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They Like Jesus But Not The Church – A Review

likejesusnotchurch.jpgI 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 They Like Jesus

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 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.”

Let me ask you this?

What can you do this week to have a spiritual conversation with someone outside of your church?

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The Rabbit and the Elephant Review

rabbitandelephantcoverToday, I’m participating in a blog book tour for The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small Is the New Big for Today’s Church Tony and Felicity Dale.

Others have published their entry ahead of me (see below), and a few others will follow behind.

The Rabbit and the Elephant

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?

pic_lg_dale_tonyx100Fleicity Dale

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 21st century evangelism—taking the Gospel to where the pain and the people are.

My take on the Rabbit and the Elephant

If you are familiar with Neil Cole (Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens and Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are) you are likely familiar with the simple church movement.

This book by Tony and Felicity Dale adds to the body of literature about the house church / simple church  movement.

The Rabbit and Elephant can serve as a great introductory book for Christians looking into this model of church planting.  The entire book is written so that one can grab a good introductory level concept of what a house church might look like, how it might multiply, and how a house church can rapidly do the work of personal evangelism.

Overall, I found it to be an easy read, easily digestible, and full of personal stories that model what a house church might do, including some of the messiness of spectacular failures.

Because every house church is unique, The Rabbit and Elephant can’t get into every single detail or challenge presented by one house church, so the authors have to stay at a generic overview level.

But they do provide enough information that one could follow a few practical steps and launch a house church in their own area.

Included are some sample meeting outlines, a FAQ appendix, and a good review of common pitfalls in a simple church.

Worldview

The writers are well seeped in a charismatic worldview, which believes in the ongoing operation of the spiritual gifts and the realty of spiritual warfare.  They firmly believe in God’s miraculous activity and the guidance of the Holy Spirit about how and where to share the gospel.

I share their worldview, so much of this text and examples were easily digestable.  For those that don’t share that worldview (such as dispensational cessationists, or people who aren’t even aware of their worldview), some of the stories and principles may be a stretch, a sticking point, or even heretical in your worldview.

Yet the Dales are clear to say that not all simple churches share their worldview with regards to the spiritual gifts and spiritual warfare.

As another part of their worldview, there is a nice mixing of relational evangelism, which means their church meetings might have more non-believers than believers in them.  If this makes one uncomfortable, then this model of doing church might not work for you.

The best chapter in the Rabbit and the Elephant

Chapter 13, called Luke 10 Principles, outlines their entire church planting methodology.  This chapter alone is worth the price of the book, whether you want to plant a church or simply learn about small group expansions through networks.  In my estimation this chapter is the crux of the entire book so let me give you the basic outline.

1.  Trust God to provide the strategy and workers (Luke 10:1-2)

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

The disciples were sent out as “church planting” teams and directed where to go.  The job of the disciples were to obey His instructions, and go to places where He was to visit.

The root of this is prayer.  They recommend prayer walking (webinar, resources) where you sense Jesus is sending you.

2.  Trust in God’s protection (Luke 10:3)

Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves

As you go places you may very well confront demonic powers (which exposes a worldview claim in the text).  We are to bind the strong man (Luke 11:21-22) and cooperate with God’s rescue.  Ed Silvoso writes much more about this in That None Should Perish.

3.  Trust God to provide Resources (Luke 10:4)

Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road

4.  Trust God to lead you to the Person of Peace (Luke 10:5)

When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.

This is the most crucial insight into the methodology.  Look for the person of peace who will invite you into their home to start a house church within their social network.

This is a person who has some kind of reputation (good or bad) and has a wide circle of influence.  The church is usually started in that person’s home (p. 105).

New Testament examples would be Cornelius (Acts 10), or Lydia (Acts 16), or perhaps the woman at the well (John 4).

5.  Enjoy the Hospitality that God provides (Luke 10:7-8)

Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.

Don’t move from home to home, but stay in the home of the person of peace.  House churches celebrate meals together as part of their practice.  Eating with people creates relationship.  At this point, you’ve only become a friend.  There has been no proclamation to this point.

6.  Trust God to Answer Your Prayers (Luke 10:9)

Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

Look for opportunities to pray with and for people.  You’re looking for opportunity to bring people face to face with God’s activity.  Once you identify needs you can put your faith on the line and pray.

Then watch God respond.  In their experience, this often happens in connection with one of the spiritual gifts, such as prophecy or word of knowledge, as a demonstration of the kingdom of God.  When people experience the power of God in this way, word of mouth causes more people to gather to start studying and learning from God.

The Rabbit and the Elephant For Legacy Churches

They use the term Legacy churches to speak of what most of us think as church:  a gathering of believers in a building, led by one or more pastors, with a worship service that follows some kind of liturgy.  Mainline denominations, evangelical denominations, all of these have what we would consider traditional churches.

For legacy churches thinking about migrating to simple church, this book hints at such a transition, but doesn’t serve as a how to manual to make that transition.  It also doesn’t get into helping one re-frame their current way of doing church into this model.  It doesn’t get into issues like 501c3 status, record keeping, membership, articles of organization, paying a full time pastor, and stuff like that.

It doesn’t deal with some of the confessional theology of legacy churches (such as what are the marks of the church, Westminster confession of faith, ch 25.4).  I think this direction is outside the scope of the book.

However, legacy churches that want to expand their small group structure, this book can have a lot to say in terms of launching new small groups, and empowering people to launch small groups in their areas of influence.  The Luke 10 principles above are, I think, equally applicable there as well.

I also commend the Dales for not ripping the legacy churches as they present an alternative model.

Order your copy of The Rabbit and Elephant from Amazon. (affiliate link)

Related Resources

Other Reviews of The Rabbit and the Elephant

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The Rabbit and the Elephant Webinar

Rabbit and Elephant Cover Felicity DaleThis webinar has passed.

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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?

EvangelismCoach Webinar with Tony and Felicity Dale

pic_lg_dale_tonyx100Fleicity Dale Tony and Felicity Dale of  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 21st 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.

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The Art of Noticing People


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BlurryCrowdonBusyStreetA moment with strangers

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:

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

For a 5 CD audio set that will help you with this, click on the banner below.

If you want more personalized coaching for you or your team over a 3-4 month period, see our

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Pray First then Watch

Prayer_Before_EvangelismI truly believe that prayer opens conversational doors.

One of the principles that I put forth in my Fear Free Evangelism Seminar  is that when you pray, evangelism stuff happens.

Conversations appear.  You don’t have to force a conversation.  Conversations about faith simply show up.

The challenge is then how to listen to their spiritual thirst and listen to the work of the Holy Spirit to help the other person discover their next step towards faith.

Here is a recent testimony from a pastor’s wife after a recent Fear Free Evangelism Seminar.

Notice that they took the initiative to pray first and then the conversations unfolded.

My husband and I attended a Christmas party on our street last evening. All of the people on the street were invited. This is a first since we have lived here.

I connected with an older woman in her 80’s. After probably 30 minutes of conversation, she said, “Is your husband a minister?”

I replied, “Yes.”

She shared about being raised in a strict Catholic home (very common in our town), but she doesn’t “practice it” anymore. She hasn’t since she was about 18.

I asked “why?”

She said it was the confession to the priest that turned her off.

I asked if she had ever tried any other church.  She said no. She never wanted to.  But, she hastened to assure me she believes in God and do it their “own way.”  She said religion has never been a real priority.

She began to make a negative comment about “these born-again Christians.”  I felt very peaceful in gently saying to her, “I’m a born-again Christian.” She apologized and I said, “Oh, no. I understand.”

About then her husband and a young woman joined us. The husband said, “I’m reading the Bible.” and the young woman said, “That’s on my list, too.”

The older woman said, “It’s too hard to understand. I tell him he’s just reading it to make him sleepy.” She and her sister had tried to read it when they were young and “there was no one to explain what it meant” to them. They couldn’t understand it.

By this time, my husband joined us. I asked the husband what version of the Bible he’s reading and he said the King James. I said, “Oh, you could read a more modern version.” I don’t think he even knew there were other versions.  I told him we could give him one and I plan to take it to their house.

We parted with hugs and the older lady invited me to come to visit them and bring my grandson.

I was amazed that my husband and I were talking with three of our neighbors about reading the Bible!! But, we did pray before we went to the party.

Now my husband wants to make a list of our neighbors and pray for them. He talked with some people that I didn’t. I’m very excited about how God may what to use us here.

This is an excellent step in growing.  The conversation was natural, and I already know that the Bible has been delivered.  That led to a follow-up conversation that may turn into an investigative Bible study.

See another testimony at: Fear Free Evangelism Case Study.

Let me ask you this?

Have you spent time asking God to whom are you going to speak with today?  Do you notice those who cross your path?

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Evangelism Training in the Local Church


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Many churches (particularly in mainline traditions) ask me about evangelism training.

  • Are there good programs available?
  • What program do you recommend?
  • How do I as a pastor train my church to do evangelism?
  • What resources are good for us?

The best form of personal evangelism training is simply to do it and have debriefing sessions after the event to help one reflect on the spiritual conversations that have occurred.

It might feel clumsy at the beginning, and a little awkward, but with the progress of the training, conversations will get easier to have and become more comfortable.

One Example of Evangelism Training

One idea is to consider a small group that focuses on accountability to have a spiritual conversation each week.

The conversation can be between friends, or with a stranger that God underlines for you.

The group could meet weekly with the sole purpose of

  1. Praying for each other to have the eyes to see whom God is underlining.
  2. Discuss your evangelistic conversations since the prior meeting.
  3. Debrief the conversations to discern what worked and what didn’t.
  4. Dismiss again till next time.

The group doesn’t study an evangelism book, think about welcoming visitors, or read academic treaties between incarnational evangelism vs. proclamational evangelism, missional vs. attractional church growth, or emergent postmodernism.

The group simply focuses on the spiritual practice of evangelism — having evangelistic conversations and holding each other accountable to it.

Debriefing the conversations

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?

  • Do you have a similar evangelism group?
  • What does your church do for personal evangelism training?

Let me suggest:

Send me via email what your church does for evangelism training and I will send you a list of 99 questions to launch an evangelistic conversation.

See also: Effective Evangelism Training Lab Time, Evangelism Training.

Evangelism Training Study Course

For a home study course on personal evangelism, consider my course:

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Divine Appointment: God’s presence is with us

mcdonaldsIn my previous conversation at the corner McDonald’s where I spent two hours discussing faith, the gospel, and the need for Jesus, my conversation partner brought up

Mathew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

She talked about her attempts trying to walk the straight and narrow, but that it was difficult and full of problems.

God has prepared the way

In God’s sovereignty, we talked at a moment where the circumstances of life were overpowering and she’s looking for God’s comfort.

It’s hard to communicate in words the emotional context of her struggle.

A tired, single mother, working 2 if not 3 jobs, having the cost of living go up substantially, and struggling to keep her little family afloat and raise her infant child in these circumstances.

All of us have moments when we think the world is crashing.  Sometimes those are passing moments, and we get back up on our feet and plow ahead.  Sometimes, we take these anxieties before the Lord and ask him for His peace and move forward.

Other times, those moments are not passing and we remain in a state of anxiety, a restless mind that keeps us awake at night and peace is hard to find.  Though we might even have faith in Christ, the body remains restless.

We talked in a divinely appointed moment where the circumstances of life were crowding in.

Asking Questions

Many of the questions I asked felt inspired in the moment.

They weren’t scripted, they weren’t part of my morning devotions.  Rather, they were prompted as a result of the kairos moment we were having on the 2nd floor in the corner McDonalds.

This is God’s working, and being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

“Why is the narrow road better?” I asked.

“It just is what I’ve been taught, I don’t know why.  Because it leads to eternal life?”

“Eternal life is for mañana.  What difference do you think that makes right now?”

“I don’t know.”

God’s presence

She’s right, it does lead to eternal life.

But something I believe God showed me at the moment was that walking along the narrow way with Jesus is just that — he is with us.

The narrow way is better NOW because God is with us.

We can face the challenges of today with God’s presence.  No matter what the world throws at us, nor our circumstances, the narrow way is better because we can know and experience God’s presence.

One of the most amazing promises of the bible is this: “Lo, I will be with you until the end of the age.”

My testimony = My experience with God.

We discussed this promise at length.

She invited me to tell stories of how I know this to be true.

My testimony wasn’t about how I came to know the Lord, but rather I came to know this verse to be true.  How I came to know that the narrow way is better because I can experience God’s presence.

I was the credible witness, a living example of someone who can experience God’s comfort in the midst of struggle.

The more I shared about knowing God’s presence, the deeper the conversation went.

The more evident the spiritual thirst became.  I could see God drawing this person to Himself.

The final question for this conversation

HandsFearBlackWhiteAfter spending the two hours talking about all sorts of things, this question rose to the surface.  In the relational context we had established, this question was normal, and non-threatening.

“What keeps you from following Jesus today?” I asked.

“Fear.”

“Fear of what? Can you tell me?”

I won’t go into some of the answers as that’s part of the private conversation.  Clearly, my conversation partner wants some more time to think, consider, wrestle, examine, pick your own verb.  She’s counting the cost.

There will be more conversations in the future.  But for now, there is a huge step forward in her journey to Christ.

Let me ask you this?

Would you join me in prayer for this person?

For more information on my thoughts on spiritual thirst, click some of the related links below.

Talk #2 in the Fear Free evangelism Study Course is all about spiritual thirst and the role it plays in drawing people to start following Jesus.

Image Credit: Hands of Fear, photo credit: 刘金喜 via cc


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God — The Evangelist

We can’t cause, create, nor bring results in evangelism.

Evangelism is ultimately a spiritual activity, and the fruit (i.e., a disciple) of our work is truly God’s doing.

We can weep for the lost, or labor in prayer, but salvation is truly a gift from God.

We can share our faith, engage in spiritual conversation, listen to questions, be excited about Jesus, but the other person remains spiritually dead until the Lord causes an awakening in their soul.

No wonder evangelism can be like talking to a brick wall.

Dead is dead.

Incapable of response.

God as Evangelist: The First Seeker

When Adam and Eve were naked and ashamed, they hid from God.

Yet, God pursued them. God sought after them. God's Question - Where are you?

Adam, where are you?

The first question of Scripture.

If you look at Ezekiel 34:11ff, you’ll notice all the “I’ll” phrases.

God is the first seeker.

The lost parables of Jesus (lost sheep, lost coin, lost son) all speak of the Father’s heart to look for those who are lost.

God goes ahead of us – God is already at work

God is already witnessing to people.

Creation and beauty testify to his character (Romans 1, Psalm 19:1-4).

When many people see the vistas of a beautiful scenery, many feel spiritual — they realize God’s goodness and power.

God is already at work in the people that He is drawing unto Himself.

God includes us in the process of Evangelism

Isn’t this grace? We get to be included in this work of helping people find faith in Christ.

We get to pray — Evangelism is a mystery that happens in the Spirit. Pray for spiritual blinders to be removed.

God includes us in Divine Appointments, Kairos Moments. “as the Lord assigned to each” (1 Cor 3.5).

God is Responsible for the Results of Evangelism

God does the drawing (John 6.44)

God does the regenerating (Ephesians 2).

We simply remain faithful to sharing our faith and trusting God for the results.

Our God is the supreme Evangelist.

Do you need help in Personal Evangelism?

Start here with this MP3 Download on Evangelism Training from the store ($10) to help you see where you need to grow.

It’s a 80 minute audio file that takes just a few minutes to download, but it may help you answer the question:

What can you do in the next 90 days to grow in your evangelism skills?

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I want to feel Jesus

Iglesia Comunidad Evangelica RichmondWe go to a little Spanish community church.

We are the only North American family in the place (by American — they mean me, the English speaker).

God has used this little church in ways to allow me to experience some healing and growth in my life, even though Spanish is not in my native language.

The service is in Spanish: prayers, announcements, greetings, offering, Scripture reading, and preaching. I get maybe 70% of it at this point.

Last night, one of our first time visitors didn’t speak Spanish at all, but she stayed for the entire service.

During a time of “come forward for prayer for whatever” she came forward and Pastor invited me to come and pray with our guest (as I’m the only attendee that speaks English as my first language).

Among other questions, I asked her, “What brought you here?”

“I want to feel Jesus.”

Reflections:
Some people experience spiritual thirst as a desire to experience the presence of God.

Some are drawn to the sacred experience that is found in worship. They seek Jesus by coming to church. Drawn by the mystery of the sacred. . . . .

Our music isn’t perfect, we sing in various pitches (read — occasionally off key), typos in the overheads. But when we are lost in worship, that doesn’t matter.

As God inhabits the praises of his people, even when the words are unknown, God may make his presence tangible enough for those seeking Him to know his presence.

Let me ask you this:
Would you pray that people would be drawn to Jesus?

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What is Spiritual Thirst?

To read prior parts:

This started as part of a conversation over at Evangelism Action, but will take much more than just a comment to tease out.

Spiritual Thirst propels a search

Spiritual thirst is a way of describing a person’s own search for God.

What motivates a person to seek after God?

Source: Flickr
Source: Flickr

In the parable of the merchant searching for the fine pearl — he is propelled to find it because he knows it’s out there. He looks, and looks, and looks.

There is a “thirst” to propel him to find it. When he doesn’t find it, he keeps looking. When he finds it, he has that “Eureka” moment.

If you are noticing people, spiritual thirst can lead to moments of conversation in divine appointments.

Spiritual Thirst in Athens

While wandering around Athens (Acts 17), Paul gets a sense of the spiritual thirst of the Athenians. He even appreciates their thirst, in complementing them on the quest for God. He says “I see that you are very religious . . . I found an altar to an unknown God.”

He has picked up on their spiritual thirst – the desire to know God.

When Paul was in Athens, he must have said something that brought them to the point of asking “May we hear you more about this matter?” (v.19)

They were thirsty for more information, self-propelled to learn more. Paul saw they were thirsty (manifested in the all the statues, including an altar to an unknown God).

He started where they were.

The Spiritual Thirst of the Eunuch

The Ethiopian Eunuch was spiritually thirsty.

He had gone to Jerusalem for a worship event to connect with God, yet it wasn’t satisfying enough.

On the way home was reading Isaiah.

He’s spiritually thirsty, knowing that he hadn’t found it yet. By God’s sovereign grace (working both sides of the equation), Phillip was there to explain. The Ethiopian found it — wanted to be baptized. Phillips explanation slaked that spiritual thirst.

(Listen to an audio sermon download on Phillip and the Ethiopian)

Spiritual Thirst yearns for the Water of Life.

Spiritual thirst is the underlying motive that people have to seek after God, to start and continue their search for God.

It could be guilt over sin, it could be a longing for honest community, it could be guidance and direction, among some ideas.

It could be a stark realization that the person has made a giant mess of their life.

The gospel can speak to each one of these.

Let me ask you this?
What “spiritual thirst” have you encountered in the people that you talk with?

Well Water Image Source: Flickr, Department for International Development

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