Evangelism

First published at SI May 1, 2006.

Into my heart, into my heart,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
Come in today; come in to stay.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

Few people have ever captured and caricatured all levels of American society more successfully than did cartoonist Al Capp in his classic comic strip “Li’l Abner.” Arguably, the funniest sequences in the series are those where Abner, Mammy, or other members of the Yokum clan venture from their home in Dogpatch into the big city. There they interact with the urbanites, and hilarity ensues. For all of their sophistication and culture, the socialites can never seem to get the best of the hillbillies from the Ozarks.

The purpose of this article is to suggest that Al Capp—unwittingly, to be sure—suggests a viable model for rural/urban church planting.

In today’s evangelical world there is a heartening new emphasis on the church plant. Many of the efforts are being focused on urban centers—with works like Redeemer Presbyterian in New York or Mars Hill in Seattle being held up as examples for others to follow. Cities are the natural choice, it is argued, because they have more people, and because they set the culture for the rest of the world.

Based on those two facts, I heard one preacher affirm that all ministries (and the context was “church-planting”) should be city-focused.

While the above mentioned factors cannot be denied, I would like to suggest that they do not tell the whole story. Let me share two observations gleaned from my formative years in the US and our current ministry in Northeast Brazil.

(See Part 7, Part 8)

Part 9: Logic and Evidences

Do we really think that we can change the hearts and minds of men by the overwhelming logic and evidences for the intelligent design of the living world and the universe around us?

Bock, Darrell L. and Mitch Glaser, eds. To the Jew First: The Case for Jewish Evangelism in Scripture and History. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2008. 347 pp. Softcover. $16.99.

(Review copy courtesy of Kregel Publications.)

Are people hearing the gospel from us? It is God’s plan for people to hear the gospel from our lips. Romans 10:14 says, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (KJV). Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47, John 20:21, and Acts 1:8 teach that each believer is to be a “preacher,” proclaiming the “good news” of the Lord’s salvation.

by Debi Pryde

by Larry Rogier

Schneider, Floyd. Evangelism for the Fainthearted. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2000. Paperback, 224 pages. $12.99

^{Note: This article is reprinted with permission from As I See It, a monthly electronic magazine compiled and edited by Doug Kutilek. AISI is sent free to all who request it by writing to the editor at [email protected].}

by Doug Kutilek

I sill remember my first sermon like it was yesterday. A junior in high school, I sensed that the Lord was calling me to preach His Word, and my friend, Mike Pelletier, was encouraging me in my walk with Christ. He came home from Bible college for summer break (I was still in high school at the time) and told me that we were going to do a Kankakee, Illinois, version of “The War,” an evangelistic teen outreach Evangelist Jim VanGelderen was doing across the country.