This video has been the highlight of the Lausanne Congress on Global Evangelism for me and I heard about it the day it was given – it has just been released. Click here to view it.
When I grew up, making friends with people who were not Christians was all about evangelizing them – that is, be friends in order to unload the gospel on them. Jim Henderson did the same thing for most of his life, and then changed his mind (the entire article is here):
Back in his soul-chasing, church-starting days, he began hearing a grating dissonance between his faith in Jesus and the way he went about winning new converts. Henderson realized he was doing unto others what he would never want done unto him. He was manipulating conversations to set up a pitch. Viewing people as potential notches on his evangelism belt rather than fellow sojourners and prospective friends. Listening only to the extent it could reveal an argumentative opening.
So what did he do?
Spurgeon’s conversion was on January 6, 1850 – here’s what he wrote about that day - from his autobiography:
I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and Read more…
Hat Tip: Z
If a friend came up to you and said, “I have two spare hours this Saturday and I want to understand God and the Bible. What should I read?”
What would you tell her to read? Where would you send her in the Bible? In what order would you have her read? And what brief summary would you give her about each of those texts? Here is what Graham Cole suggests (from this article): Read more…
I was doing a little reading for a class I’m teaching on evangelism and ran into this today – the story of a man who thought he was dead . . . Read more…
As Brian already mentioned, we attended a pastor’s conference this week. For me, one of the speaker said something very concisely that seems to be getting lost in evangelical circles. It seems like we often make the message of the gospel about us. We start by asking people if they are content. Read more…
In November, I wrote that the current economic meltdown “actually aids the gospel.” Now, it seems the New York Times has noticed a possible trend (although their research is anecdotal, not data-driven). This is what they said:
Penn of Penn and Teller gives a powerful sermon on Evangelism. You ask, How can an atheist preach a sermon on evangelism? You’ll have to watch it for yourself to find out. As I watched, two things came to mind: (1) He’s right, and (2) May God touch Penn’s life with the Gospel. There’s something to be learned here – may the Holy Spirit (not Penn) move us all from an unwillingness to share the Gospel because of social restraint based on comfort. Click on Read more to watch his five minute sermon.
Growing up, I becames so accustomed to thinking of myself as “Saved” (past tense) that I tended to think of salvation as something that I own. In other words, God transfers salvation to me and then I have salvation. But I don’t – I am saved, but I don’t have it.
