What is evangelism? In one sense, evangelism is simply preaching the Gospel. That accurately pinpoints the responsibility of the preacher. But evangelism is not accomplished solely by a preacher with a message. Here is a fuller suggestion: Evangelism is co-operating with the Holy Spirit to help people take steps towards faith in Christ. That makes […]
What Is Evangelism? Read More »
Evangelism has been a preoccupation in many mainline denominations over the past twenty years or so. On one level, this may simply have been a panic reaction to declining numbers and the feeling that evangelism is one way to “get people back to church. My own church, the Anglican Church, was not untypical in proclaiming
Evangelism in the Augustine’s Confessions: Ancient Light on a Contemporary Subject Read More »
Moving toward Christian faith is seldom easy. There are intellectual, ethical and relational issues to be worked through, to name but three. Churches which seek to practice evangelism will try to offer help at every step for those who wish it. There are many such \”stepping stones\” churches can offer: classical music is one of
The Difficult Journey to Faith: How the Church can Provide Stepping Stones Read More »
Every year, the Diocese of Huron organizes a weekend of spiritual refreshment for those who spend 52 weeks of their year serving in their parish churches. Naturally, they call it \”The 53rd Weekend.\” In 2006, John Bowen, Director of the Institute of Evangelism, was the theme speaker. Here are the talks he gave. Listen Here
John Bowen Speaking at The Diocese of Huron\’s \”53rd Weekend\” Read More »
What do you think of garbage collectors? Or architects? Or farmers? Not whether they are nice or nasty (though that might be important): but what do you think of them theologically? The reason I ask is this: I find that in seminaries we do not always place a high value on the career theology students
Adam was a Gardener Read More »
A double strand The title of a book tells you a lot about where the author is coming from. There are two books I use in teaching evangelistic preaching which illustrate this very nicely. One is a book of essays entitled Mastering Contemporary Preaching. (Do you get the picture? Preaching is something which can be
A Tale of Two Williams: Willimon and Hybels, and the Nature of Christian Mission Read More »
Listen to the Audio: In 1959, C.S.Lewis wrote to BBC producer Lance Sieveking, who had apparently proposed that a movie be made of The Chronicles of Narnia. Here is part of Lewis’ response: I am absolutely opposed – adamant isn’t in it! – to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into
Are “The Chronicles of Narnia” an Evangelistic Text? Read More »
Christian discipleship is no picnic. There are picnics on the way, of course—and parties an festivals and celebrations and holidays. But discipleship is hard work, and Jesus wasn’t afraid to make that clear, even if it meant having fewer disciples. Now evangelism can be incredible joy, almost intoxicating—when you see a person responding to the
The High Price of Evangelism Read More »
The direct route is not always the best route. C.S.Lewis says, for example, that if we want joy, the worst thing we can do is go out looking for it, because we will never find it. If we want joy, we need to forget about it and simply get to work on whatever God has
An Unexpected Key to Evangelism Read More »
Students in my “Evangelism in Cultural Context” class went out into the neighborhood around the college a couple of weeks ago to talk to people about Christian faith. The questionnaire (put together the previous week) asked about: (a) people’s present spirituality (b) what they knew already about Christianity and (c) what might cause them to
Talking to Canadians: Some Surprising Findings Read More »