Humanity strives for connectivity. Consider the innovations we have made in just the last 250 years: the postal service, telegraph, trans-continental railroad, telephones, flight, the interstate highway system, satellites, the internet, social media, and instant language translation. All these things connect us together, but not at the soul level. Continue reading The Integration of Life
Category Archives: evangelism
The Investment of Jesus
Images of investors in the United States have not always been positive. Our history contains robber barons to modern patent trolls. Investment is thought of as a selfish act, speculation in order to make a profit like a Ferengi following the Rules of Acquisition. Jesus worked counter-culturally in his investment. Continue reading The Investment of Jesus
The Immigration of God
I found it difficult to find a fitting graphic for this post, as the faces of immigration have constantly changed over time and place. Immigration may be forced or voluntary, driven by need or opportunity, labeled legal or illegal. Immigration is full of positive and negative connotations and politics beyond the simple definition of the word. Yet regardless of one’s views on immigration, one individual’s move changed the world more than any whole people group’s migration affected the world, a country, or geography. Continue reading The Immigration of God
Evangelistic Memory Devices
No, I am not talking about smartphone apps, although there are a few available. Many people have come up with acrostics to help us clearly present the good news of Jesus. Just think of these as post it notes to aid memory. Here are a couple I found. Continue reading Evangelistic Memory Devices
Culture Influenced Christianity part 2: Individualism
The Bible speaks both of salvation and judgement coming to groups of people, such as the people of God, as well as the reward or judgement of the individual. Various traditions tend to emphasize one over the other. Cyprian of Carthage’s phrase extra Ecclesiam nulla salus “outside the church there is no salvation” reflects strongly in the Roman Catholic tradition, among others. The Wesleyan-Arminian holds that the Church is chosen in Jesus,1 yet as part of Evangelicalism in the United State we are also influenced by the teaching of individual election by God. A biblical case may be made for either position, with ramifications throughout our doctrine of salvation, but in my opinion, the flow of Scripture does not move from corporate to individual accountability and salvation, but both threads move throughout. Continue reading Culture Influenced Christianity part 2: Individualism
The Sacraments as Means of Grace part 1: The Lord’s Supper
A high school student I knew had recently placed faith in Jesus Christ as his savior, and in addition to attending youth group and Sunday church himself, began bringing his younger brother (very Andrew and Simon like (John 1:41)). The second time the younger brother came to church happened to be the first Sunday of the month, when we served the Lord’s Table, and I noticed that he took and consumed the bread and juice, just as everyone else.
After church, as we hung out in my living room, I said this to him. “You’re not in trouble or anything, but I was just wondering something. At church, when they passed around the bread and juice, did you understand what that meant or were you just following what everyone else did?” He replied that he just thought that’s what he was supposed to do, so I asked him if he would like to know what it meant, and he did want to know. Continue reading The Sacraments as Means of Grace part 1: The Lord’s Supper
The Bridge Illustration
The bridge illustration is an effective way of sharing the gospel with either a child or an adult. It gives a visual aide to complement the verses and concepts that are being discussed. If two people were in a restaurant, for example, the illustration could be drawn upon a paper napkin, along with the verse references, and given to the person with whom the message is being shared. If no paper is handy, the illustration can be easily described, or two glasses and a butter knife, for the bridge, could be used for the same effect. This illustration is frequently used by Navpress in their books. It is fairly easy for one to draw out as it is spoken. Continue reading The Bridge Illustration
Avoiding Christianese
We should avoid the confusion of using our “Christian” or uncommon words in conversation. While great for writing and learning doctrine, we should not assume people even know the major stories of the Bible, let alone understand some of theology’s unique vocabulary. According to ChristianBook.com, the King James Version (KJV) reads at a 12th grade level, the New American Standard Bible (NASB) at an 11th grade level, and the New International Version (NIV) at the 7th-8th grade level. People can understand the Bible, and the Holy Spirit illumines the Scripture (I’m using Christianese there. I should have said, “the Holy Spirit helps people to understand the spiritual things in the Bible), but we should not make the process more difficult for someone by using words they may not have heard before. The apostle Paul wanted to proclaim Jesus as clearly as possible (1 Corinthians 14:19, Colossians 4:4).
The Disappearing Spot
This is more of an object lesson magic trick for young children up through Jr. High age. It requires some preparation. The needed items are:
- two large clear jars or containers
- a white handkerchief
- iodine
- sodium sulphite (which can be purchased where photography developing supplies are sold)
- water
Using the Wordless Book
This method of sharing the gospel was designed for children by Child Evangelism Fellowship , and they have an excellent explanation of how to use the wordless book or bracelet on their web site. They suggest starting with the gold page to emphasize God and His love. I learned it dark page first, so that is how I present it here. I have used this with youth as well, not because I thought they were childish, but because it is so easy to remember.
