This was my last Sunday School teaching. I love to teach, because I learn so much in preparation, and so much in the interaction with the class members. In fact, it may be my favorite part of Christian Discipleship.
It fell upon me to teach this week's lesson on evangelism. I do NOT have the gift of evangelism, and statistically speaking, it is likely that neither do you. There are roughly 16 fgifts listed in the Bible, depending on how you count, and evangelism is only ONE of the gifts. Most people have more than one gift, but all the gifts are valuable. Evnagelism is just one, and nothing special.
You may find that surprising, because we hear more about evangelism than any other gift. This is because many, many of the "up front" people in church do have the gift of evangelism. And, even among Christians, most of us want everyone else to do whatever it is WE are doing.
Matt 28:19-20 is what I call the GREATly misunderstood COMMISSION. The call is to go and make Disciples, not converts. Someone pointed out that you cannot be a disciple without being a convert, but others have pointed to numerous cases where people began as disciples, then became converts.
About 5 min into the class I showed a David Platt video (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152670292400175&set=o.512102468842671&type=2&theater)
It's less than 4 minutes long, so take a look, it's 4 min well spent.
In a recent interview with some misisonaries in a foreign country, they said it was "illegeal to proselytize" but people are happy to talk about Jesus.
Why don't we all do that more. Talk less about religion and more about Jesus. Call people NOT just to pray a prayer, but more importantly to follow the Christ.
Let's give it a try!
It fell upon me to teach this week's lesson on evangelism. I do NOT have the gift of evangelism, and statistically speaking, it is likely that neither do you. There are roughly 16 fgifts listed in the Bible, depending on how you count, and evangelism is only ONE of the gifts. Most people have more than one gift, but all the gifts are valuable. Evnagelism is just one, and nothing special.
You may find that surprising, because we hear more about evangelism than any other gift. This is because many, many of the "up front" people in church do have the gift of evangelism. And, even among Christians, most of us want everyone else to do whatever it is WE are doing.
Matt 28:19-20 is what I call the GREATly misunderstood COMMISSION. The call is to go and make Disciples, not converts. Someone pointed out that you cannot be a disciple without being a convert, but others have pointed to numerous cases where people began as disciples, then became converts.
About 5 min into the class I showed a David Platt video (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152670292400175&set=o.512102468842671&type=2&theater)
It's less than 4 minutes long, so take a look, it's 4 min well spent.
In a recent interview with some misisonaries in a foreign country, they said it was "illegeal to proselytize" but people are happy to talk about Jesus.
Why don't we all do that more. Talk less about religion and more about Jesus. Call people NOT just to pray a prayer, but more importantly to follow the Christ.
Let's give it a try!
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