1 / 21

Journey to Faith

Journey to Faith. Evangelism as heartbeat not hiccough in the local rural church. Session 2: Heartbeat not Hiccough. The Aim. To help individual Christians and local churches recognise how they can make intentional evangelism an ongoing element of the life of their church

iwheeler
Download Presentation

Journey to Faith

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Journey to Faith Evangelism as heartbeat not hiccough in the local rural church Session 2: Heartbeat not Hiccough

  2. The Aim • To help individual Christians and local churches recognise how they can make intentional evangelism an ongoing element of the life of their church • To reflect on ways of including evangelism and witness as the heartbeat of the church’s life – not a bolt-on extra for extra-special people or occasions

  3. Outline for the Session • Steps in the Right Direction • Seasons & Cycles • Third Agents • Putting it all Together • Questions & Feedback • Concluding Liturgy

  4. Blessing Behaving Believing Belonging Befriending

  5. Ben – from little or no faith/knowledge of God to becoming a disciple of Jesus Ann– from vicarious faith to owned faith

  6. Two significant rural generalities • A familiarity with the church and the Christian faith • A lack of anonymity – hindering the embrace or exploration of faith

  7. Evangelization with Harmony & Rhythm While evangelism focused at a specific time may bring a sharper clarity, it is more in keeping with the nature of rural communities that faith sharing (evangelization) is ongoing in harmony with the rhythms of people’s lives, the seasons and the turning of the year, and the features and nature of the local community. (Laurence Singlehurst)

  8. Five I’s A way of intentional evangelism that offers people an opportunity to engage with the faith at various stages on that journey

  9. Five steps to faith offered by the church… Instruction Induction Invitation Introduction Involvement

  10. “Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. If you have the gift of speaking, preach God’s message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honour to God because of Jesus Christ … Amen.” (1 Peter 4:10-11)

  11. strategy Making plans, setting goals, reviewing progress AND serendipity Allowing room for the unexpected (the Holy Spirit?)

  12. Involvement Getting alongside people Working with all faiths and none Not hiding the faith but relaxed enough to allow it to shine out naturally Not getting stressed because you did not share Jesus Practical, hands on, caring

  13. Introduction Jesus or the Christian faith is purposefully introduced Parents and Toddlers begins with prayer and the clergy make a regular visit Coffee morning with leaflets/speaker Any questions event

  14. Invitation At an appropriate moment and in a sensitive manner people are given an invitation to respond to the call of God upon their lives. At the end of a series of sermons… At the end of a Christian nurture course… When the moment feels right by any individual

  15. Induction Finding an appropriate way of marking the step that has been taken in acceptance of Christ. This may be small or large Baptism or confirmation Rededication Prayer Laying on of hands Receiving a book Invitation to join a group

  16. Instruction Lifelong learning… Mentoring Confessor Spiritual director Discipleship course Cell group Home group Prayer group

  17. KEY: GREEN – the world’s view of the yearPurple - Church seasonsRed Blobs – opportunities for engagement CHRISTMAS  New school year – begin Alpha or other initiation courses  Back to Church Sunday & Harvest – STEWARDSHIP  All Saints / Remembrance – LEGACIES  Christmas – hospitality and welcome  “Welcome to St Wilberts” course – meet the local teams  Candlemas – just completed tax returns – another STEWARDSHIP opportunity  Lent courses – deepening discipleship AND/OR Alpha (if not done in Sept)  Easter – baptisms and confirmations  Church check-up time – are we effective?  Summer term – serving the community  Go to summer festivals – New Wine, Soul Survivor, Greenbelt Dec Jan SPRING TERM Epiphany Nov Feb Advent    AUTUMN TERM Lent   Oct Mar Yearly cycle of community engagement EASTER   Apr  Sep    Pentecost May Aug SUMMER HOLS Jul Jun SUMMER TERM

  18. Third agents Particularizing the Gospel when local sensibilities make it difficult to do so – a very rural specific! But only when evidence of the evangelistic heartbeat of the local church

  19. Putting it all Together 1 Look at your copy of the Rural Church Cycle In your groups of 4-5, discuss what things specific to your own church or community you might include in the yearly cycle Could some of these things be done in partnership with others? (Another local church or group? A ‘third agent’?)

  20. The Arthur Rank Centre (ARC) All sorts of material, resources & stories to help the rural church: www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk Journey To Faith. All the course materials are freely available at: www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/publications-and-resources/rural-evangelism

  21. Putting it all Together 2 EXPERIENCE STORIES CYCLES 1-year cycle: localised My personal story(Ben or Ann?) 5 aspects: Befriending 5 steps: Involvement Introduction Invitation Induction Instruction Our local or regional church story Belonging Believing The Jesus’ story Behaving God’s ‘Big Story’ Blessing

More Related