Pastor’s Pen: [ May 3 ] F W C
G
' A
[ May 14 ] R 10:45am Worship
[ May 24—31] P E W No evening ac vi es or mee ngs at the church
@fbcjc @fbcjcmo FBCJC FBCJC
Where is evangelism? People some mes ask. Churches don’t have revival mee ngs like they used to. Evangelism wasn’t one of our “sails” (bold dreams) in the Se ng Sail process. Where is evangelism? In case you hadn’t no ced, culture has shi ed. A rac onal events have ceased to be effec ve in reaching nonbelievers. Family fragmenta on, parents working two or three jobs, kids’ sports being offered seven days a week—you name it. The seculariza on of culture happened right under our noses. In other words, the church found itself with a powerful Gospel but an outmoded “delivery system.” Thus, we have moved to an incarna onal model (being Christ in the world) instead of an a rac onal, program‐driven one. Accordingly, evangelism (bringing people into a growing rela onship with Jesus Christ) has become more imbedded in all we do, not simply in one program. As someone has said, evangelism isn’t one of the sails in our strategic vision; it is the en re ship! All the sails—God‐centered worship, life‐changing faith, authen c rela onships, community transforma on and global partners‐‐exist to bring people to Christ. Where has evangelism gone? It’s everywhere, imbedded in the DNA of our congrega on. Let me give some examples. One of our ladies volunteers at Common Ground, the faith‐based community center, where she teaches kni ng. As they work, she talks about the Lord and about answered prayers in her life. Ask me to count for you how many families we have reached through our preschool and children’s choirs. As I write this, an email just arrived from our Homebound Lord’s Supper Team. They just completed their work of offering communion to a nursing home. Two residents (not members here) asked about a ending FBC JC if transporta on could be provided. (ConƟnued on page 2)