• Archive of "evangelism" Category

    Lausanne Congress Update 2

    October 22, 2010 // 2 Comments »

    Brain. Is. Fried.  The days here at the Lausanne Congress have been jam packed.

    The morning begins with a cornucopia of worship songs from around the world in many different languages followed by an inductive Bible study through a chapter of Ephesians.  John Piper was given that task yesterday (perhaps more on that in another post).  This includes not only an active engagement with the text personally, but because all of the delegates are seated at tables of 6, they take time to converse about the text and its implications for life and ministry as well.

    This is followed by the morning plenary session which includes 2 main speakers and 2 supporting speakers.  The main speakers have 14 minutes each and the supporting speakers about 1/2 that time.  There is also a drama team that intersperses sketches with the talks and then of course, more table discussion.

    Next is lunch, which means more heavy discussions.

    After lunch everyone is off to multiplexes.  4 of these are offered each day related to the theme for that day.  There are a panel of speakers who then facilitate a time of question and response.  Unfortunately, giving the microphone to an evangelical leader is as risky internationally as it is in the USA.  More often than not, people take this as a time to have their say rather than ask a thoughtful question of the panelists.

    Following a short break, we move right into dialogue sessions.  There are tons of these sessions offered and they are nearly all very interesting making it difficult to decide which one to go to.  These sessions have just 1-2 facilitators who lead smaller groups in discussions with each other.  The last one I attended was on the issue of homosexuality and I was in a small group with leaders from Kuwait, Nigeria, and Japan.  Where else are you gonna have that opportunity?! (Again, perhaps more in that in another post.)

    Dialogue sessions are followed by dinner which feature, you guessed it, even more intense conversations about what everyone else attended and gleaned from the afternoon.

    At this point you basically want to shut down and go to sleep for 3 days, but now it’s time for the evening plenary session which is very much like the morning plenary, but more focused on the ways in which God is at work in the world through the church with regard to the theme of the day.  They spotlight a region of the world and as well as a relevant global issue.

    In case you’re wondering, the 6 days of the conference are divided into the three main themes of The Gospel, The World, and The Church.  Each of these themes are addressed over 2 days and further divided into two main categories: Gospel – truth and reconciliation, World – world faiths and priorities, Church – integrity and partnership.

    If you’ve got any gas left, the days round out with an International film festival and of course there’s plenty of opportunity to  connect with others at a pub or restaurant here in downtown Cape Town.

    So, needless today, it’s been intense.

    Yesterday was a day off.  Amy and I joined a cadre of Fuller Seminary folks (faculty, staff, alumni, and others) for a day out.  This was an amazing experience and I’ll share more about that in another post.

    Posted in evangelism, lausanne

    Lausanne Congress Update

    October 19, 2010 // 1 Comment »

    Internet here in Cape town has been spotty and expensive, but here’s a few tid bits from our first few days here.

    I have spent most of my time at pastors conferences.  This is an entirely different feel.  To be honest, it feels weightier, more significant.  This probably has something to do with the fact that the bulk of the people here have made unspeakably greater sacrifices to follow God than the average pastor in the US.  It should also be noted that you would never get this sense in talking to the people here – which probably stems from another difference – no one is grumbling or complaining about how no one will follow them or get on board with their vision. They are too busy doing some of the most significant Kingdom work around the world to worry about stuff like that.

    As this conference is being touted as one of, if not the most, diverse gatherings of Christian leaders in the history of the world, the vibe of it just defies explanation.  Rubbing shoulders and having conversations with people in contexts that I can scarcely imagine will certainly be one of my highlight coming home.

    As someone put it yesterday, there is something “interesting” about being part of a gathering where there are “a lot of chiefs and not all that many Indians.”  (There were actually a handful of Native Americans sitting right behind us when that got said – thankfully they had a sense of humor.)  Basically every other person I meet is President of something, author of a book, or Archbishop of some diocese somewhere.  Oh, Rene Padilla just passed me and there goes the wife of Bill Bright – no kidding.  It’s encouraging to see so many people who are used to being treated as a VIP engage as part of the “common folk.”  Easy, I suppose, when you just don’t think in those terms.

    OK, hopefully more later.  Be sure to check out blog posts from Andrew Jones and Skye Jethani.

    Posted in evangelism, lausanne, leadership

    Not in Kansas Anymore

    March 27, 2008 // 13 Comments »

    Had an interesting experience last night. There is a local church which hosts a basketball game once a week as an outreach. Christians from the church and the area (if they have a “membership”) have the opportunity to bring their friends to play basketball and to hear a short devotional. Enter the interesting experience.

    The gentleman who shared the devotion for the evening passed out papers to all the players – maybe 25 of us or so and then pointed to people and had them read King James Scripture verses in sequence. I actually didn’t get a paper, but that didn’t stop him from pointing to me and asking me to read. I asked for the paper from the guy next to me who showed me where we were and I read my sentence. The passage we were reading was Romans 12 about the renewing of minds, but somehow the devotion went from there to, “all that matters is whether or not you know Jesus Christ because if you don’t and you get hit by a car on the way home tonight, you won’t be going to Heaven.” As the words came out of his mouth I gazed up and down the bleachers we were sitting on to see if others were hearing the same thing I was. The looks I saw were ones of complete immunity and numbness. It scared me.

    But it didn’t stop there. After the guy finished the devotion he spent every bit as much time threatening to kick people out who refused to play “team basketball.”

    It was about the most ungracious and off-putting outreach scenario I had ever been exposed to.

    So here’s what I have been processing. I am sure this guy loves God and really wants others to know God, but I seriously founding myself praying that no non-Christian would ever have to be exposed to this sort of presentation. Not only do I think it would be incredibly damaging for them, but I found myself deeply offended as a believer. On top of that, I began wondering to myself… “If this is an acceptable expression of the Christian faith in this context, I am in for one heck of a time.”

    Posted in evangelism, memphis