eBookGuidelines Evangelism - eBook [ePub] (Guidelines Evangelism - eBook [ePub])
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Overview
Evangelism is vital to the disciple-making process because it is a primary ministry of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. Evangelism is more than just one individual talking about faith; it is a ministry of the whole church that develops a church “lifestyle” of welcome, invitation, and support. This Guideline is designed to help equip you in leading this ministry group in your congregation.
This is one of the twenty-six Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 2017-2020 that cover church leadership areas including Church Council and Small Membership Church; the administrative areas of Finance and Trustees; and ministry areas focused on nurture, outreach, and witness including Worship, Evangelism, Stewardship, Christian Education, age-level ministries, Communications, and more.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781501829611 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Cokesbury |
| Publication date: | 11/15/2016 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 630 KB |
Read an Excerpt
Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 2017-2020 Evangelism
Share the Good News
By Heather Lear
Cokesbury
Copyright © 2016 CokesburyAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5018-2961-1
CHAPTER 1
For Such a Time as This
Thank you for saying yes to the call of leading your congregation in the area of evangelism! There is no aspect of the church that has more importance. Unfortunately, over the years evangelism has moved from a central focus in the church to being one of many programs. In some congregations, it is simply seen as the job of the pastor.
The good news is that neither you nor your committee carries the sole responsibility for making new disciples. This is the entire church's privilege and task. You and your team are more like a catalyst than a committee. Think of your ministry as inspiring, promoting, and encouraging the ministry of evangelism throughout the entire life of the church. As a leader, your role is to help shape a congregation that will reach out, welcome, and invite others to commit their lives to Jesus Christ and then help to equip and empower them to live as Christian disciples.
In this context, the importance of your role as the chair of evangelism cannot be overstated. Perhaps the words Mordecai spoke to Queen Esther capture the sentiment best, "Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14b NIV)
The Aim and Definition of Evangelism
Before you begin the process of setting goals and measures for evangelism ministry, you need to have a clear idea of what evangelism is and its ultimate aim. The rest of this section provides a definition of evangelism. The aim of the ministry of evangelism, simply stated, is to relate people to God so that they will begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. And yet, evangelism does not end with a person's decision to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. Effective evangelism leads new Christians into a process of ongoing discipleship and spiritual formation. Ultimately, disciples become actively involved with helping to make other disciples. Evangelism without connection to disciple formation often results in church members who quickly become inactive. With this aim in mind, let us focus on what evangelism is.
Tell Good News
Evangelism has become a problematic term for some in the 21st century. Unfortunately, scare tactics, coercion, and "bad news that has an escape clause" have become synonymous with evangelism in some people's minds. In reading the gospels (the word gospel means "good news"), though, we do not see any of these approaches used by Jesus. Evangelism is good news. It is also not a program about membership recruitment or increasing budgets. Evangelism is the good news of God's healing and saving love in Jesus Christ.
What was the good news that Jesus shared? The first proclamation of the good news is found in Luke's Gospel, where Jesus recites a lesson from Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
(Luke 4:18-19)
The "year of the Lord's favor," also called Jubilee, represents a time of complete forgiveness of past burdens and a fresh start. This passage underscores care and concern for the poor and marginalized people in society. The good news promises relief and release.
Repentance
The early church emphasized two key elements of the good news: (1) repentance (turning away from evil and turning to good — through salvation in Jesus Christ) and (2) the announcement of the kingdom of God (God's reign on the earth).
Action Step:
Discuss the following with your pastor, leaders, and congregation:
• How do we talk to people about repentance?
• The invitation to repent or turn away from evil is still relevant today. Just as in addiction recovery programs, admitting that one is, or has been, participating in evil is the first step toward healing. How do we teach people to resist evil and live better lives?
• What testimony of repentance can we share individually with others from our personal walk with Jesus Christ?
• Read the following Scripture passages. List several characteristics of Christian behavior found in them. These passages help us realize the need to repent and embrace a God-directed life. Discuss ways in which your congregation teaches and demonstrates these characteristics.
Galatians 5:22-23 (the fruit of the Spirit)
Matthew 5 (the Beatitudes)
1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter)
The Kingdom (Reign) of God
How do you talk to people about the reign of God? The announcement of the kingdom of God is another key point of the good news. Many churches and traditions emphasize conversion — "in order to get into heaven after one dies" — as the point of Christian faith.
By contrast, Jesus Christ's foundational message is, "Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!" (Matthew 4:17). His emphasis is on conversion that leads to radical change in behavior, thought, and action. These changes indicate that a person chooses to live daily as a new citizen in God's reign (kingdom).
There is a marked difference between the two approaches. Salvation with heaven as the only goal has a distant, future orientation. To emphasize a single future benefit can leave new Christians wondering what should be happening to and through them in the present. By contrast, salvation that invites us to be participants in God's kingdom and reign has an active, present orientation. The focus is on how to live in this new reality, right now.
Throughout Jesus' earthly ministry, he compelled and expected his disciples to reach out to others. He expected his disciples to partner with God to expand the reign of God. Each of the Gospel writers — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — describes how Jesus sent out his disciples to make other disciples. The best-known example is the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20:
Jesus came near and spoke to them, "I've received all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age."
Obeying the Great Commission is not one option among many for a congregation; it is at the very heart of the Christian enterprise. Christianity is a missionary, evangelizing faith.
From Membership to Discipleship
For decades, we have emphasized and put countless dollars and energy into attracting people to our churches. We have equated church membership with discipleship. While we believe that the local church is the best vessel for discipleship, having people join our churches is not our ultimate goal. Growing congregations receive new people on profession of their faith, not just transfers from other churches.
As our denominational mission states, the reason we work to help make disciples is to bring about the transformation of the world. Effective congregations develop a disciple-making system that welcomes and invites, equips, and sends disciples forth in ministry.
CHAPTER 2Your Ministry of Evangelism
As a leader of the evangelism ministry of your church, you have various responsibilities. Each task serves to deepen the congregation's commitment to its mission.
1. Promote evangelism as a core value of each ministry of the church.
2. Envision what God's will for the congregation's evangelism ministry is and set goals that are consistent with that vision.
3. Develop a plan for an overall evangelism strategy and system that reaches out to people, welcomes them into the congregation, relates them to God, and equips and empowers them for ministry.
4. Serve as team leader for those assigned to work with you: guiding the work of the team, helping them to work from a biblical and theological foundation, creating work space in which Christian faith formation happens, planning agendas, presiding at meetings, and representing the ministry of evangelism in meetings of the church council and charge conference.
5. Work with the pastor, team, and other church leaders in assessing your congregation's goals and measures pertaining to evangelism (paying particular attention to professions of faith) and attendance trends, as well as the way in which new people are received into the congregation and empowered for ministry.
6. Implement and evaluate your plan.
Build the Evangelism Ministry Team
Evangelism is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit. Start building your team with prayer. The nominations and leadership development committee may help to identify team members, though you may need to recruit or add members to complete your team. Your pastor can assist with suggestions. At your first meeting, determine a time of day when team members will be in prayer for one another and for the development of a common vision for the congregation's evangelistic ministry.
Build a team of people committed to the ministry of evangelism. Depending on the size of the congregation and the group structure that may already be in place, the team may vary in number. Aim for a group of no fewer than five and no more than a dozen. Your team should represent a cross section of the congregation. If your church does not currently have an evangelism team, you might want to include as members the lay leader, lay servants (speakers) in the congregation, at least one youth, and one young adult.
Agree on a schedule and a reading list, including this Guideline. Work through the suggested Action Steps that follow with your pastor, the team, and — as much as possible — with other key church leaders and members of the congregation.
As team leader, it is important to familiarize yourself with biblical models of evangelism and faith sharing. It would be helpful to spend a few minutes at the beginning of each team meeting using one of these texts in centering and devotional time. Talk with your pastor about periodically beginning church council meetings or other administrative team meetings with one of these verses as well. Some of these texts include:
• Matthew 9:35–10:23 (call of the disciples)
• Luke 4:16-21 (Jesus' sermon in the synagogue)
• Luke 8:26-39 (Jesus' expulsion of unclean spirits)
• Luke 10:1-20 (mission of the seventy)
• Luke 10:25-37 (parable of the good Samaritan)
• Luke 15 (parables of the lost sheep, coin, and son)
• John 1:35-51 (call of Jesus' first disciples)
• John 20:19-31 (post-resurrection appearance of Jesus)
As your team reads each passage, consider the following questions:
• How is evangelism practiced in this passage or story?
• What does the passage teach about evangelism?
• In what ways does our congregation practice evangelism as highlighted in this passage?
• In what ways could we improve our ministry of evangelism to align with this biblical witness?
• What personal stories of evangelism does this passage inspire or bring to mind?
Holistic Evangelism
The practices and understanding of evangelism vary widely across the denomination. Some churches understand evangelism as sharing a set of beliefs and accepting tenets of the faith rationally — a "head" style of ministry. Some congregations view evangelism as growing in one's personal relationship with Jesus — a "heart" style. Still other congregations believe evangelism is loving our neighbors in tangible ways — a "hands" style. Rarely do congregations employ and integrate all three.
While individuals may excel in one style over another, holistic evangelism systems involve the entire congregation and integrate all three aspects — head, heart, and hands — not only in what we do at church, but in our everyday lives. Most of us are quite proficient in the art of compartmentalization, and our religious life is one of the compartments. We talk about God at church. We serve God at church. We might read our Bibles or pray at home, but we may not think about living out our faith in all of the other arenas where we invest time and energy. Yes, church is where we learn and are reminded of who we are and how we fit into God's larger story; where we practice articulating our individual faith stories, and where others help us to discern our gifts and calling in God's kingdom. But that cannot be where our practice of faith stops.
Our denominational mission statement is "to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We invite people into a lifetime of growing in love of God and neighbor, so that they may join in God's world-transforming work. This work of transformation happens only when people know who they are, who God is, and how to live in loving relationships.
The Power of Story
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we believe that there is a different and greater story that guides our life than the one offered to us by the world. God is actively working in the lives of people all around us, whether they realize it or not. Our task is to help them see God's hand and understand that their lives have great purpose and meaning as their stories intersect with God's story.
In today's culture, we can't just assume that people will know or hear God's story by some other means. The church needs to reclaim its tradition of educating its people to be bearers of that story in their everyday lives. The graphic below illustrates the cycle of how one enters and grows in God's story in order to live as Christ's hands and feet in the world. This cycle never ends, as the more we grow in our faith and knowledge of God, the more we understand our need for and dependence on God.
Awareness of a Different Story
Everyday we are bombarded by advertisements and messages telling us what gives a person value and worth. The American dream is about achieving and having more than previous generations, and consumerism tells us that we will be happy if we just have a little more. Yet God tells a different story; our level of education, job title, or social status does not determine our value to God. God loves us and begins working in our lives, offering to be in relationship with us, even before we realize it. We call this prevenient grace. It is God who awakens us to this different story, but as the church and Christians, we have the privilege of helping others to see God's hand and share God's alternative story.
Learning the Story
Fifty years ago, churches could rely on the American culture to assist in faith formation and basic Christian teaching and principles. That assumption can no longer be made, and churches need to be intentional about teaching God's story to people of all ages. Christian education and formation is not only for children; nor is it completed at the age of confirmation. We are called to grow in love of God and neighbor throughout our lives.
Where do we learn and teach the story? Worship is where theology is taught through the singing of hymns, reciting ancient creeds and prayers, the reading and proclamation of the word, and celebrating the sacraments. We learn the story through participation in classes and small groups and through prayer and personal study of Scripture.
Finding One's Place in and Sharing the Story
While it is important to grow in head knowledge of God and the tenets of the faith, we grow in our discipleship by practicing our faith in the context of community. We cannot expect our congregations to articulate, integrate, and practice their faith in their everyday lives if we have not created space for them to practice within the walls of the church. It is in the body of Christ where we discover our gifts for ministry and help one another see how God has worked and continues to work in our lives. Here are some ideas for helping people name and claim their individual and communal place in God's story in the context of worship:
• If you currently have a time for joys and concerns, consider using that time to ask a different question. "Where did you see God this week?" and "Where did you offer God's grace this week?"
• Instead of giving the what, where, and when details as an announcement, share a story of witness or impact regarding an upcoming ministry or event.
• Introduce the offering by telling a story of how the money enables ministry and transformed lives.
• Plan a time for people to share their witness in response to the message. Before the service, be sure you have a couple of people ready and prepared to share.
• Record videos of people telling their God-moment stories in advance of worship and show as either an introduction or response to the Word proclaimed.
Living the Story
For decades, the entry point into the church for most people was worship. Then people would join a Sunday school class or other group, and eventually, they would participate in serving and leading. Belief preceded belonging and behaving like a disciple of Jesus. People would learn the story before living the story.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 2017-2020 Evangelism by Heather Lear. Copyright © 2016 Cokesbury. Excerpted by permission of Cokesbury.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Blessed to Be a Blessing,Offer H.O.P.E,
For Such a Time as This,
The Aim and Definition of Evangelism,
From Membership to Discipleship,
Your Ministry of Evangelism,
Build the Evangelism Ministry Team,
Holistic Evangelism,
The Power of Story,
Our Individual Stories,
Your Congregation's Story,
Your Community's Story,
Assess Current Reality and Set Goals,
Extend Hospitality,
Make Membership More Meaningful,
Nurture and Equip People for Christian Discipleship,
The Means of Grace,
Some Final Words of Encouragement,
Resources,
Web Resources,
Books,
Hospitality/Welcoming Resources,
Faith Sharing,
Multicultural Evangelism,
Spanish Language Evangelism Resources,
UMC Agencies & Helpful Links,