What comes to your mind when you hear the word “evangelism”? For too long and for too many of us, we associate this biblical mandate with words like guilt, manipulation, scary, pressure, and failure. This, of course, is regrettable, since evangelism – sharing the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ – is meant to be both joyful and life giving.
For the next six Sundays (October 15 thru November 19), we will go on a journey that I am praying will transform our attitudes and actions with respect to evangelism. Where we have associated evangelism with guilt and failure, my prayer is that we will come to see possibilities and joy. Where we have thought of evangelism in terms of manipulation and pressure, my prayer is that we will come to experience evangelism as a vehicle for genuinely and sincerely blessing others.
This Sunday I will introduce what I’m calling our B.L.E.S.S. sermon series. B.L.E.S.S. stands for: Begin with Prayer, Listen with Care, Eat together, Serve with Love and Share your story. These five simple but life giving practices will encourage opportunities for us to naturally introduce people to Jesus. What could be better than that?!
Let’s all be open to how the Holy Spirit wants to banish our fears about evangelism and free us to bless others in ways that are life giving to others, and, as I’m sure we’ll discover, life giving to us as well. Now’s the time to B.L.E.S.S!
P.S: Don’t forget…. You are welcomed at “the Table” Wednesday nights from 6 to 7:15pm! Come to Fellowship Hall and enjoy a free taco supper! And, by all means, invite others to come with you!
Pastor Greg
