Introduction
Over recent weeks, with the coming of Europride, we have been thinking about attracting more people to church and all the different ways in which we grow as Christians. Today I want to think about something foundational to theme of growing in numbers that we looked at last week - the foundation of evangelism.
In my 16 years in MCC we have always had a myth that if only people saw the best type of poster we could produce, in the best sort of venue then people would come flooding in. If only they read that newspaper interview, or heard the pastor on the radio, then the door wouldn't be wide enough to allow all the people who wanted to come in to come in! Over the last few years we have had national and local television publicity. We have had national and local radio publicity - and, incidentally, Jenny Anne was superb on Gaytalk on GMR last Thursday. We have had wonderful local and national publicity through the newspapers - but we haven't had to deal with the problem of too many people coming along!
All these things are excellent because they create an awareness about us - they allow people to know we exist. Now there are many churches out there, I know they exist, there are many religions out there which I know exist - the issue for us is how do we turn that knowledge of our existence into understanding of what we are and generate interest in coming along to meet God here. This is our "missing link". The traditional word for this missing link is evangelism.
Four Foundations to Evangelism
There are four foundations we need to lay when we think about evangelism. Four things we need to understand:
1. We were
born to reproduce.
The Bible teaches
that we have been born again. Now this term gets a very bad press as it conjures
up images of particularly nasty Christians with particularly nasty views about
our people! However, the term simply means we have started again, God has made
us new people, as if we had been born again!
It is generally
agreed upon that under normal circumstances, healthy living things reproduce.
Plants, animals, humans, Christians and Churches should be able to reproduce.
As people who
have been reborn, we are to reproduce our faith in our families and friends,
in our world.
Our Gospel passage
today has Jesus sending us out to share the faith with our world. We are told
to go to all nations, all groups of people, and make disciples of them.
Despite all of
this, most Christians do not share their faith, or if they do they feel very
ineffective in doing so. 95% of all Christian will not lead one person to Jesus
during their lives. This leads us to our second point:
2. Different
reasons why Christians don't share their faith.
a. Fear of rejection
b. It's easier
not to bother...it takes time
c. Our enemy the
devil.
d. Many have a
faulty idea of what evangelism is "It's not my job."
e. Fear of not
knowing how to handle the tough questions.
f. Not fully convinced
of the need - loneliness, despair and degredation
g. Because of our failures in the past, we don't think it will do any good.
3. There are
different styles of Evangelism - not all are "our style"
a. Confrontational
Peter was like this on the day of Pentecost. The danger with this style is that
the person can be abrasive, brash...you must be led by the Spirit.
b. Intellectual
Paul was often like this, he used argument, persuasion and logic. The danger
with this style is that you can become nothing more than a debater. Also remember
that for most people the problem is not intellectual, but the will.
c. Testimonial
Two examples of this was the woman at the well and the man born blind, "...all
I know is that I was blind and now I see." The danger with this style is
not being a good listener. Sometimes we forget how powerful this is.
d. Relational
This is the person who is very relational and warm is likable. We journey alongside
people and help them see Jesus in us. The danger here is never "closing
the deal." Never getting to the point where someone is led to make a decision.
e. Inviter
Philip was like this..."Come and see." These are the people who are
the bringers, the welcomers. The danger with this style is they personally never
share...they let someone else do it.
4. A knowledge of how people come to Jesus
70% of all persons in churches today say they are in those churches because a friend or relative who attends that church, invited them, they liked it and stayed.
5. Conclusion
We've got to change the way we think about evangelism. We have to realise is not just about posters and publicity, but has a lot to do with our willingness to share our faith and invite people along to meet Jesus here.
We also have to redefine success. Success is not necessarily getting the person to "accept" Jesus and be converted. Success must be seen as "being a witness." Paul said, "One plants, another waters, but God brings the growth." A word here, a kind act there...that's success. Success is about showing with our lives what Jesus means to us. We do this so that our people might be saved.
Amen
(Rev Andy Braunston)
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.