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.
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hey brandon, I love the non-programmatic EV viewpoint. But I wanted to ask... steps 2 and 3 sound like the goal is to bring them back to Straightforward. I guess I can see the kids doing more things outside of the church. It sounds to me like you're talking about that, I guess I'd just be careful about communicating that, rather than the ultimate goal getting them into youth group. That may be a good thing but perhaps not the focus lest it still sound like invitational program oriented EV.
ReplyDeleteBut the 3 steps as themselves sound good. If you want to nuance thouse, I was thinking vulnerability and listening goes in there somewhere.
looks good to me.
ReplyDeletelike brett said, i love the point that you are making about evangelism not being about the program or the show. i think thats even a challenge for us as stuff. yeah, we want to have a "fun night", but our priority even more than that is to love every kid that walks through our doors.
for the application points, i really like the point you are making about evangelism being a continuous and not merely a one time act.
for the 2nd point, maybe make the extension to seek to love everyday, though even more so on friday night.
also, i think extending the series into september is fine. since it coincides with the beginning of school it'll give the kids an opportunity to really apply the steps particularly in their schools. hopefully with the series they'll be more amped up to do so.
Great points guys... I think I was a little too caught up in the evangelism implications for our ministry, and that came at the expense of applying it to the kids lives. I still think the focus of the message needs to be creating a more evangelistic Friday night atmosphere. But I'll try to make it clear that there's much more to sharing the gospel then that.
ReplyDeletesounds good. Friday night can always be a good time to EV. We can hit on the outside Friday Night stuff in future messages
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