But I'm not an Evangelist

Popular Myths about Evangelism No 7: Charismatic Gifts are for use within the Body of Christ

2011-11-08T23:17:00.002Z

Another related myth is to say that the Gifts died out with the Apostles. Both statements would keep the use of Gifts of the Spirit out of Evangleism.

Isn't it funny how, when people quote the following scripture:

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Mark 16:15-16

They conveniently leave out what it goes on to say:

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Mark 16:15-18

And remember - it is widely accepted that this was added after Mark wrote his Gospel - after the days of the Apostles, in other words.

I believe as follows:

1. We should specifically seek the Lord for and pray for for the baptism/filling/empowering of the Holy Spirit for ourselves and others.

2. We should seek the power of the Holy Spirit in our evangelism before we go out to preach the gospel.

3. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for use in evangelism, not just building up the church.

4. When we preach the gospel we should expect ‘signs following’ to confirm our message
Healing and other signs are an aid to evangelism because, (i) They help people to see that the Gospel is the truth, (ii) They speed up God’s judgement on those who refuse to believe, (iii) They create natural opportunities for preaching the Gospel to people who who would otherwise not listen, (iv) They point to God’s nature as a merciful, gracious God, (v) They point to the present and future Kingdom of God in which healing, deliverance and wholeness prevail.

5. Evangelism with healing and signs results in a bigger harvest of souls, that is more people are saved.

6. As well as ‘positive’ signs, such as healing and deliverance, ‘negative’ signs such as blindness, illness and death sometimes occur to those who oppose the Gospel or fail to act in the fear of the Lord.

7. Those who have a ministry of healing, deliverance and signs invariably suffer persecution, particularly from religious people.

8. There are accounts throughout church history of signs used to accompany the preaching of the gospel.

9. True gifts can and do get counterfeited and misused. Those who exercise them can become proud and fall into the Devil’s condemnation. Or they can lose their first love, compromise to avoid persecution or become hard-hearted, religious or corrupted by power.

I write as somebody who was led to the Lord by someone from a Charismatic Brethren background (yes, I know that’s something of an oxymoron). I came to Christ with a repentant heart and I was prayed for very soon afterwards to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I had a very real experience of the Holy Spirit. My Christian upbringing has mostly been in or near to Charismatic or Pentecostal believers. And believe me, in that time I have seen my share of wacky stuff, been taught some weird things, heard plenty of false prophecies and seen plenty of people in Christian ministry whose lives are in poor shape spiritually and morally.

Early on in my Christian walk, I was affected the chaotic approach to teaching among some of the Christians around me. I soon had to resolve not to listen to every bit of advice I was given, but to weigh everything up against scripture. I sought out teachers who accepted spiritual gifts and who were strong in the scriptures, like Timothy Pain, Derek Prince and David Pawson.

In my time I have often ended up at odds with people, including leaders where I have felt that there has been compromise over scriptural truth because of convenience, the fear of men, sloppy interpretation of scripture, absence of church discipline, failure to take sin seriously, pursuit of the sensational and so on. It hasn’t always made church life easy for me and I have had to conclude that in spite of all the talk of revival, church growth and evangelism, the church in the UK is mostly in a pretty dreadful state.

I can add that I have learned a huge amount in recent years from people who are either cessationists or at least do not emphasise the miraculous.

I have more to write on this, and it is turning into a long post. I want to deal later with some of the popular objections to the assertions I have just made.

See you!

McM

Three Things that Blessed me This Summer No 3

2011-11-08T22:46:00.002Z

Another really successful outreach recently to the local Asian Community. Many of these people are genuinely hungry for God's word.

Three things blessed me this summer: No 2

2011-10-01T20:30:00.002+01:00

This one is a short post because I don't want to go into unnecessary detail and single anyone out.

More people are sharing the gospel in the open air. I am convinced of this from my own very limited observation. A tiny remnant, but the Lord uses these small numbers mightily! Let's pray as Jesus said we should.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest."

Matthew 9:35-38

Please watch this powerful DVD

2011-09-25T22:12:00.002+01:00

Thinking seriously about doing some form of distribution of this....

Three things blessed me this summer: No 1

2011-09-15T21:53:00.003+01:00

In the scheme of things they're quite small. But I'm not a 'big' person. Like David I have to say:

LORD, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me. (Psalm 131:1)

And we should not despise the day of small things. (Zechariah 4:10)

Anyway, the first thing was that we had a successful evangelism training day at our church. We spent the morning doing the training, doing some teaching, interactive stuff and showing some WoTM materials and witnessing clips. There were eight of us - all young people, nearly all under 30. Given how hard it is to get people preaching the Gospel, this is an excellent number - ours is not a big church, the Pastor was very supportive of what we were doing and I believe this was a key reason for the good response.

We all went into the town and struck up conversations with the people there. And everyone returned with broad smiles on their faces - including me!

The church leader who took part said we must do this again.

Praise the Lord for this.

Does Youth Ministry Work?

2011-07-18T00:23:00.003+01:00

Please watch this. It underlines much of what I have been saying on this blog.

Divided Trailer from NCFIC on Vimeo.

http://dividedthemovie.com/

Popular Myth Number 6: Apologetics - Debate - is the Key!

2011-05-23T23:11:00.003+01:00

Apologetics (from Greek απολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (usually religious) through the systematic use of reason.
From Wikipedia

Well, that’s reasonable isn’t it? There are scriptures that point to this:

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
Acts 17:16-17

Well, Paul was well educated wasn’t he?

Even Peter says something similar...

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
1Peter 3:15-16

There are some great Christian apologists around who debate against leading atheists. For example, I admire Josh McDowell.

So let’s get studying! Logic, psychology, archaeology, history, debating skills.... A Levels, Degree, MA, PhD... See you in 8 years, then we’ll get going...

Not quite! Can you argue somebody into the Kingdom?

I began to have difficulty with this view when I used to listen to a weekly local radio programme some years ago which discussed religion. The presenter had a mocking tone, and he was good at making nice religious people look foolish (something that is not really difficult), yet he had no shortage of people to come on the programme to talk about their faith. I was reminded of the scripture:

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
Matthew 7:6

The best way of explaining how I view apologetics is this. In military terms, it is hand to hand fighting. But in ancient warfare, an army would begin with the archers to fire arrows at the enemy first. Or the cannons. Then the foot soldiers went in - only after wreaking havoc on the opposition. In more modern times, the aircraft are sent in first to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure, and perhaps the tanks. Then in go the foot soldiers.

Before we start debating the gospel we need to fire in the cannon, the arrows, the missiles of God’s holy Law to devastate the enemy. Then we start the discussion. When we do that, many people don’t even get into debates. When we don’t do this, we end up spending pointless energy trying to win over minds when hearts are still hard.

When a tsunami occurred in South Asia in 2004, there was a lot of discussion in the media asking the question, “How can a God of love allow suffering?”. I got annoyed at this because nobody ever seemed to ask the question, “How can a God of holiness and righteousness bless us so much when we constantly sin against him, blaspheme his name and fail to thank him?”

The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a very lengthy article in the Times to explain why God allowed the tsunami. I couldn’t help contrasting this with the very short words of Jesus following a disaster in his day:

Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:4-5

There is a place for apologetics. But most people have a naturally hostile attitude towards the Lord and argument alone rarely wins people. We need to use the Law, and warn people concerning sin, righteousness and the judgement to come first.

David Wilkerson

2011-04-29T07:55:00.003+01:00

It has been reported that David Wilkerson, Author of 'The Cross and the Switchblade', founder of Teen Challenge, Pastor of the Times Square Church and scourge of false, shallow Christianity has died.

Here's a clip that I hope you find challenging.

Popular Myth No 5: We need to focus on our Youth!

2011-04-08T23:56:00.005+01:00

My doubts began some years ago when I heard a sincere Christian chap who worked in broadcasting describe how a large Anglican church in another city was getting hundreds of unchurched youth into its Saturday night Nine o’clock Service (NoS). The meetings were very high tech. They used music and dance in a creative way. He said he was moved to tears when he saw it. Many churches began to copy their model. Moved to tears? I was not sure. Is the investment in expensive sound and video equipment better than sending bibles to China or training pastors in Africa? Is making Christianity ‘cool’ the answer? Do the people who are into this still take a biblical line on the tough issues like divorce and remarriage, eternal judgement and and modest dress?

I got my answer a year or two later, when it turned out that the chap who headed up this ministry (his surname was ‘Brain’) was found to be sexually molesting some of the female dancers who took part in the NoS. The headlines in the Sunday papers were predictable. “Brainwashed!”. For Christians, it was embarrassing and humiliating.

But what about the more low-key stuff? A look in at the Christian jobs on the average website or magazine usually has lots of vacancies for Youth Workers. I don't doubt that there are many hard-working, dedicated, Godly, sincere and effective youth workers around. I am not here to criticise individuals. I want to ask a more profound question. Are we going about things the right way?

My next shock came more recently when I was preaching through Titus - a life changing experience. (I’m not kidding - this small letter has changed my views on how to ‘do church’ more than anything else). Paul gives a list of qualities Titus was to seek or nurture when discipling different groups within the church. First, the elders (blameless, the husband of one wife, faithful children not self-willed etc). Next, the older men (sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience). Thirdly, the older women (reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things...).

So what happens when he gets onto the young men? The young men! The future of the church!!!

“Exhort the young men to be sober-minded.” Titus 2:6.

And....? Is that it??? Why didn’t Paul give another lengthy list? I had to ask an important question. If Paul puts more emphasis on the leaders, the older men and women, why do our churches put so much emphasis on youth?

Since the 1950s, western churches have experienced a burgeoning of youth ministries like never before. Churches will spend huge amounts on youth ministry. Trips away, youth focused sermons, cool Christian music, high tech services. And yet this has coincided with a massive falling away of young people from Christ. The vast majority of kids from Christian families do not ‘make it’ into adulthood as Christians. Some American churches have already begun to realise that youth ministry is not working. Willow Creek abandoned its Axis youth ministry some years ago, finally putting the teens in with the other adults. It is also interesting to read what the Mars Hill church in Seattle says:

“Does this church even have a youth ministry?”

I hear this question all the time, from Mars Hill members, visitors, and people who have never set foot within our doors. And the short answer to the question is “no.” At least not what most people would consider a youth ministry.

What’s really being asked is “Does this church gather all its teenagers on Wednesday nights, have monthly lock-ins, go on summer mission trips to Mexico, and have attractional, flashy, and really expensive winter and summer retreats?” The answer is a gentle, but emphatic, “no.” Not anymore. Why? Three reasons:
1. Statistically, it isn’t working.
2. Discipleship as seen in Scripture is minimal.
3. The Holy Spirit told us to do otherwise.

Some churches in the US at least are beginning to realise something. So what’s going on here? Let me share some thoughts.

(1) The world segregates people by age, creating generation gaps, though nurseries, schools, universities, old peoples homes etc. This is causing great damage to society. I am beginning to believe that the church should avoid copying the world’s model by segregating age groups.

(2) God has set us in families. It is primarily the job of parents to teach their children, not the church youth leader. We ‘send’ our kids to school. We ‘send’ our young people to the youth group. By setting up youth ministries, churches need to make sure they are not tacitly telling parents, “Give them to us and relax. It’s our job to evangelise and teach your kids”.

(3) The term, “Teenager” was invented by marketing people in the 1950s. In God’s sight we are either men or women or children. Most primitive cultures have a ceremony for a boy becoming a man. Jewish boys become men at their Bar Mitsvah (son of the law). The equivalent Roman ceremony was called “Putting away childish things”. Western culture lacks such a ceremony... and it shows! In Britain, our towns and cities are full of big babies. Some of them are in their forties! We need to stop treating young people like babies and put them with mature people.

(4) Young people need to be challenged with the gospel like everybody else. That means taking responsibility as an adult, working hard, training in a skill, repenting of flirting and fornication, music with ungodly lyrics, wasting hours on things like facebook, endless DVDs and x-box or the television, stealing by downloading copyrighted music, idolising pop stars and sports stars, disrespecting elders and authority figures. And yes, it also means committing themselves to marriage and bringing up children in the nurture of the Lord.

(5) Look at what Jesus achieved with his youth group - the apostles! Let us put away childish things, stop pandering to their fleshly tastes and teach them to become fishers of men!

(6) Finally, I want to say this. The church needs paid EVANGELISTS. How often do you see an advertisement put up by a church for an evangelist? And why do the evangelists we do have struggle so much to get support?

(7) In case you didn’t read the previous point, I’m going to say it again. The church needs paid EVANGELISTS. How often do you see an advertisement put up by a church for an evangelist? And why do the evangelists we do have struggle so much to get support?

I like this song

2011-04-02T22:45:00.002+01:00

This is not an excuse for laziness! But it is a reminder that we do so much in our own strength and sometimes think it all depends on us.

I am a plodder, not as dynamic as I want to be. This song reminds me that it is the Spirit working through me, not my own cleverness that truly counts.

Enjoy!

What goes through my mind?

2011-04-02T21:55:00.003+01:00

Recently a teenage boy hanged himself on the seafront. On my fishing hole!!! My daughter knew someone who knew him. I have to do something. Anything! I’ve been critical of groups who use less effective methods of outreach, preaching a weak gospel. But who am I to talk? At least they’re doing something! What am I doing?

I’m out wandering on the seafront. What thoughts go through my head?

- I love being outside! Such a gorgeous evening!
- I’m scared! Why am I still nervous about sharing my faith?
- Lord, please use me!
- Even if I’m so paralysed by fear that can’t say anything, at least get them to accept a tract!
- Where is everybody?
- I wonder if I’ll see one of those foxes tonight.
- If the only thing I do tonight is put a tract in that phone box and pray for whoever picks it up, at least I’ve done something!
- What if I make a fool of myself?
- Lord, please make it a good conversation. Don’t let them tie me in knots! Build my confidence up.
- I’m doing so little. But at least this is something!
- Hey - there’s a bunch of people hanging around and chatting. Brilliant - I’m excited! And Gulp - I’m scared!
- “Hello folks!! Can I give you some of these? Here you are. Got a few minutes for a chat? Anyone here from a Christian background? What do you reckon happens to people when they die? What, everyone? What about Hitler? What about the Yorkshire Ripper?”

I end up chatting to a young lady, ‘Ellie’ about 22 years old who’s really nice, and quite moral. This nearly puts me off my stride. She even thinks she’s a good person and has only ever told ‘white lies’. Says she’s never stolen anything! I speak to her gently, but fairly loudly because a good few others are listening in. Her friend looks Asian. She tells other people to be quiet because she’s interested.

- More £million notes. Ellie eagerly takes a Chick booklet as well.
- How did I do? I paused at one of her questions and almost faltered at one point!
- I wasn’t as good as Tony Miano, or Kirk Cameron. I hope something came across well.
- At least they have something to read!
- Thank you Lord! Please pursue those youngsters with your Spirit!

Popular Myth No 4: Mercy Ministries are the Best Way to Reach People

2010-11-30T00:40:00.000Z

I fell for this one as well.

In the 1980s I was inspired by a nationally known evangelical speaker who challenged churches to get involved in their communities through a whole host of ‘good works’ ministries as a means of winning friends, changing hearts and showing unbelievers that Christians care and don’t just want to convert them.

And so it is that churches up and down the land are spending precious time, money, energy, skill, effort, blood, sweat, tears and toil doing good deeds for unbelievers. Lets call it Mercy Ministry.

Is this all wrong? No. There are schools, orphanages, drug rehabilitation centres, food distribution programmes, homeless shelters that are very much gospel centred, and people are coming to Christ as a result. Praise the Lord for this.

But there are also many that have long ago stopped preaching the gospel and they really are ineffective. Well-meaning Christians are working hard making sinners more comfortable, well fed, skilled and educated without turning them from their sins and eternal damnation.

Some Christian churches involve themselves in good works ministries for decades, who haven’t seen a single person saved through their efforts.

I want to suggest that these ministries are a waste of time if:

*We are neglecting our families
*We are neglecting our own brethren
*We are neglecting the gospel

These ministries particularly attract people who:

*Don’t really know how to share their faith, how to guide a conversation, how to articulate the gospel
*Don’t want to upset people and want everyone to like them
*Want to get state funding for their schemes

I have a lot of sympathy with the first of these groups - that was me! If it’s you, get onto the Way of the Master website and start learning from them and using their materials! Our primary calling in relation to unbelievers is to preach the gospel.

I have a couple of scriptures for the second category:

Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. Luke 6:26

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes with the holy angels. Mark 8:38

Some people are simply ashamed of Jesus’ words - and don’t want to use them!

We need to repent of being people pleasers! Trying to win people to Christ with good deeds but no words is a subtle form of bribery!

Let me quote from KP Yohannan’s book “Revolution in World Missions”, P.135.

Several years ago, 40 Indian villages, once considered Christian, turned back to Hinduism. Could it be that whole villages that had experienced the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ would turn back into the bondage of Satan?

No. These villages were called “Christian” only because they had been “converted” by missionaries who used hospitals, material goods and other incentives to attract them to Christianity... In missionary terms they were ‘rice Christians’. They never understood the true gospel of the Bible. After all the effort, these people were as lost as ever.

Thirdly, some Christian ministries get public funding for their activities. This often means that they have to ‘dumb down’ and not speak the gospel. I could give you a long list of Christian ministries that started out effective, but ended up losing their power by being ‘bought out’ when government agencies offered irresistibly large amounts of money.

Just so that you don’t think these are just my rantings, I am going to quote extensively from the book “Revolution in World Missions” by KP Yohannan. I cannot recommend this book too highly! He puts the point across more eloquently than I could. KP Yohannan is the founder and director of Gospel for Asia and every Christian leader should read this book! It can be obtained very cheaply from amazon. You can download a .pdf copy from the Gospel for asia website. I have been given permission by GFA to quote from the book.

You can tell the humanist gospel because it refuses to admit that the basic problem of humanity is not physical, but spiritual. The humanist won’t tell you sin is the root cause of all human suffering. The latest emphasis of the movement starts by arguing that we should operate mission outreach that provides “care for the whole man,” but it ends up providing help for only the body and soul—ignoring the spirit. Because of this teaching, many churches and mission societies now are redirecting their limited outreach funds and personnel away from evangelism to something vaguely called “social concern.” Today the majority of Christian missionaries find themselves primarily involved in feeding the hungry, caring for the sick through hospitals, housing the homeless or other kinds of relief and development work... This is done in the name of Jesus and supposedly is based on His command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. The mission of the Church, as defined by these humanists, can be almost anything except winning people to Christ and discipling them. History already has taught us that this gospel—without the blood of Christ, conversion and the cross—is a total failure. In China and India we have had seven generations of this teach- ing, brought to us by the British missionaries in a slightly different form in the middle of the 19th-century. My people have watched the English hospitals and schools come and go without any noticeable effect on either our churches or society.
P106-107

As much as we want to see hundreds and thousands of new missionaries go into all the dark places, if they don’t know what they are there to do, the result will be fatal. We must send soldiers into battle with the right weapons and understanding of the enemy’s tactics. If we intend to answer man’s greatest problem—his separation from the eternal God—with rice handouts, then we are throwing a drowning man a board instead of helping him out of the water. A spiritual battle fought with spiritual weapons will produce eternal victories. This is why we insist upon restoring a right balance to Gospel outreach. The accent must first and always be on evangelism and discipleship.
P 109

I met poor, often minimally educated, national brothers involved in Gospel work in pioneer areas. They had nothing material to offer the people to whom they preached—no agricultural training and no medical relief or school program. But hundreds of souls were saved, and in a few years, a number of churches were established. What were these brothers doing right to achieve such results, while the others with many more advantages had failed? The answer lies in our basic understanding of what mission work is all about. There is nothing wrong with charitable acts— but they are not to be confused with preaching the Gospel. Feeding programs can save a man dying from hunger. Medical aid can prolong life and fight disease. Housing projects can make this temporary life more comfortable—but only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can save a soul from a life of sin and an eternity in hell!
P 113

When God changes the heart and spirit, the physical changes also. If you want to meet the needs of the poor in this world, there is no better place to start than by preaching the Gospel. It has done more to lift up the downtrodden, the hungry and the needy than all the social programs ever imagined by secular humanists.
P114

Just before China was taken over by the communists, one communist officer made a revealing statement to a missionary, John Meadows: “You missionaries have been in China for over a hundred years, but you have not won China to your cause. You lament the fact that there are uncounted millions who have never heard the name of your God. Nor do they know anything of your Christianity. But we communists have been in China less than 10 years, and there is not a Chinese who does not know . . . has not heard the name of Stalin . . . or something of communism. . . . We have filled China with our doctrine. “Now let me tell you why you have failed and we have succeeded,” the officer continued. “You have tried to win the attention of masses by building churches, missions, mission hospitals, schools and what not. But we communists have printed our message and spread our literature all over China. Someday we will drive you missionaries out of our country, and we will do it by the means of the printed page.” Today, of course, John Meadows is out of China. The com- munists were true to their word. They won China and drove out the missionaries. Indeed, what missionaries failed to do in 100 years, the communists did in 10. One Christian leader said that if the Church had spent as much time on preaching the Gospel as it did on hospitals, orphanages, schools and rest homes— needful though they were—the Bamboo Curtain would never have existed.
P115

Jesus was compassionate to human beings as total persons. He did all He could to help them, but He never forgot the main purpose of His earthly mission: to reconcile men to God, to die for sinners and redeem their souls from hell. Jesus cared for the spiritual side of man first, then the body. This is illustrated clearly in Matthew 9:2–7 when He first for- gave the sins of the paralytic, then healed his body. In John 6:1–13, Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 hungry men plus women and children. He fed them after He preached, not before to attract their attention.
P135-136

The apostles did not fear to tell the beggar that “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee . . . ” (Acts 3:6). Then they preached the Gospel. I have had similar experiences all across India. I have yet to meet a person who was not willing to hear the wonderful news of Jesus because of his or her physical condition.
P136

Before the Throne of God Above

2010-11-26T23:57:00.000Z

Time for a musical interlude.

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Popular Myth No 3: My Kids will be good Evangelists at the Local State School

2010-11-25T06:49:00.000Z

Why are you sending your children to a secular state school?

Your local state secondary school:
-Will teach your child that evolution is a scientific fact
-Will show numerous videos to them, especially near the end of term, without consulting you over what they watch
-Will undermine what you teach them about sex, as something to be kept for a committed, heterosexual marriage
-Will teach ‘safe sex’ outside marriage rather than no sex outside marriage (known in scripture as fornication, which is a sin)
-Will advise on contraception rather than abstinence
-Will promote feminism, moral relativism, many other isms, but not Christianity
-Will teach that all religions are equally (in)valid

So why are you sending your child to unbelievers to educate them? If someone came to your church and did any of the above from the pulpit, would your pastor - or you - tolerate it? And yet you send your children to people who teach these things, when scripture says:

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4

Can we honestly look ourselves in the mirror and say we are doing this when we send them to a school that denies our faith?

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.”
Luke 17:1-3

Should we be repenting of causing our children to stumble by sending them to unbelievers? It is not enough even to be working closely with the school and talking to the teachers a lot. I speak as a one-time governor of a state school.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“ I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”

Therefore  
“ Come out from among them 
And be separate, says the Lord. 
Do not touch what is unclean, 
And I will receive you.” 
“ I will be a Father to you, 
And you shall be My sons and daughters, 
Says the LORD Almighty.”
2Corinthians 6:14-18

Two hours a week of Sunday school, church Youth Group, Youth Band or Boys’ Brigade will not be enough to counter what they are being taught - for 30 hours a week.

But won’t your Christian children be ‘salt and light’ - witnesses to their unbelieving friends and teachers? Don’t you believe it! When Jesus taught ‘You are the Salt of the Earth’, was he talking to children or adults? Children are simply not mature enough to discern truth from error. We should not be saddling them with this responsibility in their tender years.

The statistics bear this out.

A survey in the United States of children from evangelical Christian families found that 85% of the children lose their Christian worldview by the time they finish a State School education.

Kids with a Christian education kept their Christian worldview in 75% of cases.

And I used to wonder why so few kids of Christian parents make it through their teens.

When I was at University a long time ago, I was a member of the Christian Union. It struck me quite forcefully. Why are most of the Christian students privately educated? I have now learned why, and I wish I’d got the message earlier. State secondary schools destroy the faith of Christian kids. They have with mine.

We are left here with a choice. We can do one of the following:

Teach our children ourselves. Home education.

Hand our children over to someone we can trust to do this on our behalf. Perhaps a Christian school with a strong Biblical stance.

That’s the principle, what about the practice? Some may have to put up with the state system and ‘unteach’ their kids when they get home. This in itself is hard work. It will put many people in a dilemma, because it will cost large amounts of either time, energy, money, or both. It may mean focusing on the teenage, secondary school years when the onslaught is the greatest, moving house to be near a suitable school, setting up a home school co-operative, even starting a school. We may need to think creatively.

I freely want to confess, we fell into this trap. We sent our oldest two children to a local Comprehensive school with a good reputation. And we lost them. And now we are fighting to win their hearts back to ourselves, and the Lord. It was one of our biggest mistakes.

Let me ask you again. Why are you, a Christian, sending your kids to the school of secular humanism? It doesn’t even make sense. If you were a pacifist, would you send them to a military training college? Would you put them on a history degree course if you wanted them to be engineers? That would be perverse! But that’s what we’re doing by sending them to a secular humanist school!!!

Christianity has been all but decimated in a few generations in the UK and one of the main reasons is that the same thing has happened here as happened in Israel in the time of the Judges:

After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
Judges 2:10-15

The key here is that they forgot what the Lord had done for them because the older generation failed to hand over to the new generation by teaching them what the Lord had done for them. Let me tell you again, sunday school will not be enough.

Two reasons why you should give your children a Christian education.
(1) They will almost certainly do better academically. Performance statistics consistently confirm this. And we shouldn’t be surprised. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Those who go to Christian schools - and home educated kids - consistently outperform those who go to secular schools.

(2) More importantly, they are more likely to keep the faith.

Popular Myth No 2: Going to the front in a meeting makes you a Christian

2010-11-09T05:40:00.000Z

There is nothing new about holding large evangelistic meetings and appealing for a response. I understand that Charles Finney popularised the ‘altar call’ in the 19th Century. This was after ‘field preaching’ had brought many to Christ through the early Methodists. I want to give you a ‘before’ and ‘after’ scenario here, however.

In the early days, a preacher - such as DL Moody - would preach an evangelistic message. Then he would have an appeal to those who wanted to respond. A proportion of the congregation - perhaps 5% - would respond and they were ushered in to an inquiry room. Trained counsellors would then pray with and speak to enquirers, answering any questions they had as they sought God. The crucial thing to say here is that nobody was told they were saved because they had come to the front in a meeting. A person was not labeled as Christian or ‘born again’ until it could be clearly seen that they had:
- Victory over sin, and
- Assurance of salvation.

Relevant scriptures are as follows:

Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1Corinthians 6:9-10

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Romans 8:14-16

People were aware that this process could take some time - minutes, days, weeks, months or years. Evangelists were in no rush to claim lots of converts.

All of this changed in the early 20th century.

An American evangelist called Billy Sunday, after beginning with the conventional method, decided to dispense with the use of counsellors and began to proclaim that everyone who responded had been born again and was now a Christian. In failing to test his respondents and exaggerating the number of converts he made, he committed the sin of Ananias. Once Sunday had begun to do it, it was not long before others did too.

In professing faith following a meeting of this type, I have heard people quote the cliche,

“God says it, I believe it, that settles it”.

Does it settle anything?

It is hard to exaggerate the damage this has done to the church. We now live in an age where professing evangelical Christians, who have been told by others they are saved, can live utterly disobedient, self-centred lives. And yet they may be going to church, ministering in the Name of Christ yet bringing him utter disgrace.

More than ever before, we need to use discernment in the church. just because someone uses all the right language, it does not necessarily mean that they are saved! Paul said,

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.
2Corinthians 13:5-6

This is precisely what we need to do.

For more information, read the Christian Disneyland and How to Botch an Altar Call.

Popular Myth No 1: Friendship Evangelism

2010-11-01T18:59:00.000Z

They call me an introvert. I’m quiet, reflective, not the life and soul of the party, no good on a dancefloor. I make a small circle of friends.

My books and churches taught me this:

The key to evangelism is to make lots of non-Christian friends, spend time with them, earn your right to speak and invite them along to church activities, from barbecues to guest services, from Alpha courses to baptisms.

I had problems with this.

I'm an introvert!!! I make few friends.
I'm really busy!!! If I build friendships, I neglect my work, family etc.
I invite on average one person along every 5 years!!!
Actually, I want to share the gospel with people. It had a powerful effect on my life. But nobody's shown me how! When I open my mouth, it sounds weak and pathetic or too heavy.
Finally, making friends so that I could share the gospel later feels ‘creepy’ to me. I'm not really being buddies because I want to be with them. I'm just softening 'em up so that after a few hours/weeks/months I can invite them to church! It’s a bit like dating a girl and waiting till you’ve really got them hooked before you tell them you have a criminal record or are tens of thousands in debt or have some shameful habit!!!

Do we see any really solid models of ‘friendship evangelism’ in scripture? There are two passages that are commonly quoted by advocates of friendship evangelism.

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23

If this is Paul’s manifesto for friendship evangelism, a quick look at what he says just beforehand presents a challenge:

Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
2Corinthians 9:16

So... Paul’s first priority is to preach the Gospel. He is not spending hours, weeks or months priming people up to ‘earn the right’ to say something.

Secondly, this passage gets used:

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
1Thessalonians 2:8

Interesting that Paul again mentions sharing the gospel before he talks about sharing his life. But again, a look at the context is very significant. Look at Paul says just before this.

We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.
1Thessalonians 2:2-6

‘Nor are we trying to trick you’!!!! I told you I found ‘friendship evangelism’ creepy! I think Paul would have too.

On occasion, the Bible actually tells us not to make friends with certain people:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.
2Corinthians 6:14-16

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
Psalm 1:1

He who walks with the wise grows wise,   but a companion of fools suffers harm.
Proverbs 13:20

Do we just not bother with these people? Or do we go with them to pub crawls and nightclubs and trust that we won’t be drawn in to sin?

I’m going to say something that some people won’t like. In the Bible, there was no such thing as ‘friendship evangelism’ as it is defined today. The early Christians used what I will call proclamation evangelism. And that is what we are commanded to use!

The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere.
1Thessalonians 1:8

Photo: Aluche Park, Madrid. Better than an Alpha supper!

How effective is proclamation evangelism compared with friendship evangelism?

I have no scientific studies, but I would like to quote from a UK evangelist called Korky Davey, who is a big believer in ‘proclamation’ in the streets, in parks and in schools. I recommend his free e-book 'Biblical Patterns of Evangelism'

Experience in Spain and Portugal shows that it takes about 15-20 years to establish a fellowship of about 25 people when personal evangelism is the only method employed. Bill Wooten, a missionary in Portugal, told me that his reliance on personal evangelism had meant that building a relationship with a Portuguese family to the point where he could share the Gospel with them took about a year. Most of those he got to know ultimately proved not to be interested in the Gospel. The Operation Mobilisation strategy for Italy was for each of their families to evangelise one Italian family each year. On that basis it would take thousands of years to reach the population - yet for some extraordinary reason many of those involved in missions regard friendship evangelism as the only responsible and effective way to do the job. Many of them seem to be hung up on the idea that one needs to earn the right to speak. Fortunately the Apostles did not suffer from these sort of hang-ups and regarded the preaching of the Gospel as their prime function in every town.

He says the following about ‘proclamation’ evangelism...

Around about 800 people passed through our training programme over the last thirty years with the result that we have experience first hand in about 17 countries. In Albania, a very unlikely couple have over the last 15 years established 36 new fellowships across the south of the country with 9,000 converts - mainly through mobilising and training local evangelists. The potential is enormous, pretty well everywhere. Various other teams have successfully got similar ministry patterns going on the streets in Europe.

Photo: Vienna. Better than a guest service!

Conclusion. Don’t spend countless hours ‘befriending’ before you say anything. Learn how to proclaim the gospel early. Real friends are 'upfront' with people!!! Be 'upfront' with the Gospel. Like Jesus, the apostles and the most effective Christians throughout the ages.

Screwtape's Missing Letter

2010-10-25T23:34:00.000+01:00

I would have kept this to myself, but I want the Christian world to know this. I have unearthed the following letter. I am not at liberty to tell you where I got it from, my purpose here is only to pass on the contents (I have had to clean up the foul language).

Dear Wormwood

Hope the preparations for our Day are going well. Nice to see all those young idiots fooling themselves that dressing up as devils and witches is a bit of harmless fun. soon we’ll have millions of them bowing down to our Lord and Master. Keep working on those school teachers - remember, reaching the young through respected leaders is our top priority. I just hope those agents of the Enemy keep to themselves this year. They were relatively harmless with their 'alternative Halloween parties'. But just watch out for any who get serious about prayer or, worse still, those who give evil literature out at the doors.

Anyway. On to other stuff. And Wormwood. Get this. These are some of the most important words I am going to write to you, so don’t lose this letter!!! It caused a lot of damage when that bunch of letters got in to the hands of that Enemy agent in 1942.

You asked about enemy propaganda. What those filthy believers call evangelism. As you know, there is nothing I hate more than when the enemy gets serious about it. And a few of them are. I have quite a few diversion tactics to give you so that they stay as harmless as possible. Here are a few pointers.

-Convince each of them that evangelism is a ‘ministry’ like teaching or prophecy. And that it’s someone else's job

-Convince them that the extrovert types are the best evangelists. And keep the extroverts badly informed.

-Convince them that their kids will be great evangelists at school. Then get them to our best schools where we can really get some control over them!

-Divert them into what they call 'social action'. Then keep their mouths shut!

-Keep the office of Evangelist off the agenda, as we have successfully for years. Church workers - poorly trained ones - are pretty harmless. Keep them diverted into pointless, time-consuming and expensive activities to make them think they're being useful. And above all, keep their mouths shut!

-If they get really keen on spreading their filthy propaganda, keep them inside their buildings! Do everything you can to keep them off our streets. We’ve got almost total control over our towns and cities now. Don’t let the enemy spoil it.

-Finally, if they really must must speak, keep them on safe stuff. Harmless

I lost the final part of the letter. However, there is enough here to have a look at how our enemy is keeping the church from effective evangelism.

See you later.

McM

We've forgotten how to do it!

2010-10-21T20:32:00.000+01:00

I'm reminded of a parody of a popular Hymn.

Like a mighty tortoise moves the church of God;
brothers we are treading where we've always trod.
We are all divided, many bodies we -
very strong on doctrine, weak on charity.

I have wondered for many years - why is it that the church in the New Testament reached the entire Roman Empire with the Gospel in a generation, so that Paul, for example, was able to say:

The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. (1Thess 1:8)

It was said of Paul:

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. (Acts 19:8-10)

A Chinese communist, just before they took over the country, once said to a missionary:

"You missionaries have been in China for over 100 years, but have not won China to your cause. You lament the fact that there are uncounted millions who have never heard the name of your God. Nor do they know anything of your Christianity. But we communists have been in China less than 10 years, and there is not a Chinese who does not know... has not heard the name of Stalin... or something of communism.... We have filled China with our doctrine."

Similarly, I couldn't work out how John Wesley and George Whitefield could reach England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland - and bits of America - in one lifetime, and yet with our thousands of churches we have millions who are ignorant of the basic Gospel.

Why are we moving so slowly?
Why are we so powerless?
Why are we so ineffective?
Where have we gone wrong?

I am going to do a series of posts in the next few weeks entitled "Popular Myths about Evangelism".

These will all be things I have been taught over the years, but have found to be untrue. Things that most ordinary Christians, including many popular evangelical leaders, mistakenly think.

The most misused, misquoted, misapplied verse in the Bible?

2010-09-14T20:30:00.000+01:00

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Just listened to a really good set of sermons by David Pawson on John 3:16. The message very much underlines the approach of Ray Comfort - in that we are not to preach God’s love to unbelievers, but His righteousness.

Here is a synopsis, and some sample files:

http://download.anchor-recordings.com:8080/mp3_intro/DP1195intro.mp3

http://download.anchor-recordings.com:8080/mp3_intro/DP1196intro.mp3

http://download.anchor-recordings.com:8080/mp3_intro/DP1197intro.mp3

Sermon 1
1. How John 3:16 is possibly the most misquoted, misapplied and misunderstood verse in the whole Bible
2. Why we should not begin our evangelistic preaching on the love of God
3. What the Bible actually says about God’s love
4. Why the love of God was never preached openly to unbelievers in scripture
5. What the negative consequences are if we do tell unbelievers that God loves them
6. A word-by-word look at John 3:16 - what is does say and what it doesn’t say

Sermon 2
1. Why the verb tenses are important.
2. Did God love the world once or continually?
3. Do we believe once or continually?
3. The huge implications of this
4. Why the word ‘so’ is put in the wrong place in most English translations and what it really means
5. The relevance of the incident of the snake in the desert in Numbers
6. How the heresy of Marcionism is being promoted by some major evangelical preachers
7. Who Nicodemus was and why he came to Jesus at night

Sermon 3
1. Did John 3:16 come from Jesus’ lips or not - why most translations and red letter Bibles get this wrong.
2. Five reasons why it is clear that Jesus did not say it!
3. Using and misusing the ‘Gospels’. Which ones were written for unbelievers.
4. Why John was actually written.
5. Why John is the worst of the four to give to non-Christians
6. Why 3:16 is not an adequate summary of the gospel
7. The importance of ‘going on’ believing - not just once
8. Why we should show people the love of God, but tell people about his righteousness

Link to the website:
http://www.davidpawson.com/anchor/anchor.nsf/MP3-List?openform&Auth=&Cat=MP3*What+About+John+3:+16?&

Blessings

A Free Book - Just for You

2010-08-18T23:24:00.000+01:00

You could buy this for £5.50. And it would be worth every penny. I wish I could send it back in time to myself 20 years ago. I'd have saved myself lots of heartache.

But you can get it free... here! To give credit where it's due, I found it on the resurgence website:

http://theresurgence.com/ebooks

and I'm just passing it on. Distribution is encouraged.

I would love every Christian dad to read this. It can be read through in one half hour sitting. I have read it through a couple of times and I am praying through the implications for our family as well as talking it through with my wife.

Don't say I never give you anything!

relit_ebook_pastordad

Asian Outreach

2010-08-03T23:08:00.000+01:00

A few of us recently set up a stall at a local Asian event. I was accompanied by a friend from Pakistan, an Iranian and an Englishman who does a lot of outreach locally. I'm no photographer, but managed to get a couple of snaps, as shown.

All I can say is... what a privilege to be there! We had several good discussions with people, some of them with English people. We handed out a few hundred tracts. And there was a steady stream of literature leaving the stall. Among some people there was a real spiritual hunger. Much of what we gave away was in English, but we also gave out literature in several Asian languages. For many, this would be the opportunity of a lifetime to find out about the Gospel. There is no way of generalising about the type of people who came. There were young and old, mothers and fathers with children, westernised Asians, women wearing headscarves, English people, Iranian, Kurdish, Chinese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi...

Some Book Reviews

2010-06-14T00:26:00.000+01:00

Been doing some reading. I want to recommend a couple of books:

Vintage Church, Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears

I highly recommend this book.

Mark Driscoll combines his experience of planting churches and good scriptural scholarship to produce a manual for church leaders in the 21st Century. There are other books like it, but this is different in two ways.

Firstly, there are interesting sections on the use of technology and multi-campus churches. Driscoll has apparently managed to build something akin to a mega-church well away from the Bible-belt which has not compromised on theology or fallen for ‘seeker-friendly’ methods.

Secondly, he sets high standards for both leaders and members. Driscoll is likeable, yet he doesn’t suffer fools or countenance compromise gladly. The section on church discipline is worth the price of the book on its own. It is almost completely absent, or poorly practiced in the UK and as a result, sin and scandal is ruining scores of churches. I would like to copy this chapter and send it to every pastor and trainee minister in the country.

My only slight disappointment was the chapter on evangelism - or the ‘missional church’ - a term I find irritating. The focus on repentance and on going outside the walls of the church are good, but in my view, he focuses too much on being culturally relevant instead of simply preaching the gospel. He talks about going into shopping malls and discussing with shop staff what people buy and talk about instead of.... sharing the gospel. I think he needs to take some hints on evangelism from Ray Comfort & co. at Living Waters.

I really liked the sections on leadership and preaching as well. Churches are notoriously poor in these areas and we urgently need to raise our game. These sections should challenge you.

It is a very helpful book and every leader should find most of the sections helpful and challenging.

Spurgeon - A New Biography - Arnold Dallimore

I used to dislike Charles Spurgeon. The reason was very simple. I met the people who liked him. Spurgeonolators simply cannot be reasoned with. These people, Calvinists to a man, see Spurgeon’s era as the last great era in church history, never to be repeated. They see Spurgeon’s word as the last word on any subject - whatever scripture says...

Then one day I decided to give him a chance. I read his book, ‘Lectures to my Students’. Do you know what? It was good!

Then I read this book. Once again, I was impressed!

This book is a short, very readable introduction to the Baptist preacher - good for people like me.

I am not a Calvinist. But I really like Charles Spurgeon. He was a man of real passion, fervour for the Lord, energy, humanity, warmth and natural genius. Not only was he a great pulpit preacher. He ran an orphanage, an almshouse for the elderly, a pastors college and presided over an explosion of evangelism throughout London and the UK. For example, his colporteur scheme saw literally millions of homes visited through the UK selling Bibles and Christian literature, hundreds of trained pastors emerged to lead churches or plant new ones, scores of people from his church went out to preach in the open air every Sunday. His sermons were printed and sent all over the world and large numbers of organisations met in his church premises at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

A few pieces of information caught my attention. He initially made himself unpopular with many Americans through his strong opposition to slavery. He never went to the States, even though he was often invited there. For much of his life he was a cigar smoker and a drinker of beer, wine and brandy. He was a very good friend of DL Moody, the American evangelist who devoured Spurgeon’s sermons and visited him in London more than once.

The thing that I found most interesting, however, was this. I am still astonished that this small section got past the publishers, the Banner of Truth. Spurgeon frequently prayed for sick people to be healed. And they were. His prayer for the sick began during a cholera epidemic in London and was then extended to people of all sicknesses.

According to one early observer, “There are now living and worshipping in the Metropolitan Tabernacle hundreds of people who ascribe the extension of their life to the effect of Mr Spurgeon’s personal prayers. They have been sick with disease and nigh unto death, he has appeared, kneeled by their beds and prayed for their recovery. Immediately the tide of health returned... within a short and unexpected period.’

This fact gives the lie to a statement made late in the book that the current pastor at the Tabernacle, Dr Peter Masters, is ‘Spurgeonic in doctrine and methods’. Through his writing, Masters taken a cessationist position and is a skeptic on divine healing. He also takes a different position on eschatology. Sorry to say, that the self-appointed guardians of Spurgeon’s heritage take a more limited view of God’s grace than CHS himself would have.

Blessings

McM

Learning from mistakes

2010-05-24T22:40:00.000+01:00

It was the hottest afternoon of the year. Went with a sister who has been a Christian for many years. An evangelist is coming to our area next week and we had some leaflets to distribute. We also had plenty of tracts and were keen to talk to people.

I really believe the future of effective evangelism is to go out and meet people where they are rather than inviting people to hear preachers. It is so much more effective in terms of time, facilities, money and effort. It just takes more courage. "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the harvest field...". Nevertheless, the Lord still uses traditional ways.

I was mainly giving stuff out to people but got into 3 discussions. One with about 6 young lads in their early 20s. They were very attentive even though a couple were laughing nervously.

Next was a group of 3 lads, one a Muslim, 2 were local lads with lots of tattoos and piercings. As it turned out, they had been into a lot of bad things. But they were very friendly and very responsive. The Muslim lad, though not committed, was very firm about his religious beliefs.

Finally, a large group of about 12 young mean and women on the beach. Several were drinking cans of beer. Some were quite abusive and angry - more towards God than me - and it was difficult to have a sensible conversation.

Someone told me later not to waste time with drinkers. I'm not going to completely dismiss anyone but on a busy afternoon like that I think I'll focus on chatting to people who are more sober. I did hand out leaflets and tracts to people at one of the pubs though and they were fine.

My other regret is that we didn't work together as we should have. My co-worker was struggled at the end with the hot weather and I wish I'd kept a closer eye on her.

It was a good afternoon though.

McM

How would you react if you received this letter?

2010-04-30T23:26:00.000+01:00

So what would you do? Pack and leave home? Send your kids to live with relatives? Or stand your ground?

Let me tell you why we don't have these dilemmas in this country. It's because our Christian forefathers like William Tyndale, Nicholas Ridley, John Philpott, Hugh Latimer and many others were prepared to be burnt at the stake under the direction of cruel men for the freedom to preach the truth of the gospel. They were brave preachers and teachers who feared God more than men and would not dare compromise the truth of God's word in the face of intimidation from men.

Following this period many preachers took advantage of the freedom we enjoy to preach the gospel in streets, fields, market squares and village greens.

And it is because our grandfathers and great grandfathers fought against tyrants who were bent on taking away our basic freedoms. Many of these men died for this freedom.

Thank God for the liberty I have to share my faith and preach from the Bible without interference from others.

This encourages me to go out this Bank Holiday Weekend. The worst I am going to get will be some rolled eyes, some mickey taking.

The Bible says:
'Everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted' (1Timothy 3:12)

so we all need to be ready for something heavier.

Sad to say that many of the candidates standing in the forthcoming election will seek to roll back what has been won for us at such a great cost and curtail free speech in this country, resulting in some of our preachers being sent to prison - or at least taken through the courts. Some will also seek to make the teaching of a distorted, ungodly view of sexuality compulsory in all state schools with no opt out for faith schools.

But none of this should deter us from speaking the truth in love.

Election Questions

2010-04-26T00:35:00.000+01:00

We have a general election in less than 2 weeks. Where it comes to policies, most of the media discussion has been about the economy, defense, immigration, public services, the environment and law and order. These are all extremely important subjects. However, as a Christian, I take an interest also in such things as freedom of speech, Christian education, abortion, euthanasia and the approach to marriage and the family. These issues have been aired less prominently.

I have written an e-mail to the main candidates in my area focusing on just three questions. In coming up with these questions, I have the following scripture in mind:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:1-4

My biggest concern at the moment is that we can preach the gospel as freely as possible for as long as possible in the UK. And that we can bring our children up in a godly way. There are pressure groups now who lobby MPs very heavily and who want their agenda in our education system and they also want to curtail free speech. Christians are increasingly falling foul of these pressures, and yet the Lord has miraculously preserved the freedom of Christians to preach the gospel and to educate our children in a Christian way. These freedoms could be blown away very easily.

Dear

Let me put my cards on the table straight away.

I work full time, have three daughters in full time education and my vote is up for grabs. I am also a committed Christian and a part-time preacher, both to believers and unbelievers.

I have no idea what your personal beliefs are, but I would like to state a couple of things to begin with - after quoting something from the Bible:

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. Romans 13:1-2

True Christian believers make some of the best citizens. We work hard, we pay taxes, we achieve good standards of work and academic attainment, we bring our children up with good values, we contribute to the voluntary sector out of proportion to our numbers, our schools outperform other sectors, we love all people and we respect people in authority, including politicians, the police, teachers and medical people. We do not incite violence or hatred. I would be quite prepared to give you hard evidence for these assertions if you really wanted me to.

The Lord gives and takes away power. I am fully aware that we live in a democracy and you will gain power if you gain enough votes, but I believe on a deeper level that any power that have in the present or the future is God-given and you will be responsible before Him, even before your responsibility to the electorate.

In this election, I have to weigh up firstly which political party will give me freedom to bring my children up in a good way, and encourage others in my community to live a Godly life. Then I have to judge which individual will also uphold our rights and responsibilities as Christians. Many issues of interest to Christians are the subject of free votes and the conscience of individual MPs, so it is important to ask you personally where you stand.

To keep it simple, I am going to ask you just three questions.

1. Will you uphold my right as a parent to teach my children about marriage, sexuality, contraception and relationships from a Christian standpoint. This includes In particular, the ability to choose a school (state funded or private) that upholds Christian values. This includes the honouring of monogomous, heterosexual marriage, sex within marriage and involvement of parents in decisions over contraception and abortion without interference from Government or outside pressure groups.

2. To what extent will you stand up for my freedom to speak of my faith? For example, provided I am not inciting hatred or violence, would you allow me to legally say that (a) homosexual acts are sinful, or (b) Some of the teachings of Islam are untrue, without fear of arrest, imprisonment or any other form of opposition from the state?

3. Provided I am giving reasonable and measured chastisement, should I be legally allowed to smack my daughter for being defiant?

Please answer as honestly as you can. We are not exactly in the Bible belt here, but I intend to share your replies public among people I know, including those in my church. I will also let people know if you do not reply. I am asking the same questions to all the main candidates.

With Kind Regards

Out of the Comfort Zone

2010-04-21T23:39:00.000+01:00

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour.
1Corinthians 3:5-8

I often have a strong sense of inadequacy when I share the Gospel. The above scripture is quoted in the WoTM London episode (WELL worth watching!!!) and it is helpful to me. I really feel as though I am absolutely nothing. My words are not eloquent or clever. I use a simple formula to share my faith with little variation between people. And yet... and yet it amazes me to see the conviction of the Holy Spirit in peoples' eyes once they realise they need to get right with God. And He has used me!!!

When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
John 16:8

Yes. He is still doing it!

I think the Lord is still pushing me out of my comfort zone. I may have to find a new 'fishing hole' - or at least be a bit more imaginative about sharing my faith. That includes on my commute to work or when I am out with my daughter/ wife/ friends.

Just in case anyone thinks I have arrived, I am going to list some of my reasons to feel inadequate.

1. I still have to prepare myself before speaking to people and I have a strong sense of hesitancy - so I still find it hard to just get into casual discussions. Shyness is still a problem.

2. I am finding that when I go out at night to the sea front, a lot of people know me already and don't want to listen to me anymore. But I still find people who will chat to me.

3. I am sowing and not reaping. That is why the above verse has such a strong resonance for me. It takes all my strength to share the gospel. I have not developed a technique for leading someone to a commitment to Christ.

4. I am still more comfortable with a small crowd than with one to one.

5. There are some types of people who I still find it scary to share with.

6. I should love people more.

So I have a long way to go!

Let me recount a recent witnessing encounter.

I am at a playground with my youngest daughter in a park in a nearby town. I have 10 minutes to spare. Three teenage lads who look out of place are chatting and laughing. It takes me five of those minutes to make myself go up to them to talk to them.

My approach is:

'Have you got five minutes to chat? I have some £1m notes here to give away if you'll answer a few questions. Which of you will answer some questions honestly?'

The three lads have completely different approaches. One is completely silent and just listens. One is quite 'prickly' and throws in the odd hostile comment but keeps his distance. The third, Nat, is happy to chat, but is very argumentative. My biggest shock was when he said 'it was unfair for Jesus to go to the cross for my sins'.

McM 'Yes it was unfair. God's goodness demands punishment for sin, but his love means that Jesus took the punishment so you can be free from it. Isn't that good news?'

Nat: 'No. We should be punished for our own sins'.

McM: 'So you would rather go to hell than accept his forgiveness?'

Nat: 'Why, aye.'

A bit of bravado perhaps. But I pray that the Lord gets through.

Bye for now.

Prayer Appreciated!

2010-03-30T00:07:00.000+01:00

I don't normally ask for prayer on this blog but in brief....

I am soooo busy! It's the financial year end and when I'm not working or doing stuff with the family, I'm resting - or feeling run down. I haven't been down to my 'fishing hole' for a while.
Having said that, we look at the Bible as a family more than we ever have before, and we have lots of spin-off discussions, some quite intense. My years of researching lots of 'apologetics' issues are paying dividends as my oldest daughter has picked up a lot of falsehood through the education system which she keeps bringing up and I am happy to refute.
I am discipling a lad who is new to the faith. He is keen to come with me sharing my faith. I need to be wise, but this may be good news.
I am in the midst of organising an exciting looking outreach event in the Summer and I need prayer for an open door.

Blessings

McM

Preacher arrested in Scotland

2010-03-29T23:12:00.000+01:00

A recent event that has been largely overlooked by the press is that an American street evangelist was arrested in Glasgow and held in prison overnight. I could find nothing on the BBC or national press about it, but it was on the front page of the Scottish Daily Mail.

It seems that he was quoting what the Bible said about homosexuality in answer to persistent questioning from a group of people listening to him. From his account in a radio interview it seems that the listeners were trying to make mischief.

From the blog of Shaun Holes:

Yesterday (March 18th) I was arrested while preaching the Gospel in downtown Glasgow Scotland. I spent a horrible night in jail and all I can say is that it was just miserable. Too many details from this specific incident occured for me to list here. I will say however that what it came down to was that two people were supposedly offended when I said that homosexuality is a sin against Jesus, therefore the arrest. I was given two options:
1- plead guilty to some really trumped up charges and possibly pay a small fine of hopefully only 50 pounds or so and go home by Monday as planned or

2- plead not guilty and have to spend up to 8 weeks waiting for the trial NOT being allowed to leave the country with no guarentee of winning the case.

I chose option number one. Big bummer though. The fine was 1000 pounds. Thats 1600 US dollars. The Christian men I am here with along with ten or so Christians from the area that we have never met who heard about this crazy arrest and false charges all pitched in and paid the fine for us!

This must be the first time in ???? years that this has happened in the UK to someone speaking the gospel. The Salvation Army certainly fell foul of local police forces in their early years around 150 years ago. Is this the shape of things to come here?

A few thoughts:

In spite of the lewd behaviour of some of the people in the crowd and the fact that someone nearby was openly smoking illegal drugs, the police did not arrest either of these.
Was the preacher an easy target because he was American? As an overseas visitor, it would be much harder for him to fight his corner legally, even though he was given this option. Local preachers report that they do not have any trouble with the police.
From the recording I listened to, he came across as a humble chap, not a bigot and not someone with an antagonistic spirit.
I felt quite ashamed at the way we in the UK have treated this chap.
Christians still suffer very little in their country in comparison to others. We need to take advantage of the freedom we have while we have it!

A Scripture:

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. Philippians 1:12-14

Every Blessing

McM

Way of the Master in London

2010-03-02T23:50:00.000Z

It's out!!! Actually, the dvds of the London Edition are currently being shipped across from the USA, so we can't get them from Living Waters Europe for another week or 2. But I'll be putting in my order! Nice to see Comfort & co preaching just where I was a few months ago.

To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice

2010-02-16T20:57:00.000Z

I've had this song in my head for nearly a week. And I'm not even tired of it. Why? Oh well, I'll post it.

This grieved me even more

2010-02-07T00:22:00.000Z

The following link is to a sound file in which a member of one of the apparently largest churches in the UK is challenged to articulate the Gospel. The 'man centred' nature of his message, the lack of any mention of repentance, judgment, the lack of any mention or definition of sin, all bothered me.

http://www.benrdavis.com/audio/ToddFrielHillsongUK.mp3

At least he was out in the streets trying in his own way to reach people. I am not 'having a go' at the Hillsongs movement. We use and appreciate some of their songs in our fellowship. This bothers me for several reasons.

1. If this is the gospel they preach, how have they grown to be 5,000 strong in 7 years? How many are genuine converts? Has it been simply through attracting people from other churches?

2. If one of the most popular, fashionable church movements in the 21st century doesn't train people how to preach, what of all the other churches that follow their lead?

3. Have we been so defeated by the fear of men that we water down our Gospel message to something completely powerless? Don't we take seriously Paul's warnings in Galatians?

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Galatians 1:6-10

Would you share the Gospel if I gave you £65?

2010-02-07T00:04:00.000Z

This video shocked me, but didn't surprise me.

I presume the guy given the $1m bill to give out was a Christian. He actually seemed to feel quite good in the end about giving it out. I was sad that he didn't give the $100 back.

We need to repent.

Get into the open air

2010-01-17T23:25:00.000Z

I always believed this. But I believe it more than ever now. Until the church - some Christians - some church leaders rediscover open air evangelism, we will continue to see a depressing decline in the church in the UK. And millions will slip into eternal punishment having never heard the gospel.

I have asked a few people recently if they will come with me this year two or three times to speak to others - and the response has been very encouraging.

One of my main aims this year is to introduce others to preaching the Gospel with anyone and everyone - outside the walls of the church. If I can do that with one, that's fine. Two - great. More than two - better still. It amazes me how much time, money, resources, preparation can go into an evangelistic campaign within the walls of a church or other building. And only a few people actually turn up!

With

earnest prayer
more courage
some training
less time
less money
less preparation
no admin
no heating or lighting

we can reach many, many times more people. Hardly anyone I meet in the street ever goes to church, except for weddings.

I want to reproduce an article from the Evangelism Stuff website that nicely summarises the value of going outside the church walls.

An Introduction to Open Air

If you've never been to an "open air" session, the things you're going to see could shock you. Between foul-mouthed hecklers, angry shouting unbelievers, "intellectual" skeptics, and demon-possessed individuals... suffice it to say that it's much different than a Sunday morning at church. But when we speak to crowds in the "open air," we follow directly in the footsteps of The Master -- Jesus. We also follow John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, the disciples, John Wesley, Whitefield, Spurgeon, and others.

A good "open air" session can reach more unsaved people with the Gospel than the average church does in a year. It can touch and plant seeds in the hearts of people who would never darken the door of a church. If you want to be a fisher of men, you have to go where the fish are. They don't come to you -- you have to go to them. That's why Jesus said, "Go..." (Mark 15:16). Thank God the disciples didn't stay in the Upper Room and pray that sinners come to them -- instead they went "open air."

Our Goal
"Open air" is different than the way we interact with unbelievers on a one-to-one basis. When we interact one-on-one, we want to be winsome and friendly.

But "open air" is not "friendship evangelism" -- in "open air" it is not our goal to get the unbelievers to like us and become our friends. Our goal is to help as many people as possible (in the short time we have) to see their true state before a Holy God and their need of Jesus Christ.

The First Part
To accomplish the "as many people as possible" part it's important that we draw a large crowd so as many people as possible will hear the Gospel. One of the ways we draw a crowd is by asking trivia questions and giving away our own money. If we can get people to stop and listen to the everlasting Gospel just by giving some of our money away, then let's do it! How much money is the soul of one person worth? It's worth all we have, and more.

Another way we draw a crowd is by being a little controversial and "edgy." We pray for hecklers with loud voices, and we encourage them to raise their voices. The raised voice of one heckler may draw 30 or 40 people who wouldn't otherwise stop to listen... and those people will all hear the Gospel.

The Second Part
To accomplish the "see their true state before a Holy God and their need of Jesus Christ" part it's vital that we present the uncompromising Biblical Gospel. We do not tell unrepentant sinners that God "loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives"... Instead we speak directly and forcefully about subjects such sin, righteousness, judgment, and eternal Hell. We use the Ten Commandments as a mirror to help the unbeliever see their true state before God -- God is not their "big buddy in the sky" as they believe, they are actually under His wrath because they have sinned (broken His Holy Law -- the Ten Commandments-1 John 3:4). We want them to understand, "he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). We want to alarm them about the state of their soul, and help them develop a fear of the Lord that will be the beginning of wisdom.

And after we've done that... then we tell them about the incredible sacrifice of Jesus Christ on their behalf. Once they understand their need for a Savior... then we explain that if they will repent and place their faith in Jesus, that God will wipe away every sin they've ever committed and grant them the gift of everlasting life.

From my perspective,
~Anna Jackson

www.EvangelismStuff.com

(Anything you agree with, give credit to Ray Comfort and LivingWaters.com...
anything you disagree with, blame on me alone.)

Michael Jackson's REAL cause of death

2010-01-17T22:51:00.001Z

One to One

2010-01-07T20:39:00.000Z

It is my purpose for the next few posts to show a selection of video clips showing people sharing their faith with others. So this is the first.

'Indrag' or Outreach?

2009-12-14T23:48:00.000Z

I recently went on a day conference with people from my church. A lot of the time was spent looking at church statistics, and it was grim. It underlined one thing for me that I already knew.

Huge and growing numbers of people in the UK have no contact with church whatsoever. Especially the overwhelming majority of people under, say, 30. In a town like ours, only a tiny proportion of youngsters ever see the inside of a church. I'm reminded of this all the time when I ask groups of people, "Does anyone here go to church?". It is very rare that anyone says yes.

Someone kept using the term 'indrag', to illustrate that churches expect people to come to them as the alternative to 'outreach'.

Courses like Alpha and Christianity Explored are popular in the UK, almost entirely with middle class people. In my country, people tend to, if they want to find out about something, go on a course. Hence their popularity. But these almost entirely reach people who are already on the fringes of our churches.

In the US, a lot of the focus is on making church relevant to unbelievers - hence the 'seeker friendly' movement. I'm not going to get into a debate about the rights and wrongs of this. All I know is that in the North of England, very few people will go to a church, even if they are seeking God.

Jesus commands us to go.

The urgency is great, as we may not always have the freedom we have now. I am convinced that the tide will only turn when bold, Spirit-filled, courageous evangelists preach the Gospel powerfully and effectively to many unbelievers. This has happened so many times in our history. It needs to happen again.

Dear Lord, here I am. I am not a very good communicator, but send me. And send many others too. While there is still time. In Your mighty Name. Amen.

'Origin' book giveaway - feedback

2009-11-24T20:17:00.000Z

What a joy and privilege to be a tiny part of this!

We did our own little book giveaway here in the UK (in the USA they had the best part of 200,000 copies - we just had 150). But it worked for us on so many levels. I still can't get over it! The good news was:

We had five volunteers to help - not the three I expected. Including a friend of mine, a novice in open air evangelism, who was determined to be part of it, and a church pastor.
The weather has been utterly unreliable for the last week. But on the day it was a glorious, bright autumn day.
The 150 went in a slow trickle, so we had opportunities to chat to some people.
We went to a part of Durham University - arguably the top University in the UK besides Oxford and Cambridge.
The first to collect a book was a staff member in the Anthropolgy department. She was delighted at what we were doing and duly sent to us her first year class!
I took my novice friend out to the sea front the night before to show him how I spoke to the local youngsters. The next day he was witnessing to some students using the law-grace method used on WoTM!!
Once we gave all the books out we all went to another campus nearby, handed out tracts and chatted to a number of students.

Great to hear that they managed to get 1,000 books (don't know how!) to hand out at Oxford University and that the event in the States was a huge success. Here's an extract from Living Waters:

A team in England also passed out 1,000 copies to Oxford University students. Richard Dawkins has told students to rip out the Introduction, that they are cousins of bananas, that nothing created everything, and that anyone who didn't believe as he did, was "wicked." So we went to his home university to let students know that they are not cousins of bananas, that God created them, and that they are free to believe anything they wish. We also sent him a very nice gift basket along with his own copy of the book, and yes . . . I had a banana put into the basket. But we didn't say who the gift basket was from. We will leave him to formulate his own theory as to its origin.

We are so grateful to the nearly 2,000 Christians that cared enough about the lost, to help us get the gospel into the hands of 171,000 people. Please know that this is just the beginning.

Blessings, and all the Glory to God

McM

Origin to Schools

2009-11-20T23:21:00.000Z

I'm close to bnreaking the 10th commandment.

But we're doing our bit!

I look with envy across the water, where they have been on campuses last week giving the 'Origin' book out in their thousands. Demand has been so high that they have shipped a precious few to the UK.

Still, we have a few to give out, so we are heading for a University campus somewhere to give them out. I will, God willing, have a team of four. And we aim to get into some discussions too!

Watch this space...

Some Music

2009-10-29T21:15:00.000Z

Mentioning Keith Green in my previous post set me thinking. He died in the early 1980s in a plane crash. Up until then he wrote and performed some great songs. as a performer he was truly passionate. I have not come across any Christian musician as red hot and fervent before or since. His music had a profound effect on me when I was a new believer in the mid 1980s.

Here is a video of him performing the song, "Asleep in the Light" which I hope will encourage you to take evangelism deadly seriously. They don't do hairstyles and beards like that nowadays do they? "Just as well", I hear you say. But alas, few musicians are so challenging. Just listen to this and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you afresh.

It's partly due to his music that I have always desired to reach out to people outside the walls of the church and find a way of bringing them to Christ. Another of his songs, perhaps my favourite, "Go to the Hungry Ones" sums up this desire I have always had.

At the same time I have also had a mild sense of guilt that I was not doing enough. That is why I so appreciate the ministry of Ray Comfort & others. Using the law to bring people to a realisation of sin is a devastating weapon in the Christian's arsenal. It truly does open up people to the Gospel like nothing else I know. I wish I'd known this all those years ago. If I had, I would have shared my faith much more often.

Every Blessing

McM

On Kids, Healing and Darwin

2009-10-25T23:25:00.000Z

Kids

From an old Keith Green Song:

Well I pledge my son to heaven for the gospel.
Though he's kicked and beaten, ridiculed and scorned.
I will teach him to rejoice, and life a thankful praising voice,
And to be like him who bore the nails and crown of thorns.

We are doing Bible studies now at the dinner table, for the first time ever - twice a week. I'm going to be brief and vague here as I don't want to cause any embarrassment. Reading, discussing and sharing scripture with my teenage kids is hard, challenging, and takes determination from me. But believe me, I am determined! I refuse to leave this life knowing that I have not shared my faith thoroughly and regularly with my children. I was astonished at how fearful - perhaps daunted is a better word - at the idea of doing this. Maybe because nobody else seems to. But scripture tells me:

And, you fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
(Ephesians 6:4)

I am not fighting my kids, but I feel I am battling against the worldview they are being presented with. And I am. But it is rewarding, and I feel we're getting somewhere. I'll return to this topic, God willing, but not regularly.

Healing
A bolder evangelist than me, a lady in her 70s who I am friends with, went to a local open air campaign one Saturday afternoon recently and related to me how it went. There were two groups there at the same time. The one she was helping out was a very traditional group who used conventional soapbox preaching. The other group was named "Healing on the Streets". I have never come across them before, although I have seen groups asking passers by if they want prayer for healing. My initial reaction has been one of caution, as I believe in challenging people with the Gospel. Having said that I respect everyone who has the guts to go out into the streets in the name of Jesus. The purpose of this blog is not to sling mud at other groups. A few evangelism blogs are far too critical of rival groups for my liking. I googled the name when I got home and was quite intrigued by their website. It seems that they began in Northern Ireland, and their method is becoming popular.

I am a Charismatic Evangelical. It may upset some of my non-C friends that I say this, but I have long believed that healing unbelievers should be integral to preaching the gospel. I read through the book of Acts, which impressed on me again that the Gospel is three-pronged:

Word
Sign
Deed

All three were used! See for example,

For we brought the Good News to you, not with words only, but also with power and the Holy Spirit, and with complete conviction of its truth. You know how we lived when we were with you; it was for your own good.
(1 Thessalonians 1:5)

This one verse mentions all 3 in one go.

Darwin
It looks as though I am going ahead with a book giveaway at one of the Universities in the region. I am looking forward to this! I have a small team of 3 or 4 at the moment.

Every Blessing

McM

Are we reaching our own children?

2009-10-04T22:53:00.000+01:00

Let me begin by quoting to you a couple of scriptures:

Now the overseer must be above reproach... He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) [1Timothy 3:2-5]

An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. [Titus 1:6]

I have been on a journey for a few years. The burning question I have been asking has been:

"Why are so few kids from good Christian families coming to faith?"

Our local churches in my home town are full of sincere, middle aged people who love the Lord but whose kids, frankly, don't. There must be a "fall away" rate of Christian kids of about 80-90%. This is something I cannot accept without asking why. If I have to go through some form of personal hell to save my kids from the real Hell, then so be it.

Here are my findings so far.

A year ago, I spoke to a couple I know who have brought all four of their kids to faith. They are all now grown up, have left home and are still serving the Lord. I quizzed them closely on what their 'secret' was. It was by no means plain sailing and some of their children did rebel along the way. But they all came through in the end. And it wasn't by accident. They needed to really work hard at bringing up their children in a godly way. In a nutshell, they did the following:

Prayed together regularly for their kids

Ate together and shared their faith with their kids

Took a strict line on their behavious and the media they came into contact with

Took great care over their schooling. Ensured that they had a Christian-based education.

I now want to introduce you to 2 tapes and 2 books that have influenced my thinking in the last few months.

Derek Prince: Fatherhood - Its Privileges and Responsibilities

http://www.anchor-recordings.com/anchor/anchor.nsf/WebItems/LT.037+D

I found this message quite hard-hitting. It focused on how Christian fathers need to use their Godly authority as fathers bring Christ into their homes and teach their children instead of relying on the church/ the pastor/ the sunday school/ the youth worker to do it, as most do.

Next one:

You can get the book or listen to it from the "Classic Comfort" CD. Ray puts a lot of emphasis on teching your chldren at home. Like Derek Prince, he has brought all his children to faith. So I have to take his message seriously.

Now a book, written for the American market, but highly relevant to the UK:

This book is hard hitting, well researched, thorough, yet readable. It is a damning statement about the affect of American state schools on Christian kids.

It made me regret even more keenly the fact that I entrusted my childrens' education to a system which has no allegiance to Christ and is in fact hostile in many respects.

Finally, I was recently recommended the following book:

Voddie Baucham is a firm advocate of teaching children the Christian faith at home, family worship and Christian education. His book would be deeply uncomfortable reading for many, and yet very important.

In fact he strongly opposes the convention of having Sunday School and youth clubs in churches, as he believes it divides families and encourages parents to shirk their responsibilities for discipling their own kids. Interesting.

The common thread that runs through all of these books and messages is the importnace of family based teaching and worship. Something largely missing in our homes! In each case, there seems to be a strong link between family worship and Christian education and children coming to Christ.

Blogging time has run out for now for me. I may tell you in my next blog what we are doing about these things...

Fancy giving out free 150th anniversary editions of 'The Origin of Species'?

2009-09-07T23:30:00.000+01:00

I'm toying with the idea of giving these out on 24th November in one of our seats of learning in the North - perhaps Durham University. That day is the 150th anniversary of the book. But I'll only do it if some of you come with me!

"What??? Has he taken leave of his senses?" I hear you ask...

Don't worry. I haven't sold out to Darwin's myth of evolution. Each of these books has a 50 page introduction with a timeline of Darwin's life, a brief biography, Darwin's attitude to women and black people, how Hitler used the idea of 'survival of the fittest' from Darwin's theory to advocate extermination of 'inferior' races, how genetics blows the whole theory apart and the contents of Ray Comfort's 'Why Christianity' booklet.

A great way of witnessing to our country's future leaders and decision-makers!

But let me warn you now - I only have a few days to decide, as they need to be imported from the USA and an order has to go in very soon. I am prepared to take the day off work. Are you? If so, and you're serious, let me know. I won't have a clue what I'm doing, so anyone with experience of doing evangelism in Universities, please also let me know.

Blessings

McM

They're more polite down south

2009-09-07T22:51:00.000+01:00

We went to London for our holidays. All had a good time thanks.

I know a lot of you evangelists are Charles Spurgeon fans. He preached in the open air regularly, from the streets of London to rural Scotland. He also believed it should be the norm for Christian leaders to have an open air ministry - not the exception. Well, when the rest of the family were at the zoo, I had a chance to see the what was Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle Church, which is near the Imperial War Museum. The large Greek style facade is still there. Inside it's fairly big by UK standards, but a shadow of its former self. It was heavily bombed in WWII. There is a bookshop however with lots of Spurgeon related stuff.

Here's a picture:

I've found something out. Lots of youngsters hang around 24 hour supermarkets late at night these days, revving their engines and burning rubber. So while I was waiting for my wife to do some shopping in Asda during our time away, I was determined to share the gospel with some people. Found a young couple in a car. They were extremely polite, listened to me, asked no questions, meekly accepted the £1m notes - not like the boy racers up north!

As if to underline this, I went back to my usual stamping ground by the sea when I got back and spoke to three car-loads of people, mainly young lads. Rude, filthy minded, and I even got a water bomb thrwn at me! But at least they listened. Welcome home!

McM

A Video for you to watch

2009-07-19T21:33:00.000+01:00

Kirk talks to some Gang Members

Most blogs I read seem to have plenty of pictures and videos. Thought I'd add one too. This is probably the best known 'Way of the Master' video clip.

I understand that Mario later became a Christian.

By the way, I've never tackled gangsters like this with the Gospel (yet!)

Should I have prayed with her?

2009-07-19T20:22:00.000+01:00

I have broken my “once a fortnight” rule, having not been to the seafront for about a month. But last night I took the opportunity to see who I could get into a discussion with. It had rained off and on all day, but it turned out to be a rather beautiful evening – leaving me with no excuse.

I found some young girls – a group of 4 about 15 years old – who were in very high spirits. Although I chatted to them for a good 20 minutes, it was hard to see a deep conviction of the Holy Spirit working on them. Having said that, one girl intentionally removed herself from the discussion and stood at a distance. Then she pointedly refused to accept any literature – even the £1million notes that the youngsters really like. She’s the one I am praying for.

Then I came across a group of five youngsters, three girls, two young men, one a little older than the others. This time it was different. I would love to show you a video of this one. To begin with, it went something like this:

McMurdo: I have some £million notes I am giving away here, would you like one?
Youngsters: Yeah! Go on then! (Jokes, Laughter)
McMurdo: Are any of you Christians? Do you go to church?
All: No! [One girl: I go to church at Christmas]
McMurdo: The deal is you have to answer a few questions, then you get the £million note. Who wants to be in the hot seat?
Adele*: I’ll do it. I’m not very clever though.
McMurdo: First of all, I want to ask all of you a question. Would you say you are a good person?
All: Yeah! We’re good. We’re brilliant!! [Older bloke: I’m not always good]
McMurdo: Well let’s do a test to see if that’s true. Do you know any of the ten commandments in the Bible?

*Not her real name

I then proceeded to take Adele through some of the commandments and showed her how she had fallen short of God’s standards. She now had a serious look on her face. I then explained how God had sent Jesus and how his death will allow her to be completely forgiven.

I handed out the £1million notes and various other booklets. For the first time, I sensed that someone really wanted to receive Christ’s forgiveness there and then. This put me in a dilemma. I really wanted to pray with this girl. Should I take her to one side and speak privately. Definitely not! This would not look good. Should I put her on the spot in front of her friends and expose her to possible ridicule? Rightly or wrongly, I decided not to. So the meeting ended as follows:

McMurdo: Thanks for talking to me. I’ll pray for you all.
Adele: And me!!! Adele!!!
McMurdo: Yes, I certainly will.

Please pray for this girl. The Holy Spirit has begun a good work, may He bring it to completion. I have very much set myself the goal of sowing the gospel and have given little thought to reaping. And because I nearly always talk to groups, I do not plan to bring people to a point of repentance. I will ponder whether I am doing taking the right approach.

This incident has made a deep impression on me. The other things that keep striking me when I talk to youngsters are:

1. How few of them have any trace of Christianity in their background at all. Few of them ever go to church. This is godless, morally lost 21st Century northern England! The only religious people around are the Muslims, and they’re not out on a Saturday night.

2. How sexualised our young people are. Most know that stealing is wrong. But they have very few moral values in this area. Sex simply seems to be a recreational activity for many. When I explained to one girl how and why my wife and I waited until we were married, she was actually quite touched. The idea of ‘saving yourself’ for one special person as a way of demonstrating lifelong commitment was a new concept to her, but it impressed her as well.

See you later!

McMurdo

It's time to stop being nice

2009-06-22T00:28:00.000+01:00

The time has come to lay a few truths on the line. Britain is full of 'nice' but ineffective Christians. I find it hard to be nice (you ask my wife and kids!!!!). Actually, I'm not saying we should not love people and be winsome, kind, generous etc. But you know what I mean. Nice people are easy to dominate and dismiss. Satan loves 'Nice Christians' who never take a stand, who avoid confrontation, who love being liked more than the Gospel. Father, deliver us from the Evil One..... and from being nice!!!

Tonight I was a little nervous, but I chatted very amicably with more youngsters at the sea front. Some were boisterous and cheeky. But I saw what looked like the conviction in the eyes of a couple. Folks, I am so glad I went out tonight.

I'm finding that many Christians are interested and quite kind about what I do, but they are cautious about what It too and most are reluctant to come with me, even as a silent observer. Sometimes that is for a good reason. Nevertheless, I want to make a few points:

As far as I can tell from scripture, Judgement day will be a public event (Matthew 25:32, Revelation 20:12). This is significant. Everyone will see you and you will see everyone else. I will see family members, work colleagues and neighbours thrown into the lake of fire and they will see me. How will I feel if I have spent years with them and never warned them about the consequences of their sins? This is why I am making it a priority to overcome my fear of sharing my faith and find out all I can about speaking effectively.

Evangelism is something we can only do in this life. When you reach the end of your life will you be satisfied that you made it a high enough priority?

You will be scared. If you commit to preach the gospel at a particular date and time, you will find every excuse for not doing it when the time comes up. At this point, don’t give in to your fears! You need to be absolutely determined, otherwise you will 'bottle out'!

I had to begin this by overcoming an almost overwhelming, paralysing fear. I still get nervous when approaching people to talk to them. But the fear has subsided a lot. It’s much easier now.

Too many Christians follow their feelings – especially Charismatics (of which I am one). Feelings have their place, but we should never allow them to stop us from being obedient. Love is a choice, not a feeling. I pray and worship whether I feel like it or not. I go to work whether I feel like it or not. I almost never feel like sharing my faith!!!!

Friendships are more expendable than the Gospel. Don’t bury the gospel in order to make friends. I actually find that it gets harder to preach the gospel once you have made friends with someone because the fear of rejection gets greater.

Satan does not want Christians to share their faith. One of his top priorities is to keep Christians silent. He will throw anything and everything at you to prevent you from doing it. That could include family members, church members, your pastor, ineffective Christian service, friendly timewasters, well-meaning people who want you to be safe etc.

You need to earnestly and sincerely ask the Lord to give you a burden for the lost. If you do, he will answer you, and it will not feel nice. Your heart will burst with sorrow for the unsaved and a deep desire to preach the gospel. But you will still be scared, and you still have to get over your fears. If you give in to that fear and do nothing about your burden, it will subside again until next time you ask.

I'll have another rant like this in future no doubt, but I have little right to. A braver evangelist than me made me ashamed yesterday when challenging me about witnessing to members of my family. A fear I have still not adequately conquered.

In His Grace

McM

Bikers, Muslims and Teens

2009-06-04T21:41:00.000+01:00

This was the first time I went witnessing with someone else from church beside me. I so wanted it to go well! And it looked like being my most frustrating evening, until....

Sunday was one on the hottest days of the year. But in the evening it was beautiful and a cool breeze blew from the sea. In recent weeks, I've noticed the motorbikes lined up in their scores by the seafront. So I aimed to set off earlyish with the aim of speaking to some bikers.

TN (himself an ex-biker) was able, curious and keen to come and we went in the early evening. We were surprised that the only ones to be found were a couple. He was friendly, but said we were 'extremists'. She was clearly offended by our message. And said so!

Then we found a couple of Muslim lads in their early 20s. Their spokesman was friendly, talkative, respectful of our faith, but had convinced himself that Christianity was wrong! I avoided argument and stuck to 2 principles - show him from the law of Moses that he is a sinner and quote from Leviticus 17 - "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." The Lord needs to touch these lads though!

I was longing for a crowd to talk to!!! One gang of youngsters (unusually) turned down my offer of a talk. I still had a pocketful of tracts. Was this just going to be a frustrating evening?

Then we found a group of about ten teenagers, aged from 15 - 19. They were very open. They then invited another equally sized gang to come along afterwards and try the 'good person' test. One lad, a young Asian holding a glass of beer, nearly broke my heart. He said that Hell was here on earth and he was clearly touched by the time we left. A girl he was with - either a sister or a girlfriend - began by saying she didn't believe in God, then within 5 minutes thought He maybe did exist after all. She was visibly affected by our message. TN was struck by how little they knew of the Gospel. And they emptied our supply of booklets and £1m notes!

TN wants to join me again next time...

Just one other thing. I realised this week that we are in a spiritual battle. I've felt like throwing in the towel for the last couple of days, but I'm a bit better now. Bizarre but unpleasant things have affected everyone in our family, especially my (very supportive) wife. You may just want to utter a prayer for us - protection and courage.

The song that has been in my heart and kept me going is an oldie from the 1980s based on Psalm 68 which no-one sings anymore, but I'll share it with you:

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered

And let those who hate Him flee before Him

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered
And let those who hate Him flee away

But let the righteous be glad (the righteous be glad)

Let them exult before God (let them exult before God)

Let them rejoice with gladness (O let them rejoice)

Building up a highway for the King (for the King)

We go in the Name of the Lord

Let the shout go up in the Name of the Lord...

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered
And let those who hate Him flee before Him
Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered

And let those who hate Him flee away

Questions and Objections

2009-05-24T15:52:00.000+01:00

I know it! I'm like someone who has given up smoking - or just come to faith. I'm telling everyone about the ministry of WoTM and how it has helped me share my faith. I must be a real bore to some. What I am excited about is that I really never thought I would crack this - evangelism that is. I thouht I was doomed to be a mediocre failure in this area. I am a basically nice, polite person and I don't have the temperament of some of the bold evangelists I've met.

So I'm going around other Christians sharing with them what I have learned, and that I am now talking to strangers about the Gospel. I have had 4 main objections or cautions about what I am doing and I put to you my answers here.

1. It's Dangerous!
A fair point. I'm not exactly built like Charlie Atlas, neither am I very streetwise. I have 2 answers to this.

Firstly, Well come with me then and be my bodyguard (or get beaten up alongside me!).

Secondly, I make the point that Ray Comfort has been doing this for years and has only been beaten up twice - both times by women! And I'll be safer than Ray because I'm mainly focusing on men! More seriously, I believe God protects his people. John Wesley endured many riots and attempts on his life, but he rightly pointed out that until his time had come, he was immortal. And he was preaching well into his 80s.

Aren't you doing this out of guilt?
Churches can certainly be good at laying on the guilt in order to get people serving, can't they? And guilt destroys many lives. And yes, I certainly have a strong sense of duty to my, and the next generation in doing this. But wait a minute.... Can't guilt sometimes be a good thing? If I neglect to feed and clothe my kids, or if I beat my wife, isn't guilt good if it makes me change my ways? False guilt is always wrong. And evangelists can put false guilt on people by critisising people for not sharing their faith but not showing them how to do it effectively.

It has been argued that in World War I, the Army was guilty of sending thousands of men 'over the top' of the trenches to almost certain death whilst neglecting the new technology of tanks which were becoming available. Once they began using tanks, late in the War, battles were won and the deadlock was broken. But by that time hundreds of thousands of soldiers had died in battle. Moral - don't send soldiers into the field until you havbe armed them effectively first!

So yes, my conscience is not easy within me if I neglect to share my faith. But this time I have been given the 'Tank' of using the Law to speak to unbelievers and speaking to their consciences rather than their intellect. And it really is powerful! And now I come away from the battlefield pretty well unscathed.

I've seen it on TV and t's too confrontational. People will find it offensive
I was told this by a Christian friend on Friday night when I was at a birthday party. And I had a great answer for him. "Do you know what? I have just spoken to OB [a non-Christian husband of a wonderful Christian lady in the church. He is near to being an atheist. He hates his wife going to church] ...and do you know what? He wasn't the least bit offended, even though I spoke about his sin, God's judgement, the cross, heaven and hell."

As far as I can tell, nobody I have spoken to so far have found my approach offensive. Most have in fact been warm towards me. I am quite a sensitive, polite person anyway and find it hard to be rude.

The Method is too narrow. There are other ways of sharing your faith
This may, in a way, be a very good point. Ray Comfort's method is a bit like 'painting by numbers'. It's a simple model conversation you can use on anybody. All I know is that it works, it's more biblical than other methods and I now know where to take a conversation whereas I didn't before. So until someone comes up with a better model, I'm happy, as a novice, with this one.

I have now chatted to one of the senior leaders of our church about my escapades and he was very interested and positive. He said he would like to come out with me at some time.

I'm planning to go out again next Saturday. And I trust my friend will go with me this time. But if not, I still will provided God gives me the grace.

Every Blessing

McM

Clever Teens

2009-05-17T16:46:00.000+01:00

I have been out four times now, mostly near the seafront, finding groups of people to speak to. My fear, whilst still there, has subsided a little and I spend a lot less time pacing around trying to pluck up courage.I still only seem to have the strength to talk to 2 groups of people in one evening. I'm tired after that.

For some reason, my friend TN was not able to join me last night. But I heard about a young person known to us who had a friend who had hanged himself. There had been no clue that he was suicidal. This made me determined to find some youngsters to preach to, so off I went to the sea front on my own.

I spoke to 2 groups of 4 young people, one group of teens on bikes had lots of (quite good) questions. One young lad in particular knew quite a bit of church history - much to the shock of his friends.

There are lots of youngsters who come to the seafront in cars. They tend to be quite loud and foul-mouthed, but they listen and share banter, so they are good to talk to. I picked on such a group in a couple of cars and they listened well and were very friendly, and appeared to accept what I said.

I have told a few people at church what I am doing and one lad wants to come out with me, but he has not had the chance yet.I am waiting for an opportunity to speak fully to our leadership team about what I have learned about evangelism (the vast majority in our church simply have no clue as to how to share their faith), to see what the reaction is. I would like a few of us to do some training on personal witnessing, using WoTM materials.

One difference I notice between reaching people in the UK and the witnessing clips I see from the USA is that most Americans have a Bible at home whereas most people I meet (and I am mostly focusing on youngsters, below 30) say they don't have a Bible in any form.I think I am going to carry some Gospels (for evangelism, I prefer Luke) and give them to anyone who says they would read it and looks serious.

Reading the NT was instrumental in bringing me to Christ.

See you later.

McM

How did I get here

2009-05-17T15:43:00.000+01:00

Rather than produce a rambling account, I thought I'd give you a few extracts from my diary (yes, I keep one of those), to give you a picture of my journey.

January 1st 2009
...Here are my new years resolutions:
1. Witness clearly to 1 person per month using the law, as with Way of the Master. This is pathetically little, but it is a step into a tough area for me.....

Friday 30th Jan
It’s like this. We’re losing the battle. And I believe the only way of turning the tide in the
UK is to target young people with a biblical Gospel – one that does not
compromise on holiness i.e. the need for sexual purity included. I am
wanting to put the building blocks in place for this.

My own kids, with all the advantages of being raised in a middle class Christian family, have
rejected the Gospel for now, and I feel that God is telling me to keep
challenging them for now by all means, but to do 2 things:
First, put lots of effort into those youngsters who do want to go on with the Lord, even if it is just 1 or 2 or 3.
Second, kick the sand off my feet and preach to kids who have no
connection with Christianity whatsoever. I am praying about and
tentatively planning a low budget, very simple mission in the summer aimed at
preaching to as many youth as possible.

Weds 4th February
I am at a crossroads. Found out that my favourite TV programme, Way of the Master, is on at
5.30am! So I am attempting to get up every morning & watch it each
day.

For many years, I have had an interest in open air evangelism
and I have done it myself in my student days. It has to be the only show
in town now for millions who almost never attend church and have no contact with
anyone who could take them to a church – or an Alpha course. Yet most
people still see themselves as Christians.

Why don’t we do it anymore? It is either done badly (but better than nothing) or not at
all.

Read a rather shocking report today that suggested about 2/3rds or more of under 23s are sexually active and fear getting chlamidia.

Monday 4th May
I have now been out evangelising on my own 3 times now. On top of family commitments, I
think I can do once a fortnight. I had to do it on my own, talking to
strangers, because I have been concerned about making a fool of myself.
But I can happily say that all 3 outings have been less than perfect, but
thrilling. I am now ready to take someone else out.

So I met TN at the Harbour to talk though my experiences and ask him to join me.
He is at a loose end in terms of Christian service, so more than willing to come
along. He has doubts about the WoTM approach, but I just want him to see
it in action. He has been into all sorts of stuff in his past, including
drugs and criminality. He wears a leather jacket and has various piercings
and tatoos. But he’s a really gracious saint now! I’d like him to
work with me at least some of the time. I’m totally different. I
think the most evil, sinful thing I did as a youth was to burn woodlice in the
sun with a magnifying glass. As a stamp collector, astronomy fan and
school chess club member, I was a real geek! We plan to go out on
Friday.
That brings you up to date. Next I am going to tell you how we got on.

Wesley Turns Vile

2009-05-09T22:44:00.000+01:00

We have just passed an important anniversary in church history.

Most people point to that night in Aldersgate Street in London when John Wesley's heart was 'strangely warmed' in May 1738 as the turning point in his ministry.

But just over 270 years ago, on 2nd April 1739, Wesley began, with reluctance, to preach in the open air. This is an episode I am more interested in tahn the above. Without it we would have never heard of him, and England' s history would have taken a different, and worse, course. Up to this point, he had a successful ministry in London, and he received an urgent invitation from his friend, George Whitefield to join him in Bristol.

Though his companions were divided on this, and Wesley was reluctant to go, they drew lots (would you believe!!! - who do you know who does that for guidance?), and he went to see Whitefield.

His initial comment in his own blog, er I mean journal, was as follows:

"I could scarcely reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set me an example on Sunday; I had been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church."

A few days later, Wesley did the unthinkable:

April 2 , 1739 - At four in the afternoon, I submitted to be more vile and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking from a little eminence in a ground adjoining to the city, to about three thousand people. The Scripture on which I spoke was this (is it possible anyone should be ignorant that it is fulfilled in every true minister of Christ?): “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” [see Isa. 61:1, 2; Luke 4:18, 19].

The rest, as they say, is history!

No More Excuses!

2009-05-09T15:31:00.000+01:00

Are you a coward? Do you struggle with evangelism, yet you KNOW that it's really the only way forward for the church in the UK?

Then this blog is for you!

I'm a Bible teacher, not an evangelist!!!!

This excuse has served me well for some years now. Okay, I admit it! I was preaching in the streets before I was preaching from the pulpit. And I found it exhilarating, too. But I was a crazy student then. Now I'm a respectable accountant. (My other odd claim is that I could fly a glider before I could drive a car). So there!

Well, thanks a bunch, Comfort and co! You've blown away all my excuses. Who? Well, I'm referring to a TV programme called Way of the Master. I was taken aback the first time I watched the TV programme. It's format is dead simple. Two down to earth looking blokes teach you how to share your faith effectively. Then they show some clips of real encounters in the streets and shopping malls. No appeals for cash! No prayer cloths by mail order! At last, someone is using a method of evangelism that is effective, biblical and doesn't make me cringe with embarrassment.

Now I take my hat off to all those evangelists in my church and elsewhere who are doing it bravely, but to limited effect. I can't do it. I'm a coward. Arm me with a feather duster, and you can't see me for dust. And most evangelism I see used is like going to war armed with one.

But the WoTM folks have come along with state of the art weapons that really work. But I'm still not an evangelist! I've seen evangelists. They put you on guilt trips about sharing your faith and bringing people to church. They're rubbish pastors. No patience with fellow saints..... but then some of my favourite Bible Teachers, like Watchman Nee, John Wesley and Charles Spurgeon were regularly in the streets preaching with the rest.

So here I am, an infant in this area, looking for people to preach to. In the few times I have been out so far, I have spent most of the time pacing around trying to pluck up the courage to speak. And I feel more at ease talking to a group than one person alone. And I've deliberately gone out alone so I don't make a fool of myself in front of the folks from church.

And guess what? I find talking to people as exhilerating as I did as a young man all those years ago. And people are more responsive than some of the folks at church (although their language is sometimes unchurchy).

I live near the sea front and through the summer scores of youngsters gather from all over the North East. So here is my field. I can go out about once a fornight at least (I'm a very busy man with wife, 3 kids, job, church etc etc).

More Later!