Source: PC(USA) – Presbyterian News Service – PC(USA) records steepest membership loss since reunion in 1983.

Membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) fell by 69,381 in 2008, the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) has announced in its annual statistical report, continuing a trend that began in the mid-1960s.

Total membership of the denomination is now 2,140,165.

According to the Research Services office of the General Assembly Council (GAC), the 2008 decline was the PC(USA)’s largest numerical and percentage net membership loss since Presbyterian reunion in 1983.

Almost 104,000 people joined the PC(USA) last year, but that good news was more than offset by the 34,101 Presbyterians who died, the 34,340 who were members of the 25 congregations that left the PC(USA) for other denominations, and the staggering 104,428 who were removed from the rolls by their sessions without apparently joining any other church.

Can a positive spin be put on this?   The General Assembly Stated Clerk announces

Parsons insisted that “Presbyterians can be evangelists!”

“But we often stumble over the words. Can we not challenge one another to be able to answer these basic questions,” he said. “Why do I believe in God? Why do I go to church? Why do I go to that particular church?”

Fewer congregations were dissolved in 2008 than in 2007 — 65 vs. 71 the previous year. And 40 new churches were organized last year, 23 more than the previous year. The PC(USA) currently comprises 10,751 congregations.

This suggests the need for

• Additional personal evangelism training.
• Personal or Congregational Coaching to help existing congregations in personal evangelism, not just church planting or transformation
• Evangelism Trainers who can help members articulate their faith or share their personal stories of God’s activity in their life.

Part of this ministry’s goal is to help individuals learn how to share their faith without being obnoxious, and without stepping into all the politics of denominational positions on social issues.

Later this year, I will launch www.EvangelismTrainingUniversity.com, to help provide some personal evangelism training.  It will have a susbscription fee with it, but the material is in the works.

There is a signup form to get more information as it unfolds over the summer of 2009.

The course is still in the works, so there is not a lot of details I can provide at the moment.

Eric Hoey, in an additional statement wrote:

In a June 18 statement, the Rev. Eric Hoey, the GAC’s director of Evangelism and Church Growth,  . . . . . attributed the large number of new members, in part, to the “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” initiative that came out of the 218th General Assembly (2008).

“Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” created a groundswell of local and regional activity. The initiative challenged all levels of the church to acknowledge our decline and to commit to four areas of growth: evangelism, discipleship, servanthood and diversity,” Hoey said.

“Presbyterian News Service has written a series of articles about congregations that are engaged in innovative outreach programs in order to Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide,’” he added.

He connected with the local people

When he came to the town, “he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla,” (18:2).  Paul went to see them, and “because he was a tent maker as they were, he stayed and worked with them” (v.3)

Here is an example of relationship building.  They had something in common – tent making, and that formed the basis of their relationship.  They were local, even though they were transplants from another city.

At this point in the story, we do not know if Aquila and/or Priscilla are believers.  We know that eventually they are, because of their role in discipling Apollos when they all meet him for the first time in Ephesus.

I recalled reading about the Luke 10 principles from The Rabbit and the Elephant (see review of The Rabbit and the Elephant).  There, the authors remind us of how Jesus sent out the people ahead of him, to find the “person of peace” and to stay with that person.  We see this pattern in Paul’s work here in Athens.  Aquila and Priscilla were those persons of peace.”

He worked among them

While staying at the house of Aquila and Priscilla, Paul used that as a base for his outreach every Sabbath.  Verse 4 reads “Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.”

During the rest of the week, Paul was likely making his tents and setting up his business.  Costs were likely low as his lodging was covered, and he wasn’t supporting a family.

He devoted himself full time

Verse 5 reads: “When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching.”  This suggests some possible growth in Paul’s business – either

• Paul had made enough funds from selling tents that he was free, or
• Silas and Timothy took over business operations, or
• Business had grown to the point where a manager was in charge, or
• Aquila and Priscilla were running the business to support Paul (All three go to Ephesus).

Once they arrived, Paul was able to devote himself full time to the ministry of teaching.  As was his pattern, first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles.  Verse 6 shows his opposition from the Jews, so he setup his teaching base next door.

Paul’s fear

Paul was busy doing good work.  Building relationships, conversing with people, and doing the basics of evangelistic work.  Yet even he was afraid of those who mocked, ridiculed, and opposed him.

The Lord gave Paul a vision one night: “Do not be afraid.”  At first, I thought this was the common greeting of angelic visitors, but as I peered into first Corinthians, I read “I came to you in weakness and with much trembling” (1 Cor 2:3).

Then there is guidance: “For I am with you, . . . .because I have many people in this city.”

Elijah had a similar fear – when he thought he was the only one – the Lord reminded him that there were others.

When one faces that kind of fear in personal evangelism, it can be emotionally draining.  When one thinks of all the other fears that hinder personal evangelism, we have this reminder that Paul faced similar fears.

How did the Lord comfort him?

“keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you”

In other words, God reminded Paul of his presence, and the presence of others in that city who could help him.

If you are a church planter, perhaps one prayer could be “Lord, where are the other people in this city who are called to help us?”

The question that stirs in my mind – what are my fears?

Planting Churches

This missionary work wasn’t setup and funded overnight.

In this case, Paul lives among his initial contacts in Corinth and then sets up and runs his business.  He grows it to the point where he can hand it off, likely using the proceeds to fund his own church planting or missionary activity.

In receiving comfort from God about his fear in the face of rejection, he likely begins to pray, “Lord, where are the other people.”  We see that new relationships develop in the next 18 months while Paul remains:

• Titius Justus, a worshipper of God.
• Crispus, the synagogue ruler and his household.
• Sostehenes, the next synagogue ruler (v.17), who helped write 1 Corinthians (1:1)
• Cloe’s household (1 Cor 1:11)

We can see how the Lord answered Paul’s prayer.

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Free Webinar Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 Time: 9:00pm Eastern US Time Register on line :

A movement of house churches is reaching the tipping point in North America.  Some claim it’s a second Reformation.

How could we change the world if our Christian faith began multiplying at a rapid pace — through a way of life that is explosive and transformational?

We can grow, can we reproduce?

Tony and Felicity Dale of  http://www.house2house.com and http://www.simplechurch.com will join me, Chris Walker, and share some of the insights found in their book on simple churches. “The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why small is the new big for Today’s Church.” (Barna Books, May 2009)

As Christians, we are the church—whether we meet in office buildings, college dorm rooms, coffee shops, factories, or homes—and the Holy Spirit uses us to expand that church to the far reaches of the globe.

By practicing “simple church,” we’ll find that a small gathering of friends loving Jesus together and reaching out to the community around them can help us to be the church, the way God intended.

The Rabbit and the Elephant Synopsis:

If you put two elephants in a room together and close the door, in 22 months you may get one baby elephant. But two rabbits together for the same amount of time will result in thousands of baby rabbits! In The Rabbit and the Elephant, “micro church” planters Tony and Felicity Dale use the “rabbit” illustration to show the pace at which the Christian faith can (and should) be growing—through evangelism that is explosive and transformational. The Rabbit and the Elephant contains the key to 21^st century evangelism—taking the Gospel to where the pain and the people are.

We’ll look at

• how “church” across the world is changing from being event-based to life and relationship-based.
• how small and simple churches can multiply rapidly.
• how to incorporate spiritual growth and outreach into every aspect of our lives.

*** No product pitches or sales (with exception of book mentions), but donations towards the cost of the webinar can be made after the webinar. ****

After the event, a PDF handout will be made available to participants.

Special note: I will conduct a special giveaway to 2 webinar attendees.  The only requirement is that you must be a resident of the US or Canada and that you attend the webinar.

Registration is Free, but required.

Date doesn’t work for you?

To be automatically informed as to our next webinar, signup for our Free Evangelism Newsletter and the a 5 part course on Church Hospitality.

Have you ever been with a group of people and felt like you just needed to talk to that person over there?

A sense that God was pointing out that particular person?

Phillip (in the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch) was prompted to “Go Stand next to THAT chariot.”

Of all the chariots on the road that day, he was prompted to go next to one.

A moment with Friends

Maybe been with a friend, visiting in the coffee shop, and you have this unmistakable sense that they want to talk with you about their faith or yours?

Or maybe a friend has surprised you and started opening up about their faith struggle and search for God?

What are these moments?

These moments have the potential to become kairos moments, moments where we as Christians are aware of the gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit to pay attention and likely talk about faith.

The are moments that are full of possibilities for a persons spiritual journey towards Christ, where the person who are talking with may make more steps closer in their relationship with Jesus.

Some might call these divine appointments.

I call them kairos moments.

Here are some examples:

• God’s presence is with us. – My tutor hears the gospel
• Seminar Testimony – a wrong phone number
• Is he a PC USA Pastor? – Divine moment in Cracker Barrel
• What is an Evangelist? – Student wants a definition
• Reflections from Enfield CT – Wal-Mart Stories
• Evangelism Motives: Why bother? – taxi driver shares Jesus

Each conversation moment has been prepared and thanks to the working of the Holy Spirit another person makes another step forward towards discovering their relationship with Christ.

Some people search for God

Luke 19:1-10, the familiar story of Zacchaeus shows that noticing people and these divine appointments turns out to be more art than science.

Verse one says; “Jesus entered and walked through Jericho.”

Luke transitions from story to story with phrases letting you know that Christ was on the move.

On this particular day he came across a shunned tax collector named Zacchaeus whom we would place in the category of lost.

Nevertheless, verse 3 says that Zacchaeus “wanted desperately to see Jesus” (The Message).

The Greek rendering of the word “desperately” is zateo.

Zateo carries with it a meaning of a frantic pursuit. This is a very dramatic and passionate verb that Luke uses.

If you lost your child in a crowded public space, “zateo” describes the desperate search.

If your passport is missing the night before your international flight, zateo is the word to express the intensity of searching.

Do we believe that some people zateo Jesus?

They have been prepared and are so full of spiritual thirst they will do anything to find the water of life?

Jesus looks for them, rewarding their search.

Here’s what’s remarkable about Jesus. As he’s traveling along, he comes upon an ordinary tree and then does something extraordinary; he stops and notices! Jesus is busy, the religious crowd wants his attention and yet he stops and stares up at a tree. Go figure!

With all the travel language in the book of Luke, when Jesus stops it’s a big deal. What really happened at that tree could not be seen, the beauty is in the unseen.

When Jesus stopped at the tree of Zacchaeus, he ascribed worth to him and said that Zacchaeus mattered.

This was Jesus’ paradigm for letting people know that he cared about them—he stopped and noticed them. It wasn’t what Jesus said that was so compelling but what he did. In the economy of Jesus, Zaccheus had high value.

Others may grumble because you don’t do it right.

Verse 7 says, “Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, ‘What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?’ ”

Jesus was not playing the part correctly.

He was supposed to let Zacchaeus know how much he didn’t approve of his sin and share “the gospel” with him, which starts with an explanation of his failures.

Instead, Jesus stopped, noticed, called him by name and had a conversation with him on his turf.

The story ends with Jesus making this statement, “For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.”

The Greek verb that is translated ‘find and restore’ is none other than zateo.

The art of Noticing People

Apparently, Jesus is passionately pursuing the people formerly known as lost. Pursuing Jesus was his business, his passion, his reason for existence.

Jesus profoundly impacted Zacchaeus not by sharing good news with him, but by being good news to him on that day. He stopped and noticed.

If we want to be on mission with Jesus, we’ll need to relearn the lost art of noticing.

Some of those conversations will go deep.

Some of those conversations that happen will go deep.  Others will remain shallow.

I have experienced lots of moments where after noticing people as in the Zaccheus text, the opportunity to offer a piece of the gospel happens.

Sometimes I get to harvest what others have sown, other times I get to water what was already there.  Sometimes I get to plant a seed for the first time.

It all starts with noticing those promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Evangelism Coaching corner

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1. In the name of Jesus Christ invite the Holy Spirit to lead the prayer group.

We are Christian believers who pray in Jesus name.  We need to remind ourselves of this regularly.  Asking the Holy Spirit to lead the prayer group helps us from keeping our agenda from taking control

2. Offer a time of praise and worship of Jesus Christ.

Worship is where we connect with the Father’s heart.

Praising God for his works, thanking God for making a relationship with Him possible, and declaring one to another the marvelous works of the Lord strengthens our faith and reminds us to always be watching for God’s activity in our life.

3. Lead in a time of confession and prayer ministry with one another.

This may be a time to deal with any issues in the group.

Confession of sins or burdens clears the way to receiving guidance from the Holy Spirit.

Conclude with prayers for one another, absolution and passing the peace.

4. Report on what God is doing.

Here the members of the team will briefly share any evangelism conversations they may have experienced or opportunities they may have missed.

Reflect upon and give thanks for these.

It may be that the Spirit will lead the team to pray for each one of your group and those to whom they have been given the opportunity to share the gospel.

5. Move into Intercession

The following may be helpful:

Pray according to Jesus’ commands: Pray thy Kingdom come. In addition, pray that God the Father will send laborers. Ask God to show you specifically where His Kingdom is to come. Ask God specifically who the laborers are whom He is raising up. Be ready to be one of them!

Go through Paul’s list of ways of praying for evangelism. Linger on any of these that seem especially important for your situation.

One by one, with the whole group agreeing in prayer, lift up the names of those who have been given to the individuals in the group to be prayed into salvation. (A list should be kept by the leader of who these people are – this could be done by the whole group or in small groups.)

6. Discern open doors for the gospel.

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the open doors in the community, the church, the world and in individuals for the gospel.

7. Ask God to reveal any blocks to the gospel message in these situations or people.

8. Ask the Lord what you or the team are being called to do.

9. Discern together what God is saying

God speaks to us through Scripture.  For those of us who believe in the ongoing work of Spiritual gifts and the guidance given by the holy Spirit, we may need to talk about impressions, leadings, visions, prophetic words, or by consensus of the group as part of that discernment. Keep a record of this guidance.

10. Pray for this guidance

Ask God for steps in implementation. Write these down as they are revealed for further discernment, prayer and implementation. These may later be taken to the church leadership for approval and implementation.

11. Conclude the meeting with praise and giving glory to Jesus Christ.

Note: The eleven steps above were first presented in a manual on personal evangelism through PRMI’s Phillip Endeavor. That has been further refined and developed in the Evangelism Dunamis.

See Part I of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part I

See Part II of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part II

This final section of Chapters 5 – 8 gets into the nuts and bolts of what this might look like in the local church.

CBSE involves a Christ follower who serves others out of his or her passion, using one’s spiritual gifts at connection points of need in the community to demonstrate the love of Jesus to others as a salt and light servant.  . . . .

Administratively, CBSE reduces the church’s events and ongoing programs to allow people to be deployed into their daily lives to exercise their passions and gifts. (73)

Chapter 5: Salt and Light Servants

The majority of current discipleship material seems to be focused on information, not so much on experiential transformation.  The idea was that better information and accumulated information would lead to spiritual transformation.

The authors have seen this descend into matters of personal preference, rallies around the latest Christian bestseller, and rabbit trails into the most effectively marketed latest trend .

However, they see a shift from information to experience.

A method that fosters experience to help shape a person’s spiritual formation.

Educational materials are connected with service in the community “as the context to live out the expression of a life in relationship to Christ.”

I have often noted and taught that I learn by doing.

In other businesses, I could study, study, study, but until I was actually doing, the study didn’t make sense.  Study lead to hypothesizing, thinking about 1000 what ifs.

But not until I got into people’s lives and talking with them 1-1 about their spiritual journey did any of the studies seems to start finding a purpose.

Perhaps a quote from Randy Pope captures this better in this illustration:

Much in the way that eating creates no appetite for exercise, so too, I have found that Bible study and prayer alone do not create mission oriented Christians.  But, just as exercise creates a desire for food and drink, mission related activities create an insatiable thirst and hunger to feed on God’s word (89).

The idea is deploy your church members to serve their community and that kind of relational context will spur personal growth.

Eating has never created in us a desire to exercise, but preparing to run 26.2 miles in about 4 hours definitely creates not only a desire, but a need to eat (89).

In the same way, service may very well be the missing factor in developing fully devoted followers of Christ.  Transformation happens in combination with information and experience.

Chapter 6: Connection Points

The subtitle focuses the chapter on Evangelism Training.  The authors have given lots of evangelism training over the years, from memorizing gospel scripts, to relational evangelism seminars, yet not seeing any statistical evidence of new believers.  The rare church had more than 5 new believers in a year after the seminar.

Church’s are beginning to ask “Why is training people on how to share their faith not resulting in new Christ followers?”

The authors claim that intentional community service is the missing ingredient.  The chief issue is that our church members have lost touch with genuine relationships with people far from God.

To fulfill the front half of the Great Commission the process will always begin with a Christ-follower connecting with someone far from God.  To lead someone into a personal relationship with Christ has little to do with whether someone has attended training and learned a model presentation to the Gospel (95).

Connecting Points

The chapter lays out how to find connection points with the local community, beginning with an inventory from Becoming a Contagious Christian, Hybels and Mittleberg:

• People we know
• People we used to know
• People we would like to know.

I use a similar idea with Spheres of Influence.

The key for churches is to assist members in creating a context for connection, but it remains up to the individual member to connect.

The third group, people we would like to know, is where the role of community service comes into play.  Relationships develop best around a need the mutual relationship can meet.

Where is your church member passionate?  Where is their burden? Examples:

• Single Moms?
• Fatherless kids?
• Teachers?
• Firefighters?
• Undercover FBI agents?
• Little League?

Where are their gifts?  Administratively gifted folks can organize events or run leagues.  Mercy gifted folks can visit people.

We have come to realize that not assisting our church members to develop a connection point into an authentic relationship is simply not providing good leadership.

Chapter 7 and 8: Implementing CBSE

Chapter 7 and 8 map out how to make such philosophical changes in implementing Community Based servant evangelism.  The authors note that there are several books about systemically changing a congregation, and they note that their system works when followed.

The process is organic and leadership driven.

First four steps are for the pastor, the next two are are for the leadership, and the last 5 are how to make it public.

• Pray and read the Bible
• Church leadership must own the mission of “Love God and Love Others”
• Must be totally supported by the Senior Pastor and or Lead Pastor
• Enlist top / key church influencers
• Enlist a CBSE champion
• Enlist a CBSE leadership team
• Design a plan
• Provide training
• Cast the vision to your church
• Implement the plan
• Evaluate all aspects and correct

This list may seem generic in terms of changing systems, but the chapters tease them out more fully.

A Pastor’s Personal Prayer life

It strikes me how a pastor’s personal relationship with God is the root of this change, not only the pastors, but so also the rest of the leadership.

In a 2007 review of surveys of pastors,

two hundred seventy (270 or 26%) of pastors said they regularly had personal devotions and felt they were adequately fed spirituality.

Seven hundred fifty-six (756 or 72%) of the pastors we surveyed stated that they only studied the Bible when they were preparing for sermons or lessons.

If the root of systemic change in a church is found in a pastor’s personal relationship with God, then how can churches give their pastors time to nurture that relationship?    From another study in the same report:

We found that 90% of pastors work more than 50 hours a week. One out of three pastors state that being in the ministry is clearly hazardous for their families. One out of three pastors felt totally burned out within the first five years of ministry.

Research from Crandall (see 5 phases of renewal from Turnaround and Beyond: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church) indicates that personal renewal is the number one factor in successful turnaround in churches.

Research from Martha Gay Reese (Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism (Real Life Evangelism Series) elevates the importance of prayer for a congregation to pick up and maintain an evangelistic passion.

Order your copy

Evangelism Where You Live: Engaging Your Community from Amazon

Do you need advice to take your evangelism passion, hospitality, or  outreach strategy to the next level?

Leading your church or small group is challenging.  Brainstorming about evangelism ideas or strategies seems to have you stuck in a rut.  You need fresh answers and ideas, and you can’t wait for it.

Sometimes you just want to talk to somebody who knows.

Speak to Chris and get the answers you need right now.

One-hour coaching call – Direct, Friendly Advice

I provide your ministry with the advice and answers you need via telephone or Skype.

Examples of coaching calls you might need:

Potential Outreach Review — Consulting your outreach plans, ways to make it more effective and connect with the community.  Discussion of Follow-up plans.

Church Website Review – Consulting on your website’s impact and design and how it better serve your outreach plans.

Visitor Follow-up Review — Discuss your plans for first time visitor follow-up and suggest ways to improve your hospitality from where your church currently is.

Networking for evangelists and pastors — Discuss plans to help you maximize your time networking to launch a church.

Fruitless to Fruitful — breaking through frustrations in evangelism effectiveness.  Take one issue and coach through it.  Discover what is holding you back.  Drill down and break through it.

??? – Whatever you need, ask your burning questions in an informal, friendly chat – you are in the driving seat!

After the call you will know where you need to make improvements and will have the answers you need to increase your passion for evangelism and re-energize the outreach.

“Chris was great in helping me discover
I wasn’t focused on right thing.
He helped me refocus
and I found myself re-energized.”
— D. Watson, Church Planter.

“Chris knows this stuff inside out,
and yet is very personable.
He’s passionate about
helping you share your faith.  ”
— Joe Schlosser, Excellence Coaching Group

“You had excellent ideas
I’m really jazzed about what you shared.
I feel re-energized with new ideas”
T. Watson, Small Church Pastor

Don’t struggle on your own, talk it through with me and together we can get you making progress.

Calls are available from 10am to 8pm Eastern US time.

Get Started Now

Pay just $45 for the first call and supporting emails or PDF resources.   Following calls are charged at the reduced rate of $30 an hour. Longer term contracts are also available.

Next step? …

I look forward to speaking with you!  I’ll send you an invoice after we are done.

Martha Tinoco - Vida Joven Staff

Vida Joven Leader Martha Tinoco (pictured standing right) wrote in a note to us after the event with them last year:

Thanks for sharing with us. You are an example for my life. I can see how [your team] works in unity, love, and respect. I saw the presence of God in your lives, as great servants of God, with great gifts. I don’t have enough words to express our thanks! – M Tinoco, Vida Joven, Matagalpa, Nicaragua, December 2007.

Leave Your Weapons at the Door:

Imagine proclaiming Christ among:

• Some of the poorest social conditions in Latin America.
• Poverty, gangs, crime, and lack of available food.
• Helping those victimized by wars, crime and abuse find faith in Christ.
• Sexual, physical, and verbal abuse.
• Broken family systems where one might have 18 – 25 half siblings.
• Living on a garbage landfill recycling scrap metals.

One club leader has a policy:

If you come to our bible study, leave your weapons at the door.

Other leaders have already served time in jail for crimes they committed before finding Christ and now want to go back to their gangs and proclaim the gospel.

Vida Joven

Vida Joven Nicaragua has been ministering in this context for over 15 years in Nicaragua, proclaiming and demonstrating the love of Jesus. Each year in the mountains outside of Matagalpa Nicaragua, their leadership gathers for an intense week of training, encouragement, and refreshment.

Proclaiming the love of Jesus in such areas can be dangerous work: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The camp gives the leadership opportunity to heal, forgive, and grow.

I have been on two trips to provide leadership training. Two issues routinely come up:

1. How do the leaders find healing for the personal junk in their lives?
2. How can they minister to the broken who are coming to faith in Christ and want to find the healing of their own wounds?

Last Year’s Nicaragua Team

The Team with Omar

Last year, a leader said to me:

“It’s good to have a cry fest here and get things solved, but some of these healings have to go much deeper. We simply don’t have the trained staff here to do it.”

I was with a team from PRMI (Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International) who went to Nicaragua.

We presented on worldview, who is the Holy Spirit, the four works of the Holy Spirit, how to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and then how to listen to the voice of God. This material is the basis of Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International’s Ignite Project.

We had the teaching slides translated into Spanish, and had more material than we could cover in our limited time.

A New Team

Vida Joven Landscape

This January, another team from PRMI will be going to the Vida Joven Camp outside of Matagalpa to help address this need.

I will be part of this team.

We will use the basic material found in the healing Dunamis from PRMI that has made a countless impact around the world.

I look forward to meeting the leaders again and sharing with them tools that can help their evangelism. It is our family’s desire to help these leaders grow more effective in their evangelistic calling by equipping them with some skills in trusting the Holy Spirit to bring the healing of Jesus.

Evangelism can be messy!

Ministering in a context like this can be really messy –

• abuse victims suddenly dealing with their issues,
• hearing stories of being gang raped,
• infected with veneral diseases,
• wounding from assaults,
• or filled with hatred because a sibling was killed in a gang.

Very different ministry context than suburban north American culture where I ministered for 11 years, where people stress about their 401(k)s and the economy.

We’d like to offer help and training to the advanced leadership team of Vida Joven so that they can be equipped in the power of the Holy Spirit to help in the healing work of Jesus in this local context.

How can you help?

1. Prayer.

This is spiritually challenging work and we need significant prayer covering. I’d like you to contact me to be put on the intercessors list for this event.

2. Finances.

Donate Via Check? Mark Latin American Missions, payable to PRMI, Mail to PRMI P.O.Box 429 Black Mountain NC 28711

Note: This project is different than our montly support for our ministry. Funds for will be used for team expenses which includes my airfare. Any overages will be used for PRMI’s other Latin American callings and as seed money for future PRMI teams to Latin America.

While at the Mt. Vernon Evangelism Dunamis,  I had the opportunity to visit with some elders of the Deming Presbyterian Church in Northwest Washington State (Acme WA), with about 15-25 people in worship.

Here is what one of the elders had to say [edited for spacing and readability]:

On the evening we and other church elders met with Chris Walker, he was able to provide new insight and confirm existing notions about reaching our community for Christ.

His taking the time to first hear about our church profile and current state of evangelistic activities before offering input was encouraging and helped make the title of Evangelism Coach fitting for Chris. He then proceeded to offer direction that was both appropriate and doable.

. . . .

Chris also drove home some great points we all could benefit from :

• Seek the face of God when we pray; we want to follow His will not our program.
• When we meet as a group to seek the will of God, save the brainstorming until after significant time is spent in group prayer.
• Once an inventory of community needs is taken, know that no church can meet them all. Ask the Lord to direct the church to which needs it is called to minister to.
• Do ministry with the stamp of Jesus clearly visible. It needs to be publicly proclaimed that our work is empowered by the love for others that flows from Jesus, through us and into the lives of others.
• Get out! These Post-Christendom times require us to get out of our building and into the community.

The following Sunday morning in our Adult Study time, after inviting our Lord’s leading, we had discussion about our mutual desire for our little church to become more connected to our community.

Next thing we knew we were inspired by an idea . . . . .

To conclude, I would say that Chris is about delivering the truth in a way that emulates how Jesus does it: He turns our attention and hope toward our Father.

Grateful,

Bruce Burke

Here is what Pastor Tom had to say

Could you benefit?

Do you want a similar coaching session with your church outreach team or leadership team?

This type of meeting can be conducted via conference call and is travel free. 

There is an expense for my time, but this church pastor said it was worth every penny to see his elders re-energized!

See Church Leadership Coaching Session to schedule your call and find some fresh ideas.  Risk free.

• Everything was Mediocre
• The Place was full of strife
• Unwillingness to Adapt
• Tickled the Ears
• Not Led with Passion.

From Chuck Lawless, Billy Graham School of Evangelism

· Evangelism in many churches is about believers responding to a guest who first visited the church rather than their proactively sharing Christ.  If the non-believer (whom we may not know personally) makes the first move, we are then ready to respond with the gospel. 

· Evangelism is sometimes reduced to “invite others to church, where someone else (the preacher) will tell them about Jesus” — and even then more corporately than individually.  In that case, nobody does personal evangelism.   

· In some congregations, evangelizing takes place more on the international mission field — as essential as that task is — than in a church member’s neighborhood.  The same believer who travels overseas to speak of Christ through a translator often leapfrogs his own unbelieving neighbors who speak the same language.   

· Despite the New Testament emphasis on laity, many churches still relegate evangelism to hired clergy.  As one church member told me, “We pay them to do that because they’re the ones trained for it.”  Personal involvement in evangelism is thus equated with putting a check in the offering plate on Sunday.

If you are one who likes to talk to strangers and you want some conversational items for travel rest stops, check out this list of evangelistic conversation bridges.

Ajith Fernando reminds us to get back to the priority of evangelism.

Leadership Magazine on Five Kinds of Christians.

Michael Spencer, in a post from May, writes:

“Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and sin no more.”

When the quality of God’s mercy in the Gospel no longer amazes you, you will begin to justify the dilution of amazing grace into religious grace, or moral grace, or grace in response to something.

Real grace is simply inexplicable, inappropriate, out of the box, out of bounds, offensive, excessive, too much, given to the wrong people and all those things.