Under Valued gifts (5)

5. Talking about Jesus.

I don’t think we are very good at evangelism in Sydney. I don’t think there is at lot of evangelism going on at PBC for that matter. There are many things that we do well, but sharing our faith isn’t one of them.

So what do you do about it? I met up for a coffee with the Pastor of Castle Hill Baptist this week and he said that he was tired of training courses. “Church needs a kick up the pants about evangelism? Get them to do this course!” Courses can be helpful but I agree that the problem runs much deeper than that.

I think that the reason why we find it so hard to tell our friends and neighbours about Christ (and we do, or at least I do) is that we even find it hard to talk to other Christians about the gospel. Quotes from the Early Church Fathers suggest that the early Christians couldn’t help talking about Jesus all the time - and so it naturally spilt out in conversations with non-Christians.

In fact some of the most interesting descriptions of early Christianity come from pagans! For example Celsus was a second century pagan who argued with Origen. Despite their cynicism even those opposed to Christianity had to concede that the Christians both lived the gospel and kept talking about it.

So let’s start by talking about Jesus to one another. How did you become a Christian? What difference does Jesus make to your week? Those are the kind of questions we should get so used to they become second nature.

• Practice - write out your testimony and share it with another Christian
• Encourage - how about asking someone how they became a Christian over morning tea?
• Encourage one another in conversations to apply the gospel to our lives in simple and practical (and therefore visible) ways.
• Don’t avoid people who talk about Jesus as ‘weird’ and ‘super-spiritual’. Actually, when it comes to Christians, they are the ‘normal’ ones.

Under Valued gifts (4)

The Gift of Sympathy

According to the Apostle Paul sympathy should be the automatic outworking of the gospel. You can tell if someone’s life has been changed by Jesus because they show sympathy.

However, by sympathy I don’t mean the way it is often portrayed on TV. I’m talking about the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Technically sympathy involves more than empathy (feeling what other people feel), it also entails a positive concern for the well-being of the other person.

For example, instead of turning up at PBC thinking, “Wow, I’ve had a tough week at work, I’m going to sit back and receive encouragement this morning...” turn it the other way round - “Wow, I bet everyone else has had a tough week - how can I encourage them?”

Similarly instead of expecting others to cut me some slack because I’m new / sick / tired / a hassled parent ____ (fill in the blank) I’m going to cut everyone else some slack because they are all of the above, and more!

So here are some tips on how to develop this ministry. Anybody can do this:

• turn up early (before 9.30am) - think: if I was new to church, how would I like people to treat me?

• pray as I enter the building - how can I serve people this morning?

• look around you at those sitting near you - what are their needs?

• if someone is short with you, or doesn’t treat you as you would expect - think: is there a reason (I don’t know about) why they are acting like this?

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2: 3-4)