Look Inside: b'Christianity Explored Training Conference Notebook'

WELCOME

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hank you for joining us for this training conference, the like of which has been run all over the world. We are delighted to be in partnership with you in the gospel and hope that the conference will be of real benefit to you in your service to the Lord Jesus.

The mission of Christianity Explored is to provide evangelistic resources and training for use by the local church, to help lead the nations to revival. The flagship resource is the original Christianity Explored Course.

Christianity Explored is in essence a 10 week interactive Bible study through Mark’s gospel. It was developed over a decade at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London. The course has been shaped by the 3 key emphases that Mark has as he writes – the identity of Jesus, who He is; the Mission of Jesus, why He came into the world; and the Call of Jesus, what He demands of those who will follow Him. Over the weeks of the course, our guests follow the disciples on a journey beginning in blindness to these 3 keys, to a stage where they can see something of their impact, and then finally to the point where they have a deep understanding of the identity, mission and call of the Lord Jesus. This journey is the route to authentic Christian discipleship, which is why Mark’s gospel is so helpful to our friends who are coming to know the Lord. So on Christianity Explored we let the Gospel tell the Gospel.

This training conference has a 3–fold objective: Learn

about the Christianity Explored Course, what it is and why it is the way it is, as well as to experience some of the content of the course.

Present a Biblical strategy for evangelism, which will help train churches and individuals in both corporate and personal evangelism.

Provide some Table Leader Training to boost confidence for running the course in your church.

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In order to equip you as thoroughly as possible in the work of evangelism and the use of the Christianity Explored course we have incorporated four main aspects into the conference 1 Establishing the essentials: What are the Biblical foundations for evangelism, and how do we balance them?

2 Experiencing the evening: We will take you through the programme for a typical evening at CE so that you become familiar with the materials and the course.

3 Engaging others: This is the session where we think more widely about the significance of having an evangelism strategy at the core of the local church’s life.

4 Exploring Mark: We close the conference by providing you with an overview of Mark’s gospel and with the tools to understand and explain his life-changing gospel to others.

As an organisation, Christianity Explored exists to resource and train gospel churches for the great work of making known the Lord Jesus. That is the work He has given to His church, and Christianity Explored is part of that and seeks to focus and strengthen the evangelism of the local church. Our mission statement is “Equipping hundreds to train thousands to rescue millions”. We hope you emerge from the conference among the hundreds equipped to go and train more in your church (the thousands), and then to go and run CE courses so that many (the millions) are rescued by the gospel of the Lord Jesus.

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Session 1 ESTABLISHING THE ESSENTIALS 2 Corinthians 4:1-7 is an extremely helpful and instructive passage on the dynamics of evangelism.

Here we trace the distinction between God’s work and our work in evangelism. We have found it helpful to see the implications of this passage in terms of these three circles.

God’s Sovereignty

Gospel Integrity

2 Cor 4:6-7

2 Cor 4:1-5

Our Creativity 2 Cor 4:5

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How is God’s sovereignty seen in evangelism?

God’s Sovereignty 2 Cor 4:6-7

List the “do’s and don’ts” of evangelism from 2 Corinthians 4:1-5

Gospel Integrity 2 Cor 4:1-5

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The 10 weeks of Christianity Explored are designed to keep us on track so that we handle the gospel with Biblical integrity and creativity, trusting as we do so in the sovereignty of God.

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Jesus – Who Was He?

Week 3: Jesus – Why Did He Come?

Week 4: Jesus – His Death

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