Video: Evangelism in the 21st Century by Nicky Gumbel

Nicky Gumbel, developer of the Alpha Course, addresses evangelism in the 21st century in this 13 minute video from the Capetown Congress.

He shares his personal testimony about how the process of evangelism worked in his life.

Gumbel grew up as an irreligious person. But after his roommate in university found Jesus, Gumbel set out to challenge him. In the process, he discovered Jesus himself.

After sharing his journey to faith, he gives a short 4 point teaching based on Romans 1:16. I’ve put the bullet points below the video [feed readers may need to click through].

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

One of the key elements in Nicky’s presentation is the experience of Jesus.

The power of God is something that we can experience in our conversion journey.

Description of the gospel

The gospel is true and reasonable
The gospel is powerful and life changing
The gospel is both words and actions.
The gospel is vital and urgent

I appreciate the reminder of the urgency of the gospel that Gumbel gives at the end, particularly using a phrase from Martin Luther King: “the urgency of now.”

Evangelism in the 21st Century

Evangelism in the 21st century will not be solely dependent on the church. The growing number of “spiritual but not religious” people means that more people will need to hear the gospel through conversations with Christians.

You’ll need to be able to comfortably talk about your faith in Christ without being obnoxious about it.

I have a DVD set that focuses on a conversational style evangelism that would be effective in: