How I have copped out of evangelism...

In the last weeks, months and year I have been thinking a lot about "Evangelism". First being in Erin has brought about more of a passion within me for the "unchurched". Secondly my parents have been involved with "Evangelism Explosion" through my church in Chatham, and the Sr Pastor here is very passionate about evangelism.

However, it has led me to think a lot about WHAT is evangelism exactly? HOW necessary is it for Christian's today? And do most Christian's today understand evangelism even in the slightest...and if so, do they act on what they know?

I am mostly still working through the formerly listed questions, but here are some thoughts that have come out of some conversations I have had with my parents, as well as my best friend in the last week.

a) Evangelism is CRITICAL to "the Church" ... and always has been.

Without some form of evangelism, the Church most definately would have became a stagnant pocket of religious people. (sound familiar?) Rather than this happening, we are instead told that thousands were added to their number...daily people were being 'saved'.

(Acts 2) If Christians cease to "actively" evangelize, our plight is surely to become stagnant and religious; and of little relevance to those around us.

b) Is "Living your Faith" a true and effective form of Evangelism?

I so often hear people say "I live my Faith, that's how I evangelize". Now at risk of offending those who I love and respect deeply, and others I may not know who read this, I am going to say this: Living your Faith is perhaps the greatest cop out used by Christian to get out of taking an active role in reaching out to those around them who do not yet know Christ.

I can say this, because I myself have struggled with this very thing. Now understand, I do not completely disagree with the idea of "living your faith"--in fact I agree with it, and promote it wholeheartedly; however, I think that what I mean by "living my faith" NOW, is quite different from how I formerly thought of it.

WHAT "LIVING YOUR FAITH" DOES NOT MEAN (in my opinion):

Simply going on with your regular routine, and claiming because you are a 'Christian' and your neighbours see you go to Church that you are "living your faith". A little side note: The fact that your neighbours know that you are part of an "organized religion" is probably not an "attractive" thing to them. Which is why "Living your Faith" calls for more than showing people that you are "religious".

WHAT "LIVING YOUR FAITH" DOES MEAN (in my opinion):

"Living your Faith" means getting out of a regular, religious routine, and living a life that is bold and intentional in purpose. When I took a group of students to Mississippi we had an impact because we were "bold and intentional" with all our actions. We didn't go knocking door to door asking "do you know where you are going when you die?"..but we did offer our help, and ourselves to serve those around us in whatever way we could. We were intentional in the way we lived that week, and because we had a purpose, and intention, our actions were bold.

St Francis of Assisi said: "Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words"

This calls for an intentional way of living, so that everything we do preaches the gospel. Not a religious routine that proves nothing more to those around us other than that we are selfish religious pricks. I myself have come to the realization that this is in fact what I portray when I use the cop out that I am "living my faith", when in fact I am just more comfortable "being selfish with my faith". I have found I need to stop SAYING that I "live my faith" and instead DO it, in a bold, intention, unwaivering manner.

My thoughts on this subject continue to become more clear to myself, I hope that this "blog" has portrayed a bit of the journey that my mind is on right now.

Car Wreck

Tonite on the way home from work there was a big accident just behind me on Riverview. Some guy, who i found out was quite drunk, tried to pass on a bend, but forgot to take the bend and went flying off the road, going into a spin, taking a lamp post right out of the ground, before coming to rest in a parking lot a couple hundred yards from where he left the road.
I was the second one there, and while the first guy (who was actually an old friend of mine from when I was really little) called 911 I ran to the car (which was completely crumpled). the driver had gotten the door open and was trying to get out of the car, he only made a couple steps before collapsing. There was gas all over the place so I picked him up and dragged him to the grass by the side of the road. He had a chunk of metal or glass in his forehead and he was all bloody, and was starting to lose consciousness. I talked to him for a while until the ambulance came. His friend was in a van behind him. His friend was handicap, (no legs) so was not able to get to the the car very quickly to help.
I had a cool chat with him afterwards, He was really upset, and mad at himself because he knew that his friend was too drunk to drive, and he had his keys, but his friend threatened him so he gave them to him. It was cool to talk to him about how things like this make us realize what is important in life. If you think of it....keep this guy (garry) in your prayers, I'm sure he'll be really kicking himself over letting his friend drive.(he already was)

anyways, the other sorta cool part about the whole thing was that my old friend from my childhood was the other guy who was first on the scene with me, so it cool to talk to him and see him again.

anyways, that was my evening, I head off to school sometime this week....still haven't decided yet...Looking forward to being in Calgary though.

Weekend in Erin

well I have just returned from my weekend in Erin. In some ways leaving this time was harder than leaving at the end of my internship. Because I knew I was coming back a couple times in the summer, but this time I have no idea when I will next be back in Erin. Its really hard leaving students who I have grown to love and care for so much, and hard to leave people who have shown me such unconditional love and acceptance. I have truely been blessed by Erin, and EVAC.
My next year....actually even just my next few weeks is going to be full of surprises for me. I head of to school in about a week and a half, but at this time I still have not pre-registered for classes, nor do I have a place to live as of right now. I know I will be working part-time at First Alliance Church, yet even that has a lot of unknowns about it. I have to admit, at times I get a little more than a tad anxious....but I know God is taking care of things and I'm excited to see what the next few weeks, and months and year...and so on, have in store for me.

the Rooming adventure

So I still have no idea what I am going to do for living in the fall....I was thinking of residence, but the RD said they don't have any apartments left for just one person....so, earlier today I was sorta stressing about it...but as I was spending some time praying and reading my Bible I just felt this total sense of peace about it. And the more I tried to just 'listen' to God the more I felt like He was just saying that he has something for me, but to just keeping going, and looking at different options. I was reminded of something I read by Charles Spurgeon earlier this year: "Let's fight as if it all depended on us but let's look up and know that it all depends on Him"

So that's sorta what I'm doing, I'm going to plan, and look into all kinds of options and see what happens, because I'm pretty confident that when I actually come to having to make a decision I will know what I need to do.....But one of the things I was doing tonite was looking at finding some random roomate in Calgary through "a roommate website"----sounds weird...but who knows, it could be interesting, and lead to some cool opportunities....

anyways, right now it's all still up in the air....it could be rez, it could be a apartment on my own, or it could be with someone i know....or someone I don't.....either way it'll be interesting..

peace

it's been a while....again....
August has been pretty busy so far, and I'm sure it'll just get busier. We had another Sr High youth last night--which was great...we talked about the crucifiction and had communion in small groups where the kids got to serve it to each other.... But the highlight of the night for me was at the fire afterwards when a bunch of the students were sitting around talking about how "Big" the universe is, and How "Bigger" God is....It's always so cool to hear students open up and relax and talk about God like that.....I gotta say I think they have a deeper understanding...or at least are thinking deeper about God then I did when I was their age.

This coming weekend I will be back in Erin for the weekend...I'm actually just starting to work on my sermon today. I'm really looking forward to being back again for a weekend.

School is quickly approaching.....very quickly....I still have to plan out my trip...work out all the insurance stuff for taking my car out west (which my mom actually has been working on and it's a bigger deal than we thought it would be) On top of that, I still don't have class picked or anything like that.....I have been looking at different option for where I am living, but I think I am giong to ask the RD about getting a room in rez without a roomate without having to pay extra.....the more I think about that...it seems to be the best option for now....not having to pay for more furniture, since i don't know how long I'm staying in calgary and all......anyways...we'll see what happens.....

I'll try to have more interesting thoughts on my blog, and more frequently later....probably more once i get to Calgary....