Evangelism Seminar: Session 3, Guiding the Way

We have spent a lot of time discussing how to explore where people are at on their spiritual journey's with God, but as we all know, it can often be very difficult to understand how the many tumultuous spiritual paths we can find the world on, can connect in a relevant way to the cross. The problem with this is that we need to have a way to relevantly explain the reason why we have in Jesus Christ, and why therefore we choose to live our ways in a different way from the world. If we have done our job correctly as explorers of people's spiritual reality, people others centered in asking questions and listening, the gospel can be shared in both a clear, bold, and relevant way which leads people to the gospel.

In Psalm 5, David cries out to the Lord, "Make your way straight before me." What really want and need as believers is the gospel. We need to know, in a very straightforward way, that there is nothing that we can do to earn our way to God, but rather it is only by he grace of God, every day, through Jesus Christ that we are His children. Our need for straight paths to God, only by grace, is the same as not-yet Christians. As we are exploring in people's lives we need to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit for guiding people on straight paths to the cross via the gospel. So, as I have been known to be asking question, can you describe the gospel of Jesus Christ in a straightforward way? As evangelists, one of the tools in our toolbox needs to be a clear gospel presentation. I think one of the most effective ways of doing this is through our personal stories. As believers, we all have the gospel written on our lives, in many different ways which connect to peoples needs in unique ways. There are also many different resources out there which have very clear and distinct gospel presentations. Some of the ones we talked about in class were "Do You Want to Know God Personally", published by Crupress, "For You Joy" published be desiringGod, and "Backstory" also published by Crupress.

Some questions that I find to be helpful to ask in order to allow people to process the gospel: What is sin? So, have you sinned?
Why did Christ have to die on the cross?
What do you think Eph 2:8,9 is saying?
What is the main difference between a person who is a Christian and is not?
If there is a written prayer in presentation, what is the main idea of this prayer?

Guiding people to Christ is something that we are called to do as people are in a position to receive the gospel.

Celebrating the Arts with Austin Church

Austin Church has a poem published in the current edition of the Connecticut Review, the CT Review of Fall 2009. Congratulations! Tonight, Friday May 21, 2010, we celebrated this accomplishment with a reception and poetry reading hosted by David and Travetta Johnson.

Listening to Austin read his poems brought buoyancy to words submerged on a page. To hear an author's words in his own tongue is to listen to fresh language and context. It is to view a snapshot of the soul while someone else holds and focuses the camera. It is a reminder that the Creator is still creating beauty.

It is wonderful to have a community where art is appreciated and encouraged. Come, create and share with us the art the Lord has been forming in you!

Evangelism Seminar: Session 2

In light of discussing last week that every person is on some sort of spiritual journey, and, that as people who personally know God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are called to be agents of truth, this week we talked more about how that is to happen. As followers of Christ, what we should be seeking to grow in is being people where spiritual conversation happens naturally. As different people float into our lives, learning how to be people who love like Christ, how to seek to know where that person is at on their journey with God, and continuing to journey with them is are what it takes to be effective in evangelism. We talked about how to listen, serve, notice and wonder our way into spiritual conversations.

Conversation occurred around the idea of serving our ways into spiritual conversation. Everyone knows who Mother Theresa was, and she is perhaps many people's answer to what does it mean to be a Christian. While this could be a a conversation worth initiating with anyone about why this is, we can't argue with how kindness and service is communicated in people's lives. As we seek to serve people around us, in meaningful ways,with no strings attached, people will open up spiritually.

“The social gospel divorced from personal salvation is like a body without a soul. The message of personal salvation without a social dimension is like a soul without a body. The former is a corpse; the latter is a ghost”- E. Stanley Jones

What we need to focus on is bringing the whole gospel, to the whole person.

What I am not saying is that we have to earn our way into sharing the gospel with someone. I think we can all read the Bible and see that many people have come to faith with a simple gospel presentation, as an evangelist met them in a divine way. But I do think it can

Check out this website for more ideas of serving people to spiritual conversation: Servantevangelism.com

Lenten Series on Everyday Justice: Debt

Dear All Souls Community,

The Justice Team is making/beginning to make the presentations for our Lent Class available online. Here , you can download the presentation on debt. While most people tend to think of debt as one of those "four letter words," few think of debt as a means of enslaving others. This presentation goes somewhat into the international debt crisis. Some of you may be familiar with this with Greece having been in the news lately for the money that they are requesting from the IMF and the European Union.

The presentation also goes over a concept known as "Jubilee." In the presentation, you will be able to find links and resources on the subject that will provide more information for you on this topic. Enjoy and live justly.

Aaron Sachs

Evangelism Class Summary: Session 1

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." Ecclesiastes 3:11

How great a promise for all of us to rely on: God has put eternity into man’s heart. When we read that God has made us in His own image, the essence that God was, is, and always will be, is put into our souls. Yet, as the second half of the verse says, we are unable to fully comprehend this. The writer of Ecclesiastes thus realizes that both his desire to understand all of life, as well as the limitations on his ability to do so, have been ordained by God. With this heart, we are teaching a class on evangelism at All Souls. Something we pray that all of us would come to realize more is that God has created people as spiritual beings. Therefore, life is a spiritual journey. Some may be moving towards God, some may be moving away. Some may not even be aware that they are on a spiritual journey. Some may be moving towards other so-called Gods, or stuck in a spiritual quagmire. But everyone is on a spiritual journey, and we don’t always recognize it in others. If this reality is true, as we are all called to be making disciples, we need to learn how to be people where spiritual conversations happen naturally, regardless if we are amongst Christians or not-yet Christians. The evangelism class is meant to help equip people in how to have spiritual conversations, but also to prayerfully walk with God in knowing where people are on their spiritual journey. We are all still on a spiritual journey, even is we are Christians, and what we always need most is the gospel, but there are different ways of communicating the gospel based upon where people are with God. The fact of the matter is that no matter what you do for a living, where you live, and how you spend your time, you know numerous amounts of people who are on a spiritual journey, and some of which don’t know God personally, and yet we all have the opportunity to be agents of God’s grace to a broken world.

I think the number one killer of spiritual conversations is unbelief. Many may read that statement and think that I am talking about the unbelief in God, the Bible, or Jesus Christ as the incarnate God. Contrarily, the unbelief I am talking about is not on the part of not-yet Christians, but rather the unbelief of Christians that those in their Monday-Saturday world truly are on a spiritual journey. I think if we all asked God for us to grow in the belief that everyone has eternity written on their hearts, spiritual conversations would become the norm, not the exception. So the questions beg:

Do you really believe that people in your Monday through Saturday world want to talk about spiritual things? Do you really believe that God can use to to engage in those around you on their journey of spirituality?

Appalachian Music at All Souls

Our area of East Tennessee is on the western border of the Appalachian region. My grandfather told us stories of the difficulties of rural Appalachian life such as not having an outhouse or electricity, hunting for food, curing hogs in the fall, and making molasses. In addition to this rich tradition I was raised in a church that featured many Appalachian hymns. Not surprisingly, my ears perked up this past Sunday, 5/2/10, as many of these regional hymns were sung in worship. I could hear Granddaddy's tenor voice twangin' in the heavens. My spirit was lifted.

The story of Appalachian music is interesting, as the mountains provided a fertile area in which a new musical genre came into being. The various cultural influences can be seen in the diversity of musical instruments used. The fiddle is from Ireland/England, dulcimers are from German descent, the Banjo is an African instrument, the guitar is a late-comer to the region from Spain, last but not least is that English Ballads were passed down by generation relatively unchanged. Of course the mountain people often made their own instruments. Some of these were very creative such as nailing metal bottle caps to boards for a percussive instruments. A lesser known mountain instrument is a type of pan flute.

All of these cultures brought their respective instruments and cultural music. In my estimation the two greatest influences was the Irish fiddle tunes and African rhythms. This is evidenced in the fact that most accompaniment to singing was simply the banjo and fiddle. When the Great Depression hit the rural south many southerners moved across the nation. From humble beginnings mountain music penetrated the vast American landscape and from it was born Country Music and Blue Grass, primarily.

I personally enjoy Appalachian hymns. For me these hymns get to the core of the human heart's longing for God and heaven in a way that others genres cannot. When I was in the coursework to obtain my music degree my teachers always encouraged me to go back to the source, an "ad fontes" of music. So, I encourage you to find some field recordings of this pre Blue Grass and Country style of music and listen to the longing heart of the mountain folk.