evangelism – Page 13 – Christ the Truth

2. How does your community think of your church? (Do you want those thoughts to change?)
How does your church think of your community? (Do you want those thoughts to change?)

3. How can the life of church be more invitational? How can you be more invitational?

4. How would you complete that sentence "That's what I love about my church..."? How might you naturally talk about your church family with friends?

Evangelism Training Session 3 14

glenscrivFebruary 13, 201314 Comments

Handout

Audio

321-GO!

YOUR ONE-NESS

How are we one with Jesus?

Vine and Branches John 15:4-5

Head & Body / Groom & Bride Ephesians 5:25-30

Ruler and rulers Revelation 2:26-27

Priest and People Hebrews 4:14-16; 6:19-20; 7:23-28; 9:23-28; 10:11-14

Champion and Army 1 Samuel 17

Seed of Abraham Galatians 3:16,29

Son and sons Galatians 3:26

Anointed one(s) 1 John 2:20

The Privileges of Oneness with Jesus

His Status
His Inheritance
His Family

Discuss

If you asked the non-Christians you know ‘What is the Christian life all about?’, how would they respond?

How does Oneness with Jesus shape our understanding of the Christian life?

Becoming One with the Son of God John 1:12-14:

How does someone become a Christian?

Discuss:

People often say “I wish I had your faith!” What’s their understanding of “faith”?
How can people “have faith”?

A Sentence Up Your Sleeve...

“That’s what I love about being a Christian...”

QUESTIONS

Sometimes people worry that offering Jesus “for free” will lead Christians to be careless about “doing good”. Given what we’ve been discussing, what would you say to that?
Often we worry that we’re not clever or knowledgeable enough to share our faith. How does this teaching give us hope in our evangelism?
What do you love about being a Christian? How could you drop this naturally into conversation?

Evangelism Training Session 2 5

glenscrivFebruary 12, 20135 Comments

Handout

Audio

321-GO!

THE WORLD’S TWO-NESS

What’s the big problem with the world?

DISCUSS: “You and I do bad things and fail to do good things. If we don’t sort out this sin problem now we’ll be in trouble when we die.”

What’s good and bad about this statement?

How would you improve it?

1 Corinthians 15:20-23

In Adam we – and the whole world – are taken down to death and curse

In Christ we – and the whole world – are raised to life and blessings

Shaped by our families

In Adam we share:

family history – disconnection from God.

family traits – defects: suspicion, slavery, selfishness, stuff-ups

family inheritance – death.

.
Our problem is not so much our behaviour, it’s our being.
How will this affect our evangelism?

O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.
Praise to the Holiest in the Height, J.H. Newman

.
How does Jesus solve our disconnection, defects and death?

John 3:1-18

A Sentence Up Your Sleeve...

“That problem is beyond me. I don’t think I/we can ever solve it, do you?”

QUESTIONS

How are Adam and Jesus similar? How are they different?
Someone asks, “Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world?” Using the teaching of this session, how would you answer?
If you were asked “Why did Jesus come?” how would you answer?
What is the “problem” you’d drop into conversation above? How do you think you could naturally speak about our great need for a Saviour?

Evangelism Training Session 1 7

glenscrivFebruary 11, 20137 Comments

Handout

Audio

321-GO!

THREE God is Three Persons united in love

TWO The story of the world is the story of two representatives

ONE You are one with Adam. Will you be one with Jesus?

GOD’S THREE-NESS

What was there “in the beginning?” John 1:1-18

Nothing

Chaos

Power

Love

From His Family to Our Failures Matthew 3:13-17

He joins us in our filth to invite us to His Family.

It All Begins With Jesus John 1:14; John 14:5-10; Colossians 1:15

Which God do you believe in?

Which God don't you believe in?

A Sentence Up Your Sleeve...

“That’s what I love about Jesus...”

QUESTIONS

“What’s all this trinity nonsense?” asks a friend. What do you say?
What are the dangers of speaking about an unChristlike God? Have you fallen into that danger?
How would you complete that sentence in conversation: “That’s what I love about Jesus...”? What would you say about what first attracted you to Christ? What would you say about what currently attracts you to Him?

Good Video For Evangelism Training 2

glenscrivFebruary 9, 20132 Comments

Sorry I haven't been posting much new content in the last week or so. I'm in the middle of two university mission weeks - first in Plymouth and, next week, in Falmouth. Please pray for open doors, open hearts and an open mouth for me.

In the meantime, let me re-post this video. I used it again recently in evangelism training and it really made an impact. It beautifully introduces that crazy evangelistic strategy of... inviting people to church!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxKGGven9_U]

What was Adam’s Garden Work? 3

glenscrivFebruary 7, 20133 Comments

Are you imagining it right now?

What was Adam's work according to Genesis 2?

Well verse 15 says he was rested in the garden to serve it and keep it. What's that going to look like?

Well we're all thinking of hoes and ploughs and honest labour and thank God for Genesis 2 and the Protestant work ethic etc, etc,.

Now clearly there's a time and a place for all of that and certainly Adam is made a co-creator with the LORD, a co-gardener too (v5). None of what follows should be read as anti-physical labour or anything of the sort. But probably our picture of Adam's garden work is massively distorted by the fall.

Just for starters, we probably imagined him clothed. And we probably imagined him sweating. (cf Gen 3:17-19). It's actually very hard to disentangle our thinking from the all-pervasive effects of the fall. But let's try to do it...

According to what we read in Genesis 2, what does Adam actually do in his pre-fallen state? He preaches (v19-20). He doesn’t just talk to the animals, he names them. Not at a distance but all the animals are brought to him to find their true identity. As head of the old creation, Adam graciously speaks their true Adam-determined identities into existence. And in this pre-fallen state, they simply receive his verdict and are constituted as who they are by his powerful word. By his effective speech-act he declares who they really are – he preaches to the whole creation (cf Mark 16:15).

You could even say that all Adam does in his pre-fall work is preach. He preaches to all creation and then 'dies' for his bride!

Through his words in Genesis 2, creation is brought under his feet. Through his silence in Genesis 3, creation unravels.

People often talk about God's creation agenda in a way that divorces it from His redemptive agenda. They talk of His cultural mandate in a way that divorces it from the great commission. But right from the beginning proclamation is at the very heart of all God's ways and works.

Conversational Evangelism 6

glenscrivJanuary 23, 20136 Comments

I know how conversational evangelism is meant to go... They're meant to ask "Have you got a match?" and you reply "Yeah, Jesus for the devil any day!" And then... prepare the font because new birth is gonna break out! Or something.

But really, is there a place for conversational evangelism? Well, in spite of its bad press, yes. Of course there's a place for conversational evangelism. The gospel is for everything - especially for our speech. "I believe, therefore I spoke" said Paul (2 Corinthians 4:13).

Yet I wonder if our struggle in "conversational evangelism" isn't the evangelism bit. I wonder whether our real struggle is actually having conversations. And maybe it's our faulty notions of "evangelism" that scupper us.

I mean, if you're going to have a gospel conversation, a pre-requisite is probably having a normal conversation. It's pretty important to be in a conversation because you want to be in a conversation. People can tell if you don't!

A 'gospel conversation' is not an occasion for you to 'do your thing' to an unsuspecting victim. The triune God moves out from a fullness and a desire to bless. That's our motivation.

So listen. Explore their pet topics. Don't try to be interesting. Be interested.

In this way, be curious about people's deepest fears and greatest hopes. (And still, this isn't really evangelistic advice is it? This is true for your conversations after church too.)

Maybe as the conversation develops, genuinely ask if they think such fears/hopes can be answered. How? See where that leads.

And before and beyond any conversational tactics, know for yourself the answers to these questions:

- What do you love about Jesus? Specifically. What struck you about Him as you were getting to know Him? What is striking you as you're learning more.

- What do you love about life? I mean love. What thrills you and engages your heart? And think about how that reflects the Life-Giver and His love for life.

- What do you hate about life? Not grumbles, genuine despairs because you and/or the world are not what they should be. Where do you lose hope for yourself and the world and think "I/we just can't do it!"? Here you're thinking about our fallen condition, from which only Jesus can save us.

- What do you love about your church? Specifically. How have they blessed you, in the past, more recently?

And if you're talking about anything that remotely matters, and if you're engaged in the other person for their sake, then there's a fair chance you might be able to say something like "Yeah, that's what I love about Jesus/church..." And presto... you're speaking gospel truth. In a conversation no less!

But of course, if you can't finish the sentence "That's what I love about Jesus/church, etc...." then your real problem is not evangelism. Your problems run deeper.

Which is why this advice about "conversational evangelism" isn't really about evangelism at all. It's just about conversation. The reason we don't talk to non-Christians about the stuff that matters is because we rarely talk to other Christians about the stuff that matters.

We'll find, though, that if we do put words to our love for Jesus with Christians then, A) that love will be kindled all the more and B) the words are more likely to flow with non-Christians.

What would you say on the topic of conversational evangelism?

Six brief thoughts on Francis Spufford’s “Unapologetic” 5

glenscrivJanuary 17, 20135 Comments

This might only make sense for those who have read or are reading the book... but I don't have much time so I'm not going to spell things out too much.

Read this extract from chapter one to get an idea of the book.

The whole 'emotional sense' thing is a brilliant idea. And it's wonderfully written. Here are 6 thoughts:

1) The book connects every time it's about sin and Jesus. It floats away on Spufford's soaring prose the rest of the time.

2) Spufford continually speaks of sin as the "human potential to f*#k things up". That's very well put. If I was Spufford, I'd object to any priggishness about the term. 'Transgression' and 'iniquity' don't describe transgressions and iniquities the way we experience them today. "F#@k ups" do. Jesus meets us here or not at all.

3) "Yeshua" - his Jesus chapter - is the stand-out. (Surprise, surprise).

4) Jesus shines. Spufford's "God", on the other hand seems simply to be a "Shining" and so, ironically, he doesn't.

5) Spufford is strong on the uncontainable, unreachable, beautiful-yet-bonkers teaching of Jesus. On the issues of forgiveness, generosity, worry and non-violence, Spufford captures the irrepressible overflow of the kingdom. These sections are very refreshing to read, but...

6) ...Spufford doesn't follow this same trajectory when he treats Jesus' teaching on sexuality and hell. He hides it away saying, on the one hand, that Jesus speaks very little about sex and, on the other, that the church doesn't really believe in hell anymore, so... Well, so Spufford should have treated Christ's teaching here, the way he treats it on every other subject: bonkers-but-beautiful, demanding more from us than could possibly lie within us - and, at the same time, speaking of a Kingdom and King in which these things are and can be.

Spufford points attractively towards a fruitful line of gospel engagement. Let's pray others follow.

Which God Don’t You Believe In – an evangelistic talk 1

glenscrivJanuary 12, 20131 Comment

You might have heard me (or others!!) bang this drum before. But if not, here's a 25 minute evangelistic talk entitled "Which God don't you believe in?"

DOWNLOAD AUDIO

Colossians 1:15-23

Three thought prompter questions...

What do you picture when you think of God?
What do you picture when you think of Jesus?
What does God picture when He thinks of you?

When you think of God…?

Problem - v15: He's invisible. Which means unknowable!

There's been a divorce- v21.

But there's an Image: Jesus.

This is the reverse of natural thinking

We think God is obvious, we're unsure of Jesus.

Bibles says, Jesus is on show, God is unknown.

God is Jesus shaped.

When you picture Jesus...?

V15-20 What kind of God is this!?

Climaxing in the cross.

Jesus is God sized.

When God pictures you…?

Not dimmer switch. On or off.

V21: OFF - going against the grain of reality

V22: ON - holy, without blemish, free from accusation.

Have you been reconciled?

Have you forgotten Jesus?

Every day I imagine an unChristlike God on the throne.

Let's return to the God of Jesus.

Condemned already [repost] 1

glenscrivJanuary 10, 20131 Comment

John 3:18 is emphatic - humanity is condemned already for its unbelief in Jesus. The verdict is already handed down, the sentence is already passed, the human race is already lost. The gavel has fallen, court is adjourned. There's no higher Judge, no appeals process, no loopholes, no going back, no ifs, no buts. Condemned. Perfectly, completely, irreversibly condemned.

Are you human? Are you flesh and blood? Then you are condemned. Condemned already.

You want a retrial? Stiff bickies, as they say in Australia.

But let me tell you why it's good news that we're condemned already.

It means I'm not crushed under the weight of determining my eternity! I don't stand at a crossroads with heaven and hell depending on my wise and moral choices. Neither am I walking a tightrope - one wrong step and I plunge to my doom. No, no. Thank God the pressure's off. I'm condemned already.

It means that none of my past sins have condemned me to hell and none of my future sins ever can. That betrayal, that abortion, that infidelity, those years of rebellion will not take me to hell. My sins and my works just don't have that power. They don't even come into this equation. They are only the fruit of a condemned tree, the symptoms of a condemned condition. Reality is, I'm condemned already.

It means that both the problem and the solution lies in the realm of my being not of my doing. I'm not expected to summon up the strength for a 5-point plan of salvation. All that nonsense is irrelevant. I'm condemned already.

It means I don't need to worry about judgement day as though that will have the decisive word on my destiny. Judgement day is not about presenting my good works or my right confession of faith (as though we'll be in the queue nervously rehearsing our confession "Please let me in because of the blood of Jesus shed for me"). Nothing hangs in the balance. And no-one hangs in the balance. Judgement day will only confirm what we are and therefore what we have chosen.

It means that hell is God's pronouncement upon those who remain in unbelief: 'have it your way.'

And it means that Jesus is my only hope. There's nothing in me that's not sunk in perdition. Therefore my eyes are taken off myself. I must look to a Saviour completely outside myself because I'm condemned already.

In evangelism it means that we do not address religious consumers with their capacities for choice. Instead we address condemned criminals with news of a pardon. We do not treat unbelievers as mighty decision-makers with eternity in their hands. They are lost. And we do not preach judgement simply as something hanging over them but as something in which they are already sunk.

Do you think we give enough emphasis to the already-ness of humanity's condemnation?