All posts tagged Evangelism

Reformission in University

by Hugh on August 23, 2008 in Faith with 3 Comments

First off, I think we have to acknowledge that it’s very hard to define a culture, because actually we’re talking about individuals – but I’m sure there must be some general traits that can help us. I want to think, based on my experiences of UK University life, the kind of cultures that are present there and how we can show those cultures that the gospel is relevant. I’ve been part of a mission team working at Sussex University for the last 3 years, perhaps my Uni was unique, but I think it will be similar in most places.

I reckon there’s 3 general types of people you’ll meet at University:

Success Driven – they want to get a first, looking for a career/well paid job
Idealistic – they want to change the world, there’s always a new cause to follow
Hedonist – they want to make the most of 3 years of freedom, live life with limits or rules

These categories are very broad, but I think most students to one degree or another will fall into one or several of these categories – nearly everyone will fit into category 3! So the question then is, how can we relate the gospel to these groups, these cultures? There’s two areas I want to think about doing this; how can we live in a way which models the gospel, and how can we speak about Jesus in a way which helps that culture to understand him clearly?

Why we don’t do evangelism

by Hugh on August 23, 2008 in Faith with 2 Comments

Bish is having a DISCO, and enjoying making up fun acronyms. There’s lots of reasons why we don’t do evangelism, here are Bish’s 5…

Delusion - convincing ourselves it’s unnecessary

Inability - don’t know what to say, or how to say it

Sin - plain disobedience

Courage - we need boldness

Opportunities - stuck in a Christian bubble

“The basic problem in these is my heart. My heart needs the gospel. And by the gospel and for the sake of the gospel change is possible.”

…I was trying to think of some more, but that covers most of it… for me the last 3 are definitely the big ones… simply disobeying God’s command, fear of ruining friendships, and a lack of genuine friendships with non-Christians.

Part of the problem is we so often talk about evangelism as something we do, something we must do… that always ends up in a feeling of failure and inadequacy, and ultimately a sinful attitude which doesn’t want to do it! Like Bish says, we need our hearts to be overwhelmed with joy at knowing the gospel – we talk about what we love.

I heard evangelism described in a seminar at camp very simply as “People who know Jesus, talking about him to people who don’t know him”. It’s so easy to talk about things we love, yet it’s so often so hard to talk about the One who has loved us with an everlasting love.