‘Evangelism in a time of crisis’ was the theme of the 2021 Evangelism Conference, entitled ‘Evangelism Now’, held at All Soul’s Langham Place.
Rico Tice set out the three key principles of evangelism: it must be based on God’s sovereignty; the gospel must be presented with both integrity and truth; there must be no deception in how we operate.
Keynote speaker Mack Stiles is a missionary church-planting evangelist who has been involved in outreach ministry in the US, Dubai and Iraq. He set out the ten critical points of Biblical Evangelism, with examples from his experiences. Firstly, we are called to Know the Gospel, since it is a message from God that leads to salvation. Then we are to Speak that Gospel, but with integrity and without manipulation. We are to Live that Gospel, as it deals with all of life, not just salvation. We are to have Confidence in that Gospel, especially in the current time of crisis, knowing that even when – in places such as Dubai – formal outreach programmes are impossible, many have come to faith through one-to-one sharing of Jesus.
We must Not Assume the Gospel – those churches which ceased to preach and pray for conversions are now empty and rotting. We must Understand Genuine Biblical Conversion, and its cost; in Iraq six baptised Christians in Stiles’ church received death threats from their own families. And we must be Bold and Clear with the Gospel – 99% of us fail to communicate it as we are not clear in our presentation.
We must display Gospel Love for each other, as that shows we are truly converted. We must know the Gospel as a Spiritual Discipline. And, lastly, a key task of Evangelistic Leadership is ensuring that the whole church is keen to speak about Jesus.
In addition, Rachel Jordan-Wolf (see photo) shared new research on what the pandemic has taught us about churches’ online presence, and John MacKinnon suggested a range of practical ideas for using the Passion for Life mission opportunity at Easter 2022.
Summing up, Rico Tice said: ‘The last 18 months have seen the exhaustion of many Christians and major new opportunities coinciding. Today we have sought to equip pastors and evangelists to return to their churches with both passion and the materials to inspire fervent evangelism.
‘But we must realise that this will only happen effectively if we inspire a wholesale culture of mission in our congregations.’
