Evangelism
A Community of the Broken
A Community of the Broken
A young organization models what it might mean to be the church in a suffering world.

Several years ago, I made my first trip to Freetown, Sierra Leone, just as that country's civil war was winding down. One of my first stops was a camp for the war wounded.

During the war, nearly 250,000 people had their arms or legs amputated by rebels, ...

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An Upside-Down World
An Upside-Down World
Distinguishing between home and mission field no longer makes sense.

The language of home and mission field is still used by many churches and agencies, but it fundamentally misrepresents reality.

The map of global Christianity that our grandparents knew has been turned upside down. At the start of the 20th century, only ...

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7 Questions Skeptics Ask
7 Questions Skeptics Ask
How to answer the tough questions.

As the flight from Chicago to Dallas climbed in the sky, I became engrossed in conversation with the passenger to my left. "Aimee," a French businesswoman, asked me about my work. On learning I was a Christian communicator, she related that ...

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Are You an Evangelist?
Scripture helps us define this.

Only one person holds the title of "evangelist" in the New Testament—"Philip the evangelist" (Acts 21:8)—and he was an outlaw.

In Acts 5, Peter and the other apostles were told in no uncertain terms to cease and desist ...

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Speaking to the Secular Mind
We can't win non-Christians if we don't know how they think, and we can't know how they think if we never enter their world.

Driving home from church one day, I pulled behind a guy on his Harley-Davidson. I noticed a bumper sticker on the rear fender of his motorcycle, so I pulled closer. It read: [EXPLETIVE] GUILT.

After the shock wore off, I was struck by how different his ...

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What Can Openers and the Church Have in Common
What we can learn from little-known facts of history.

History fascinates me. It's the strange little facts that impact humanity and change history that interest me. Where did ties come from? Why do men's and women's shirts button differently? As is typically the case, I was intrigued by one of those simple, ...

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Ministries Among Today's Women
Ministries Among Today's Women
Reaching women means aiming at moving and multiple targets.

"I thought planning women's programs would be easier," sighs the leader of women's ministries as she sits down in the pastor's office.

"What seems to be the problem?" he asks.

"Well, the women in our church are so different. ...

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How to Lead Someone to Christ
The Bible asks us to believe—to appropriate Christ's finished work on the cross by trusting Him alone to save us.

A woman seeking a divorce went before the judge. He asked, "On what grounds do you want a divorce?" She replied, "My husband and I own an acre and a half of ground. I'd like the divorce to cover the whole thing." The judge said, ...

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Extreme Jesus
What's wrong with The Da Vinci Code Jesus?

We love extreme sports. They've even made it to the Winter Olympics in the form of snowboard stunts. It's thrilling to see athletes defy gravity with skateboards, bikes, and parachutes. It gives us the feeling of conquering the laws of nature and fascinates ...

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5 Big Questions from The Da Vinci Code
A brief guide.

Already an international publishing sensation, The Da Vinci Code now is a feature film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. The compelling story written by Dan Brown blurs the line between fact and fiction, so moviegoers have joined readers ...

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God Does Not Count Our Converts
He examines our faithfulness, and rewards our labors. The results are in His hands, not ours.

Tomorrow at 3:00 P.M. is your annual review. Sweat pops out on your forehead. Will you be able to sleep tonight? What's your boss going to say? Is he pleased or disappointed? There's reason for concern. Your first year hasn't been as productive as he ...

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The Lost: They're Watching Us
What we do and say affects non-Christians more than we know.

Do we as Christians really stop to think about how we are representing God? Have you ever thought about how the things we do and say affect non-Christians? Sure, we all worry about what our Christian friends and acquaintances think about the things we ...

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Let Your Light Shine
Christians who do not have changed lives have a credibility gap.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

This may be one of the first verses you learned in Sunday school. No doubt you sang the song: This little light of mine, I'm gonna ...

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20 Questions to Help You Share Your Faith
Transitions you can use to turn a conversation to spiritual things.

Many people today are interested in discussing spiritual matters. If the one you are talking to opens the topic to God, he or she will be more likely to listen to what you have to say. The key is first listening to them. Use these 20 questions to turn ...

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What Are They Really Asking?
How to answer spiritual questions.

One of my colleagues told me the story of a professor, a brilliant man, whose father couldn't support the family. As a boy, this professor listened as the extended family argued over who was going to get stuck with raising him. In the middle of their ...

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Evangelism: Plant, Watch, Wait
Personal evangelism is usually a slow, but vital, process.

My grandpa had a large garden. One spring he showed me how to cut seed potatoes so that each piece had at least one eye, and we planted them in the soil behind the house. The waiting was agony. At first there was no progress at all, but Grandpa encouraged ...

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Ask Before You Answer
How to talk to skeptics, unbelievers, and mule-headed friends and family about God.

I like answering questions with questions. Maybe it's because I'm Jewish. I grew up with dialogues that went like this:

Me: How's the weather down there?

Granny Belle: How else could the weather be in Florida in the middle of July?





Me: So, how have you ...

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4 Approaches to Congregational Outreach
Effective church evangelism is a group effort.

The Gallup polling organization reports that 46 percent of Americans identify themselves as evangelical. Researcher George Barna estimates 41 percent are born again based on their answers to basic questions about salvation. But worship attendance, ...

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My Post-Evangelism Friendship
My Post-Evangelism Friendship
So, that person you were witnessing to actually got saved. Now what?

Her name was Keli. She had a past. For all that I knew she had never been through the doors of a church in her life. But here she sat in the pew next to me, giving her heart to the Lord.

I had invited her to attend the service, not out of obligation but ...

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What Is the Gospel?
What Is the Gospel?
How would you answer if someone asked you that question?

One day I received a call inviting me to be the keynote speaker at the leadership convention of a large, national Christian organization. When I asked why I was being invited to do this, the man on the other end of the telephone line said, "Because ...

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