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So you've done the prep. The main point is clear in your mind. The structure is sketched out. And your application thought-through. All that remains is to put the pieces together, write the talk and deliver it.
You're faithfully explaining the word of God so you're confident that it's going to be relevant and transformational. In the hands of the Holy Spirit, there's no doubt that it can be used to glorify God. But there's still a nagging suspicion that the talk that you end up with might be, well, how can I put this? Just a little bit dull...
If that scenario sounds familiar, why not spend an hour today listening to Pete Woodcock's seminar on how to stop being boring.
As an experienced speaker, Pete shares his top tips for passing on God's truth in ways that engage and enthuse. Originally given at the Bible-centred youthworker conference, there are hints here for anyone who has to teach Jesus from the front of church. If you listen, your talks may never be the same again ...
For many, the path to knowing Jesus is a series of steps. They get to know a Christian… they meet some of that Christian's friends… they go to a church-run event… they begin to be interested in what lies at the heart of the church… they come to an evangelistic talk… they start going to church meetings regularly, or go on a course… they put their faith in Christ.
Of course, that journey is different for all of us. Some stages get jumped over, swapped around, or taken a long time over.
But it's easy, having been Christians for a while, to forget that each of those steps doesn't seem very small when it's the next one. And so it's worth thinking: what's an easy, short next step for my tentatively-enquiring friend—and how can I help them make that step?... continue reading
ChristianityExplored.org exists to tell people about Christ—who He is, why He came, and what it means for us today. It's not an advert for the Christianity Explored course—and your church doesn't need to run the course to use the website as an evangelistic resource.
But that said, there is an area of the site which tells people what a CE course is, and what it's like, and what "type" of people go (ie: all types!).
And if your church does run CE, it's well worth pointing people who might be interested to "The CE course" area on the site. Turning up for CE can be a pretty intimidating prospect—What will happen? Who'll be there? Will they be asked to pray or sing? Will they be put under pressure, or brainwashed?
There's a great short video at www.christianityexplored.org/course which aims to help people feel comfortable and confident about signing up. It's voiced by a real CE group leader, and features a wide range of CE courses from big church halls through living rooms to coffee shops.
If you're advertising a CE course at your church over Easter, why not show this two-minute video at evangelistic services and events? It's what it's made for, (literally!). Let people see that CE really is relaxed, informal and friendly, and they'll be far more likely to show up!
It's always great to hear about how God has worked in people's lives to bring them to faith in His Son. It encourages us to praise God; and reminds us that no-one (including our own non-believing friends and family) are beyond His reach.
And real-life stories of conversion also show those investigating Christianity that real people really do follow the Lord Jesus—that He makes a difference to people's lives.
As Tim Keller, Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, says: "Testimony shows how comprehensive Christian fulfilment is. Christ not only appeals to our minds, he fills our hearts. Testimony enables more experientially oriented cultures and temperaments to see the attractiveness of Christianity."
Below are two amazingly moving testimonies, introduced by Carl Laferton, one of the creators of www.christianityexplored.org.
Deb Stein
"Deb's story needs very little introduction—it's best just to let it speak for itself. But I do remember filming her. She did a couple of trial runs and then we switched the camera on. She told her story in a single take. When she finished, we were absolutely silent. I was on the verge of tears."
Rob Prendergast
"Rob is one of the nicest guys I've met. His is a great story of being saved out of both nominal Christianity and then a lifestyle that left him a long way from Christ. When we finished filming his story, Rob mentioned he does some rapping—and he just started rapping to camera, without any prep. It was fantastic, and so we put one of his raps on the end of his story as a bonus feature… to reward people who watched to the end of his story!"
How could you use these testimonies?
You'll find all the real-life stories at www.christianityexplored.org/real-life-stories. There's also a page of people sharing their experiences of going on a Christianity Explored course at www.christianityexplored.org/course/who.
One of the ways the CE website helps personal evangelism is by giving answers to tough questions Christians are often asked (and sometimes ask ourselves, too!)
Carl Laferton, one of the creators of the site, explains the thinking behind these video answers:
"We wanted the answers to come across as warm, conversational, and real. Often videos like these can come across as: 'Let me show you why you're wrong, and a bit stupid.' Or they can try to say absolutely everything about a particular topic or use words that are only heard in church. Our goal was for every answer to meet people where they are at, to recognise the validity of their question, and to point people to Jesus in non-jargony language, encouraging them to keep thinking about the issue.
"So we stripped down the setting and lighting so that it didn't look staged or stylised, and went for a simple edit style. We didn't use an autocue, so that the answers would sound real, not scripted (which meant multiple, painful takes at times!) And we used a wide variety of people—some hugely experienced pastors and evangelists like Vaughan Roberts, Kevin DeYoung, Lizzy Smallwood, and others who have secular jobs and are at the coalface of relational evangelism each day, such as Dawn Evans and Abi Styles.
"Of course, while our main aim was to help non-Christians think through their questions and point them to Jesus, the great thing about these answers is how much Christians can learn from them, about how to go about answering their friends. I learned loads from filming and listening to these guys!"
Below are two of the answers: Dawn Evans, a schoolteacher in the midlands, on suffering; and Jon Cawsey, who works for a church on an Essex council estate, on whether decent people deserve to go to heaven. You'll find all of them at: www.christianityexplored.co.uk/tough-questions.
With mission season coming up, we're featuring a series of posts this week on the Christianity Explored website, a great resource for churches and individual Christians to point interested non-Christians to this Easter.
In this first post, Carl Laferton, one of the creators of the website, talks to The Good Book Company's David Berkeley about why there's a website at all… what it does… and how you can use it.
To grab a load of cards with the web address on, go here.
Or why not link the site to your church's website ...
There are moments when the children and young people in our churches are less than calm. Times when the pain and frustration and rebellion of their hearts overflow in spectacular ways. Mornings when they just lose control and scream ... or suppress their ire and seethe.
In short, there are occasions when anger in young people is a big issue for Christian youth and children's workers. If you would value some help in thinking through how best to respond to such situations, why not listen to a great seminar on Dealing with Anger in Children and Young People, given at this year's Bible-Centred Youthworker conference? Click here to begin.
Can you help us come up with a title for a new Good Book Guide?
We're looking for a title for the new Good Book Guide on Esther and would be glad of any suggestions you may have. Major themes of the book are God's deliverance, perfect timing and sovereignty even over the superpowers of this world, and our need to trust in God's sovereignty and faithfulness to His promises.We'd love to hear from you!
OK, I confess – I’m not universalist in my understanding of the gospel. But I do believe the gospel message is universal. The offer of new life in Christ is available to all irrespective of age, education, nationality or taste in music. No one is too bad to be forgivable through Christ – or too good to need forgiving. The gospel is perfect for anyone – but evangelistic courses are not. That’s why I was delighted yesterday to put the finishing touches to the latest member of the Christianity Explored range: Christianity Explored Universal.
The idea behind the Universal range is that it uses clear, simple English that is accessible to as many people as possible. It is ideal for internationals for whom English is a second language, but also for anyone who would find this feature useful. The course doesn’t involve listening to any talks. Instead, there are eight straightforward Bible studies in Mark’s Gospel. The questions and concepts are kept as simple as possible, and don’t make any assumptions about previous Bible knowledge. There are short summaries and illustrations as you go along, and plenty of help to understand tricky Bible words or phrases.
I’m excited about Christianity Explored Universal because it works with such a wide range of people – groups of international students, a homegroup that wants to study Mark, or someone exploring the life of Jesus on a one-to-one basis. And if, as we hope, the Lord graciously uses this course to bring many people to know Him for themselves, there’s a follow-on course – Discipleship Explored Universal – to help them begin to grow in their love and knowledge of Him.
Christianity Explored Universal will be launched in September in the UK (it will be a few weeks earlier if you are in the States). Discipleship Explored Universal is available now, as is a range of short “Access for all” tracts that again use simple, clear language to explain the gospel message.
Another great visual representation of gospel truth from Tim Challies. This time, it's Philippians 4:8 (with a spot of Greek thrown in!):
