hey guys,
here's the tentative outline for this Friday.
Focus: It is our identity and purpose to be the salt and light of the world
Function: To encourage the youth to be bold in their evangelism, specifically to go out and be involved and chase away darkness
Scripture is Matthew 5.13-17
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Mt 5:13-16
The idea is that salt and light are in the world. Evangelism takes relationship and being outside the church walls. There they can let their light shine for God whether or not we get people into church
1. Salt of the Earth
a. Purpose of the Christian life
b. Making the world a saltier place
i. Called to be different
c. Salt goes out
i. Saltiness works better over time and effort
ii. Steak and marinate
d. Invests and spends time with
e. Acts church
2. Light
a. Inviting people with hope
b. Light Destroying the darkness
c. Essenes
d. Hiding light vs light that goes out
i. Hide and Go seek in the dark
e. Philip
f. These are our identities. God gave us these identities and God is with us. We can’t fail. Therefore be bold
3. Let your good deeds shine
4. Being bold in evangelism
a. Here at Friday Night
i. Inviting is good, we always want to welcome
ii. But even if not, we are called to be…
b. Out there
i. Spending time
ii. Being present
iii. Dark times and good times
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The Straightforward Commission
Hey guys... I kind of made a command decision today as I was preparing this message. The evangelism series will be 5 weeks, taking us in to the middle of September when we'll start the new NT series. This Friday's message will be something of an introduction, the following three messages will elaborate on three of the points I'll make in the intro. And the 5th will be a closing message.
My message for Friday introduces the idea that we, as a youth group, want to rethink evangelism in a sense. The main focus is that evangelism is relational, and I hope that the kids will take responsibility for their part as disciple makers.
I've actually transcripted most of this message, but here's an outline.
I. Our perceptions about youth evangelism: program based. A lot of students buy into the idea that their friends will like church if we have a "fun night." They want to bring friends when they're sure there will be good worship or a good speaker or something fun. The assumption is that the program will matter most to their nonChristian friends.
II. Scripture: John 2:23-25; John 6:60-66
These are two short passages revealing Jesus' understanding of the miraculous and spectacular. Faith based on the spectacle is shallow and fleeting. Faith has to be based on more than "the show"
III. Straightforward evangelism: Personal, relational, focused on students, not staff and programs.
I'll spend the better part of the night making this point. I'll touch on some examples of God using relationships to reach people. But the main point is that I truly believe that the strength of our group, the way God wants to use our ministry is through loving community we have. I believe that what attracts newcomers and nonbelievers is not the program we put together (although messages and worship and games still matter), but experiencing God's love through our people.
What's makes our group so great can be a powerful tool for evangelism.
IV. Application
I'll touch on three steps for Straightforward evangelism. This is a simple but hopefully effective process that I'd like our kids to implement. Feedback here would be helpful.
1. Live provocatively: evangelism is a continuous act, not a one time thing. It happens every day at school when kids make decisions and live life. By loving people and living differently, people should want to know what we're about.
2. Seek to love: evangelism continues every Friday night. Every person who walks in the door should feel welcomed and loved. That is the responsibility of everyone, students and staff. We do this well, but it could be better. Some kids still fall through the cracks.
3. Be bold: ultimately, nonbelievers will come because students bring them. We're not going to march out into Cerritos with flyers. Students must use their existing relationships to bring people into the community we have. This takes boldness and trust.
That's that. I'm stoked for this series.
My message for Friday introduces the idea that we, as a youth group, want to rethink evangelism in a sense. The main focus is that evangelism is relational, and I hope that the kids will take responsibility for their part as disciple makers.
I've actually transcripted most of this message, but here's an outline.
I. Our perceptions about youth evangelism: program based. A lot of students buy into the idea that their friends will like church if we have a "fun night." They want to bring friends when they're sure there will be good worship or a good speaker or something fun. The assumption is that the program will matter most to their nonChristian friends.
II. Scripture: John 2:23-25; John 6:60-66
These are two short passages revealing Jesus' understanding of the miraculous and spectacular. Faith based on the spectacle is shallow and fleeting. Faith has to be based on more than "the show"
III. Straightforward evangelism: Personal, relational, focused on students, not staff and programs.
I'll spend the better part of the night making this point. I'll touch on some examples of God using relationships to reach people. But the main point is that I truly believe that the strength of our group, the way God wants to use our ministry is through loving community we have. I believe that what attracts newcomers and nonbelievers is not the program we put together (although messages and worship and games still matter), but experiencing God's love through our people.
What's makes our group so great can be a powerful tool for evangelism.
IV. Application
I'll touch on three steps for Straightforward evangelism. This is a simple but hopefully effective process that I'd like our kids to implement. Feedback here would be helpful.
1. Live provocatively: evangelism is a continuous act, not a one time thing. It happens every day at school when kids make decisions and live life. By loving people and living differently, people should want to know what we're about.
2. Seek to love: evangelism continues every Friday night. Every person who walks in the door should feel welcomed and loved. That is the responsibility of everyone, students and staff. We do this well, but it could be better. Some kids still fall through the cracks.
3. Be bold: ultimately, nonbelievers will come because students bring them. We're not going to march out into Cerritos with flyers. Students must use their existing relationships to bring people into the community we have. This takes boldness and trust.
That's that. I'm stoked for this series.
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