Maybe my previous question is not appropriate.

I would like to prove Craig wrong when he says hardly anybody is sharing their faith properly.

Here’s a challenge.

If you have a friend who has recently responded to the gospel.......share it here.

If you are a new Christian .....lets say between 0 - 5 years come on board and say Hi!

I will start a new thread to this end.

Heather Smith - 23 July 2007 02:07 PM

So do you agree with Tia’s verse of scripture?

Sure

I would like to prove Craig wrong when he says hardly anybody is sharing their faith properly.

I would love to be proven wrong. It would be great to learn that every church in the diocese is doing an incredible job at sharing the gospel with everyone.

So please, share your stories here.

I think that our biggest problem in regard to evangelism is more to do with willingness, enthusiasm, courage and compassion. rather than ‘ability and skills’.

Do you think lack of evangelism is more likely to reflect our shallow love of the Lord Jesus Christ, rather than our lack of skills? Are we convinced and compelled by Christ’s death for us?

By the way, I doubt very much that evangelism is on everyone’s mind!!!  Sex maybe!! Evangelism not!!

2 Corinthians 12: 9-10
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Di

Craig Dobbie from CCEC suggested to me that there are 2 reasons why people don’t evangelise -

1. Lack of conviction
-this can only be helped through bible teaching and the Holy Spirit’s help

2. Lack of confidence
-this can be helped through
a. knowing a simple gospel outline
b. knowing how to answer questions
c. knowing where in the bible to find the answers
d, knowing how to turn a conversation to the gospel
e. showing lots of testimonies of people who have been converted thru church and lots of examples of the mundane ways in which those at church have begun the conversations that lead to these conversions.

When I read that list I cannot help but think of God’s reminder to us about our behaviour, in such passages as:

Ephesians 4:1-7

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

….…godliness and gifts have their place and the emphasis on God ‘calling’ is very important

Also, do you think prayer should be on the list?

Di

Also, do you think prayer should be on the list?

By no means.

The list was an answer to a specific question - why do people not evangelise.

Someone can always assume the moral high ground by saying “Oh, we should just pray more.” But when I look at Paul’s life, he seemed to be doing a heck of a lot more than just praying. And that suggests to me that we should be too.

Craig Schwarze - 23 July 2007 03:18 PM

Craig Dobbie from CCEC suggested to me that there are 2 reasons why people don’t evangelise -

1. Lack of conviction
-this can only be helped through bible teaching and the Holy Spirit’s help

2. Lack of confidence
-this can be helped through
a. knowing a simple gospel outline
b. knowing how to answer questions
c. knowing where in the bible to find the answers
d, knowing how to turn a conversation to the gospel
e. showing lots of testimonies of people who have been converted thru church and lots of examples of the mundane ways in which those at church have begun the conversations that lead to these conversions.

Sorry to raise a sleeping topic, but here I go anyway.

I think it’s worth looking at how “2. Lack of confidence” was dealt with in the NT.  Recall Christians in Acts 4:23-31 in their major confidence crisis.  Their response was to:
a. gather together,
b. assert God’s sovereignty in history, by prayer (ie, pray remembering God’s power even over those who are making us afraid),
c. and ask for God to give boldness and miracles to confirm the message. 

I can’t think of anywhere that such training (points a-d) is encouraged in the Bible (the Timothy passage shown before is for a leader of a church, and shouldn’t be too quickly applied to everyone, I think).

Given our free and mostly tolerant country, I think our biggest problem is prrobably problem 1 - lack of conviction.  God, convict us again, and set our hearts on fire!

So Anna, you don’t think early Christians would have been interested in:

a) understanding the gospel story?
b) knowing the answer to people’s objections to the gospel?
c) knowing the (OT) scriptures well?
d) knowing how to broach the subject with others?
(following the original points)

I would have thought so! (and I’m not an everyone-is-an-evangelist-type person)

Plus I believe Phillip Jensen discovered 2 Ways To Live in the Dead Sea Scrolls so we know they had that.
Ahh 2 Ways To Live jokes… will they ever get tired?

Phillip Jensen discovered 2 Ways To Live in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Ben, you know that’s not true.

It was the Nag Hammadi library…

Hi Ben,
Thanks for opportunity to clarify.

a) You can’t be a Christian without understanding the gospel story!  Therefore, a Christian has sufficient to say already.
b) As far as I can tell, the Christians in the Bible weren’t too fussed about this.  I think the picture in the NT is that if you need an answer, God will grant one, but that we wouldn’t expect people to understand our answers unless they are already saved anyway (the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing).  Hence, having a good answer, while nice and good in its place, isn’t a fab evangelistic strategy.
c) A Christian should naturally want to learn more about their God and Saviour - but again, not as an evangelistic strategy.
d) Knowing how to broach the subject with others?  It seems you couldn’t stop Christians blabbing about it in Acts!  Again, I think this has less to do with ‘training’ and a heap more to do with ‘conviction’!  I think in this area particularly, strategies are foolish.  If a Christian can’t raise the issue with someone there is a massive problem.  Basically: Open your mouth, and say, “Hey, I’d like to tell you some great news. It’s about Jesus”, and take it from there.  The reason I don’t do it much is because I’m scared and more interested in my own comfort than in others’ salvation - it’s not because I’m incompetent.  I imagine it’s the same for others.  Saying we need training rather than regeneration is a major cop-out!

Anna, I’m an idealist at heart, and it sounds like you are too. As an idealist words like strategy and training still make me cringe when it comes to dealing with people. But knowing how to help others come to faith in Jesus is not something that comes naturally to a lot of people, even if they have a lot of zeal or enthusiasm or conviction.

So,

a) You can’t be a Christian without understanding the gospel story!  Therefore, a Christian has sufficient to say already.

You’d be surprised how many people trust in God but have no idea how to explain to someone else what they need to do to be saved.

b) As far as I can tell, the Christians in the Bible weren’t too fussed about this [objection answering].

I don’t think this is true. I’m sure Paul did lots of objection answering when he was “reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years” (Acts 19:9-10) and when “he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.” (Acts 18:28)

And I think the famous 1 Peter 3:15 is relevant: “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you”

I believe cause it’s true and I’m really excited is not a reason - we need to know why we believe. If we don’t understand the objections of others our faith will remain shallow.

c) A Christian should naturally want to learn more about their God and Saviour - but again, not as an evangelistic strategy.

Knowing the Bible well is extremely important for evangelism - you can’t separate them and say “you shouldn’t learn about the Bible for the sake of evangelism”.

d) Knowing how to broach the subject with others?  It seems you couldn’t stop Christians blabbing about it in Acts!  Again, I think this has less to do with ‘training’ and a heap more to do with ‘conviction’!  I think in this area particularly, strategies are foolish.  If a Christian can’t raise the issue with someone there is a massive problem.  Basically: Open your mouth, and say, “Hey, I’d like to tell you some great news. It’s about Jesus”, and take it from there.  The reason I don’t do it much is because I’m scared and more interested in my own comfort than in others’ salvation - it’s not because I’m incompetent.  I imagine it’s the same for others.  Saying we need training rather than regeneration is a major cop-out!

If “Hey, I’d like to tell you some great news. It’s about Jesus” works for you, that’s great, and I know it does for some. But others will find this doesn’t lead to worthwhile conversations and need advice about how else they can do it. Your typical extrovert may not need this advice.

Regeneration does not lead to good conversation skills!