Church Toolbox - Tools to Build and Grow Your Church

Key Points: Anticipating common difficulties, various helpful hints, and introducing a friend to Jesus

Warm up (mixer): How has your participation in this course over the past few weeks affected your understanding of and feelings about evangelism?

The Sheet Of Issues: Take time to look over these issues beforehand, noting which ones have been a) dealt with, b) touched upon, c) not mentioned yet. Can you give some suggestions as to how people could continue to work on these issues once the course is finished?

Introducing A Friend To Jesus: Pages 127-130 of Good News People deals with the issue of introducing someone to Christ and helping them pray and prayer of commitment.

There is something to Admit.
There is something to Believe.
There is something to Consider.
There is something to Decide.

"Jesus, I have come to realize that you already know me and that you love me'. Now I want to get to know you too. I want to become one of your followers, and to learn to live the new life of God's Kingdom. Please forgive me for everything m my life that has come between us, and help me to renounce it so that I can follow you faithfully and consistently from today on. Help me to grow deeply into you, and to love you more and more."

Almost everyone who begins to think seriously about sharing their faith is a little apprehensive (or downright frightened) about being asked a question they can't answer. The bad news is that this will probably happen. The good news is that it doesn't have to be a conversation stopper. Remember that the chances of your friend asking the one question that has never been thought of by anybody before, and that is going to bring 2,000 of Christian faith crashing to its knees, are very slim. Here then are a few tips for dealing with the difficulties that are almost sure to arise.

1. Always be gracious and inviting. Never hostile or demeaning. In faith sharing conversations your graciousness and your demonstrated friendship are always more important than your answers. If the conversation becomes antagonistic you have already lost!

3. Freely admit your limitations in this area. Don't try to pass yourself off as a theologian. Always emphasize the relational aspect of Christianity. Avoid making rationalistic arguments. Remember the witness of the blind man in John 9 who simply repeated what Jesus had done for him. "I can't answer all your questions", he said, "What I do know is that once I was blind but now I can see." Use this man as your model.

4. Remember that the question might not be THE QUESTION. Try to discern whether this question is really a block to your friend being able to make a commitment to Christ, or if it is simply an avoidance mechanism.

5. Remember that this question has been asked, and answered, before! (Tell your friend you will try to find something for them to read on this issue, or that you will talk with a pastor or friend who might be able to offer some insight.)

6. *** Remember that everyone has some world view and basis for making ethical and moral choices and decisions. Ask them, where did you get that from? How did you arrive at those conclusions?

7. Remember that confidence in faith sharing does not come from knowing all the answers! It comes from knowing the Saviour!

To be a Christian means that someone has responded positively to THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST. OK, what’s THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST? Remember that all good news is not THE GOOD NEWS. We do lots of “good things” in our Churches: we visit the sick, help the elderly, clothe the poor, feed the hungry, comfort the lonely, tend the grieving, i.e. we stand with others through difficult times. To people in want, this is good news. These are important activities and we are called to do them as Christians, but THE GOOD NEWS is much more than doing or responding in “good activities.” Responding to THE GOOD NEWS is about being a new person in a new life, not about being a comforted person, or comforting others, in the same old life. People who comfort people or people who are comforted, aren’t necessarily Christian. People who know about Christ and even teach or learn about Christ aren’t necessarily Christian.

THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST deals with reconciliation and God’s reign. Reconciliation deals with God’s eagerness to forgive sins and welcome us into a new relationship of friendship and intimacy. Jesus came in the fullness of time to make reconciliation possible and announce the coming of God’s reign. The coming of God’s reign assures us that in the fullness of time, evil will be abolished, and God’s perfect will for all creation will become the eternal reality. We cannot, and in fact we do not want to, embrace God’s reign until we are reconciled to God. Trying to live in God’s presence without being reconciled to Him would be Hell. (Been there, done that, don’t work)

I always thought that just by going to Church I was reconciled, but I knew I wasn’t living a Godly life. I did not want to live one, and I did not want to know more of Jesus

than the minimum. I knew however that honesty demanded that I ought to. I knew I couldn’t change myself. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to. So I gave God permission to change me.

It took Him a year. He began to change me inside out, and upside down, i.e. he totally changed me in many areas. We still have more work to do.

THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST is about His death and resurrection. We cannot comprehend fully what happened at Calvary or at the tomb two mornings later. However there are two main strands of interpretation which run through the New Testament: reconciliation and God’s reign. Our lack of concern for, even opposition to, God’s purposes for creation is called sin, and sin is what we do in our unreconciled state. Sin does not allow us to live in God’s reign. It takes supernatural power or energy to pry sin out of us, i.e. transform us. Jesus gave Himself to be the perfect fuel, or energy, or power (which we call sacrifice) so our sins could be pried, burned, forced out of us (which we call repentance and forgiveness) so we can start all over again with God, be refined into His likeness. Jesus let His life be pulled out of His body so we could have new life put into our bodies. His resurrection shows that death’s power is only temporary. When we let Him liberate us from sin, we can welcome God’s presence into our lives and begin to live for God’s purposes forever, i.e. in His reign. We are dead to the power of sin and alive to the presence of God forevermore!

THE GOOD NEWS that we are commissioned to share is that God offers to remake us into whole new people in whole new lives! This is THE GOOD NEWS to which we are to respond positively and which we are to take to the uttermost parts of creation. Being a Christian means we have been remade into a new person and are living a whole new life in God’s reign.

We have already looked at the nature of responses in the second week of class. We said we are asking people “... to turn, personally and individually, to Christ, in order to be reconciled to God, to enter God’s reign, and begin learning how to live (their) personal lives and (their) corporate lives in His Marvelous Light.” (BCP 302-5)

We are asking people to give God a chance at running their lives. We are asking them to risk relinquishing control over their lives in favor of letting God be in charge. This can be a very scary request for some people. Some will jump at the chance to let go and let God. Many will not be so ready at first opportunity to be sealed as Christ’s own forever.

Personally, I was only ready to commit myself to allowing God to be first in my life for a 30 day trial period. I was willing to give Him my full attention for the first 15 minutes of each day. In that period, I would pray, listen, and read Scripture. I planned to re-evaluate my situation after a month. It only took me about two or three days to realize this new life was what I had always dreamed of, but never able to articulate or accomplish. I then knew that I was His. He had me for better or worse, forever. He was at last Number One!

I think we are really asking people to commit as much of themselves as they can to as much of God as they understand. To do that we find:

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[1] Harold Percy, Good News People, Anglican Book Centre, Toronto, Canada, 1996, unless otherwise noted.