The Apostle Paul planted the church in Corinth.
From the telling of the story in Acts 18, you can learn several church planting evangelism practices that will help you get your church started.
I have been involved in four new church developments since 1995, working among immigrants, and in two different languages.
I’ve seen these church planting principles in action. They work today, just as they did for Paul.
[Read more…] about How Paul Planted the Church in CorinthSeveral years ago, I participated in a street evangelism outreach in a foreign country.
I was doing an evangelistic campaign with a mission organization that had mobilized thousands of short term volunteers for ministry in Europe.
I learned to share a simple gospel script, such as the Ten Commandments, or the Bridge Illustration.
Our team prepared a few short dramas to draw a crowd and then I’d share a short message.
[Read more…] about Evangelism without discipleship is incompleteThe asphalt ran out. We had turned our car off the one lane road and started up the mountain to a small orange church on the side of the road.
Though we were only 15 minutes outside of a Panama metropolis with skyscrapers that glisten in the sun, our sedan was making its way up an unpaved mountain road to bring a workshop to a church that meets in a former house in an under-resourced community.
The one lane dirt road is bordered with deep storm water ditches and cement fences that help mark the way. Behind the fences are simple cement houses tucked in among the jungle trees.
The church meets in a house off to the right. In a community where cars are rare (and therefore few parking spaces), parking my car means hoping I don’t drop it in the storm ditch trying to get to the narrow spot on the shoulder between the ditch and the fence.
Pastora Celina [left] has been ministering in this community for years. She and her husband planted this congregation, but her husband died some years back, so she labors alone in this community. Her bedroom is attached to the church, right off the patio. We stand in front of it for a brief visit as people arrive.
From talking with her, it’s clear that she loves this community and desires to make a difference. Her small church is trying.
If you could hear her speak, you’d describe her as a person who knows how to
She struggles with many of the same struggles of small church pastors. As we talk, we hear the frustration in her voice.
We hear a desperation that something has to change.
But the lack of significant pastoral training, supervision, and resources leave her to do what she only knows: get your act together and try again with what you know.
So with raw determination, she keep plugging away, trying to reach their community and it feels like a never ending cycle of optimism that crashes into reality.
She’s invited us to share some fresh ideas that might inspire her leaders to do something different.
Brenda’s class is in the sanctuary. A few young ladies who are doing ministry for the children are able to make the workshop on this warm Saturday. They are preparing for an upcoming VBS and the training is meant to help them with that outreach.
Brenda had prepared crafts using 100 % recycled materials. Communities like this don’t get a Wal-Mart or a Michael’s. Crafts have to be done with whatever recyclables come home from the supermarket or convenience store. Few cars mean that any shopping for resources must be well-planned out.
Brenda also shares a teaching on creativity, helping to show the process she’s been using to develop the bible lessons for the the Children’s ministry in our own church.
However, when she shows people how she finds ideas on the internet, Brenda is caught off guard – we were not prepared for the level of computer illiteracy. So we have to “go back to the drawing board” for the next time.
My class is outdoors in a partially constructed class room. The smell of cement dust is strong. Pastora is apologetic for the condition.
The church is in “perpetual construction,” meaning that remodeling will happen in steps as offerings come in. She’s waiting for the offering money to pour the slab for the second floor above our heads.
The church kitchen is a detached structure in the back yard, and the bathroom is a third structure in the back yard [pictured above to the right]. The bright blue water thank holds the reserve water when the water pressure from the city doesn’t allow the water to make it up the mountain.
I spend about 3 hours with a few leaders of their adult Sunday school to discuss ways to make it more evangelistic. The intimate format allowed for creativity and ideas to flow.
I am encouraged to hear “That’s a great idea” and people writing down notes and action steps.
As we drive home, we are grateful that we could attempt to make a difference. But we feel like the changes Pastora is looking for is more than we can accomplish in a 3 hour workshop.
We can provide the fresh eyes. We can provide a fresh wind of motivation. We can provide fresh ideas, but ultimately, the responsibility for reaching the community belongs to this local church (and the others tucked in back there).
Will any changes be made? Will Pastora start doing some things differently? Only time will tell.
This invitation is part of our core calling:
to come alongside church planters and pastors in Latin America to help them reach their communities for Christ.
We want others to help us invest in Celina. Make your financial gift or monthly contribution through Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International (PRMI) by following the directions here.
PRMI is the organization that allows us to receive contributions and your gift will help all of our Latin American training investments.
This week, I spent time with Operation Mobilization Panamá, teaching in their school of missions.
Eight missionaries in training from 3 different countries gathered in a small town in the Western highlands of Panamá.
[Read more…] about Training Latin American Missionaries with OM Panama
I recently picked up and reread my copy of They like Jesus, but not the Church by Dan Kimball, in reaction to a post I read this week at the Christian Manifesto.
Kimball gears his book at those who want to get out of the Christian subculture and actually engage people in spiritual conversation.
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
I’m sure there are other books, but these three immediately come to mind in terms of reengaging the culture.
Part 1 of Dan 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 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):
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.
What can you do this week to have a spiritual conversation with someone outside of your church?
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