Emerging Evangelism
30 Jun 2006
The ‘E’ word. In our needed journey away from sales pitch evangelism, maybe many of us have lost confidence in evangelism. Just the word gives us a post-fundamentalist shiver, and post traumatic flashbacks.
So whilst evangelism has been a big subject of the modern church, it has fallen into neglect during our detoxing. How can we recover confidence in the gospel, and engage in evangelism in positive ways, and move beyond our fear of what we know didn’t work and we didn’t enjoy doing?
Well a good place to start might be to read this book. It is an expansion and follow on from the Church of England’s Mission Shaped Church.
I’ve only skimmed it so far, but it has moved to my must read in full shelf of new books. Have any of you read it, or any of you come across other books on evangelism that have been helpful?
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Comment by Existential Punk
6.19 am on 30 Jun 2006
i have not read the book, Jase. For me, evangelism comes out of who i am and as i am in relationship with others, they will come to know me and my faith, albeit, a struggling one at times. I don’t go into situations with the mindset of, “Oh, i gotta tell someone about Jesus.” It’s gotta be natural for me and praying for God to have me cross paths with people who are open. So many people i meet are in n o way interested in church, Christianity and Jesus. i can’t and don’t want to force my beliefs onto someone. i think i need to be asking God more to show me where God is at work in the lives of people i come into contact. Evangelism, especially for me, as a word and deed, has a very dirty, manipulative connotation. i don’t know what the answer is. i kn ow i have trouble claiming my way is the ONLY way to God. I know God works in mysterious ways and outside my lack of imagination. Peace!
Comment by Alan Mann
10.04 am on 30 Jun 2006
Not read it all, but often quote from it when I’m speaking as he has some good stats and info that make you sit up and think about the way we shape and communicate the gospel.
Also found Ambiguous Evangelism, Mayo; Savage; Collins (SPCK: 2004) a very fascinating read.
Comment by Alan Scott
11.54 am on 30 Jun 2006
hi Jason,
For me its about being missional. Pursuing God as he pursues that which matters most, relationship with disconnected people. Its not seeking to impose a lifestyle or values but instead embracing all that God is doing in his world. any kind of devotional life necessitates a missional life. In short, technically speaking, the e word is the natural outworking of theological principles among spiritually bankrupt people groups.
Comment by Jason
7.09 pm on 30 Jun 2006
From Gordon Cotterill:
Sorry your code for authenticate comments seems not to like me!
ANyway
I was going to recommend Provocative Church by Graham Tomlin and Ambiguous Evangelism by Bob Mayo etal
Gordon
Comment by Jason
7.11 pm on 30 Jun 2006
Alan: thanks for that recommendation.
Alan S: any resources that have shaped you in that learning process?
Existential: I think/wonder that many of us have lost the confidence to tell people about Jesus.
Comment by Alan Scott
8.41 pm on 30 Jun 2006
Hi Jason,
no particular resources, probably more an eclectic mix – although the essence of incarnational theology is the outward journey of God
Comment by Marc
11.34 pm on 30 Jun 2006
How do we do evangelism? Well it would probably not to try and adopt american models which just dont really work as our cultures are so different…
I think the deciding factor though is whether its about numbers. For instance if I build a friendship with someone over many years and through that they come to Jesus…is this a waste of time because it doesnt produce a vast amount of bums on seats?
Maybe if we can get past numbers then we can really be effective in our own culture.
A simple start must be this:
If you want to evangelise invite your neighbour in for a meal…a simple place to start…
Comment by tobiK
10.54 pm on 2 Jul 2006
Yep, I have read it. I would say, it´s quite a profound reading, but it didn´t moved me like some other books out of the emerging-conversation…
Comment by Jason
8.25 am on 3 Jul 2006
TobiK: Thanks. Which ones moved you more with regards to evangelism?
Comment by Anthony
5.33 am on 9 Jul 2006
Jason,
I haven’t had the chance to read that text yet, I wish the U.K. titles in this vein got more exposure over in America. Some titles that have been very helpful to me are:
Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace by Harvie Conn
God-Centered Evangelism by R.B. Kuiyper
Evangelism Outside of the Box by Rick Richardson
Comment by Jason
2.45 pm on 9 Jul 2006
Anthony: Thanks for listing those.
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