Facing Up to the Task of Evangelism
Lord Carey once said that Christianity is one generation away from extinction. As the leader of a brand new church plant, I find this idea that Christianity could die out on our watch completely unacceptable. Christ said that he will build his church and the gates of hell will not stand against it and that He loves to partner with us in His work. Since the mission of our church is to see the gospel said, disciples made and God’s name praised, it’s imperative that we engage in evangelism.
We started off by taking a raw and unflinching look at God’s view of our nation and of our human efforts to obtain salvation, focusing on Ezekiel 37. If we never see our nation how God sees it then our hearts will never be broken for it and if that is the case, we’ll never be moved to reach out to those who are in such desperate need.
Having tapped into a bit of Gods heart, we began to look at practical measures and techniques for evangelism. Let’s not kid ourselves, evangelism is frequently daunting and often downright terrifying! We looked at specific scenarios, issues and situations we often found to be difficult and shared personal stories and advice gathered from around fifty years collective experience! The Holy Spirit was tangible, speaking into our hearts, as we talked about missed opportunities and amazing examples of breakthrough.
By the end of the meeting a challenge had emerged: Don’t live satisfied by last month’s testimony of Gods provision and grace, keep seeking new reasons to praise him and new stories of his spirit breaking into impossible situations. We decided to include weekly encouragement sessions where we can share stories from the week to support, encourage and build each other up.
God is on the move in Manchester and we’re just blown away that He would choose to use us to do his work! All praise and glory to Jesus!
If you’d like to find out more information about us and to stay tuned of exciting updates for the city centre over the coming months, head to the CCM:City Centre page, contact Tom, like us on Facebook or come along to Costa at 7.30pm on a Tuesday evening.
We’d love to have you.