Blog - Future of evangelism 2

Ruth - How do we tell the Gospel message?

Incarnation:

As the Father sent me...

The Word became flesh

Living alongside people

Journey not arrival

2 ways of doing youthwork - Flatpack and mechano!
Flatpack is ready-made parts (the gospel), instructions (the way we do it) and the result is a ready-made Christian. Problem is that the results are more or less the same!
Mechano is ready-made parts (the gospel) put together in many different ways and the result can be different every time!

Do we continue doing what we have always done?

• Needs of people not of programmes

What are the needs of the young people? What do they want to know? What do they want to learn about?

• Talking a common language

Communicate in ways they understand. This does not mean necessarily changing how we speak, but what we say is important.

• Principles not packages

What we do is not as important as why!

• Reflection, evaluation and adapting

Make sure we keep checking what we are doing.

Gavin - Substance vs style
How would they do it? What if we said to the young people "Here you go, here's the resources. What would you do to reach the people of your generation?" Would your church accept it?

Problems for teens

1. Who gets to do everything?
2. How long do we have to be passive for?
3. Why is everyone old?
4. Why do we sing?
5. Why does it have to be at that time?

"Eldership doesn't have to be oldership"!
At a football match when you want to start a chant you shout as loud as you can and people just join in. At church when you want to start singing you wait for someone else to start! What if we did it like at a football match?
Why are all morning services at 10:30/11 and all evening services at 6:30? We don't all have to milk the cows any more do we?
Time for reflection and discussion:
Think about some evangelism you have been involved in with young people:

• What lessons could you draw from it's effectiveness or ineffectiveness?
• Are there principles you could apply in the moving forward with those young people?

(Feedback comments:

• Giving young people a chance to make a difference is a good way to boost their confidence
• We don't necessarily need to look for the effectiveness of our youth work because God sees what's going on and is in control. We just have to keep on loving them.)

Ruth - 

Gavin - Thing's that work are:

• Experimental
• Participative
• Image rich
• Connected

Examples include IKEA, X-factor and Starbucks.

How EPIC is your youth work? How EPIC is your outreach?
(Delegate comments:
"To be connected you need to be open with your programme"
"How can we give young people an experience of Jesus without manipulating them?")

Ruth - Recommended resources:

• "ASBO Jesus" by Jon Birch
• "Christianity Rediscovered" by Vincent Donovan
• "The art of connecting" by Youth For Christ

Gavin - We've got the greatest truth ever told!
The most EPIC leader we can find is Jesus.
Let's not lose evangelism from youth ministry!