.png)
Thursday Night Ladies' Study via Zoom
Time: 6:45 – 8:30pm
New Study Starting March 5th
Topic: LOST CAUSE: Reviving Evangelism
Exponential +14
Description:
Jesus left the church the vision of a movement when he challenged us to reproduce from our own Jerusalem into “Judea, Samaria and the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) For us to see a movement we need every Christ follower to adopt Jesus personal mission to “seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) Evangelism is core to the mission of Jesus and essential to accomplishing his vision.
PROBLEM: Evangelism has become a taboo word. Doing evangelism is seen as culturally inappropriate. Even many Christians feel like evangelism is wrong. According to Barna Research “Nearly half of Millennial practicing Christians say it is wrong to evangelize (47%).” But at the same time Christians still recognize that evangelism was central to Jesus’ mission with “Two out of three Millennial practicing Christians believe being a witness about Jesus is part of their faith (65%)” – Barna Research. This confusion about evangelism has left the church with a lackluster approach to reaching the lost. This is also made obvious in the Barna Research that found, “More than half of Millennial practicing Christian’s report having two or fewer conversations about their faith with a non-Christian during the past year (56%).”
SOLUTION: If we are going to fulfill the vision of Jesus (Acts 1:8), we must be about the mission of Jesus (Luke 19:10) and that means we must revive evangelism. In doing so, we cannot go back to the approach of a previous generation that has sometimes treated people like a project or left them feeling like a group to be conquered or won. We must approach them with hospitality and as people, like us, who want to be heard and allowed to have their own spiritual journey. We must plant new churches that have cultures that prioritize evangelism by creating a safe place for people to belong before they believe. A church with a culture of evangelism will hold the Biblical values of evangelism, share the compelling narratives of evangelism, and live out the white-hot faith behaviors of an evangelistic church.