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THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH in North America is doing poorly. So it is that I’m going to steer this article toward our doing of Christian evangelism. Too often we of the faith are at a loss in this activity. For the most part, we are parked at the curb. Why are we getting dusty is the question? Check it out! In the media we often see TV evangelists doing horrible things to the meaning of Jesus’ gifts to the world and are often rightly rejected when offering their message. As well, many mainline denominations have stopped bringing people to Church so the authentic person of Jesus as the Christ of God becomes known. Instead, they twist the scriptures in order to lure certain factions within our civil population. These give a word of acceptance for the sinful and rubber stamp certain lifestyles that range far beyond what’s considered acceptable for the Church. Sadly, we know also that these problems for evangelism in our areas of the kingdom… also exist for the Church in other first world nations. Now.., before I crank the starter on this misfiring engine, please understand that evangelism in today’s world is often very misunderstood. |
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From Rust To Dust? |
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There is a difference between evangelism and being evangelical. The latter term has been formulated to describe the theology found in certain fundamentalist denominations. For me, however, being evangelical does not mean that I adhere to any denomination that carries that marquee. Being evangelical means to deliver that message of salvation with which we have been entrusted. You see, I go back to the original meaning of the word as it was used in the Greek language. Evangelism in Greek means to give witness…. to give voice in telling that Christian good news you have seen or heard. Now, to cover this topic thoroughly and relate my thoughts about the subject… we need to break the topic down a bit. For this reason, I am going to steer us along the road using an old writer’s method. I’m going to go over this in segments. This means that for a few future occasions these MotorSage wheels will spin into at least a few articles about this. First I want to hold up that according to scripture, the primary tasks given to the Church by Jesus were to preach, teach and baptize. Other things like being a champion of social justice are secondary for us, and are |
