Looking forward
Thank you for your interest, support and prayer for the work with churches I have been doing to help with sharing our faith in Jesus with those around us. As always for those of us in education, August gives a time for rest and reflection (it is a perk of the job – there are not many….) which I intend to make the most of. I would really appreciate your prayers as always but especially as I consider what areas to push into, develop or hold back from.
I have bookings to review a church’s evangelism strategy in the autumn, speak at a pub at Christmas and help vicars and evangelists work together next summer! In the meantime, below are some stories form the work I have been doing plus some resources for you to have a look at for you and your church.
Looking back…
Start course at St Luke’s
This was a 6-week course aimed at people interested to find out more about Christianity that I was helping to run. Each week there were 12 – 14 people attending, many of whom were from churches who wanted a refresher of the basics or some questions answered (no pressure). There was a couple of people who had little or no contact with church before the course. It was great to be part of a group where people really opened up, sharing some really personal experiences and asking some big questions. Some people at the end fedback that they were strengthened in their faith, some more confident in sharing their faith and some had taken some steps to finding faith. Please pray for these people to keep growing.
Chelmsford Church of England Diocese Evangelism course
I was co-leading this course over 4 Saturdays covering what is evangelism, biblical principles, personal witness, organising events and working with your church. It was a great group who took on our practical challenges as well of reading (homework!) and sharing their faith during the week and talking to people in the local community as we combined theory and practice. People said at the end they were going to open up their homes to engage people more, visit a cafe to get to know local people and pray more for people to come to know Christ. Please pray for them as they go and do these things.
Preaching at Broomfield Road Evangelical church
I was booked for a contrasting ‘double – header’ over 2 Sundays: firstly, a Playgroup service. The church was packed with over half of it with families from the playgroup the church runs in the week who don’t go to church the rest of the time. I did not make any children cry (always a result), mums got involved in throwing indoor javelins (no one hurt) and a couple of parents said they had really enjoyed it at the end. Then there was a ‘regular’ Sunday morning where we considered if Jesus did insult a woman in Mark chapter 7 and the benefit of firm hand shakes.
Looking at…
Finding out from your local community what the key issues are for them?
http://www.theuglyducklingcompany.com/thebigconversation.html
Making the most of the Pokémon go phenomenon?
http://cofecomms.tumblr.com/post/147395478962/why-your-church-needs-to-know-about-pok%C3%A9mon-go
More evangelism ideas based on activities / age / festival?
http://www.evangelismideas.org/default.aspx
Craft ideas for children?
I have been told there are loads at: https://uk.pinterest.com/
Linking your church’s website / news sheet / emails to a website so people can find out more about Christianity?
Use http://christianity.org.uk/
Identifying the impact of Messy Church?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRpWPHZaPj4
From Unbelievable 16 Evangelism conference which I attended:
Wanting evidence that the Gospels were written by eye witnesses?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Ylt1pBMm8&feature=player_embedded
Needing to convince someone of the uniqueness of Christ?
http://www.garyhabermas.com/Evidence2/Habermas-Uniqueness-of-Jesus-Christ-2016.pdf
Plus lots here about the evidence for the resurrection.
Inviting someone to a big event? J. John is planning one on 8th July at Arsenal’s stadium:
https://justone.co.uk/
Final thought:
It is great to lead training – to see people think things through and get challenged to put things into action. But also you can always learn something and be challenged yourself. Recently someone pointed out in a session I was involved with that Jesus chose some brothers to be His disciples who had already worked together as fishermen. He used their experience to work for Him, to work for God’s Kingdom, to be fishermen of people. Fishing was important but God had plans to use those skills for something else as well. Obvious of course when you think about it as most things are but I had never thought of it that way before. I am considering what this means for me but what experiences have you got that God could use in the future?
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