Evangelism Coach

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At FirstRP.org Report on First RP Conference on Biblical Evangelism, three MP3s are available from a conference they held on evangelism in Grand Rapids Michigan.

The speaker was Dr. David Murray (lots of sermons at SermonAudio.com), an ordained minister in the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) and a professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed.

He spoke on the subject of evangelism, presenting three lectures to a crowd of roughly 150 attendees. The makeup of the audience was wide, with over 10 denominations and 29 congregations being represented.

They are unedited audio files, so there are some housekeeping and announcements.

See the links to the audio files:

Biblical Evangelism’s Motive

Biblical Evangelism’s Message

Biblical Evangelism’s Method

Here is a sample from the Motives for Evangelism:

• The definition of evangelism as “bringing the gospel to our neighbors” while missions is “bringing the gospel to those far away.”
• Some people evangelize for the wrong reasons.
  • Assurance of their own faith.
  • Sake of their own reputation (to raise a name as an evangelist).
  • Competitive spirit:  God is with our group over your group.  “We are better” kind of pride.
  • Finances: need more money, need more givers.
  • Guilty conscience.  To assuage their own guilt over their own sin.
• What is biblical motivation for evangelism?
  • The glory of God.  Calvin: “God has created the entire world, that it should be the theatre of His glory by the spread of the gospel.”
• How does the “glory of God” energize our evangelism?
• Fear of God: “Knowing what it is to fear God, we compelled to persuade men.”
• Love God: “The love of Christ compels me. . . . .”
• Election: God calls people to faith, He can use us even if we are inept witnesses.
• Worship: experience the presence of God.
• God’s presence: We are promised the God’s presence as we go.
• Glory of God is the destiny of our evangelism.
• When people come to faith, God gets the glory.
• God is glorified because His name is made known.
• God is glorified through using appointed means of sharing faith.

Each runs between 60-90 minutes in length and are downloadable if you wish to throw them on your IPOD.

One church, Solana Beach Presbyterian in Solana Beach California, has and effective small group ministry.  One thing they are doing a little different this year is using the small groups to help people grow comfortable in doing evangelism — a place to practice telling their stories —

“stories that testify to why they have put their trust in Jesus Christ.

To help implement this idea, the senior pastor gave a 10 week sermon series devoted to evangelism as storytelling, which modeled story telling as a way to communicate your faith.  

Some of the sermons used principles found Just Walk Across the Room, Bill Hybels (get your copy from Amazon), which I have found to be a great current resource for Evangelism [1]

The small groups become the place where people can grow comfortable talking about their own faith, and then sharing their own stories with friends.  Presumably (but not shared in the PGF article), people report their story telling encounters in their small group.

For the full resources (as of January 08), visit the church’s website for audio and video and look for November of 07

Two Videos

Living in 3d

 

 

See the original article here: PGF Outbox: ONE CHURCH MAKES MISSIONAL STRIDES THROUGH SMALL GROUPS

[1] These products can be ordered directly from Amazon

• Just Walk Across the Room, Bill Hybels
• Just Walk Across the Room Video Cirriculum, Bill Hybels
• Simplemente acercate a ellos: Pasos Sencillos Para Guiar a Las Personas Hacia La Fe, Bill Hybels

Let me ask you this?

What steps do take to practice telling your faith story?

In some of our weekend Evangelism Training Seminars, we often can build in a practical exercise in personal evangelism, a “lab time,” where people can leave the retreat setting and venture out to do evangelism in the style that we teach.  It is modeled after Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. 

The basic premise is that we ask God to show us in whom he is working to draw unto Himself and then ask God how to participate in that work.  Phillip was sensitive to the Lord’s leading to “Go stand next to that Chariot.”  Likewise, we listen for those promptings.

The conversation that follows develops out of the context and the direction that the Lord gives.

“On the way to Gaza”

So we spend time in prayer and then give about 5 hours for people to find their “desert road on the way to Gaza” to see who they will encounter.

“Go stand next to that chariot”

When the people go out with a simple task of asking God to point out where he is working, I’m always personally amazed at the ease of conversation.  Sometimes we plant, we water, or we harvest. 

We always find people who are easily talkative about spiritual things, about their life, and in some cases, have pretty open questions.  Conversations that follow are not forced, but natural.

Lab time

Its a great exercise and over the years, the stories that have come back have been encouraging to see God at work.

So how can one provide effective practice sessions in a local evangelism training session?

1. Provide time for practical evangelism experience.
2. Build in time for feedback after each evangelism activity.
3. Include positive and constructive feedback for each encounter.
4. Help groups monitor their time (some feedback discussions chase theological rabbit trails)
5. Do it again.

When the people return from their outing, we have a debriefing time.  We allow people to share their stories and we ask questions to help evaluate each encounter. 

Some questions I like to ask are:

1. “How did God point out that person to you?”
2. “Where did you notice God was already at work?”
3. “What was their spiritual thirst?”
4. “What would you do differently?”
5. “What did you share about Christ?”

Let me ask you this?

Think about your last encounter where you engaged a person in a spiritual conversation.  Answer the questions above.  If you would like help discussing your encounters, we provide 1-1Evangelism Coaching

If you’d like to have Evangelism Training workshops or seminars locally, see our various options at our Live Evangelism Training page.  

A divine appointment?

I was caught off guard.

I was in class, describing my ideal job.

I would be a full time evangelist, working with churches to implement evangelism programs, conduct live  Evangelism Training Seminars and Workshops  in a local church to keep evangelism fires hot, and conduct outreaches with the local church into a neighborhood.

A student asked me: “What is an evangelist?”

I sensed this was one of those moments that God had set up.  A person who was spiritually thirsty had a natural curiosity to know what an evangelist was.  How would I explain this to her without confusing her.  I had to come up with a definition for evangelist right on the spot.

“God, I need your help, now.”  I felt the promptings of the Holy Spirit to share a specific answer.

My answer: “An evangelist is someone who can explain the good news about Jesus Christ, and what He has accomplished for you to help you move into a relationship with God.”

Let me ask you this?
How would you have answered that question to someone who doesn’t know what an evangelist is?

Pray for this fellow student, as last week I was also asked “What is a pastor?” This person is not only unchurched, but familar terms like pastor and evangelist are foreign.

I like to use questions in my conversations with people to help them think about matters of faith.

Questions help draw people into conversations, and likewise can help further a conversation along rather than me making declarations all the time.

I was looking at an article by Paul Hazelden about The Modified Engel Scale (Complete). The Engel Scale (use your favorite search engine to find more information) was developed several years ago to help map out evangelism as a process.

It presupposes that conversion is a linear event, that happens after a rational conclusion of examining the evidence that one needs a solution for sin and that Jesus is that solution.

We are a generation that often thinks with its feelings, so I no longer think that the scale is helpful. My own conversion was without any understanding of my sin — I just knew I needed to follow Jesus. I understood what that meant as I began reading the Bible later.

But, I digress. At the end of the article, there is a list of questions that can be helpful to the evangelist. I refer you to the article for the larger contex. The Modified Engel Scale (Complete).

These are some possible questions to help determine where a person is on the revised scale.

Is it possible there is a God?
Do you believe God may exist?
Are you certain there is no God?
Is there a purpose to the universe?
Does the human race have a destiny to fulfil?
Do you think you may be mistaken about whether God exists?
Is it possible you may be mistaken in your ideas about God?
Do you think there probably is a God?
Do you think God is a person?
Do you think God gets angry about some things?
Do you think God created the universe?
Do you think a person can know God?
Do you hope it may be possible to get to know God?
Do you believe anyone in the past has known God?

Let me ask you this?
What questions do you like to use in your conversations?

In the comments on the post entitled “From the Bookshelf: Unbinding the gospel,” commenter and blogging friend Jimmy Kinnard asked “Why aren’t people who love the Lord talking about it?”

He asks a great question.

We easily talk about the things and people we love, but when it comes to our love for God, we are as quiet as a parking post.

Below is a modified reposting of a prior article Evangelism and Staff Meetings that helps the evangelism avoiders in midst.

In the denominational cirlces I run in, there is a clumsiness, awkwardness, or hesitancy to share about one’s own private faith journey. This could be for a variety of reasons:1. It’s not a part of their local church culture.
2. Faith is a private / personal matter.
3. It’s not a common routine or encouraged.

I’ve put a questionaire together that you can use to help your church members talk about their faith.I like to use this question and to solicit stories:

What is God doing in your today that makes the gospel good news?

Our presbytery
We did a little exercise at our last Presbytery meeting, using that question.After I told a story of what God was doing in my life, I asked the members of the Presbytery to turn to one another and share. The buzz in the room indicated that a lot of sharing was going on.

After about 10 minutes of chatting, I brought the meeting back to order and asked “How many of you felt encouraged hearing about God’s work?” Hands went up.

“How many of you felt a little clumsy talking about your faith?” Several more hands went up.We provided a safe place for people to try talking about their faith.

Feedback we received from many of the presbyters that day indicated that this little exercise was a highlight of the meeting.

Tell your current story.
Sharing stories of God’s current activity in our life is one portion of evangelism as we define it here, “joyfully proclaiming the good news of the sovereign love of God.”

Let me ask you this?
What is God doing in your life today that makes the gospel good news?