. I’m the executive director of a housing nonprofit in Boise, Idaho. Money fuels our mission and directly allows our case managers to end homelessness for over 200 people a year. Then why am I uncomfortable in the pews?

tsr_4422_webYour work in the church and my work in the streets intermingle and cross-pollinate. The New Evangelicalism, if we are comfortable with capital letters, is likely to be about causes, not creeds; to be about problem-solving and not moral rectitude. It will be about inviting a community conversation on community problems and not about creating a convert. I say this as a nonprofit professional and as a millennial. Yes, that cursed generation that is plaguing the graph of church membership and afflicting the comforting malaise of the status quo.

Often, a volunteer will shyly confess to me, “Wyatt, I’m uncomfortable asking for money.” My response is simple, but culturally significant: at our organization, we should not ask people for money, we should ask people to solve problems. This builds a covenantal relationship with supporters that recognizes their strengths, recognizes the need, and will continue to grow beyond any one transaction, handshake, or capital campaign. A covenant is a language that we’re familiar with—but one that seems reserved for our current congregants. Should we not have a covenant with our community at large, inviting congregants and non-congregants alike to join us in addressing community problems?

From my seat in the pew, evangelicalism became a sullied tradition because of confusion between outputs and outcomes. This is not a semantic point; instead it actualizes a severe disregard for building covenantal relationships. Our efforts, both as church and as social-justice leaders, in the old evangelical model were about bean counting: member rolls, dollars raised, dollars donated to local charities, and hours of religious education delivered. Our success was determined by the number of souls recruited. It was, to my mind, never about the outcomes that we could achieve together for the benefit of our community.

This misstep also plagues the nonprofit sector. I notice it in the 15-minute presentations to local Rotary or Kiwanis Clubs, where a nonprofit shares a three-minute story of a client’s success and then details how their seven programs could use my support. At no point did they educate me on the community need. Sure, it’s implied that if the organization exists then it must be addressing a need, but it’s output-thinking. Instead, we should use all 15 minutes to educate about the problem that we’re addressing. “Lead with the need,” as one mentor used to tell me. When we share based on our intended outcomes, a beautiful thing happens: it forces a conversation about how our values are put into action. Outputs are about the mechanics of our work; outcomes are about how our vision transforms a family, a mother, a child. “Let’s raise $3,000 for this month’s plate partner” becomes “let’s increase childhood wellness by reducing family homelessness.”  

If we only implore others to join us in addressing outputs—I’m picturing your annual-fund campaign thermometer posted in the narthex—then our work will not resonate with a millennial generation that is less interested in membership than in revolutions. But if we discuss outcomes, then the offering plate becomes an invitation to community problem-solving. And in this new language of evangelicalism, we will invite a covenantal relationship that will empower people’s strengths to be levied for a greater purpose.


Wyatt head shotWyatt Schroeder (@wvschroeder) serves as the Executive Director for CATCH, Inc. He is responsible for the strategic management, fund development, storytelling, and program success of the organization. A native of Pennsylvania, Wyatt holds an M.B.A. from Villanova University (Philadelphia, PA) and a B.A. from Allegheny College (Meadville, PA). While serving in AmeriCorps with Rebuilding Together, Wyatt found the passion of his life: ending homelessness. Wyatt is committed to building sustainable organizations around innovative housing models, such as Housing First, while never forgetting to share the powerful stories of those we are serving.

“Evangelism. Evangelical. Evangelist.” All are Good News!

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. This month, Andrew Kukla is curating reflections on being evangelical in the church. Have we connected our congregations to resurrection life? Have we taught them how to talk about it?  How to live it? How to connect others to that life-giving, life-abundant power? We invite you to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter!

by Chris Montovino

Since when did sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ become a combination of four letter words for God’s people? Sadly, I think these words stemming from the Greek have gotten a bad rap. Too often they are either associated with angry street corner evangelists pronouncing fire and brimstone upon the weary “heathen” or entangled in someone’s political ideology. When Jesus came to share his Good News, I can hardly imagine that he had either of those ideas in mind. So what did Jesus mean and how can we as a Church reclaim these words as both Good News for us and worthy of our sharing with the world at large?

5F7649370BIn Luke 10:27, Jesus summed up the Law and the Prophets, saying “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.”

First, love God. We can do that without lots of explanation. Ok, check!

Second, love our neighbor as ourself. Hmm. That one especially is tricky today in an age of disconnection. People come and people go. Our neighborhoods these days are often just a collection of disjointed homes, where we eat, sleep, and wake up and do the same 365 days a year with little to no real life sharing with those who live next door. In all honesty, I can successfully avoid eye contact with said neighbors by raising my garage door, backing my car out of the garage, heading off to work in a location beyond my neighborhood, returning home at the end of the day, pulling into my garage, lowering the garage door, and retreating to my private fenced in backyard oasis.

But how can we love our neighbor if we don’t share life with them? How can we share life with them if we don’t cross paths with them? How can we cross paths with them if we don’t even know who they are?  

Let me propose a simple suggestion: become an evangelist!  

We live in a cul-de-sac and have a big porch that spans the front. From our porch swing, where we love to sit on summer days, we are able to make intentional contact with our neighbors as they come and go. Hey Steve! How’s Austin? Hey Greg! Catch anything? Hey Lisa! How’s the job search? Hey Dale! How’s your mom?

Over the past eleven years, we have shared a lot of life with our neighbors. There are annual cul-de-sac BBQs, Easter egg hunts, Halloween gatherings, and Christmas parties. There have been times when we have been there for them. And there were many times when they were there for us like extended family.

We have said goodbye to some and welcomed others. We’ve laughed with them. We’ve cried with them. We’ve ticked some off. We’ve said sorry many times. We’ve also prayed with some of them and on occasion got to share our faith with them.  

We had no agenda in our neighborhood but love our neighbors in the way Jesus commanded us to love them and be the Good News that Jesus wanted us to share.   

How? Through the lives we’ve shared with these folks, our neighbors. And when we share life with people that we love, we naturally share what is most important to us which is our faith. It may not be presented as four spiritual law.  It may not result in a “decision” for Jesus that we can count. It may not even make them new church folk. But in the process of really loving our neighbors the Gospel gets lived out before our very eyes.  

Now that’s Good News!  


chrisRev. Chris Montovino has served as head of staff at Cascades Presbyterian Church in Vancouver since 2005.  He has been married to Karen for 20 years and has four active children high school through elementary school.  His passions include outback hiking, fly fishing, and volunteering with the Camas High School Young Life Program.  He hopes to be finished this year with his Doctor of Ministry degree in The Missional Church through Fuller Theological Seminary.

Come and See

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. This month, Andrew Kukla is curating reflections on being evangelical in the church. Have we connected our congregations to resurrection life? Have we taught them how to talk about it?  How to live it? How to connect others to that life-giving, life-abundant power? We invite you to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter!

by Irene Pak Lee

I need to start this by naming up front that I am uncomfortable with being tagged as evangelical. I get it. I know it’s broader than the stereotypes and that it really means that we are to share the good news of Jesus, life, grace, hope, justice and peace. But it still comes loaded and I do not know that I would comfortably name myself as an evangelical, even as a teaching elder who dares to share this good news on a regular basis.

tsr_4642_webThat said, one of my favorite random lines in scripture is when Jesus is out “recruiting” disciples. All those whom he calls drop everything and follow him because maybe they sense a special charisma or maybe Jesus has a halo around him that indicates you must follow this man. Whatever it was, they go. In the gospel of John, Jesus’ invitation is as simple as, “Come and see.”

That’s not my favorite line. My favorite line comes a few verses later when Philip, who has already started following Jesus, goes to his friend Nathanael to evangelize to him about Jesus. Philip starts telling him all about Jesus and Nathanael’s honest response is, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Yep. That’s it. That’s one of my favorite lines in scripture. It’s one of my favorites because it’s so honest. It names his biases about a place honestly, indicates his skepticism about a person associated with it, and also demonstrates a friendship that is close enough where he can ask questions without fear.

Having the ability to ask questions, name your biases, and have a safe space and people to ask those questions is what I think it takes and what is at the heart of evangelism in these days. At least it does for me in my Silicon Valley, west coast, full of skeptics of the church setting.

Because the truth is, I think many people are asking, “Can anything good come out of being a Christian?” It’s a question I ponder especially when I see how Christianity is portrayed. Same with the word evangelical. And it seeps deeply into the best of us, making us resistant to share the good news in fear that it will align us with those who are outwardly demonstrating a hateful or oppressive kind of faith.

I always pray that the people who walk through the doors of the church I serve will find a space where they can ask questions, name their biases, and find people to engage in the tough and real questions that they have.

After Nathanael asks Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, Philip responds simply, “Come and see.” And perhaps that’s what we really need to be saying as the invitation. Come and see for yourself. Come check it out. It does not provide answers or spouts rules or theology. It’s an invitation and leaves the doing on the part of the invited.

I love this form of evangelism because it invites someone to come and see for themselves without trying to explain away terminologies or giving reasons that people do not always understand or that come loaded with baggage about church. Instead, an invitation to “come and see” hands the ball to the receiver and invites them to take a shot.

Our “doing part” or task, then, continues to be creating and providing a space and place where those who are invited to come and see, actually come and see a place where God’s love and grace and justice are lived out. How are our environments and our places and our outreach into the community ready for those who have been invited to come and see? That’s where the hard work lies. Will those who are invited to “come and see” come and see a place where God’s love and life are lived? Will they find a space to ask questions, have doubts, and be welcomed just as they are? Are there people who are willing to befriend the doubters and the believers?

We are not perfect and we have areas where we can grow in this, but we are trying. And we name these beliefs and hopes to each new member class and in our preaching and worship.

But you know, I think that’s exactly what draws people in. It’s not the certainty, but it’s the questions. Because the good news we share is about a God who loves us so much, sent Jesus to connect with us on a human level, that dares to go to the cross where all the muck and pain of our world reality lies, and then gives us life again and again. And if you don’t believe me, well, come and see for yourself.

Come and see what God has done: God is awesome in God’s deeds among mortals. Psalm 66:5


Irene PakIrene Pak Lee serves as the associate pastor at Stone Church of Willow Glen in San Jose, California. She blogs at irenepak.wordpress.com and can be found on Twitter @Ireney07.

Sharing What’s Important

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. This month, Andrew Kukla is curating reflections on being evangelical in the church. Have we connected our congregations to resurrection life? Have we taught them how to talk about it?  How to live it? How to connect others to that life-giving, life-abundant power? We invite you to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter!

by Amy Miracle

Sharing that which is important to me with the people who are important to me is a big part of my life. That’s why I am always talking about my favorite podcasts. That’s why I gave so many of my friends the Hamilton Original Broadway Cast CD for Christmas. 

broad street ohioFor me that is what evangelism is all about. Sharing the most important thing in my life with anyone who will listen. Except that’s not quite true. Like the congregation I serve, I am reserved, worried about looking foolish and uninterested in being the center of attention. And yet I wake up every day with a burning passion to invite people into conversations about God and invite them to become a part of the life of the church of Jesus Christ. 

At Broad Street, the church where I am very, very fortunate to serve, I handle this tension in the following way. I talk about evangelism a lot. I encourage others to talk about it. We have periodic “Seasons of Invitation” when we encourage our folks to invite their people to church. Most importantly, we challenge people to articulate what it has meant for them to be a part of the life of the church and then share that understanding with others. 

Here is one Broad Street-er’s thoughts on the subject. He’s a husband, father of two young kids, who spoke to the congregation during one of our seasons of invitation.  This is how he concluded his words. 

“Broad Street Presbyterian is a gift. It is a gift to its community, to those it serves, and maybe most of all, to its congregation. It thoughtfully puts faith into action, faces up to the challenges of spirituality and Christianity without fear, and is a great place to spend Sunday morning. This church is a gift that deserves to be given to others who don’t yet know it is here.

It is an uncomfortable thing, inviting someone to church. I’m still working up the nerve myself. As I do, when I have doubts, I think about my own story, about what my life would have been had I not received that gift of an invitation. About all that has happened to me and in me and how much the poorer I’d be if I’d never set foot in this building. And that there are others in our community, amongst my friends and family, who deserve this gift, who may not yet know it, but belong in – and will thrive in – this church.

So please join us in these coming weeks and invite someone – or better still someones – you care about. They will be grateful for it. They will thank you for it.”

What he said.

 


Amy Miracle Head ShotAmy Miracle earned a Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She served as associate pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, Colorado, and senior pastor and head of staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Iowa before coming to Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ohio, in 2008 as  pastor and head of staff.

I Love to Tell the Story

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. This month, Andrew Kukla is curating reflections on being evangelical in the church. Have we connected our congregations to resurrection life? Have we taught them how to talk about it?  How to live it? How to connect others to that life-giving, life-abundant power? We invite you to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter!

by Hope Italiano Lee

I couldn’t have been more than 10 or 11 years when I heard my first “Jack Tale.”  Jack tales are a tradition in Appalachian folklore. I’m not from Appalachia, but the director of the summer camp that I grew up in was from the hills of Kentucky and he could tell one mean Jack Tale after another with passion and energy and imagination. These stories were so engaging, so compelling, that week after week, summer after summer, hundreds of kids would quiet themselves down, sit still as stones, and listen to Jack’s latest adventure. It’s been a good 20 years since I last heard one of those Jack Tales,  but I know them so well that even today I could recite one after another by heart. And I do just that, for my children, the next generation, all the time.  

story kirkwoodCompelling stories take residence in the heart and soul and, after a period of time, become very much part of a living, breathing body. Evangelism is simply telling the greatest story ever told. Evangelism is telling the story of how God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall never die but have everlasting life. Evangelism is telling how God’s story met up with your story and changed your world en route to transforming the whole world. Evangelism is helping others to know and to share their story and to help them see where their story intersects with God’s story.

Down here at the beach, we love to tell the story of The Well. The Well is a place where each week the story of God is faithfully proclaimed to all generations with hospitality, community, and joy. We started The Well about a year and a half ago, looking to the scriptures to guide us to create a place where all, but especially those who didn’t think they were included in the “all,” would find welcome and hope. It’s a place of teaching as we go – teaching grace by demonstration, teaching sacraments by active engagement,  teaching scripture by asking difficult questions, and being honest about the hard places.  An amazing thing happens when you make Jesus the main focus – people come closer. They want to hear the story, not just any story, but the story of a God who loves them to the ends of the earth, even when the rest of the world has told them that they are unlovable.

Recently, we held a small memorial service within a regular Sunday service at The Well. Dennis, the precious man who died was one of the first people to be a part of this special place. He had epilepsy and we were within walking distance of his home. Every Sunday he would come early, greet people and remind them how much Christ loves them, and how glad he was that they were there to celebrate that love together. He embodied a Christ-like grace that was reflective of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well – the encounter which drives our ministry. When Dennis died, we were looking at his emergency contact information and we discovered that The Well family was his emergency contact. So it seemed obvious to all of The Well family that we should give witness to the resurrection right there at our weekly gathering spot and celebrate Dennis’ home-going with the same joy he gave to us as he made The Well a home for so many.

The Well is a place filled with stories just like that. Every person who comes in those doors carries with them stories of pain, hurt, frustration, disillusionment, and sometimes betrayal. And what they find is not a program, not a strategy, not the latest and greatest in fog machines, drum pits, or laser light shows. They find God’s old story of love, sacrifice, grace, and life, told with passion, imagination, and energy to a new generation looking to find a story that will forever change their story. The storytellers are people who speak from a place of authentic transformation of the heart, the place where the best stories come from.

Followers of Christ are called to be winsome story tellers, who will tell God’s story through their story wherever they go because to do otherwise would betray their heart.  We trust in the work of the Holy Spirit and so we tell our story to open doors, to share a living faith, and to allow drops of grace to cover the people whom God so deeply loves.

“I love to tell the story. ‘Twill be my theme in glory. To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love!”   


hope leeHope Lee is the Lead Pastor of the Kirkwood Church and The Well in Bradenton, Florida. She is a highly sought after speaker for evangelism and church growth conferences all over the United States and serves as an Evangelism Coach for the national offices of the PC(USA).  You can find her on the web at www.biggreenchurch.org or @PastorHope  or at the beach with her husband and 3 amazing kids!

Reclaiming Evangelism and Living Audacious Faith

by Andrew Kukla

In the church we dance around inconvenient truths. Among the gifts of NEXT Church is its willingness to talk about truths we avoid and a resistance to worrying about labels. One such label is “Evangelical.” We often talk as if some followers of Christ are evangelicals and some are not. But evangelical is not the opposite of progressive. The Gospels are evangelical. Jesus’ mission is evangelical. He comes to bring GOOD NEWS! Not for good news’ sake but for the sake of people. We don’t build walls around good news and get happy when someone manages to overcome the obstacles and find it; we go out with intentionality to connect the good news and liberation to those in need of it. And we all need it! Following in the way of Jesus Christ is necessarily evangelical. The very birthright of the Church is our calling as “sent-ones” (apostles) who bear good news in the world.  

tsr_5594_webWe have been claimed by good news.  

We share good news.  

We ARE good news…at least I hope we have some good news to offer the world.

In the midst of conversation about declining mainline churches, there are entire bookshelves dedicated to self-help for churches in decline. In a recent conversation with seminary president David Lose and a bunch of great church leaders, we talked about living in the “age of discretion.” In this age, everything is about choices we get to make. And in the great mathematics of time and energy, far too often people don’t see the practices of the Church as offering enough to them to be worth the choice. We can decry that as consumerist church life, but as I see it we haven’t been a place of abundant life. If we had been, the choice would be clear. We have discerning people; we just haven’t made it easy to discern that the church is place with overflowing good news to share. In fear of evangelical fervor, have we become lukewarm?

A bell tolls and I read my mail and here is what find:  

“And to the angel of the (Presbyterian) church (in the USA) write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation: “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”  (Revelation 3:14-16)

We have good theology. Well-written sermons. And generally… good will. But we are neither cold nor hot, and far too many people are quite fine spitting us out with little perceived loss to their lives and the life of the world.  

Friends: We could use a little evangelical fervor! We need to be a Church that has come alive! We have good news, don’t we? We have dedicated our lives to something, haven’t we? Does Jesus matter? I sure hope so; but have we made that clear in our daily lives?  

Have we connected our congregations to resurrection life? Have we taught them how to talk about it? How to live it? How to connect others to that life-giving, life-abundant power?

In his great work The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce talks about rulers of the Sanhedrin marveling at the audacious faith of Jesus’ disciples, now become apostles. They had become people of strong nerve who risked failure in change and were not easily daunted—and people of rare moral courage, “till at length they could do what was right, heedless of human criticism, without effort, almost without thought.”

This was Church come alive. A church with the evangelical fervor of having been set free to dare great things in Christ’s name. And they knew that they needed to give other people this same gift they had received. This needed to be shared. They were claimed by the God of liberating good news and sent to share that with the world one connection at a time. I do not imagine that we are any less called than they, or tasked with any less important mission. We are the Body of Christ and, through the power of the One who calls us, we are capable of exactly this audacious and radical faith. Amazing things are happening all around us: God is doing a new thing; do we not perceive it? We need to figure out how to talk about abundant life and connect our neighbors to the God who is liberating love. We need to be re-claimed by evangelism!

Join me this month as we invite a great group of modern-day apostles to reflect on being evangelical in the Church and daring to connect ever larger circles of communities to life-giving audacious faith!


a kuklaAndrew Kukla is a pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho. He is a graduate from The College of William and Mary and twice from Columbia Theological Seminary because he is slow on the uptake. He is constantly taught grace, curiosity, and wonder by his wife and four children… and patience, oh so much patience. In what free time is left he serves as the President of the Board at CATCH, Inc which seeks to end homeless in Idaho for through Housing-First solutions, advocates for people as a faith-leader at the Idaho State Capitol, and is begrudging becoming a runner in the foothills of Idaho in order to be heart healthy. He blogs at incoherently at https://akukla.wordpress.com/ and is rarely on twitter but pretends as @awkukla.

Evangelism Roundtable: Resources

Here are the comics, books, videos, and other media that Church Leaders’ Roundtable participants found useful for conceptualizing and discussing evangelism during a recent Roundtable: COMICS For approaching a prickly subject via humor: Pearls Before Swine (Click to view larger) 

February 18th, 2013 by Stephan Pastis

February 18th, 2013
by Stephan Pastis

  Whyatt
whyatt

by Tim Whyatt

Along the same lines, Frank Wood has curated some helpful clipart graphics about evangelism.   BOOKS *Please note that these links are to Amazon for your convenience in reading a more detailed synopsis and comparing reviews. We encourage you to connect with your local independent bookstore or to the bookseller of your choice if you purchase your own copy!

  1. Diana Butler Bass’s Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening poses that belonging leads to belief and that people are seeking a community that welcomes and engages their lived experiences.
  2. Marcus Borg’s Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith helps readers wrestle with the theology (both good and bad) that has stuck with them. Borg shares his journey towards more authentic faith as he seeks to find out for himself, “Who is this Jesus?”
  3. Loren Mead’s The Once and Future Church series (particularly The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier) focuses on the idea that the modern mission field is the street outside of the church building itself.
  4. Joan S. Gray’s Sailboat Church: Helping Your Church Rethink Its Ministry and Practice urges us to shift away from a “row boat” mentality where churches are driven by human effort to a “sailboat” mentality where the church is driven by the spirit. Gray writes for those who are discouraged and distressed by declines in church attendance and participation.
  5. In The Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (edited by Darrel Guder), six authors analyze the United State’s secular culture and present North America as the missional field in need.
  6. Marth Grace Reese’s Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism reminds us that praying can be more important than doing.
  7. Christian A. Schwarz’s The ABCs of Natural Church Development (available as both a pamphlet and as a book) shares research on what makes a church grow. Schwarz encourages churches to first focus on the health and well-being of their own congregations and objectively evaluating what they are currently doing before beginning to expand.
  8. Tim Suttle’s Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture is a beautiful book that speaks to the church’s need to become local, challenging, and smaller.
  9. Martin Thielen’s What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?: A Guide to What Matters Most and The Answer to Bad Religion is Not No Religion: a Guide to Good Religion for Skeptic, Seekers, and Believers engage with those are questioning their beliefs and may be leaning towards “spiritual but not religious.” The former deals with Christian identity, and the latter takes on religion as a whole.
  10. William O. Webster’s A Place of Grace: A Resurrected Church’s Journey to Vitality shares the story of a PCUSA church that was able to turn things around through simple acts of faith and community engagement. This success story is inspirational but also shows that such a turn around is achievable.

  CURRICULUM PCUSA’s Engage guides participants in crafting and sharing their faith journeys to foster discipleship.   VIDEOS

  1. Simon Sinek’s “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” takes on how successful brands like Apple have created legions of fans through marketing. What would have if churches used the same attitude of starting of starting with the “why” and moving outwards?
  2. First Presbyterian Church of Englewood’s video ministry, 90 Second Sermon, found a way to restructure their message to a format best suited to reaching people via social media. Their website includes a guide to create your video.
  3. The Skit Guys provide many helpful videos to supplement services as well as scripts and downloads to let your own ideas take flight.
  4. Film can be a successful medium for unchurched groups to discuss sacred themes without church-y vocabulary. One participant suggests using the Wizard of Oz for women’s groups and Field of Dreams for men’s groups to spark the sharing of deep spiritual stories.

   

Evangelism Roundtable: Conversation Starters

Were you inspired by our Church Leaders Roundtable on Evangelism? Here are the critical questions that sparked and guided our discussion that may be helpful in continuing the conversation with your own small group:

Why is evangelism important to you?

  • How we live out radical hospitality and share good news to new generations?
  • How do we use new tools for evangelism?
    • How do we reinforce worship when people attend service an average of twice/month?
    • How can the pulpit come to the people?
    • How can we speak to our Christian identity in a multi-faith world?
  • How do we redefine evangelism so that it’s not synonymous with conservatism?
  • As the culture is becoming less aware of the Christian identity, who do we say that WE are?
  • What does our church’s “brand” say?
    • What are the five key faith adjectives we value as a faith community? How can we use those five ideas to become ambassadors to the community about what our congregation has to offer?
    • How do we narrow the idea of who we wish to attract to our congregation without excluding folks who want to join?
    • What niche of God’s people are we uniquely positioned to reach out to?
    • How does the scandal of particularity–our freedom to be authentic to who we are–inform how we practice and approach evangelism?
  • What is the relationship between progressive social justice as the call of the gospel and as what many “nones” claim to be seeking?
  • Why do we want new people to join our church? Are we motivated by numbers or by evangelism?
  • How can we include everyone (not just the pastor) in evangelizing?

How does evangelism inform your teaching, preaching, study, and life?

  • How do we share our “spiritual biographies?”
    • How is discipleship related to engaging and connecting to people’s stories?
  •  “If I don’t know who my neighbor is, how can I serve/love my neighbor?”
    • What how are mission and evangelism related?

How do we get past the stigma of evangelism?

  • What would happen if our staff position was called “Director of Mission and Evangelism” instead of “Director of Mission and Outreach?”
  • How can humor be a tool for broaching intimidating topics like evangelism?
  • Where does the fear of confronting people with the gospel come from when we have so much to be joyful about what we have gained through our faith?
  • Can evangelism help transform the kingdom of God that we’ve shrunken to a personal relationship with Jesus to recapture the fullness, largeness, enormity that is the Kingdom of God?
  •  How is God working in the world?
    • To what end do we further the work of God?
    • How does the eschatological reality we celebrate in the Eucharist become clearer because of what we’ve done?
  • How could reviving the practice of testimony help us to become aware of God’s presence in our lives and to share those divine moments through evangelism?
    • How can testimony become a part of worship?
  • Based on Simon Sinek’s TED Talk (“How Great Leaders Inspire Action“), how could starting with faith as the “why” that motivates mission, how could social justice become a context in which we share our faith?