Better than "He Gets Us"

Someone put this together.  This should have run on Super Bowl Sunday.  This should run now.  Well, it will run here.

Evangelism Seminar -- Saturday, September 30 (9 AM - Noon)

 

Let’s talk

about evangelism!

Christians want to share their faith, but where do we start? Who do we tell? What tools are available to help us?

If you are asking those questions as an individual, or considering how you can answer those questions as a congregation, great. That’s where you start.

On September 30^th, St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran School (17810 Farmington Road) in Livonia will be hosting a workshop from 9:00 AM - Noon, inviting WELS members from our area congregations to come and talk about evangelism.

There is no cost to attend!  We will be meeting in the school gymnasium.

Topics include:

Prepared to Answer- Pastor Tom Schroeder

Evangelism by Jesus—Pastor Josh Krieger

Evangelism Tools—Pastor Alex Groth

Social Media Outreach—Adam Rose

BIBLE BITS -- Matthew 21

Matthew 21:14 reads, "And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them."  This is a short verse, and it is easy to breeze right past it.

However, a little pondering would have us saying, "Wait a minute.  How could the lame people come to Jesus?  They can't walk.  And how would the blind people come to Jesus?   They can't see him?"

In the case of the blind, I suppose it could be argued that they could hear Jesus preaching.  That's reasonable.   But it does not account for how the lame came to Jesus.

In both cases, I suspect that friends for family brought the blind and the lame to Jesus.  They would be eager for Jesus to provide his healing touch to them, knowing that having sight or strength restored would be a great blessing and make life much easier.

This is almost always the case: Family and friends bring people to Jesus.  It could be parents who bring their baby to the font for baptism.  But fewer people are growing up in homes where church attendance is normal.  More and more, people are growing up without attending church or knowing what the Bible says.  

Therefore, the people who know Jesus and cherish his word are going to be the people who bring their friends and family to church.  Who better knows the peace, the comfort, and the hope of Jesus than those who hear his word?  Especially when we know that there is no salvation outside of Jesus, we will want to bring our family and friends to hear his word and receive his blessings.

Just as the blind could not find their way to Jesus and the lame had no strength to come on their own, so those who are unbelievers have neither insight nor ability to come to Jesus.  They need to be brought.

Dear Father in heaven, make us such good friends and family to our loved ones so that we bring them to their Savior.

A Pastoral Concern -- The Opportunity for Evangelism

We are currently enjoying a series on Christian Apologetics on the 2nd Sunday of each month (schedule below), in which we are considering how archaeology, history, and geography aid in support of the history recorded in the Gospels about Jesus Christ and the Church.  Such knowledge is helpful for Christians to recognize that our faith rests in historic fact, not myth or fantasy or propoganda.  

However, more and more the average person in America is becoming more and more ignorant of the most basic of Christian teachings.  Consider this article from the blog of Gene E. Veith in which he refers to an article referencing Easter.  In that article, the writer originally described Easter as “the day celebrating the idea that Jesus did not die and go to hell or purgatory or anywhere at all, but rather arose into heaven.”  NPR later ran a correction, but the alarming part about the poor--no, false--description of our Easter celebration is that the author claims to be Roman Catholic!  A Christian does not know what Easter is about?!  Apparently, yes.

The reality is that many people in America will claim to be Christian.  Take a look at church attendance and you will know that many who claim to be Chrisians don't go to church.  Their Christian faith is limited only to their claim or to which box they might check on a survey.  Many do not know what the Bible says or what the Christian faith is, even though they claim to be Christians.  And while today's adults may have some vague recollection since their parents took them to church a few times until they were 8 years old, many of today's children are completely in the dark, having never gone to church.

I suppose the situation is lamentable.  If only more people came to church, it would be better.  On the other hand, the opportunity for evangelism is staggering.  Your neighbor does not know what the Christian faith is.  Their guess may be as poor as the report's above.

What that means for Christians is that your efforts for evangelism are much easier than you might have thought.  You don't need some years' long study about methods.  You only need what you learned in Sunday School, or the most basic recollection of last Sunday's sermon (whatever the Sunday).  This will likely be news to the average person you meet.  It is certainly the good news we crave to hear.  I suspect that many will find that news equally good.  At the very least, many will find it new.

Evangelism just got much easier.  You don't need to convince anyone of anything.  You simply need to confess what you know.  At the very least, you will remove people's ignorance.  While we pray for their conversion, that remains the work of the Holy Spirit.

SUNDAY NIGHT BIBLE SERIES

JESUS – Legend or Lord?

Jesus of Nazareth is the most written about person in the world.  He is also one of the most debated figures in the world.  In this eight-part series, Dr. Maier explores a three-lane highway to the past through the  disciplines of Archaeology, History, and Geography.  Along the journey, we look back to the world that Jesus himself saw as he moved toward the cross.  The tentative schedule for this series is as follows.

History and Archaeology: God's “Back-up Systems”
SESSION 1  –  Our Sources of Information                     February 11  --  completed
SESSION 2  –  Archaeology and History                          March 18  --  completed
SESSION 3  –  The Works of Josephus                           April 8

New Perspectives on the Life of Jesus
SESSION 4  –  The Infancy Narratives May 6
SESSION 5  –  Jesus' Public Ministry June 10

The Crucifixion and Resurrection Revisited 
SESSION 6  –  The Week That Changed the World July 8
SESSION 7  –  The Resurrection Revisited   August 12

The Explosion of Christianity
SESSION 8  –  The Explosion of Christianity  September 9

A DVD worth looking into

It was a few years ago that the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod produced a DVD entitled, Road to Emmaus.  To be honest, I feared that it was going to be pretty cheesy.  It turned out to be a quality work that I was pleased to distribute to all of our prospects, as well as to members.

There was word of a follow up, and now it is ready for release.  This time, my optimism is high that it will be another quality work worthy of wide distribution.  You can check out the trailer here.

If you want to know more about ordering the DVD, you can go here:  http://www.comefollowmemovie.com/

Good Shepherd plans to order 100 copies for distribution to prospects and members.  It would be nice to order more, but that means people from Good Shepherd would have to contribute toward making that happen.  Your generosity would be appreciated, even by prospective members whom we have not even met yet.