
I described previously some efforts I made a while back to try and rekindle passion in my Christian life for doing personal evangelism. I've also been thinking a lot lately about how those of us who are leaders can effectively train others in evangelism and (re)ignite passion in them for sharing their faith.
I believe the answer to these two questions — how to motivate/equip both myself and others in areas like evangelism — can be found in the method John Wimber used in his book Power Healing. In chapters 9 through 12 of his book, Wimber describes a model he developed for equipping people in the ministry of divine healing. Wimber begins by articulating key principles underlying divine healing. From this foundation he then develops values, priorities and practices that can help make people become effective in healing ministry. The model can then be used to develop contextually-based programs for training people in divine healing. Wimber concludes by outlining a simple 5-step procedure people can follow when praying for the sick and demonized.
Following in Wimber's footsteps and based also on several decades of my own involvement in leading/planting homegroups and house churches, I developed a similar model for home fellowship ministry in Simple Kingdom: Home Fellowships. Beginning from first principles, I outlined in this book the values, priorities and practices that I believe are important for building healthy, Biblically-based home fellowships. I wrote this with the goal of helping people build and plant new home fellowships, the doing of which I believe will be a key part of bringing to fulfillment Wimber's vision for planting thousands of new fellowships (see chapter 5 of Bill Jackson's book The Quest for the Radical Middle for the story of how Wimber received this vision).
In this short series of blog posts I'm going to try and do something similar for personal evangelism. My goal will be twofold. First, to provide church leaders with a framework they can use to motivate and equip their people for evangelism. And secondly — and more importantly, at least for myself — to provide some simple points of reminder that someone like me can use to help them become more effective in sharing Christ with others.
Lately I've been feeling an urgency to address this important subject, both for the church at large and also for myself. For as Ingrid has said in the final chapter of Simple Kingdom: Discipleship, "A phrase keeps coming to my mind: the urgency of the kingdom."
Do you too feel this urgency?
Blessings,
—Mitch
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