Unmasking Evangelism: A Sermon Series With Discussion Groups for the Local Church to Explore Evangelism (original) (raw)

A Theology of Evangelism: The Heart of the Matter

To exaggerate and oversimplify, evangelism has been reduced to forms of social action among liberals and to manipulative schemes of conversion among conservatives. In the last decade, however, the beginnings of a vital conversation have become noticeable. The argument to be made is that evangelism needs to be construed as a polymorphous ministry aimed at initiating people into the kingdom of God. To accomplish this mill require not only proclamation of the gospel but also instruction in the faith.

NURTURING A LIFESTYLE OF EVANGELISM Nurturing A Lifestyle of Evangelism

It is every pastor's desire to have a congregation that understands the Great Commission and realizes that each one is responsible to live out this last command of Christ, thus living a life which constantly reaches out to the lost. However, such is not always the case. Even with proper instruction, there is usually a time where members even forget about evangelism! This paper is an attempt to design a learning environment for the women of the Tugbungan Alliance Church (TAC), which hopes to impress upon its learners that evangelism is not just a response to a seminar, nor is it a week-long or a month-long event for the church, but a lifestyle. To accomplish this endeavor, authentic assessment methods will be utilized. As such, desired learning outcomes would be measured through real-life situations where learners' understanding and skills will be applied. 1 However, it is to be understood that these alone do not guarantee success. First and foremost, there is that need to acknowledge the role of the Holy Spirit in this undertaking, knowing that without Him, our efforts are for naught. Second, this being authentic assessment processed, brings with it that underlying implication that this is an ongoing practice which need the intentional engagement of both the facilitator(s) and the learners, where constant feedback is employed, measuring whether goals are met, and appropriating the needed changes along the way. 2 Limitations such as the different educational attainment, the variation of ages, as well as the Christian maturity of the learners have to be taken into consideration. However, we hope to overcome this roadblock through the assessment methods that would be used.

Holistic Evangelism: Redeeming Works and Words

This study explores the current state of evangelism in the Christian church, particularly the relationship between gospel proclamations by word and proclamations by works. Biblical data, combined with scholarly research, affirms that works and words are both necessary in evangelism. Of particular importance to this research are the implications and ramifications of the popularized phrase, “preach always; use words if necessary” in the study and practice of evangelism.

Evangelism as an invitation to missional discipleship in the kingdom of God

Verbum et Ecclesia

Evangelism, for various reasons, is once again back on the agenda of the church and theology. As a result of negative experiences and practices of evangelism in the past, it is now necessary to rediscover evangelism in a post-Christendom context to enable the theological recovery of evangelism. This new understanding of evangelism can then contribute to the recovery of authentic practices in spreading the good news. To achieve this, evangelism must be rediscovered as essential to mission (participation in the missio Dei). Further to this, evangelism is rediscovered as an invitation to missional discipleship in the coming of the kingdom of God (missional discipleship as participation in the coming of the kingdom). This research was based on the starting point that evangelism takes place through an integrated missional congregation as the evangelist. This implies that evangelism is not an additional extra practice by a few members but an integral part of congregational ministry. Evang...

New Evangelization Practices? Devotional Prayer, Meetings, and Christian Service

Conscious of the disciplinary turn away from examining predominantly cognitive, belief, and rational factors to examining emotional, bodily, and ritual factors this research focused on what people were " doing " in relation to the New Evangelization (NE) and less on what they were saying. Consequently, three general categories of doings/activities are described that are associated with the NE. Although associated with the NE, can these doings actually be called NE practices per se? Or, is the NE retrospectively theologically legitimizing Catholic practices already in place? Focusing on " practices " , therefore, Rawls [1] raised not only the question, are there NE practices, but also the Durkheimian epistemological question of the relationship between enacted practices and beliefs/ideas. Although this is not the place to address the Durkheimian epistemological question, it was found that the NE was retrospectively legitimizing Catholic practices already in place rather than creating new practices. Moreover, this research has revealed over time that the NE in its initial stages (2005-2012) infused a more individualistic and emotional emphasis to the Catholic practices of devotional prayer and NE parish meetings to emphasize a more communal/ecclesial dimension in Christian service practices. Although further research is needed, it appears that Christian service/communal practices already in place are receiving the same fueling of emotional vigor that the more individualistically oriented practices of devotions and meetings received from the theology of the NE.

Increasing Evangelistic Efforts Through the Practice of Spiritual Disciplines at the Arlington Heights Church of Christ, Corpus Christi, Texas

2014

INCREASING EVANGELISTIC EFFORTS THROUGH THE PRACTICE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES AT THE ARLINGTON HEIGHTS CHURCH OF CHRIST, CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS David Bruce Srygley, D. Ed. Min The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014 Faculty Supervisor: Dr. John David Trentham This project examines the relationship between spiritual disciplines and evangelism. Chapter 1 defines the historical, contextual and practical issues facing the Arlington Heights Church of Christ in regard to its spirituality and evangelism. Chapter 2 then presents an exegesis of five New Testament passages which show the expectation of spiritual growth and its relationship to evangelism. Chapter 3 reviews two important issues, the changing understanding of spiritual disciplines and the educational paradigm needed to teach them. Chapters 4 and 5 provide the results, analysis, and conclusions of this project. Throughout the course of this fifteen-week project participants were taught about the twelve classical spiritual ...