Aug
23
2010
Building a Gospel Culture
Lig’ Duncan has begun what looks like it will be a very helpful series of posts on an evangelism training opportunity they used at First Pres, Jackson called The Gospel Course.
In the first post, The Gospel and the Local Church, Lig’ talks a bit about what he hopes to see of a “gospel culture” in his local church. He writes:
By [gospel culture] I mean: [1] that your whole congregation would be able to articulate the Gospel, personally, in a compelling and understandable way; [2] that your whole congregation would understand the importance and necessity of their lives, their prayers and their participation in Gospel witness; [3] that your whole congregation would deeply care about conversions (and I would lay stress here, that we are talking about real conversions, not numbers; disciples, not decisions; changed lives, not merely prayed prayers); [4] that your whole congregation would earnestly and regularly pray for conversions, talks about their own conversions and the conversions of others, and put a priority on people coming to know God; and [5] that your whole congregation would be excited about the Gospel itself, and not simply about a method of sharing the Gospel, or a training program.
The Gospel Course is the practical, applied approach that they’ve began at First Pres. Here’s how Lig’ describes the effort:
To this end in my own congregation, it was my joy this last autumn to spend thirteen weeks of Wednesday nights, meeting with about 115 of our members, in what we called “The Gospel Course.” The aim of our study in the Gospel Course was (among other things), to provide participants with: (1) a fuller understanding of the Gospel; (2) an opportunity to hone and articulate their Christian testimony; (3) an opportunity to be instructed in, observe and engage in Gospel conversations; (4) a simple, biblical, outline of the Gospel; (5) encouragements and helps to share (or more effectively share) the Gospel; (6) an opportunity to help better the evangelism equipping of our congregation; (7) the opportunity to see how all pastors of the church are involved in gospel witness; and (8) encouragement and instruction on how to engage others in the church in this Gospel culture.
The second post takes up the questions “What Is Evangelism and What Is the Gospel?” The training adopts J.I. Packer’s excellent definition of evangelism.
Evangelism is To bear witness to Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that [1] people may come to put their trust in God, through Christ; [2] to acknowledge Him as their Savior; and [3] to serve Him as their King, [4] in the fellowship of His Church.
Duncan unpacks the benefits of this definition and goes on to talk more about the question, “What is the gospel?” Read the entire post here.