Written by Ben Jack Designed by Message Creative The Message Trust 2016 Advance is an initiative of The Message Trust The Message Trust Lancaster House Harper Road, Sharston Manchester M22 4RG Registered Charity No. 1081467 message.org.uk/advance advance@message.org.uk Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.
FOREWORD 3 FOREWORD: MULTIPLYING A MOVEMENT ANDY HAWTHORNE FOUNDER & CEO, THE MESSAGE TRUST The Message Trust has always had a twin-track approach to community transformation salt and yeast ministry where small teams give themselves to working alongside broken people; and lamp on a stand stuff where bold proclamation to the masses is front and centre. I m convinced that it s at the intersection of these two things where the real action is. I think it s fair to say that up until a couple of years ago we, like so many ministries in the UK, were focusing much of our attention on the former and probably not enough on the latter. But during a retreat in May 2014, God really nailed me on this issue and I returned determined to do two things: to preach the gospel as boldly and bravely as ever, hence the Higher Tour, and to do everything I could to raise up a new generation of preaching evangelists, which is why we have launched Advance: The Message Evangelists Movement. I m no Paul but I was definitely inspired by his words to his protégé in 2 Timothy 1-2: You then my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. You can see through these verses that Paul understood the power of preaching and the truly explosive power if that gift could be multiplied. Like many of us there is a lot going on in my world but I m not sure there is anything with as much potential as this multiplying movement of preaching evangelists. Thanks for being a part of it and for being willing to pour yourself out on behalf of the least, last and lost. Let s go for it together!
[IMAGE] My one purpose in life is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ. I will never do anything as long as I live except preach the Gospel, and I intend to do that as long as God gives me breath. Billy Graham
INTRODUCTION 5 ADVANCE: THE MESSAGE EVANGELISTS MOVEMENT Are you called to be an evangelist? Are you passionate about preaching the good news of Jesus Christ? Do you believe that the time is right to put the lamp on a stand once again and take the gospel unashamedly to the nations? Advance: The Message Evangelists Movement exists to promote and develop the gift of the evangelist, prioritising the preaching of the gospel and the support of the preacher. OUR VISION Advance grew out of a vision from Andy Hawthorne in 2014 to gather twelve young preaching evangelists around himself, to develop and sharpen them. Having now begun to multiply around the UK and beyond, this network is ultimately a direct response to the need for passionate, unashamed communicators of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be equipped, encouraged and held accountable through regular group interaction and support. Through monthly meetings and an annual conference, the gathered evangelists receive teaching, sharpen each other through discussion, and share openly about where they are in their personal walk with Jesus. The evangelists in the groups send email and text updates about the opportunities and engagements they have to preach the gospel, and encourage each other with the fruit they see. The really exciting part of this initiative is that after one year in the group, each evangelist then finds another twelve evangelists who they will mentor in the same way. This is about evangelists developing evangelists, to see a huge increase around the UK (and beyond) in the number of preaching evangelists who will unashamedly put the lamp on a stand. Imagine the initial groups of twelve expanding over the coming years to become a mighty and numerous collective of evangelists who take the good news to the nations Something about that sounds familiar!
6 FIVE CORE ELEMENTS OF THE MOVEMENT REGULAR MEETING Monthly meetings and an annual conference that are made a diary priority by all in the group. SHARPENING Creating opportunity for healthy critique of each other s approach to evangelism and preaching. ACCOUNTABILITY Honest self-evaluation via feedback questionnaires and open sharing within the group time. COMMUNICATION Keeping each other up to date with preaching engagements, prayer requests and stories of salvation via email and/or group text messaging. MULTIPLICATION A commitment to multiplication with a view to taking on your own group (while continuing on in the one you are part of) within 12 to 24 months of your joining the movement. Eventually all members of the movement will both be in a group, and lead one. THE GROUPS It all started by Jesus calling a few men to follow him. This revealed immediately the direction his evangelistic strategy would take. His concern was not with programmes to reach the multitudes, but with [people] whom the multitudes would follow. Robert E. Coleman Advance groups are all about connecting with each other as evangelists called by God to encourage, equip and hold each other to account. It is Jesus own strategy to
INTRODUCTION 7 use people rather than programmes to reach the lost, and the groups are designed to see an increase in the sending of preaching evangelists into the world. To help you get up and running, here are ideas for the first four meetings of your group. Each session has been broken down into five sections designed to help you engage with your group, deepening and sharpening each other as you meet together. Feel free to treat these as a guide rather than a fixed method although we believe that the structure offered is a good model to follow. Some may want to stick closely to what is presented here, while others may have a good idea of what to do with their groups already. Either way, reading these group ideas will help you to see the intention and direction of where we hope the evangelist groups to journey through the first four months or so. USING THE SESSIONS For ease of use, we have broken each session into five sections: BACKGROUND A bit of background thinking to help you prepare for the the session. You may want to pull some of this directly into the group time, or you may just use this as inspiration for what you decide to build the session around. TEACHING Some ideas for sharpening your group based on a key scripture for the session. DISCUSSION Discussion points and questions you may want to explore with the group in this session. QUOTES A couple of key quotes from noted evangelists and theologians that may help to inspire and challenge the group. HOMEWORK Ideas for what to set as homework between sessions. This could include recommended reading, planning something for the following session, or critique and evaluation of some evangelistic content.
8 SUGGESTED GROUP SESSION STRUCTURE 5 minutes Set up session 30 minutes Catch up with group 50 minutes Teaching/discussion critique 30 minutes Accountability questions, feedback and prayer 5 minutes Closing information including date and time of next session This format provides sufficient time for the three main areas of the group to take place: sharpening through teaching and discussion, which will likely need the most time devoted to it; building fellowship and support through updating each other on recent activity/life and praying for each other; and accountability through the questionnaire sheet and feedback time. Ultimately you must decide session by session the most helpful format for your group. One month may be different to the next depending on the topic or aim of that particular meeting. Feel free to experiment, but do keep in mind the primary purposes of meeting as a group to sharpen, support and hold each other to account. When the time comes to explore multiplication, you will probably want to allow time to encourage the members of your group in setting up their own groups and give space for feedback about how their groups are progressing. A NOTE ABOUT ACCOUNTABILITY... As group leader you will set the tone for honesty and vulnerability through your own sharing. However, in larger groups and in those where there are new relationships, you may find that not everyone feels able to be fully open at first. We recommend that you encourage every member of your group to meet regularly (weekly if possible) as an informal triplet with two friends who they trust, asking one another: 1. How have you told other people about Jesus? 2. What joys and struggles have you faced with friends/family? 3. Is God saying anything to you about money, sex or power? 4. Have you balanced your time well? 5. Is there any anger or unforgiveness in your life? 6. Is there any addiction or lack of discipline in your life? 7. Have you been completely honest with all of the above?
SESSION GUIDE 9 SESSION ONE: CALLED TO EVANGELISM This first group meeting should be used as an opportunity to get to know each other, establish the framework for what the group will be, and begin a dialogue around the idea of what it means to be called to be an evangelist. BACKGROUND In the heyday of Billy Graham s ministry, Christian young people were inspired to follow the example of the great evangelist and become preachers of the good news. Over the last twenty years there has been a real shift in the aspirations of Christian young people. Where once the role of evangelist was seen as a pinnacle of Christian service, the more common aspirations from Christian young people today are perhaps to become a worship leader, youth worker or church pastor. The church has certainly benefitted from talented musicians, film-makers and other creative types using their gifts to facilitate others in personal and corporate worship, and God has been celebrated and glorified through the efforts of these faithful people. However, before somebody can become a true worshipper that is, a worshipper in spirit and truth (Jn 4:23) they must have heard and responded to the gospel. 1 Similarly, the role of pastor or teacher for an adult congregation or in a youth group setting is of course essential to discipleship and is not to be sidelined. But the pastor will have no congregation to look after if the seats become empty due to a lack of missional engagement and evangelism into the world. To bring people to a place of true worship we must first explain the gospel to them, and with that in mind may none of us shirk our responsibility to share the good news with the world, to be Christ s witnesses to all people in the power of the spirit (Acts 1:8). Yet while the Bible teaches that all believers are called to do the work of an evangelist (Matt 28:19; 2 Tim 4:5) there are those who are specifically called to be evangelists (Eph 4:11). For these people, the preaching of the gospel is not only about day-to-day witness, but is the primary focus of their lives, and the empowering of the Spirit and their personal gifting will align with this (Acts 2:40-41). 1 Paul received the gospel not through a sermon but through personal encounter with Jesus, a divine revelation. God may still use this process today, and indeed many Muslims who have converted to Christianity have accredited this to an encounter with Jesus in a dream. However, Paul himself is clear that unless God conducts such a miracle, people cannot believe unless they hear, and will not hear unless the good news is shared. (Rom 10:14-17.)
10 TEACHING Read the following passage and spend a little time discussing it together. What are the implications for our involvement in evangelism and preaching the gospel that you can draw from this? 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (NIV) In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. What does it mean to be called to be an evangelist? Aren t all believers to share the good news of Jesus Christ to the world? After all, Jesus great commission in Matthew 28 appears to be a blanket call to all of his followers to go into the world and make disciples. But then we come across a short passage in Ephesians 4 (v11-12) that highlights the position of evangelist as a specific role alongside that of pastor, teacher, prophet and apostle, which can be used to build the body of Christ. So what are we to make of the calling of the evangelist? Is it for everyone or for a specific few? We are all familiar with the famous verse in 2 Corinthians 5:17 about becoming a new creation through Christ, in fact I m sure many of us have quoted this verse as part of our gospel preaching on more than one occasion! However, we don t often go on to quote the rest of the passage Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (v17-20) How beautiful. God is in the business of reconciling fallen humanity back to himself and wants us to be the ambassadors of this remarkable message! This is not just for professional evangelists this is a call for all believers! This point must be stressed, no true believer in Christ is excused from this ministry of reconciliation. However,
SESSION GUIDE 11 how that might play out in the lives of individuals as they attempt to be faithful to this call to witness can be very different. Perhaps a sports analogy will help. In a football team every player is pursuing the aim of winning of the match. However, the strikers are those who are specifically tasked with scoring goals. This doesn t mean that other players can t and won t score from time to time, but the primary function of the striker in the team is to score. Likewise, in the church, we are all pursuing the restoring of God s kingdom, that all humanity would know Jesus as Lord. For this reason, we all have a role to play in witness and evangelism. But there are some who are specifically called to prioritise the preaching of the gospel, probably at the cost of most other pursuits. These preachers will also prioritise invitation and response the gospel will not only be explained, an opportunity to accept its truth will be clearly made. These are the evangelists (as Philip is identified in Acts 21:8.) If some of the following statements ring true about you then the calling of the evangelist could well be upon your life: You long to see the lost saved You are compelled to preach in season and out of season To persevere in the task no matter what hardships come upon you You will not compromise the integrity of the preached message, no matter what the itching ears of your audience may want you to say You are utterly single-minded in reaching the lost with this powerful, transformational, saving message of the gospel You have had words spoken over you about being an evangelist Spend some time praying together that God would make the call clear, and that opportunities to preach would follow the call, and that kingdom fruit would come from those opportunities. No matter the gifting or the calling, we must not lose sight of the reality that no man or woman has the power to save themselves or any other. We can only be the messengers; it is God who saves. As we discern our calling, and as we work out our witness and evangelism in the world, let us prioritise personal devotion through prayer, striving after lives of holiness and submission to the God who saves. Fill out accountability forms and feedback. Schedule the next meeting and pray to close.
12 DISCUSSION Make use of these through the session or all together in one section, whatever works best for your group. Is there a difference between witness and evangelism? How do you know you are called to be an evangelist? Do we need people in the church who are fully set apart for the ministry of evangelism? What may the calling of the evangelist mean for your life? Why is personal devotion and prayer essential? QUOTES Integrate these quotes as part of your teaching, or use them as discussion points if helpful. Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell. C.T. Studd He who is called to and set apart for the work of an evangelist is to devote his time and effort single-mindedly to this God-given task. He is not to be distracted by anything likely to deflect him from this. Persecution will not weaken his resolution. The persuasion of others will fall on deaf ears. Only the clear leading of God will cause him to change his ministry. Billy Graham HOMEWORK Spend some time reading up on the lives of some of the great evangelists such as Charles Spurgeon, DL Moody, William Booth, Billy Graham, Luis Palau. What do you notice about their lives that instantly resonates with them being known primarily as evangelists?
SESSION GUIDE 13 SESSION TWO: WHAT IS EVANGELISM? In this second group session we can start to unpack the concept of evangelism, and what it means to be an evangelist. Bear in mind that being only the second meeting, there may be new people in the group who couldn t attend the first session, and so a short reintroduction to the group vision might be helpful. BACKGROUND We explored the call to evangelism in the previous session, and a good place to start a broader discussion of evangelism itself is to remember that the call to evangelism is personal. Look at how Jesus calls Andrew and Peter to follow him at the start of Mark s gospel (1:16-18). He calls to the young fisherman from the shore and asks them to lay down their nets (their trade) and follow him, for he will teach them how to fish for people. Does God call you the same way today? Unless you share the same career path as the brothers to whom Jesus called, it is unlikely. Jesus called out to Andrew and Peter personally, using the fishing metaphor as the hook (no pun intended) with which to connect them to what he was saying. God calls each one of us to the evangelistic task personally, with a desire to use your gifting, to pique your interest, to help you connect the passions of your life and this world into an opportunity to make sense of who he is. Musicians, artists, scientists, nurses, business owners whatever the vocation or gifting God can use it to create opportunity to proclaim the good news of who he is, for that is exactly what evangelism is a proclamation of the good news. The goal of evangelism is to connect people to the good news about Jesus Christ. More fully though, it must be understood that the message of evangelism is a call to obedience; that we would turn from our rejection of God to an acceptance of his Lordship, recognising him as the rightful and worthy King of our lives. When we recognise that we are created for him, then we can understand what worship is, and experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Humanity can know wholeness when we turn our lives into living expressions of worship through obedience, sacrifice, faith and love (Gal 5:13-26). In Exodus 8:1, God instructs Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to Let my people go God desires to set the captives free and humanity is enslaved to sin. Like Moses, we are asked to go into the world and declare a message of freedom, there is no need to be enslaved any longer, God has made it possible for us to live in freedom through
14 Jesus and by the power of his spirit (Rom 8:2). The endgame of evangelism then is as it was for Moses and the people of Israel worship. Let my people go, so that they may worship me Exodus 8:1 TEACHING Read the following passage and open with a short discussion of how Paul views the task of evangelism. Acts 20: 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me the task of testifying to the good news of God s grace. Put simply, to evangelise means to proclaim good news. The good news in question is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that sinful humanity has been reconciled to God through the saving work of Jesus. We can know life eternal, perfect relationship with God because Jesus took the death we deserved. Look at the following two definitions of evangelism and discuss them as a group. What can we learn about the task of evangelism from these short sentences (some words emboldened for potential discussion points)? To evangelise is to present Christ Jesus to sinful people in order that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they may come to put their trust in God through him JI Packer 2 Evangelism is The proclamation of the historical, biblical Christ as Saviour and Lord, with a view to persuading people to come to him personally and so be reconciled to God Billy Graham 3 So evangelism involves a proclaimed message, a presentation of the risen Jesus, and an attempt at persuasion of the listener that the good news shared is to be received and accepted. But as essential as words are to evangelism, there must be more than just verbal communication going on. David Watson says that Unless there is a demonstration of the power of the Spirit, the proclamation of the gospel will be in vain. It will not be evangelism. 4 Indeed, 2 J.I. Packer s rewording of the 1918 Archbishop s Committee definition of evangelism found in Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, Nottingham: IVP, 1961, p 25. 3 Cited in The Work of an Evangelist, J. D. Douglas, ed., Minneapolis: Worldwide Publishers, 1984, p 5. 4 David Watson, I Believe in Evangelism (London: Hodder, 1976) p. 30.
SESSION GUIDE 15 evangelism is a spiritual activity that requires God to move in power for it to ever be effective. If evangelism was just about changing people s minds on an issue, we could rely on persuasion alone. But evangelism is about the salvation of souls through the bringing of the message (which the Spirit empowers us to do) whereupon the Spirit of God convicts, gifts faith to, and begins transformation in the heart of the hearer. Evangelism without God is not evangelism, just marketing. But we can be confident that any method of evangelism can work if God is in it. 5 Ultimately evangelism seeks to create disciples, worshippers who worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Of course if the message we preach is intended to move people from rejection of God to worship of him, we the message-bringers must be authentic worshippers ourselves. Worship and evangelism are two sides of the same coin our witness into the world is an act of worship (obedience and adoration to the king) designed to create more worshippers. To be authentic evangelists we must be authentic worshippers. What state is your personal worship life in? How does that shape you so that you are a messenger of integrity? Discuss. Retreat is often helpful in the busy lives that we live. That means getting away for some alone time with God, where the electronic devices are switched off and we disconnect from the world for a time so that God has our full attention. Look at the example of Jesus retreating from ministry in Mark 1:35-39 to spend alone time with his father. It directly affects the next steps of his ministry. This act of worship the sacrifice of time, or comforts like food by choosing to fast during these times equips us for service, and reveals the heart of the true evangelist, someone who knows that God must come first in all things. Fill out accountability forms and feedback. Schedule the next meeting and pray to close. DISCUSSION Make use of these through the session or all together in one section, whatever works best for your group. How would you define evangelism? What does it mean to proclaim the gospel? What is our role in evangelism and what is God s role in evangelism? What form should evangelism take? How do we ensure we are authentic evangelists and authentic worshippers? 5 A variation on a similar quotation from Leonard Ravenhill.
16 QUOTES Integrate these quotes as part of your teaching or use them as discussion points if helpful. If I thought I could win one more soul to the Lord by walking on my head and playing the tambourine with my toes, I d learn how! William Booth If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. Charles Spurgeon Evangelism is more than simply encouraging decisions for Christ. It is urging people to become disciples followers of Jesus Christ. As such, the evangelist has a responsibility to make growth in discipleship possible for those who come to faith under his ministry. Billy Graham HOMEWORK Both of the tasks below could be related to the call to take retreat time, with that being the perfect opportunity to do some reading and reflection. The reading of a short chapter on evangelism from one of the recommended reading books towards the rear of this booklet could be a useful exercise. You could ask the group to make some notes and bring one or two key things they learned from this chapter with them to discuss next time. Chapter 2, What is Evangelism in David Watson s brilliant (but sadly now out of print) I Believe in Evangelism is highly recommended for this task, as is J. I. Packer s discussion of evangelism in chapter 3 of his excellent book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. Set the challenge of coming up with a biblically sound definition of evangelism to bring to the group next week for discussion and critique. The recommended reading on evangelism may be helpful to this task.
If I thought I could win one more soul to the Lord by walking on my head and playing the tambourine with my toes, I d learn how! WILLIAM BOOTH
SESSION GUIDE 19 SESSION THREE: WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? Having talked through evangelism as the proclamation of the good news in the last session, we now make time to explore the gospel itself. What is the gospel? Do we have a sufficient understanding of the message we preach to communicate clearly to those who listen? BACKGROUND St Augustine famously wrote: O Lord, You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you. 6 The gospel moves people from despair, darkness, brokenness and hopelessness into light, joy, love, and hope. The gospel connects restless hearts to fulfilment in their Creator. Tragically though, many followers of Jesus in this world who appear to have lost confidence in the power of the gospel. They don t share the good news with the conviction that it has the power to save souls, to change lives and move this world from darkness to light. In Romans 1 Paul declares, I m not ashamed of the gospel, and with the world increasingly revealing itself to be a place of suffering, brokenness and despair, it is surely time for the church of Jesus Christ to stand tall once again on the promises of God found in his Word, that he is faithful and mighty to save (Isaiah 40:28-31; Romans 10:13), and to declare that we are not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). Perhaps part of the problem is that we have lost touch with what the gospel actually is how many Christians could actually articulate the gospel clearly to someone who has not heard the good news? In essence the gospel speaks into three important questions: WHO AM I? Everyone asks this question in some way. What is the meaning of life? Is there purpose? What is my identity? The answer is that you are a child of God, created and loved by him. 6 Augustine, Confessions, Book 1, Pt. I
20 WHO IS GOD? There are so many religions in the world, even if God exists how can we possibly know who he is and that we are worshipping the right one? God has made himself known through creation, through the Bible, through the experiences of Christians all over the world, and through the person of Jesus Christ. Who is God? He is the creator and sustainer of life, the king of the universe, a perfect and loving heavenly father who longs to bring a broken and rebellious humanity back into relationship with himself. WHO IS JESUS CHRIST? The most compelling figure in all of human history. Few historical scholars doubt that he existed, but who was he? A wise teacher? A con man? A mad man? Actually, he is who he says he is, the Saviour of the world who has made it possible through his life, death and resurrection for you to be called child of God and know true life and relationship with your father God for all eternity. Whilst these questions may be good (and natural) starting points for a dialogue about the gospel, they don t necessarily lead us to a fully sufficient understanding of what the gospel is. And so we must dig deeply into scripture to ensure that the questions above (and any quest for truth for that matter) is answerable with the full and powerful gospel of Jesus Christ, for the gospel is good news to be announced. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul shows how important he views this when he states that I decided while I was with you to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. And this is the heart of the gospel that God himself stepped into the mess of our world in the person of Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life, died upon a cross to take the death we deserved, and rose again three days later thus breaking the curse of death. Salvation and true life is found through faith in him alone. The sharing of this truth is not to bring about a change of mind in the person, but to bring about new life, a transformation that can only be achieved by God at work (2 Corinthians 5:17). TEACHING Read the following Bible passage and open with a short discussion of how much of the gospel someone needs to understand to be able to declare Jesus as Lord and receive salvation. Romans 10:9 & 13-15 If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
SESSION GUIDE 21 And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! From these verses in Romans we can quickly recognise that there is salvation for those who declare Jesus is Lord and trust that God raised him from the dead. We know that people can only hear this message if we are faithful to preach it, and that the good news is beautiful. But do we have a good enough understanding of what the good news really is to be able to share it simply and effectively to a contemporary audience? Much of this session can revolve primarily around the discussion of what the gospel is, using the following sections of this booklet as an anchor point for what we believe the gospel actually is. Advance: Gospel Doctrine (p. 35) This systematic layout of the gospel Advance: Gospel Narrative (p. 36) Broadly speaking the same gospel is presented here as in the more systematic approach, but here there is more emphasis on a narrative explanation that reads more like a story. These next two examples are to be used to critique a method of gospel presentation. Pick one (or both if you have time) and look at how the gospel is explained. What works well here and what is lacking? What might be the advantages to using these methods to explain the gospel, and what could be some of the problems? Advance: 10min Youth Gospel Talk Example (p. 33) The 4 Points Example (the4points.com) Frank Turek quite rightly points out that, What you win kids with, you win them to. If you win them with emotion, you win them to emotion 7 If our gospel messages are watered down, one dimensional attempts to appeal to the heart of the listener, we might see lots of hands up responding to the message, but what are they really responding to? The gospel message brings with it some incredibly challenging ideas. It calls us all sinners, that we are broken, despicable beings who are deserving of death. The good news is so good precisely because it is a response to a human condition that is so bad! People struggle with the idea of God judging us for our sin, of a loving 7 Frank Turek, Stealing from God (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2014) p. xxvi.
22 God that would send people to hell. The temptation is to play down these aspects of the gospel, or jettison them completely, but this won t do. The evangelist has a responsibility to explain the problem of sin (in an understandable way) so that the solution of the cross and the joy of the resurrection is understood for what it really is the undeserved grace of God given lovingly to his children, the only hope for humanity. Another area that is often missed out of contemporary gospel preaching is the idea that we are to die to ourselves, to take up our cross and follow Jesus with everything we have (Matthew 16:24). The call to the sacrificial life is often played down in favour of a God will make you happy message. Of course we want to make the gospel understandable and relatable for any audience, but as Matt Chandler says, The spiritual power in the gospel is denied when we augment or adjust the gospel into no gospel at all. When we doubt the message alone is the power of God for salvation we start adding or subtracting, trusting our own powers of persuasion or presentation. We must be clear on the gospel message, for the preaching of a deficient gospel will produce deficient Christians. 8 But preach it we must, for as Paul asks, how can they hear unless we do? Ultimately it is the Bible that provides for us our understanding of what the gospel really is, and helps us to make sense of our experiences of God. Prioritising daily Bible study is essential for every believer, but especially for those who are communicating truth from it on a regular basis. How can we claim to have revelation from scripture if we are not allowing it to feed our lives on a daily basis? Encourage every member of the group to start (if they don t already) a daily reading plan via YouVersion.com (or the YouVersion App or a similar Bible reading system) and spend some time praying into this together. The following blog post by RT Kendall may also make for a good discussion as he passionately encourages the church to get back to basic Bible study: rtkendallministries.com/how-much-do-you-read-your-bible Fill out accountability forms and feedback. Schedule the next meeting and pray to close. DISCUSSION Make use of these through the session or all together in one section, whatever works best for your group. What is the gospel? 8 See John Wimber, Power Evangelism (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1992) p. 28.
SESSION GUIDE 23 What are some of the problems we can encounter when trying to frame the gospel for a contemporary audience? What are the challenges of preaching the gospel today? How can we explain the gospel simply to those who listen? Why is the Bible so essential to the preaching of the gospel? QUOTES Integrate these quotes as part of your teaching or use them as discussion points if helpful. If we are offended that sin can lead to so much death and destruction, then we should hate sin! Hate sin! is perhaps the biggest lesson of this life. Hate sin! One sin killed us all. Let s learn from that. The trouble is that we humans rarely hate sin (at least our own sin anyway) until it affects us adversely. Because we don t hate sin, God s punishment for sin seems terribly severe. Clay Jones The gospel is the lifeblood of Christianity, and it provides the foundation for countering culture. For when we truly believe the gospel, we begin to realise that the gospel not only compels Christians to confront social issues in the culture around us. The gospel actually creates confrontation with the culture around and within us. David Platt Jesus never concealed the fact that his religion included a demand as well as an offer. Indeed, the demand was as total as the offer was free. If he offered men his salvation, he also demanded their submission The message of Jesus was very different. He never lowered his standards or modified his conditions to make his call more readily acceptable. He asked his first disciples, and he has asked every disciple since, to give him their thoughtful and total commitment. Nothing less than this will do. John Stott HOMEWORK This task can tie into the call for a stronger personal engagement with Bible study. These gospel presentations must include scriptural support for every point being made. Using the material about the gospel in this booklet and your Bible, produce a 3 to 5 point explanation of the gospel (with supporting Bible verses) that you can explain to the group. These will then be critiqued for both the theological sufficiency of the gospel being presented, and the effectiveness of the method of communication and explanation.
SESSION GUIDE 25 SESSION FOUR: WHY PREACH? How important is preaching to the task of evangelism? This session is an opportunity to explore the theme biblically and encourage each other in the development and sharpening of our communication and preaching skill. BACKGROUND According to tradition, St Francis of Assisi once said, Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words. This has been a popular and widely used quote in recent years to illustrate the importance of living out the gospel. There are two problems here though. Firstly, the quote is not actually found in any of St Francis works. He may never have actually said it! Secondly, it just doesn t hold up as a statement. Whilst the underlying implication of the need to live out the gospel reality in our lives is undeniably important, the preaching of the gospel is by very definition a word-based process. I have heard the sentence reframed more helpfully as: Preach the gospel at all times, and because it is necessary use words. Indeed, the words preach and proclaim carry with them an inseparable link to the spoken word, a verbal declaration. After all, you may live the perfect gospel life, but if you never actually articulate the hope you have in Jesus, then how will the world know that the reason for your powerful life witness finds its truth in the reality of the risen king Jesus? To remain silent and let others interpret our actions is wrong; God himself did not do this. The pivotal points of God s redemptive action in history are accompanied with verbal revelation. Will Metzger 9 Preaching was crucial to the spread of the gospel as recorded in the New Testament (Acts 2:14), yet there are some today who think that preaching is old-fashioned and no longer the best way to communicate the gospel to this generation. While we will surely want to be creative with our preaching and engaging with our communication and even explore other avenues of communicating our message such as filmmaking or songwriting, where appropriate and helpful the Bible compels us to keep preaching as a central element of the task of sharing the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:21; 2 Timothy 4:1-2). 9 Will Metzger, Tell the Truth (Downers Grove: IUP, 2012) p. 52.
26 For the evangelist, the preaching of the gospel is central to the task to which they have been called. This preaching must both explain the gospel of Jesus Christ in such a way that the listeners may come to an understanding of who Christ is, and also contain an invitation to act upon this revelation and follow Christ (Mark 1:17; Luke 9:23). TEACHING Read the following passage to set up the theme of the session. 1 Corinthians 2:2-5 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God s power. There s a lot of talk about proclamation in the Bible. 10 Here we find Paul using the term once again in reference to sharing the good news. For Paul, preaching is clearly important indeed he tells Timothy to keep preaching a priority (2 Timothy 4:1-2). Preaching is apparently favoured by God too, what other reason can we give to the fact that while the supernatural wonder of Pentecost was happening, it was through the preached word by Peter (in the power of the Spirit) that thousands came to faith that day. But preaching can be a challenge in this day and age, and there are many who don t believe that the preaching of the gospel is the best way for the world to receive the good news. Personal sharing, friendship evangelism, and social action projects have become popular ways to share faith in a less confrontational way. And yet there is power in the preached word, indeed, the very word we get evangelism from essentially means to proclaim the good news an inherently (although not exclusively) verbal activity. After all, if we never give an explanation, reason, or defence for the reason why we live the way we do or hold to the hope we have, how will anyone ever know the truth about Jesus (1 Peter 3:15)? So if we know that preaching is important to the task of being an evangelist, how can we make sure that our message is communicated clearly so that people understand 10 There are at least 33 Greek words in the New Testament usually translated as Preaching or Proclaiming Tim Keller, Preaching: Communicating Faith In An Age Of Skepticism, Hodder & Stoughton: London, 2015, p 1.
SESSION GUIDE 27 and have an opportunity to respond to what they have heard? Discuss this question together in the group. Knowing our audience is important, as it helps us think carefully about illustrations and connection points that may help them both engage with what we are sharing, and understand it. If I m preaching the gospel to a group of teenagers, I may present the gospel differently than if I am sharing to a group of elderly people. The gospel itself doesn t change of course and so it is essential that we have a good grasp on what we are preaching, but the way we articulate it, the illustrations we use, the cultural references we employ, can be tailored for the audience in front of us. What we preach does not change, but how we preach likely will depending on who we are trying to reach. This is why preparation is so important to the evangelist. If we just rely on the same old gospel talk every time we get up to preach, we are likely to become stale and lazy preachers. We should approach our preparation prayerfully first and foremost, asking God to speak through us and give us the words to say. Alongside this, we should then be preparing talks that take into consideration the audiences that will receive them. Discuss these five tips for preaching the gospel and think of some examples in our own ministry that may help to bring these ideas into focus We should preach: Simply. Clarity is essential in communication and this often comes through simple explanation, but to explain simply we must first have a deep understanding ourselves. Boldly. We do this in the power of the Holy Spirit and preach in his strength and conviction. Uniquely. Christ must be presented as unique before all others, and remain central in our preaching. Lovingly. We are not winning people to our own ideas and wisdom, but to the singular reality of Jesus Christ. We therefore preach with humility, giving respect to the one we share about (God), and with compassion for those we share with (his children). Personally. We can combine the truth of what the gospel is with the reality of its impact in our own lives, building bridges to the listener and their situation. Optimistically. We believe the gospel we share has the power to save and that there is every possibility the person who hears the message will come to faith by God s grace. Evangelists must be optimists in this regard. As helpful as these tips may be to the practice of preaching, once again it is important to be reminded that no amount of skilful articulation will actually bring someone into the kingdom of God in and of itself.
28 It is one thing to learn the technique and mechanics of preaching, it is quite another to preach a sermon which will draw back the veil and make the barriers fall that hide the face of God. David Watson 11 Returning to Paul s first letter to the Corinthians, we finish by reflecting upon the idea that our preaching must be a gateway for the Spirit to move in power. Whilst it is important to think carefully about how we communicate the gospel, ultimately we are looking for God to take our spoken words and turn them into something miraculous in the life of the listener to turn them into life. Spend some time praying over each other and the preaching ministry we are called to. Fill out accountability forms and feedback. Schedule the next meeting and pray to close. DISCUSSION Make use of these through the session or all together in one section, whatever works best for your group. Is preaching still relevant today? How can we stay sharp as preachers? What are your strengths and weaknesses as a preacher/communicator? What other methods of communication may help in the sharing of the gospel? How do you prepare for a talk? QUOTES Integrate these quotes as part of your teaching or use them as discussion points if helpful. The problem which confronts us as we approach modern man today is not how we are to change Christian teaching in order to make it more palatable, for to that would mean throwing away any chance of giving the real answer to man in despair; rather it is only a problem of how we may communicate the gospel so that it is understood. Francis Schaeffer The difference between good preaching and great preaching lies mainly in the work of the Holy Spirit We should do the work it takes to make our communication good and leave it up to God how and how often he makes it great for the listener. Tim Keller 11 Watson, Evangelism, p. 38.
SESSION GUIDE 29 Perhaps if we had more of that intense distress for souls that leads to tears, we should more frequently see the results we desire. Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of the hearts of those we are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts and our own feeble apprehension of the solemn reality of eternal things may be the true cause of our lack of success. Hudson Taylor HOMEWORK Find a suitable YouTube clip of a preacher or two that you think will be good for critique, both in style and content. Ask the group to watch the clip(s) between sessions, make notes, and discuss next time. Ask the group to look at the kerygma (Greek, literally a proclamation ) in the book of Acts. These eight speeches are known as such because they contain the core elements of kerygmatic preaching, generally accepted as listed here: The coming of Jesus Christ fulfils OT prophecy Jesus life, death, and resurrection accomplishes the forgiveness of sin The risen Christ is exalted at the right hand of God, and rules over all The Holy Spirit empowers believers to fulfil their destiny as image-bearers and signifies Christ s rule and reign The gospel demands a response of repentance and trust in Jesus, who will one day return to bring this age to an end (some include the return of Christ as a separate point in its own right) What can we learn from these early examples of gospel preaching? PETER Acts 2:14-39 Acts 3:12-26 Acts 4:8-12 Acts 5:29-32 Acts 10:34-43 STEPHEN Acts 7:2-53 PAUL Acts 13:16-42 Acts 17:22-31
Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever. TIM KELLER
RESOURCES 31 MORE SESSION IDEAS Preaching Critique It is helpful to watch other preachers and critique their technique and content to help refine our own. A session spent looking at preaching clips on YouTube or listening to some podcast clips could be very beneficial to the development of communication skills within the group. You may even want to critique each other s talks if you have access to some. Calling for Response Preaching the gospel should include and invitation to respond. But how should this be done? An exploration of this topic will no doubt be helpful to those in the group as we seek to lead response times that produce authentic responses to the preached gospel. Apologetics Apologetics is a tool for evangelism. Simply put, apologetics is a defence of the faith, providing answers to the questions and objections that people may have to Christianity and faith in Christ. A session or two exploring hot topic issues that often come up in Q&A sessions and personal interactions could be hugely beneficial to the group. Sharing the Gospel in School If the opportunity to present in the school environment arises, how can we make the most of it without overstepping our boundaries and ruining relationship with the school? A session exploring peoples experience of schools ministry, with discussion around what should and shouldn t be done in the school environment may be helpful. EVANGELISTIC RESOURCES These will also be useful for critique about gospel content and method the4points.com The 4 Points theaaapass.com The AAA Pass makejesusknown.com/itruth itruth App cvm.org.uk CVM (evangelism to men) talkingjesus.org research around evangelism and personal witness in the UK