Pentecost is the time where we remember when and how the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church.

The fruit of that day is seen:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. – Acts 1:8 (NIV)

Pero cuando venga el Espíritu Santo sobre ustedes, recibirán poder y serán mis testigos tanto en Jerusalén como en toda Judea y Samaria, y hasta los confines de la tierra. – Hechos 1:8 (NVI)

This empowerment for missions enables us to fulfill our calling and purpose, whether it is to our local area or in another country.

An open door:

Last October, a fellow member of PRMI, received a personal invitation to teach on the person and work of the Holy Spirit to a group of Presbyterian pastors in Guatemala. That created a spiritual thirst to know more:

• What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
• How can the gifts help me grow my church?
• How can I help people discover their gifts?

Now, we have received an invitation to return and give about 8 hours worth of additional teaching and training on the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Through our connections with PRMI, we have the opportunity to share some of the foundational teaching that we has been shared around the world.

These pastors, who may not have access to seminary trained pastors as teachers, will hear from the 3-4 pastors on our team, and then be empowered to use this information in their local congregations.

Much confusion exists about the person and work of the Holy Spirit in the evangelical church in Latin America.

I see it myself as I’ve been in 9 different countries. The person and work of the Holy Spirit has been subjected to abuses, misinformed teaching, and all sorts of strange interpretations (I’ve got tons of stories). Because there is often a lack of sound biblical resources, it’s easy for confusion, hurt, and pain to happen.

We have been invited to help bring a biblical perspective, and a solid one that is rooted in the Reformed Stream of the Western Church. The material we use makes so much use of scriptures that some of our manuals are over 1 inch thick.

These pastors are looking to us to provide solid, rational, biblical training to help interpret and balance some of the experiences that they have had.

Imagine Guatemalan Presbyterian pastors full of the Holy Spirit, sound doctrine, praying for others to receive this empowering work of the Holy Spirit to reach their own harvest fields!

We get to play a part!

Details

This retreat will be geared for pastors and their spouses at a retreat center outside of Guatemala city.

August 18-20, 2009.

Additional preaching opportunities and connections with Vida Joven Guatemala will likely occur, building on our relationship with Vida Joven Nicaragua.

Support:

The team is raising support for the trip to cover our international airfares and some translation costs to prepare and ship materials.

Donations to the team through PRMI can be marked “Latin American Missions.”

Donate online here. You will need to create an account since Paypal is not yet available to them.

Checks via US Mail,
Payable:PRMI
Marked : Latin American Mission,
PRMI
P.O.Box 429
Black Mountain NC 28711

Kimball gears his book at those who want to get out of the Christian subculture and actually engage people in spiritual conversation.

In fact, most of Part I is how he came to that discovery in his own life as a pastor and church planter.  I found myself nodding in agreement way too many times, guilty as charged.

Most of us, including many of you who read this blog, would probably agree that

we are too busy inside the church to know those outside the church.

To me, this was one of the seminal books in my missional thinking.

Many others have followed in its path, such as

• Barna’s unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters, and to some extent (my review of unChristian)
• Evangelism Where You Live: Engaging Your Community by Stephen Pate
  • See Part I of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part I
  • See Part II of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part II
  • See Part III of Evangelism Where You Live – A Review Part III
• Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and How to Reach Them: Ed Stetzer

I’m sure there are other books, but these three immediately come to mind in terms of reengaging the culture.

Part 1 of They Like Jesus

Part 1 of Kimball’s book describes how the culture is changing, particularly in North America.

These are not statistical observations, but observation based on his real life conversations and interactions with the culture.

What he states may seem obvious now, as many others have followed in Kimball’s footsteps.  I need not spend a lot of time here.

He’s quite brutally honest about how the church has failed to stay connected with the culture.  The message may not have failed, but we are failing in our method.

Part 2 of They Like Jesus

Part 2 asks the question: What Emerging Generations Think about the Church.

This 6 chapter section reflects hundreds of personal conversations that Kimball has had, and many of the same things that Barna’s statistical research revealed in unChristian.  Anyone who is seeking to engage the current culture shapers should be aware of these items.  This part provides an excellent window into North American Culture.

A list of non-Christian perceptions of the church addressed in this book are as follows (taken directly from the table of contents):

• The church is an organized religion with a political agenda
• The church is judgmental and negative
• The church is dominated by males and oppresses females
• The church is homophobic
• The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
• The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

Part 3 of They Like Jesus

Part 3 is on how the church can respond.  His book has excellent ideas about conversation, dialogue, and theological discussions about conversational evangelism.

I like what he has done with the Bridge Illustration, by adding a 2nd chasm to cross – that second chasm is the Christian subculture that has so alienated seekers, that one needs to build bridges of connection there as part of the gospel explanation process.

Bridging that gap by being in the world but not of it, spending time in conversation with non-Christians are all part of that trust building process.

Main takeaways:

1. “We must see ourselves as missionaries vs. having an evangelism department or program.”
2. “We must become listeners of people and watchers of culture.”

The event was awesome and I shared the stage with expositors from Costa Rica and Honduras.

The organizers wanted me to share on the theme of “Reaching my city for Christ.”

Reaching my City for Christ

For two to three weeks, I meditated on that theme, praying, reading Scripture, and pondering all that I had learned and done in my evangelism training.

“Reaching my city” is a big theme to cover in a 3 hour workshop, but as I reflected on it, it really boils down to personal evangelism on a massive scale.

One conversation by one conversation.

The funnel can widen out into things like churches working together with organized strategies, church planting, simple or organic churches, pastors cooperating, and strategic planning and stuff like that.  Books have been written on the subject, but what I haven’t seen yet is this theme boiled down to

One conversation at a time.

Key 1: Evangelism in cooperation with the Holy Spirit

Conversational evangelism is a personal work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit who Prepares the Way.

Evangelism seems to have the greatest impact one personal conversation at a time.  Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch is the best example in my book of a one to one conversation where Phillip cooperated with the advance work of the Holy spirit.

Other examples that strike me are

• Peter and Cornelius
• Paul and Ananias
• Paul and Lydia

In each of the examples, the Holy Spirit had guided led the Evangelist to the right place at the right time to find a prepared heart.  Little churches got started.  Churches grew.

If we can learn how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, I believe most of us will discover that evangelism is much easier.

Key 2: Cooperating with the Holy Spirit is rooted in Prayer.

There are plenty of articles on prayer here.

In fact, I did a brief case study on a church that is rapidly growing through high adult conversion rates because of prayer (read 3 Keys to Church Growth — Case Study)

But to plow the field for evangelism, consider How to Lead a Prayer Meeting Focused on Evangelism.

Build an Evangelism Prayer List of people you are praying for regularly.

Read Ten Prayer Points For your Friends if you don’t know what to pray for.

If you want to be involved in reaching your city for Christ, prayer is the foundational work.

Paul wrote in 1 Tim 2:1

I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone. (NIV)

Prayer should be our priority (urged, first of all).  Our first priority, rather than our last resort.

Prayer should be for everyone – that could be the whole group collectively, or each one in a group individually.

At the end of our workshop in the congress, we spent time interceding for the city, and crying out to God for those whom we know personally who do not yet know the Lord.

I believe that as we pray for the city, as we pray for those who don’t know Christ, as we cultivate listening to the Holy Spirit, we will reach our city for Christ, one conversation at a time.

Paul exhorted the Christians in Ephesus to: “…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18).”

For us this includes being in regular intercession for our world.

Praying for Personal Repentance

“…Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…” Hebrews 12:1

John wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives (I John 1:8-10).”

Effective intercession must include personal confession.

Refusing to acknowledge and turn from our own disobedience always results in a form of spiritual self-deception.

As Jesus explained, “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:5).”

As you pray, put into practice John’s exhortation. Hold your life up to such passages as I Peter 3:8-12.

Praying for the Infilling of the Holy Spirit for Life and Ministry

Jesus commands us, if we are to be his witnesses, to be clothed with his power. Jesus urged his first disciples and us to be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit for missions.

Paul exhorted the church, “Do not be drunk on wine … Instead, be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).”

The seedbed of theological, spiritual, and moral decline in the church is often lifeless, dry orthodoxy. Also, the church’s evangelism and overseas mission often falter because of reliance upon human strength, rather than empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Having a biblical framework of theology is critical. But our head must be connected to a heart ablaze with the life of God.

As Paul instructed the church in Ephesus to be filled with the Spirit, pray for the church to be filled with the presence of God’s Spirit. Pray for yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit so you may be empowered to do this work of prayer for the church, and to be equipped to do the work of Jesus Christ.

Praying for the World

1. Pray for workers: When Jesus saw the crowds, he instructed his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38).”

In context, Jesus was looking at the sheep of Israel.

In part, he was instructing his disciples to pray for true workers to be raised up to shepherd his people. This should be our continuous prayer as we intercede for the church.

But, it also applies to the vast fields of people stretching around the world. Besides praying for godly shepherds to lead the church, pray for workers to be raised up to minister around the world.

2. Pray for Open doors: Paul wrote the Colossians, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:2-3).”

As you devote yourself to prayer, ask the Lord to open doors for the world mission endeavor to proclaim the mystery of Christ among even more people.

3. Pray for the Gospel to Spread and to be Honored: Paul asked the church to intercede for his mission team, “brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored … (2 Thessalonians 3:1).”

How does the gospel spread?

It takes people who are willing to go and share God’s truth.

It also requires Christians who are willing to stand with them in persistent intercession.

How does God’s message come to be honored? In answer to the church’s intercession God will bring the spiritual climate in which the Scripture is honored for what it is: God’s truth.

Our prayer should not only be for workers and open doors, but for the message to spread and find a place of honor in the hearts of people.

Setting the Captives free

1. Pray with Expectation: (Read Luke 18:25-27.) No matter how impossible the situation may look or how entrenched in spiritual darkness may be, God is able to cause his light to penetrate to the heart.

2. Pray for the Father to Draw People: (Read John 6:44) In our sinful state, none of us are capable of coming out of spiritual darkness and drawing near to God on our own. Only through the drawing of God the Father were we able to find freedom in Christ.

As we pray for people, in line with the clear will of God, our prayer should be for God to draw them to the grace, love and truth found only in Jesus Christ.

3. Pray for an understanding of Jesus Christ: (Read Matthew 16:17) Personally grasping the reality and the relevance of Jesus Christ comes only through the Holy Spirit’s work. We come to believe that Jesus is the Christ as the Holy Spirit imparts faith. Pray for the Holy Spirit to bring a true understanding of Jesus Christ to those blinded by sin and Satan.

4. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s Conviction of Sin, Righteousness and Judgment: (Read John 16:9-11.) The Holy Spirit brings conviction to people of sin, righteousness and judgment.

Concerning sin, the Holy Spirit brings an awareness to people of the sin and the spiritual darkness into which their sin has plunged their lives.

Concerning righteousness, the Holy Spirit brings a personal conviction that only through the accomplished work of Jesus Christ can a person be right with God. It is through the Spirit’s activity that people begin to understand their need to be put right with God.

Concerning judgment, the Holy Spirit brings an understanding that to continue in rebellion against God is to embrace the same kind of judgment which the prince of the world has already received.

As we intercede for people bound in spiritual darkness, our prayers should include the request for the Spirit of God to bring his conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment.

Bringing Down Strongholds

1. Focus on Jesus: First we are to focus on Jesus Christ in worship, obedience, and prayer. To let the twisting of truth, idolatry, or any sin to consume our attention is to lose our focus. No matter how great the darkness, our eyes are to be steadfastly on Jesus Christ as Lord.

2. Confession: Next we need to be honest before the Lord in confessing and turning from any idolatry, immorality or rebellion we are harboring within ourselves. This includes sins of omission. James taught, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins (James 4:17).” Have we been in regular prayer for the church and the world? Have we been living our life according to God’s will as revealed through scripture?

3. Pray to be Filled with God’s Spirit, Wisdom, Discernment & Love: Neither our wisdom nor arguments will bring deliverance from the stronghold of darkness revealed. Only by the power of God’s Spirit will the obstruction be removed. God’s wisdom, discernment and love are required if our labor for renewal is to result in lasting change. As you pray, ask the Lord to fill his people with his Spirit and the love, wisdom and discernment needed for effective ministry.

4. In the Light of Scripture: All spiritual activity needs to be evaluated in the light of clear Biblical teaching concerning the true nature of God and his activity in the world.

5. Persistent Intercession: We are to respond with persistent intercession for those perpetuating and those influenced by the stronghold.

God has chosen to work through the intercession of his people to bring convicting, and awareness of spiritual bondage and an urgency for finding true freedom in Christ.

When a block is discerned, we are to pray until the stronghold is removed and those in darkness are finding true spiritual liberty.

6. Resist the Demonic: Peter instructed the church: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith ... (1 Peter 5:6-9).” With the praise of God, the Word of God, persistent prayer, the cleansing blood of Jesus, humbling ourselves in obedience and in the strong name of Jesus, we are to resist these spiritual forces of the evil one until they are fleeing.

Rejoicing in the Lord

Paul encouraged the church: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:4-7).”

As we pray, our intercession is to be saturated with joy and praise in the Lord. Our God is able and willing to answer.

1. Rejoice in God’s Faithfulness to Answer Prayer: (Read 2 Corinthians 18-20.) As you hear and pray according to the promises of God, of what can we be confident? Our joy in praying comes from the fact that God is faithful.

2. Rejoice in God’s Invitation: (Read Revelation 3:19-20.) How does God deal with those whom he loves? How does Jesus respond to those in the church who repent?

3. Rejoice in the Open Door: (Read Matthew 7:7-11.) As we consistently pray for open doors, what reason does this passage give us to rejoice?

4. Rejoice in our Lord’s Victory: In response to the confession of Peter, Jesus declared: “… you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:18-19).” The strongholds of Satan cannot withstand when those who are grounded on the rock of Jesus Christ move forward in obedience. Because the satanic forces have been bound through Jesus’ victory on the cross, we can take up the keys of the kingdom, step forward in his authority and unlock the forces of spiritual darkness. What are the keys of the kingdom? They represent the authority that Jesus has won to redeem people from spiritual darkness.

What do the keys of the kingdom do? They unlock the gates of hell and enable the captive to find freedom. What are the specific keys? They are the spiritual means through which Jesus administers his liberating power. One of the primary keys by which Jesus brings liberty to the captive is prayer. Whether it be an individual, a population group, or a religious body, a chief means for breaking Satan’s web of deception is prayer.

As we pray for the people and against the spiritual strongholds affecting their lives, we can rejoice even before seeing the results. Jesus has won the victory. Before the forward march of the church, the strongholds must collapse. As we persist in prayer, God will work his deliverance.

Author: Pastor Bill Dean.

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

From James White, given as a hand out during a church plant conference.

1. Write a mission statement for your church.
2. Write a twelve-month plan of action leading up to the first public service.
3. Write a twelve-month plan of action for the first year of the church.
4. Write a doctrinal statement .
5. Write your constitution and by-laws.
6. Determine your target audience.
7. Determine first staff hire.
8. Find someone to lead worship/singing.
9. Find musicians.
10. Find a point person to oversee children’s ministry.
11. Find a place to meet.
12. Find necessary funding.
13. Buy/ rent / find a sound system.
14. Buy/ rent / find a podium.
15. Buy/ rent / find plants and other atmospheric enhancements for weekend service.
16. Buy/ rent / find children’s ministry materials (toys supplies etc.) .
17. Decide on an office.
18. Design all printed materials (stationery weekend program etc. ) .
19. Design an accounting system for receipts and gifts.
20. Have your own salary established with integrity.

I’ve been reading Evangelism Where You Live: Engaging Your Community and I think it is a must read book for pastors of churches seeking to engage its community.

Over the next few days leading up to the Community Based Servant Evangelism Webinar, I’ll be pulling out a few themes.

A philosophy of Ministry

The foundational drive of this book is to present a philosophy of ministry that should work it’s way into the DNA of a congregation.

A way of doing ministry in which Christ followers model, encourage, and equip others to be salt and light servants where they live . . . living out the great commandment and the great commission in our network of relationships in the marketplace and neighborhoods.

Chapter 1: Foundations

Pate looks at ineffective methods of church based evangelism and the relationship between personal evangelism and the local church.  The end results he points out is a lot of effort, but little results.

Programmatic changes have not led to church growth, so perhaps a systemic change needs to be made.

Ever after a lot of evangelism training, people can’t give a scripted gospel presentation, but they can answer the question: “What is God up to in your life?”

But all the emphasis on programming in the past few decades has created several barriers to this kind of relational evangelism on a church level.  Friendship evangelism models have been around for some time, but how do you mobilize the church to engage the mission field where it is planted?

Based on his own experience as a consultant and a practitioner, Pate and Wilkes put forth a philosophy of ministry that makes sense and develops this idea throughout the book:

The key argument is:

The premise of this book is simple: the key for a local church is to create natural connection points for Christ-follower to intersect the lives of people far from God through service in the community as salt and light servants. (8)

The church must purposefully deploy people into the community, become friends of sinners, if Christ-followers are to live out the Great Commission.  (15)

Their answer, using the “salt and light” images of the NT:

Churches can deploy their members according to their passions and gifts to be an irresistible influence among the people of their community. (10).

We do not offer a presentation to be memorized but a lifestyle of service that engages tangible needs wherever they occur and seizes every opportunity in that interaction to introduce the person/people served to our Rescuer and Leader, Jesus. (18)

Chapter 2: Barriers that keep us out

Pate and Wilkes give a summary of barriers that keep church individuals from connecting with the neighborhood.

Time (or perceived lack of time), program maintenance, church structures, and unawareness of passion and spiritual gifts among members of your church are primary barriers that keep your people out of the community and within the walls of your church.

The chapter unfolds this list with great detail and I think accurately reflects what I see in churches that I consult with.

Time

Many churches have far too many time consuming programs, events, and meetings each week that do not enable their church to moves even one step forward in accomplishing either the Great Commission or the Great commandment (24)

To the pastor, they provide a simple way to calculate the total number of volunteer hours it takes to sustain the current programming of the the church.  The simple question is that with all the man hours church’s ask their people to give, is there any time left over for building relationships?

Church Programs

Programs are not bad, the authors are clear to say.  But are they the tail that wags the dog?  Do your programs assist the church in fulfilling its mission, or are they stale and lifeless relics of a past era?

People far from God are not looking for more things to do.  Are we a bit off center because of the countless hours we devote to the programs at our church? (27)

The authors encourage pastors to examine their church programming to see what is hindering the mission of intentionally deploying people in the community.

Church structure and control

Essentially, how does leadership respond to new ideas and new directions.  Are policies prohibiting new directions?  Does leadership trust new ways the Holy Spirit is leading?  Are new initiatives squashed or are people given freedom to pursue them?

Unawareness of Gifts and Passions

Passion determine where a person serves best, and gifts determine how.  Passion is God-given and answers the “where” of ministry.  Gifts are God-given and answers the “how” of ministry.  The authors maintain, rightfully so,

churches cannot reach their potential when those joined to the mission and vision of the church either (1) do not know their God-given passion and spiritual gift(s) or (2) if those aspects of who they are in Christ are underdeveloped.

Their main point in all of this is to explore how can the church get outside it’s walls?  How can the local church get out of the building and into the neighborhood when these barriers are in the way?

Learn more

Part II comes tomorrow — Grab my feed to have it delivered to you automatically

Learn more about this philosophy of ministry direct from the author, Stephen Pate.  Register for the Community Based Servant Evangelism Webinar this coming Thursday.

Two of the opening questions I often ask are:

• When I think about evangelism, I feel. . ..
• When “evangelism” is mentioned, I begin to think . . .

A North American Answer

When I ask these questions to audiences in mainline denominations in North America (English speaking), the typical answers I receive are

• Fear
• Guilt
• Scared
• Anxiety
• Confusion
• Inadequate

and a variety of synonyms around these words.  Evangelism is a chore, survival strategy for churches, and something many feel incapable of doing.

A Latin American Answer

When I have taught in a Spanish language context in both the US and Latin America, the answers to the same question have been different.

When I talk about evangelism fears that English speaking North Americans feel, I get blank stares — as if I’m missing the mark.  I finally figured out why.

Last week’s Spanish speaking class answered the questions above with

• Passionate
• Happy in my heart
• Freedom from my own guilt
• Privileged to share such a message
• Joy because I have received God’s grace
• Sad because other’s haven’t found this grace.
• Compassion for those who don’t yet know Jesus

Admittedly, the group I was teaching were students preparing for long term missions among unreached people groups.  There may be a passionate slant towards evangelism.

Yet in 10 years of cross cultural ministry I have not yet encountered the same level of evangelism fears in Latin America that I find in the US among traditional mainline churches.

I find this contrast consistent enough in my experiences in conducting evangelism in both cultures and it makes sense as to why I get blank stares talking about evangelism fears.

That’s not the hindrance to personal evangelism in this culture.

Let me ask you this?

When you think about evangelism, what do you feel?

Feel free to share in the comment fields below.  Feel free to tell us a little of your context.

The North American Mission Board is developing a new evangelism initiative to fulfill their 2020 vision of “Every Believer Sharing, Every Person Hearing.”

“God’s Plan for Sharing” is meant to encourage Christians to prayerfully and thoughtfully engage in the most effective approach for making Christ known.

GPS lays out four biblical mileposts to lead your church outward with the gospel in the discipline of evangelism.

1. PRAYING: Every church praying for every lost person.
(Evaluation – How can your church actively pray for lost people?)

2. ENGAGING: Every believer sharing as a trained witness.
(Evaluation – How many believers are trained to share their faith?)

3. SOWING: Every lost person receiving a complete witness.
(Evaluation – How is your church creating intentional opportunities to share the gospel?)

4. HARVESTING: Every church harvesting and celebrating every salvation experience.
(Evaluation – Are people finding Christ through the ministries of your church? Are you celebrating that growth?)

(HT: Ed Stetzer)

When you visit the main page, there are resrouce pages for each of the four initiatives listed above.  Here is a sample from the one on prayer:

Here are some ideas to get your church praying for people in your community.

NAMB Resources for Prayer

1. Prepare God’s people (your congregation) to faithfully pray. Here are some helpful resources.
   • Experienceing God – Henry Blackaby
   • How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life – Greg Frizzell
   • Returning to Holiness – Greg Frizzell
   • Prayer 101 – Elaine Helms
   • Pray in Faith – T.W. Hunt
   • Kingdom Focus Praying – John Franklin
   • Cooperate – Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening
   • And the Place Was Shaken – John Franklin
   • If My People…Pray (How to Develop a Local Church Prayer Ministry) – Elaine Helms
2. Mobilize your church to prayer walk your community. Here are some helpful resources.
   • Taking Prayer to the Streets – NAMB
   • Prayer Walking Made Simple – Chris Schofield
3. Continually discover your community and examine their needs. Here are some helpful resources.
   • Mapping Center and Center for Missional Research, both found at http://www.namb.net/cmr
   • Witness to the World (Growing Disciples Series) – Claude King
4. Pray for the people in your community. Here are some helpful resources.
   • Personal Prayer:
     • Study Guide for Evangelism Prayer – Evelyn Christenson
     • Praying Your Friends to Christ – NAMB
     • How to Spend a Day in Prayer – Rick Shepherd
   • Partner prayer (triplets/small groups)
     • Pray for Your Family – NAMB
     • Prayer Triplets – NAMB
   • Prayer gatherings/sacred assembly
     • And the Place Was Shaken – John Franklin
     • Returning to Holiness – Greg Frizzell
5. Praise God continually.
   • Corporate praise
   • Celebrate baptisms
   • Answered prayer testimonies (live or video)
   • Prayer walk testimonies (live or video)

1.  Personal renewal.

Renewal of a church begins with renewal of the individual.  Sometimes that might be a dramatic and decisive experience such as a conversion moment at a church service, or answering an altar call or responding to the invitation to receive Christ.  I had that moment of conversion myself when I was still in my teens.

For others, such as those who grew up in a church it might be a deepening of faith, where you know it’s yours and not that of your parents.

But all of us go through spiritual dry seasons, and there are those events that bring a fresh wave of personal renewal.  Some have found them at events like the PRMI Ignite weekend, Cursillo, Walk to Emmaus, Presbyterian Pilgrimage, ABIDE, Tres Dias, Lay Witness Mission and so on.

2.  Corporate Renewal.

A new awakening in the life of a church — there is a new cooperation among believers wanting to fulfill the vision of God for the local congregation, a new sense of praying into God’s vision.  Sometimes it might be a more dramatic revival.

3.  Conceptual Renewal.

This is a stage where the people of a congregation receive the fresh vision of what God wants to do with the congregation.  Old models are challenged, risk taking becomes more normal, and often churches will begin to rethink what they are about.

4.  Structural Renewal

With a fresh vision old programs fade.  Old structures are laid aside.  The church begins to reorganize itself to respond to the new direction that God is leading.  Any form that is helping the church to find its new life and be faithful to its history should be kept.  Any that deny the new fresh fire from the Spirit should be modified or retired.

5.  Missiological Renewal

A church needing renewal is overly inward focused.  As churches turnaround, experience renewal and revitalization, the church begins a new focus on mission and service to the world.  Sometimes renewal begins here. . ..