In this issue of our podcast, The Front Burner, we talk with Jim Donohue, the evangelism pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA. We ask Jim what he means when he calls himself an “evangelist,” and how he spends his time at the church. We also asked what a church with a limited budget was thinking when they hired an inexperienced, young guy to be a full-time evangelist.
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We Recommend: Matthias Media
February 21, 2012
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I’ve come to trust and appreciate the resources that come from our friends down under at Matthias Media. Matthias Media is a a gospel-centered publishing ministry well known for resources like The Trellis and the Vine and Two Ways to Live. They present their materials in four categories: Outreach, Follow-up, Growth and Training. They distribute over a million resources each year all over the world. Tony Payne, the director, speaks about the uniqueness of Matthias Media in a video on their home page: “We want to persuade all Christians of the truth of God’s purposes in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible, and equip them with high-quality resources, so that by the work of the Holy Spirit they will:
- abandon their lives to the honour and service of Christ in daily holiness and decision-making
- pray constantly in Christ’s name for the fruitfulness and growth of his gospel
- speak the Bible’s life-changing word whenever and however they can—in the home, in the world and in the fellowship of his people.
We’re not the slightest bit interested in adding to the already monumental pile of Christian books churned out each year by the Christian publishing industry. The world needs more Christian books like it needs more websites.
However, we are passionate about publishing resources that fuel, promote and support gospel growth. So our publishing criteria for any project is threefold:
- Does it meet a gospel ministry need?
- Is the content faithful to the Bible?
- Is the quality of a high standard?”
Matthias Media is one of the few publishers that seeks to offer a wealth of relevant, biblically-based outreach resources, both for the seeker and for the Christian who wants to grow in outreach. One category of offerings is “Raising Issues,” which includes 19 publications with titles like If I Were God I’d End all the Pain and Jesus for Sceptics.
If you don’t already know Matthias Media, check them out. And when you order for the first time, if you are ordering from the States, make sure you are on the US-oriented web site.
How May We Help You?
February 21, 2012
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We have seen over the years, in our own experience and in others, that excitement for evangelism often comes in spikes of activity that quickly fizzle out. So The Philip Center offers a long-term relationship with your church so that you keep evangelism on the front burner. We want you to experience evangelism that is fruitful and sustainable. The Philip Center exists because we feel called to the work of evangelism and called to the fruitfulness and health of the local church. It’s our calling, our passion and our joy. We’ve been doing it for years and it’s what we like to do the most.
Worth Repeating
February 2, 2012
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This quote, from D.A. Carson, came at the Plant conference I attended recently. It’s worth passing on:
“If I have learned anything in 35 or 40 years of teaching, it is that students don’t learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again. That had better be the gospel.
If the gospel—even when you are orthodox—becomes something which you primarily assume, but what you are excited about is what you are doing in some sort of social reconstruction, you will be teaching the people that you influence that the gospel really isn’t all that important. You won’t be saying that—you won’t even mean that—but that’s what you will be teaching. And then you are only half a generation away from losing the gospel.
Make sure that in your own practice and excitement, what you talk about, what you think about, what you pray over, what you exude confidence over, joy over, what you are enthusiastic about is Jesus, the gospel, the cross. And out of that framework, by all means, let the transformed life flow.”
Q&A: Can You Help Our Church With Outreach?
February 1, 2012
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Q. Tim, if you could suggest just a few things our church could do to improve our outreach, what would they be?
A. Sure, there are a few things I’d suggest. The Philip Center does not like to hand out “evangelism in a box” solutions that fit all churches. Each church is different and will have its own set of barriers to evangelism. But having said that, there are factors common to healthy church outreach.
First, examine the preaching of the Word from the pulpit. Is it rich, Christ-centered preaching. This isn’t a sermon that tacks on a gospel invitation, but preaching that points to the human predicament of sin, our inability to overcome our sin, the cross, repentance, forgiveness. Showing the relationship of a biblical text to the gospel and to the disease of our hearts — and doing that year after year — makes our churches the salutary soul hospitals they are designed to be. One good resource for this is Brian Chappel’s Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. A steady diet of gospel-rich preaching of the Word, when it connects to the heart of the non-Christian is one of the best things a church can do toward fruitful evangelism. The same preaching will likewise shape the contours of the Christian’s heart as well — helping him to better understand the transformation taking place in his life and enabling him to communicate that to others.
Second, pay attention to individuals. Keep an eye out for the people in your church and outside of your church (usually those in relationships with people in your church). Each one is loved by God and precious. I choose the word “individual” to reflect the language of Henry Trumbull’s book, Individual Work for Individuals (an out-of-print gem from 1901). It’s easy to overlook individuals in our great desire to reach many. Slow down and take the time to observe who is spiritually open. Given our culture’s distaste for church, the fact that a non-Christian is in a church is likely an indication of some degree of openness. But look beyond who is in the church building and see who is in relationships with your people. Inspire and equip the Christians to pay attention to their friends, family, co-workers, neighbors — one at a time. So many of our outreach initiatives are designed to reach people, but when those individuals express interest, we move on to the next initiative. Look, listen, listen more, love and respond to who they are and what they are thinking and feeling. Care for them as individuals patiently. The story of the lost sheep is a poignant reminder of Jesus’ love for individuals.
Third, evaluate your outreach leadership. There are two crucial issues here. One has to do with the pastor. Is he a champion for evangelism and is he doing it himself? These are crucial. If not, humbly begin to pray for him, that God would move his heart for the lost. While I’m not a big fan of the solo pastor model of church leadership, it is nevertheless crucial for the lead pastor or elder to actively model and champion evangelism. Mark Dever’s book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism is a great resource for this. Second, a church that is eager to grow in outreach should seek to identify and train someone who is the Ephesians 4:11 equipping evangelist. This likely should not be the person who naturally and effortlessly leads many to Christ. Those in your church who do that are a wonderful gift, but they are rarely good equippers of the rest who are fearful and unequipped to share their faith. This leader is very important to the long-term outreach health of a church and his role in your church cannot be overlooked. I have heard church planting pastors say that they would make that the second or third hire the next time they plant.
Review: What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert
January 26, 2012
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I recently met a new friend, Kevin McKay, at the Coffee Exchange in Providence, RI. Kevin is a former intern with Mark Dever and now pastor at Grace Harbor Church. When we sat down, Kevin graciously offered me a gift — What is the Gospel? — and I’m glad he did.
What is the Gospel? is the first book written by Greg Gilbert, Senior Pastor of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. Hopefully this will not be his last. The book is one of a series published by 9 Marks Ministries, and is small, attractive and relatively short — 121 pages. Its presentation makes it easy to pass on.
The author’s goals are ambitious. He seeks to enrich worship in response to the grace of Christ and to build the confidence of Christians for communicating the gospel to others. He is eager to see the gospel pervade all aspects of church life — preaching, worship, prayer, etc. Gilbert also hopes to bring clarity for Christians caught in “a general fog of confusion that swirls around” this topic (17). Additionally, he writes to those who “soften some of the edges” of the gospel to make it more “acceptable to the world” (21) — presumably those creating some of the fog. Finally, he writes to non-Christians, hoping they will give their attention to the good news of Christ’s salvation.
Whether this book accomplishes those aims, we don’t know yet. Only the gospel itself could hope to do all that. What we can say is that Gilbert has written in a way that makes those goals possible. His attachment to Scripture, his avoidance of attention to himself and his firm but humble tone serve his goals well.
As I started to read, I was hoping that he would quote the Scriptures he referenced. And with just a handful of exceptions, he does. This makes it more likely that the seeker he is addressing will engage with the Word of God. Chapter 1 establishes Scripture as the only authority to answer the title’s question and then takes Romans 1- 4 as the pattern for that answer: God the righteous creator, man the sinner, Jesus Christ the Savior and faith and repentance as the response. This pattern forms the four core chapters of the book (2 – 5). Three chapters follow on the kingdom, the cross and the power of the gospel.
Some of the high points come from the book’s clarity and connections. After explaining that Jesus came as a King to inaugurate his kingdom, the author writes:
But here is where the good news of Christianity gets really, really good. You see, King Jesus came not only to inaugurate the kingdom of God, but also to bring sinners into it by dying in their place [emphasis mine] and for their sin, taking their punishment on himself and securing forgiveness for them, making them righteous in God’s sight, and qualifying them to share in the inheritance of the kingdom (Col. 1:12).
His advocacy of the substitutionary atoning sacrifice of Christ as the center of the gospel is refreshing:
To toss substitutionary atonement aside is to cut out the heart of the gospel. To be sure there are many pictures in Scripture of what Christ accomplished with his death: example, reconciliation and victory, to name three. But underneath them all is the reality to which all the other images point — penal substitution. You simply cannot leave it out, or even downplay it in favor of other images, or else you litter the landscape of Scripture with unanswered questions (68-69).
Though the seeking non-Christian is among those Gilbert writes to, he or she will have to be biblically and theologically literate to benefit from What is the Gospel? The paragraph above is clear to the well-read evangelical, but a mouthful of steak for a non-Christian. For some, the terms may be difficult to chew. On the other hand, the sharp-minded seeker may appreciate being spoken up to. If, as Thom Rainer tells us in Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, seekers care about doctrine and deep teaching, then this book may bear a good deal of fruit.
Perhaps the author could have said a little more about the response of our lives. As the evangelical pendulum swings away from a distaste for the “social gospel” and toward a biblical view of mercy, justice and care, we need to understand the relationship of Ephesians 2:8-9 to 2:10. Gilbert seems to have stayed just a short step too far away from the book of James. A more nuanced section on this may have helped the reader see the balance of salvation by grace alone and the works that necessarily follow.
Why read this (short and small) book? It is a clear, humble and biblical statement of what lies at the heart of Christianity. It’s what we Christians continue to live by. It’s what we need to counsel from. It’s what we need for leading our churches well. And it’s what we need to share clearly and graciously with our neighbor. The time you take to read it will be worth it.
D.A. Carson, in his enthusiastic foreword, suggests that we all read this book and then buy a box of them to hand out. I will do just that.
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