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The Grand Invitation
“Come.” It may be the most overlooked, yet powerful word in the English language. It speaks of being included. Of belonging. It comforts us in our deepest area of need to say: we are noticed. We matter. We are wanted. It is a wonderful thing to be on the guest list. Who doesn’t want to be included? Recently I was invited by a friend to attend her daughter’s wedding. It was a small gathering, so I knew the number of people invited was limited. I felt the invitation to “come” was an indication that she considers me to be one of her closest friends. What an honor! Imagine, then, the…
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Jesus-the only way to God
Pastor and author, Peter Burfeind, has done extensive research concerning the ways in which modern-day America has undergone a “spiritual revolution toward Gnosticism.”[1] The prevailing theory is that the idea of “God” arose within “human consciousness over millions of years.”[2] Notions, then, about the divine are considered to be abstractions of human thought and communicated in the “myths and teachings of any religion.” This includes Buddhism, Hinduism, Mysticism, and Christianity (to name a few representative examples). As the argument goes, Christianity is one of many potential pathways to connect with a “trans-cosmic” deity. In turn, the Old and New Testaments are the “result of geniuses”—namely, “prophets and poets”—drawing…
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Hospitality: An Overlooked Part of Evangelism
Do you ever wonder how to encourage your family in sharing their faith? Simple steps such as evangelism training go a long way, but one thing often gets forgotten—the role of hospitality. Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements introduce readers to hospitality as a way of life in The Simplest Way to Change the World. Sometimes as parents it’s easy to get caught up in the mundane elements of day-to-day child rearing. Our ordinary days seem insignificant. But as these authors point out, Jesus is in the business of taking small things and making them big. Not the other way around. “In the same way, the ‘smallest’ things in our lives—ordinary days…
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A Free Evangelism Gospel App for VBS
What we know as “Vacation Bible School,” originally began as “Everyday Bible School” at a New York beer hall in 1898. According to a Lifeway article: “Initially, it was a plan of a compassionate doctor’s wife who sensed a need to get children off the streets of New York during the summertime. Mrs. Walker Aylett Hawes went to New York City from Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband who was specializing in a medical ministry to children. She noted that many of the children attended to at her husband’s clinic received injuries as they played in the streets of New York City. She surmised that they needed something safe and…
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What’s Your Superpower?
If you could choose a superpower, which one would it be? When asked this question as an icebreaker, I’ve heard some people say they’d love to fly; others say they would choose mindreading. Some would love to be invisible. But for the believer in Jesus, the idea of having superpowers isn’t a fantasy. It is the reality of being indwelled by God Himself, the source of actual and real supernatural power. And He gives gifts, spiritual gifts, that consist of supernatural enabling. We find the spiritual gifts in four places in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4. Consider these spiritual gifts—superpowers,…
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Disciplemaking Focus for Women’s Ministry
Has your ministry team been event-driven with one person overseeing Bible studies, another the retreat, & another the Christmas brunch? Does your current women’s ministry need to have more structure and purpose to what you organize and fund? Do you see the same women involved in your ministry with rarely a new face? If you answered yes to any (or all) of those questions, it is a good time to…enhance your women’s ministry for disciplemaking. What Is Disciplemaking? The terms “discipleship” and “disciplemaking” often get confused. Discipleship typically refers to the normal process for Christians to grow in their faith through Bible studies, prayer, worship, & small groups. It usually…
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Put Your Faith into Words
Most of us who have been Christians for any length of time have probably heard Matthew 28:19 where Jesus commissions his disciples to make disciples wherever they are. In my heart, I want to do that—to be obedient in sharing about him to others around me who don’t know him yet or don ‘t know him well. But, I often feel so inadequate. You may feel that way, too. A few years ago, I realized that if I was going to get beyond this inadequacy, I would need to work at preparing myself to share about the Lord in daily conversation, ask him for opportunity to introduce him to other…
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The Best Antidote to Summertime Boredom and Distraction
Summer gives us an opportunity to slow down. “The livin’ is easy; fish are jumpin,’” and all that. Without so many activities on the calendar we have more time to take trips, watch TV or kick back with friends or a good book. We all need seasons of restoration, but the cultural pull towards having fun and lazing around can make room for boredom and distraction to settle in like a fog. In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair, Aslan draws Jill and Scurbb into Narnia to accomplish a special mission: rescue Prince Rillian, the crown prince of Narnia, now missing for over ten years.The great lion gives Jill…
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The Right Perspective Makes all the Difference in Evangelism
Many of us experience fear and trepidation over the thought of sharing Christ with a child. “What if I make it too complicated?” “What if I don’t have all the answers?” Sometimes it’s because we put too much pressure on ourselves to perform, or even think a person’s salvation is our responsibility. Scripture has much to say about keeping a proper perspective in evangelism, including both those involved and what roles they play (cf. John 4:34–38). Three types of people play a role in evangelism: (1) those who are a part of the harvest––unbelievers, (2) the One who sends out the laborers––God, and (3) the disciples––believers. Unbelievers share several things in…
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Three.Words.Story
Maybe the right words to share your faith story in a conversation come naturally to you. Praise God for that verbal gift! I am willing to declare that for most of us (including me), those words just don’t come easily. We don’t know where to start. We don’t know how much to say. We say too much. Frankly, I have not been in a church yet that stressed the importance of being able to share one’s faith story by actually EQUPPING EVERYONE to do it — including frequent opportunities to practice it! Why is that? How many hours do we spend practicing other things? But not this. Not “the word…
