On Evangelism

technorati tags
evangelism, faithful practices, youth ministry

From today's SojoMail, and in relation to the Evangelism Workshop from the Faithful Practices Conference:

In Pasadena, each of the "five families" – Evangelical/Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Racial/Ethnic, Historic Protestant, and Orthodox – each shared their interpretation of Jesus' "mission statement" in Luke 4:18, and asked, "Is Jesus’ proclamation our proclamation?"

One of the interesting "problems" in the Evangelism Workshop was that nobody could/felt comfortable defining evangelism (yet many think it is important to do!). Some, of course, talk about getting people to "make a decision for Christ;" others focused on training believers to be disciples whose lives reflect and, more so, enflesh the love and grace of God for the whole world. It is encouraging to me to see representatives from nearly every strain of (American) Christianity coming together to proclaim the Gospel message - and making a commitment to thinking about evangelism beyond a simplistic, one-dimensional effort to "get people saved."

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (Christ, while in his hometown, reading from the prophet Isaiah as recorded in Luke 4:18-19, for those who need the reference. This is the next story after Christ's fast and temptation in the desert and the beginning of his public ministry in Luke.)