Its easier to adopt a more attractional mindset than an missional mindset , ,but lets not fall into the trap of majoring on being relevant ,while minoring on being reachable.We can do both well

Here is an excellent post from Mark Conner,he  is the Senior Minister of CityLife Church in Melbourne, Australia

  Engaging Culture

When it comes to culture, including media (TV, movies, etc), there are three different approaches that Christians tend to take:

1. Reject Culture. Some Christians see the world as ‘evil’ (and at times, rightly so) and therefore all culture is to be rejected. Christians are called to be ‘holy’ which means to be ‘separate’ from the world. Christians end up living in their own sub-culture – with Christian communities, Christian bookshops, Christian TV, and even Christian jewelry! The danger with this approach is that Christians end up very ‘different’ from the world but because of their isolation they have ‘no audience’ and therefore no positive ‘influence’ on the world.

2. Embrace Culture.Other Christians go the other way – they fully embrace culture in response to Jesus command to live ‘in’ the world. The danger with this approach is that if we uncritically embrace everything in our culture, we can end up no different than the world we live in. As a result, we have no message to offer them, despite the fact that we have relationships with them. We aren’t isolated, as in the first approach, but we are so immersed in the culture that we lose our distinctiveness.

3. Engage Culture. A more balanced approach, modelled exceptionally well by Jesus, is for us to ‘engage’ with our culture. We are to be ‘in’ the world, but we are also called to be ‘not of’ the world. Jesus’ used metaphors for this – ‘salt’ and ‘light’. Both of these things make an impact but only when there is proximity. Salt in the salt shaker has no affect and light only helps if it is shining in the darkness.

The first two approaches are easy - they are ‘black’ and ‘white’. The third approach is much more difficult - even risky. It’s ‘grey’ … but it’s well worth the effort.

Jesus spent a lot of time with people far from God and, amazingly, he never got angry or aggressive with them (‘sinners’). The only people he did get angry with were extremely religious people, especially the Pharisees who were very legalistic.

Which way do you lean? Do you tend to reject culture too easily? Do you tend to embrace culture too much? How could you engage with culture more effectively this week?

“Jesus told us to go into all the world and be his ambassadors, but many churches today have inadvertently changed the ‘go and be’ command to a ‘come and see’ appeal. We have grown attached to buildings, programmes, staff and a wide variety of good and services designed to attract and entertain people”

As he says, the change comes along ‘inadvertently’ and the next thing we know all we’re doing is pumping time and energy into our little ‘temples’ and hoping that people will just wander in, hear the gospel and turn to Christ.

Now I think there is something still to be said for the ‘attractional church’ and in my ideal church I’d have ‘go and be’ operating in perfect harmony with ‘come and see’. I think that if you’ve got a building and you’ve got a lot of gifted staff then use them, there are a few people who still will walk into church (especially here in South Africa where there are still echoes of a church culture).

So I wouldn’t dispense of the attractional model on one front at least. BUT if that’s all that’s going on then you’re in trouble - and its my suspicion that most of our western churches in South Africa are in trouble. I did a little bit of personal research in the 14 or so churches that were in my area when I worked in Durban.

About a third of them were growing, the rest had either plateaued or were declining - but get this: The growth in that third almost always came from Christians migrating from one church to another, there was almost no new convert growth. Church hopping is not church growth, and not only is it not church growth but its also a sign of an unhealthy church climate and a serious lack ofmissional activity. The only churches that ‘grow’ in this instance are the ones who can afford to entertain - they’ve mastered the ‘come and see’.

Missional church says ‘no - we need to GO TO THEM’. We need to live and breathe the gospel in the community where everyone else lives and breathes. That means getting involved in the different social structures of you community but with purposeful intent. We need to build relationships with people outside of the church in their context, finding out about their hopes, dreams and struggles - hearing their stories - and then graciously and humbly introducing them to the greatest story of all, the story of Jesus.

That means putting time, effort and energy into what you’re doing outside of the formal structures of church, outside of Sunday services, Bible studies and even evangelistic events. Its about purposeful living so that we might introduce others to Jesus.

Are you living missionally?

“One of the great joys of my life has been to pastor a church that is unusually intentional about reaching people far from God. For 32 years now, I have had a front-row seat to observe how lost people get found and how found people get grown up. In my experience, the sandwich question is irrefutably answered as the Holy Spirit does his sanctifying work in the heart and mind of a freshly-redeemed person. What I mean by that is in virtually every case, when I see a life get transformed by the atoning work of Christ, it is not long before that new believer sees the plight of the poor.

“Usually within months of a person’s salvation experience, there is both a sincere desire to pass on the message of Christ to any and all, and an equally intense desire to do whatever is necessary in the name of Christ to eradicate injustice, relieve oppression, and alleviate suffering of any kind.

Selfless service of this sort isn’t normal according to human nature; purely and simply, the desires are born out of the work of the Holy Spirit. “My point is that if new Christ-followers were not misguided by those who force an either-or mindset to the sandwich question, I am quite sure that the Holy Spirit himself would lead them eventually to adopt a both-and approach.“In my teaching and leadership over the past several years, I have relied on two words to help keep our congregation at Willow Creek balanced on these issues: Redeem and Restore.

I love how those two words fall phonetically, but more important, I love how they fall theologically. There’s nothing better than to see new believers around our church begin to weave those words into their everyday vocabulary; better still is when they begin to live them out in their everyday lives.”

I love it!

On January 21, 1930, the name of Harold Vidian became synonymous with heroism. On that day, England’s King George V was scheduled to give the opening address at the London Arms Conference.

The king’s message was to be sent by radio all around the world.A few minutes before the king was to speak, a member of the CBS staff tripped over an electrical wire and broke it, cutting off the whole American audience. With no hesitation, chief control operator Harold Vidian grasped one end of the broken wire in his right hand and the other in his left, thus restoring the circuit. Electricity surged through his body.

Ignoring the pain, Vidian held on until the king had finished his address.

I see in this a challenge for Christians. The message of the King of kings must go to the whole world. But only as we allow God’s power to pass through us can the Lord’s saving gospel be transmitted.Paul wrote, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” If we are willing to serve as conduits, regardless of the cost to us, the good news will be proclaimed around the world.

Comments to hereiamsendme@xtra.co.nz

I want to address some things in regard to the issue of “Avaliability” 

I believe this is a real key in rasing the climate   

 The life cycle of most followers of Christ is such so that the more years you follow Christ

1. The less amount of quality contact you have with people who are living far from God
2. The less spiritual conversations you engage in
3. The fewer invitations to events that present the message of Christ are offered

Is doesn’t take much to understand why, reason being because Christ followers have fewer friends outside of the faith

Yet the life of Christ teaches the exact opposite. The more we follow Christ maturing in faith and growing in Christ likeness then we should see a corresponding increase in our love for people and in our desire to reach out and embrace them in friendship.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” John 1:14 (NIV)

Rather than shouting His message of hope from a distance, Jesus modelled “incarnational” ministry. He came and “pitched His tent” among us. Remember Jesus left the ultimate circle of comfort heaven and crossed an entire universe to rescue you - and while he was here on earth  he did not restrict his love to those who sought him.

He actively pursued sinners, spending so much time with them that he was judged a sinner himself by the Pharisees. His response put the matter in perspective and revealed both His heart for and pursuit of the lost:

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Mark 2:17).      

According to one count, the gospels record 132 contacts that Jesus had with people. Six were in the Temple, four in the synagogues and 122 were out with people in the mainstream of life.” 

 We can and must do the same thing amongst people within our reach if we are going to impact them for Christ.

 Oswald J Smith puts it this way

Oh my friends we are loaded down with countless church activity’s ,while the real work of the church that of evangelising and winning the lost is almost entirely neglected. We have been gazing to the heavens while sinners are sinking into hell” 

The problem comes from the fact that our natural tendency as people is to gravitate to those who are like us and with those whom we feel most comfortable. So, our tendency as Christians is toward isolation from non-Christians

We fill our evenings with Bible studies; fill our lives with Christian friends and end up isolating ourselves from the very culture to which we were called to be salt and light.

There are some true Biblical convictions as we face the tension of being in the world but not of the world. There is also the potential for spiritual danger. We must regularly ask ourselves and have accountability partners ask us “Am I the dominant positive influence, or is this pulling me down?”

Some would measure the maturity of a Christian as one who has most successfully separated himself/herself from the secular world where they live. But if we are to follow Christ’s example, the mark of true maturity is not withdrawal, its invasion

I leave you with this prayer of Jesus, Its the prayer for his disciples from John 17vs 15 

I do not pray that you should take them out of the world,but that you protect them from the evil one

How avaliable are you in the world ?

What needs to change?

Jesus said, ‘the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few’.  

Will you improve on the few and help reach the many?

Attitude + Aptitude=Altitude

People who would increase their evangelistic in their churches, begin by raising their temperature in their church and in their individuals

It begins with leaders; leaders must own and model the value that lost people matter to God

Your church will only be as evangelistic as you are

Bill Hybels mentions that one of the qualitys of a prevailing church is where lost people are being found.

“The only thing worse than a church where no-one is finding Christ is a church where no-one is finding Christ and no-one is really bothered by that.”

The Evangelism M A P P  

This acronym will help you access possible causes of evangelistic decline in your life or church  

M-Motivation

How motivated am I to share my faith with others?

A-Availability

How available am I to relationships with lost people

P-Preparedness

Do we know the gospel message?

Can we explain what Christ has done for us?

P-Prayerfulness

How much time do I pray specifically to lost people ?

Next time I want to write on availability and preparedness

Culture is defined as ‘the attitudes and values which shape society’. In other words, the culture is how we think, behave and function. Once a thing becomes the culture it ceases to be an emphasis, a teaching or an important point, it becomes the DNA. Some things in church life must become the culture which shape the attitudes and values of all. Reaching the lost should be at the top of that list.

Consider what this well known passage is describing:

 ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had  everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ Acts 2vs 42-43 

This is describing a culture, not a structure or a programme. It is describing an attitude within the people which produced a church culture of personal devotion to God, the church leadership, each other and the poor. All God had to do was add to the culture ‘daily those who were being saved’. God partnered with the culture. The ‘X factor’ of the early church was its culture.

It’s not enough that our churches have evangelistic programmes or outreach events. If growth isn’t the common culture then we will be trying to shape attitudes and values by an evangelistic structure. There is no life in the structure, all the life is in the culture, structure simply serves the culture.

For example ,My bike is a raleigh 21 speed with lowered suspension and chrome wheels its a beauty,a relic but still a beauty at that.I can get to Victoria street from Glenview in 12 mins

But lets just say Sarah Ulmer decided to ditch her 10K+ bike and take up the 12 min challenge on my $79.00 bikeasorus

Could she go faster-Of course she could because the stucture serves the culture      

Our church, maybe like yours, has an ‘appeal’ culture in that at the close of each service we make an appeal for people to come to Christ. I am glad to say that every week people do come to Christ, but that’s not only because we make an appeal. An appeal culture can only work inside a ‘bringing’ culture because if you don’t bring any unsaved people to church, there’s no one to appeal to.

Pastor Paul Scanlon says that as a young believer in his early teens, he remembered that every Sunday evening at 6.30pm they had a weekly Gospel Service. Each week the pastor would faithfully preach a Gospel message and make a salvation appeal but rarely did anyone get saved.

This wasn’t because he hadn’t done a good job, it was because we were not bringing anyone to church. We had a Gospel Service culture without an evangelistic culture; we had nothing for God or the pastor to partner with. We were trying to achieve by structure what could only ever happen by culture.

I pray that you will honestly think about the church culture you are developing because it will have a major effect on your personal and corporate efforts to reach the lost. It is the context of this article, that I ask you this question

What are you doing to grow your church?

What are you doing to grow your church?

 Not, what’s the pastor doing? Shepherds don’t produce sheep, sheep produce sheep. Shepherds provide the environment for that to happen.

 Jesus said, ‘the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few’.  Will you improve on the few and help reach the many?

Next time ,how do we improve the evangelisim culture individually in our lives and corporately in the church 

 

The command is clear — “Go into all the world and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). It is not a suggestion, nor is it reserved for those with the gift of evangelism. .” 

 Yes, some people have the gift of evangelism and their primary mandate according to Ephesians 4:11-12 is NOT to do all the evangelism themselves but to equip God’s people to do it!

There is a temptation to remake yourself in the image of those exuberant souls with the gift of evangelism. You know, the ones who share their faith as naturally as breathing, and have stories of leading to Christ waitresses, strangers on the plane, punks ,monks and skunks.  

Yet, my most successful faith sharing encounters are not slick and polished, but heartfelt and sincere. People are not moved by a well-rehearsed spiel, but an authentic conversation.The problem is not the mission I have been given, nor is it the tools I have been equipped with. It is my own misunderstanding of what evangelism is.

The first misunderstanding is when we focus on the task and not the person when this happens evangelism becomes a legalistic hurdle to overcome; we lose sight of what is really important. People become projects. We may miss out on genuine connection in the drive to share the entire gospel story. One of the things that has helped me the most is to understand that I can talk to non-Christians in exactly the same way I talk to Christian friends. I don’t need to change who I am or live a dual life. I just need to let the light of Christ shine through me at all times, and trust that people will be attracted to that light.

The second misunderstanding which enrolls us into the “evangelism is a gift” school comes from viewing it as an accomplishment rather than a matter of obedience,

The problem comes from when we have an unreal expectation of what we should be accomplishing

“I witnessed to that person and he totally rejected what I said” or “I wish I had more answers to the questions they were asking me” or how about this one I never win people to Christ -God you got it wrong when you said I would be a fisher of people ,what you meant to say was I would be a keeper of the aquarium

No wonder people try and give up at these point. Unrealistic expectations.   

 Please understand this about evangelism: Success in witnessing is taking the initiative to share Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and leaving the results to God. You see, we cannot control whether or not a person comes to Christ. Jesus Himself said that no one comes to Him unless the Holy Spirit draws him/her. Converting people is God’s job, not ours. We have the privilege of being part of the process by simply telling people what we know about Jesus. It takes the pressure off to know that what they do with that information is between them and God–it’s not about us.

 When we take what is everybody’s thing - and reaching the lost is everybody’s thing - and make it just a few people’s thing, there are a number of consequences:

• Reaching the lost appears to be aspecialist area, leaving the majority uninvolved.
• Reaching the lost becomes a ‘burn-out’ ministry, because only a few are doing the work of all.
• Reaching the lost gets a bad reputation as a ‘Cinderella’ area of church life and people begin to fear the ‘E’ word - evangelism.
• An ‘us and them’ atmosphere develops between those working hard to reach people and those who aren’t.

So what’s your “Get out of jail free” Card for evangelism? Is it the “Use words if necessary” card? or the anti confrontational evangelism card? or the “I don’t have the gift” card? ”

Whatever it is, take that card out and give it a life sentence in the bin. And then share the good news with your life, with your love and with your words to everyone you encounter. Just like Jesus did.

 The “Confrontational evangelism doesn’t work” Card

I don’t know who coined the phrase “confrontational evangelism” but I have a problem with that word for two reasons. First of all it strongly implies that verbally sharing the gospel with a stranger, neighbour or friend is a confrontational and, therefore, negative act. It sounds more like an assault than a conversation.

Secondly, ALL evangelism, if done effectively, is somewhat confrontational. The term “confrontational evangelism” implies that there are kinds of evangelism that are not confrontational at all. But when you are sharing the gospel message, no matter how loving you share the message, you are confronting a worldview with the truth of Jesus. As a matter of fact all you have to do is to look to Jesus and see the vast number of times he confronts on some level almost everyone he encounters with the truth. From the woman at the well to Nicodemus to the Pharisees to Peter to the crowds, Jesus was consistently confronting people with the truth. To be like Jesus demands we become masters at confrontation.

Again this confrontation can and should be done with “gentleness and respect” (2 Timothy 2:23-26), shared as a meta-narrative or story that just happens to be true (Acts 17:24-31), fuelled by love (1 Corinthians 13:1-8) and empowered by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), but it is confrontation nonetheless.

 I have always said that sharing our faith involves two things -the gospel message and the way we present it that effectively gives us the right to be heard

I explain it like this ,For a missile to work effectively it needs a delivery system to guide and steer that missile to its intended destination ,-what’s more important the bomb or the delivery system?  , The answer is they both are ,otherwise it might be blowing your house up!!

We can apply this principal, to sharing our faith by saying the gospel is the bomb (because God is da bomb) and the way we present the message to people is the delivery system

The delivery system is always a case of “Different strokes for different folks”

Both have to be working well for maximum impact!!

So remember we are not called to impose the Gospel, but to expose the gospel

We are not tigers pouncing on our prey ,we are beggars telling others where the bread is .

Blessings

Jeremy  

Greg is the director of  dare2share  ministrys, a great website that has a lot of helpful information to help you take the plunge and break the sound barrier

One of my favorite board games is monopoly 

The two main reasons are that

1. I’m very competitive.
2. I’m very bad at computer games.

Growing up ,this is the one game I played most I liked picking out which icon would represent me (top hat, mini race car, etc), trying to aquire properties and the like.

You can even get other editions of monoploy to play now, they even have a NZ edition ,how cool is that!!

One of my most favorite parts of playing was when i uesed to win the “Get out of jail free” card .That made me very, very happy. Just knowing that if, through the roll of the dice, I ended up in jail I could whip out my special card and be out Scott free. Yeah!!!

I wanted to carry the card in my pocket all the time. It seemed powerful beyond the game. Growing up I wondered if I could use the “Get of jail free” card if I ever got in trouble with the cops. I wanted to take it to school and use it (for those trips to the Principal’s office), at home (for the times Mum got mad at me for forgetting to clean my room or do my chores) or whatever other difficult suituation I was in.

Sound silly? Before you yell out a convincing “YES” consider this: Most Christians today are carrying them around and using them wherever they go. How often do they pull that special little card out when it comes to evangelism. I see at least three different types of these “Get out of jail free” cards when it comes to sharing the message of Jesus,and will share these over the next 3 weeks

1. The “Preach the gospel if necessary use words” Card

I’m sure you’ve read this bumper sticker quote somewhere. Its a great quote . I have never met him ,but I’m sure that St. Francis never intended it to be a “Get out of jail free” card for evangelism and would be shocked to know how many Christians today have interpreted it that way.  

If you read the bible seriously,and obediently you will discover when it comes to outreach Jesus commands us to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations and to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” 

 You just can’t read the New Testament and evade evangelism, the kind of evangelism that uses words just like Jesus and the disciples did.

Evangelism doesn’t just present us with a take it or leave it option,it lovingly demands, that we  intentionally, lovingly and strategically seek to convert people to Jesus…!

How do we do preach the gospel to people? We do it with hearts filled with compassion and knees bent in prayer. We do it by strategically  presenting a clear gospel message to  the person listening,that they can relate to and embrace . We seek to gently convince them that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life”.

Good article isnt it?

Like two wheels on a bike, the words of the gospel is wheel one and the works of the gospel is wheel two, working in tadem together, We share that message with our words and we back it up with our lives. Then we allow the Holy Spirit to do his work in them, and leave it up to God for the results.

A  student was once on a plane with Dr. Howard Hendricks and asked the professor, and man of God something like, “Which kind of evangelism is more important, lifestyle or verbal ?” The wise teacher answered, “Which wing on this plane is more important?”

Point made. A gentle verbal witness ,backed up by a life that matches ,has great power !!We must live the gospel incarnationally for all to see and we must share it verbally for all to hear. No “Get out of jail free” card here.