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Last month I was having coffee with a friend. During our conversation my friend asked
me about Evangelism. The friend told me he assumed that Im really good at Evangelism
because Im a new church pastor.
That comment made me gulp.
And it made me think.
And it made me pray.
And it prompted me to do some more study on Evangelism.
The church is called to do evangelismto share the story and good news of Jesus and
connect people to a faith communty. As a new churchChain of Lakes Churchwe are
required to be good at evangelism. Our existence depends on the capability of all of us to share
the story and good news of Jesus Christ and connect people to this community.
This comment led me to design this sermon series called New Evangelism. The AIM
of this series is to equip every one of us to do and enjoy evangelism. I believe that if we can
grasp the simple ideas of New Evangelism this can happen we can enjoy being an evangelist.
This is a teaching series and were doing it with a sense of curiosity. Were curious to
learn more about Gods story and our own story.
I dont know how your Bible reading was in the summer, but as we move into the fall I
want to encourage all of us to read the Bible. For the next two weeks during this series were
going to read 1 Corinthians as a congregation. Its 16 chapter. It will require reading a little
more than a chapter a day.
In this handout you have been given a devotion with the first 8 chapters of 1 Corinthians.
You also have a place to take notes. This is a teaching series, so I want to encourage you to
write down what God prompts you to remember.
The word evangelism has baggage to it. When I told a colleague what I wanted to do in
this sermon she asked me if I was going to even use the word evangelism. The word brings up

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negative stereotypes. Let me try to clear away the debris of these stereotypes when I talk about
New Evangelism.
Let me tell you what New Evangelism is not.
SLIDE New Evangelism is not sales, its not high pressure, its not an argument.
Let me contrast New evangelism with stereotypes of evangelism. Im calling this
stereotype old evangelism.
SLIDE
New evangelism is developing relationships; old evangelism is a single encounter
New evangelism is a dialogue; old evangelism is a monologue
New evangelism is asking good questions; old evangelism is giving a lot of information
New evangelism is demonstration of the gospel; old evangelism is presentation of the gospel
New evangelism is being a fellow journeyer; old evangelism is being an expert
New evangelism is being soft; old evangelism is being loud
New evangelism has the tone of consideration; old evangelism has the tone of argumentation
New evangelism believes salvation is now and after death; old evangelism is concerned about
after death.
What is the purpose of evangelism.
SLIDE Evangelism is helping people discover and own a life-transforming relationship to Jesus
Christ.
There is one word and two modifiers that describes new evangelism.
SLIDE The word is story.
One modifier is our; the other modifier is Gods
To do new evangelism we share the connection between our faith story and Gods story.
The first task of doing New Evangelism is to know our story.
This should be good news. To be an evangelist we dont have to be experts on the
doctrines of God. We dont have to know all the nuances of salvation, or the different
understandings of Communion, or how many theories of atonement exist. We dont have to be
theological experts.

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We need to be able to know and communicate our own storyour story.

For the rest of the sermon today I want to give you one tool that can help you with your
own story. The tool is a simple question.
The question is this, in what way has knowing Jesus benefitted our life.

SLIDE

In your bulletin is this card. It has the question on top. I want you to reflect on this
question, answer it, and bring it to worship next Sunday.
For the rest of this sermon I want to share how people have answered this question.
The first person is Ray Jones. Ray Jones is the national coordinator for Evangelism for
the Presbyterian Church USA. A few years ago he flew to Chain of Lakes to do a retreat on
Evangelism. He did a video where he answered this question. Take a listen.
VIDEO
Rays life is different because he experienced the overwhelming love of Jesus Christ.
Ray enjoys talking about this love of Jesus. It has benefited his life. Its natural for him to talk
about it. When he talks about it hes not trying to debate someone or convince someone that
they are a sinner. He is sharing his story.
This comfort in sharing our own story is central to what Im calling New Evangelism.
The second story is the Apostle Pauls story in the village of Corinth. Let me give you
some background.
Corinth was one of the most important cities of the Roman province of Achaia.
(MAP). Corinth had a long history. It had been destroyed 146 years BCE and was reestablished
by Cesar about 44 years BCE. The city was very diverse religiously and had many different
ethnic groups. It was a large city.

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When I think of Corinth I think of a first century version of New York City. A lot of
different people, a lot of educated people, and a lot of wealth. .
Paul went to the city in the spring of the year 50 and stayed until the summer of 51. Jesus
died and was raised in the early 30s, so the story of Jesus was still fresh in peoples minds. .
Think with me. Imagine you entered a city like New York City. There werent a lot of
followers of Jesus in the city. You know that people in the city are educated and wealthy. You
want to start a new community of followers of Jesus. You have to start telling people your own
story.
How would you feel about your task?
Paul was scared. Look at what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 2 when he described his
method.
SLIDE

And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

Paul was one of the greatest evangelists in the world. Even he was a bit scared when he

shared his message.

Even though Paul was intelligent, he knew that his message wasnt a sophisticated
message. This is what he said.
SLIDE
When I came to you, brothers and sisters,[a] I did not come proclaiming the mystery[b] of God to
you in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ,
and him crucified.
speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom,[c] but with a
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
4 My

I want you to read Corinthians this week. As youll read it youll see that Paul was
convicted to share the message about the crucifixion of Jesus. He went on to share in this letter
why the crucifixion of Jesus was important.

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For Paul what Jesus did on the cross was so different than any other great leader had ever
done. In Pauls day leaders were known for their power and might. They commanded great
armies of people who were ready to fight to the death for them.
Jesus was obviously different. He came to say Blessed are the meek; blessed are those
who mourn; blessed are the merciful; blessed as the peacemakers. He said that our strength
comes not from power but through self-sacrificial love. He shared stories of helping people who
were on the edges of the world. He demonstrated his power not by commanding legions of
angels to come into the world, but by dying naked on a cross.
This was just so different. Paul understood the difference. He understood that the power
which the world offered couldnt compare to what Jesus offered. Through Jesus Christ Paul
discovered a spiritual power. It didnt matter to Paul how much money or prestige a person had.
What mattered was knowing Christ and experiencing the power of what Jesus had done. This
was his story.
When Paul gathered a group of people he would go into the synagogue and share this
story. This was the story that Paul sharedJesus had died and the world was different. He
shared it with power and authority. Pauls life had been changed because of his understanding of
the death of Jesus.
Lets reviewhow has knowing Jesus benefitted my life?
Ray said that he was surrounded by a love that he wanted to give his life to
Paul said that Jesus had died and through his death he demonstrated a power that was above
every other power in the world.
Let me close by sharing some of my story. Ive shared a lot of this before. I want to
share with you how I would answer the question, how has knowing Jesus benefited my life.
When I grew up I didnt like going to church because my church was very cold and grey

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and had nothing for me as a child. My task in going to worship was to sit still and be quiet.
Which was practically impossible for a wiggly boy like me.
But when I could sit still I would listen to the Bible readings. The sermons were way
over my head. When I heard the stories of Jesus I was interested. I was amazed that he would
stand up to the religious leaders of his day. I was curious about the message of blessed are the
peacemakers and if a person demands one tunic give that person another tunic. I liked that he
would stand up for people who were on the periphery of the world. Jesus was trying to create
something very special.
Later in my life I went to work for people who lived on the outskirts of society
farmworkers in California and low-income people on the south side of Chicago and in poor
neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. I felt that I was trying to live out the Kingdom of God that
Jesus wanted.
But there was something missing in what I was living out. I was missing the spiritual
strength of a personal relationship with Jesus. I had that relationship. But I wasnt combining
personal faith with social action. What I was discovering were the benefits of this relationship
with Jesus. I have a talk called 6 gifts that Jesus gives.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

In Jesus I was
Given the gift of salvation
had a role model for my lifelove as Jesus loved
I was released or forgiven of my sins
I had a callor what I call my Inspirational Intersection
I was loved and accepted unconditionally
carried his Spirit with me.
These are tremendous gifts.
My life has turned out totally different because of Jesus. I never would have met and

married my wife without God. Im convinced that our daughter wouldnt have been born if it

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hadnt been what God wanted. Im sure I wouldnt be preaching for you today if it wasnt for
God.
The three most important parts of my lifemy wife, my daughter, and my job came as
the result of God.
All of these benefits can be wrapped up in one word. In this sophisticated world the
message is very simple. The word is love. Love. My life is totally different because Ive
experienced this love from God.
I want to close by singing a song. I feel like the apostle Paul sharing a very simple
message in a sophisticated culture. The words were written by Anna Bartlett Warner. The tune
was added by William Bradbury in 1862. He added the chorus.
You know the song. The song answers the question, How has knowing Jesus benefited
my life.