The Problem with Friendship Evangelism
A significant problem with “friendship evangelism” is that we can end up only reaching “people like us” or even just people we like. And as Jesus reminds us in Matthew 5:46, if you only love those who love you- everyone does that. Even the tax-collectors.
In addition to our existing relationships we need to cross social and cultural divides. We need to move out of the ghetto.
Almost by definition, friendship evangelism leaves the socially marginalised untouched. And yet these were precisely the people Jesus went out of his way to include.
In Luke 14 we observe God- the Master of the great eternal party- has thrown open his banquet to
“the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” (v21). Jesus urges us out of our ghetto in imitation of his gracious Father.
Jesus, himself left the splendour and security of heaven to live and die – among and for us. Us who are so radically different from him and undeserving of his love. And just as the Father has sent him so he now sends us (John 20:21).
(Based on the Porterbrook Network “Evangelism” module; Unit 3: Building Relationships)
I am the 319 576 092 richest person in the world!
That puts me in the top 5.2% of the world’s population according to the Global Rich List website.
Consider your answer to the following question: how many taps do you have in your house providing clean water -hot and cold? Remember to include the washing machine if you have one and any outside taps for the garden.
If your answer is one or more, then you are among the richest seventh of the world’s population in economic terms.
1.3 Billion people live on less than one US dollar a day. 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation, while 1.2 billion do not have adequate housing.
Over 20 ooo children die every day of diseases we could prevent.
US Christians spend $8 billion dollars on dieting – that is on curing over-consumption – and only $2 billion on mission.
Yet most of us have become morally numb to these facts. Something is not right. How you handle your money is important for your spiritual well-being. ”No one can serve two masters,” said Jesus. ”Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money, ” (Matthew 6:24)
Every time we spend money, we are making an ethical decision. We are deciding not to spend it on helping the poor or furthering the gospel.
There is a sense in which instead of a thousand dilemmas about how we should use our money, we have to make one fundamental choice: do we live for God or for money? It is because we waver about this decision that we replicate it day by day.
(taken from Porterbrook Training: Gospel Living module; Unit 9: Living Now: Possessions)
Ed Stetzer has a good post on Ways to Engage Global Poverty
Introducing the Porterbrook Training Network
I have recently begun working with the Porterbrook Training Network in South Africa.
The Porterbrook Network is a developing initiative aimed at contributing to a wider church planting movement by equipping individuals and churches to rediscover mission as their DNA through training, and resourcing. In practice a distance learning programme for developing missional leaders coming from the context of The Crowded House network, Although Porterbrook Training is now a separate entity with a wider ministry.
Our hope is to see churches reaching diverse peoples with the transforming Gospel of God (Word) and with a visible demonstration that the reign of Jesus is good (Christian Community).
What is the Porterbrook Network about?
- Biblical – deeply rooted in the Scriptures
- Practical – rich theology, applied in detail and relevant to real life
- Relational – because the Christian life was never meant to be lived alone
- Contextual – remain in your normal work and Christian community
- Accessible – no prior theological education required (average competency in English is needed)
- Flexible – schedule is adaptable to suit your circumstances
- Affordable – quality training at a reasonable price
You can learn more about the syllabus here.
Check out our South African website here or the International (UK) one here.
For the social media savvy you can Like our Facebook Page or follow us on Twitter.
E-mail me for more info: capetown AT porterbrooknetwork DOT org
Watch some students in the UK talking about their experiences here
Recommendations:
“The Porterbrook Network is an innovative resource that offers affordable, high-quality training for mission and ministry in the 21st century. I warmly recommend it.” Tim Keller
“The Porterbrook Network is an excellent resource for equipping churches and individuals as we look at responding in a distinctive gospel manner to the needs in our nation and world.”Vaughan Roberts, Rector, St Ebbe’s, Oxford
A Week(s) in Woodstock
So this is not quite a reflection on the past week in Woodstock as close to 2 weeks. So just a couple of snapshots and then a few reflections & developments going forward…
I continued to spend quite a bit of time last week on 1 Peter for the Wellington holiday club. I was quite pleased with these two posts (Gospel Suffering is Participation in the Life of God & Big Idea in 1 Peter), starting to feel like I am beginning to articulate all the strands and ideas swimming in my head surrounding this book.
The bad news, however, is that the Wellington holiday club is not going to happen due it seems to a change of heart by those in Wellington. It was looking likely that it was going to be a bunch of outsiders coming and running a programme in Wellington for the kids and then leaving and trying to get others to do follow up… never an ideal situation. And then we had problems with the venue and the accommodation. It seemed the writing was on the wall…
Maybe it was because I had just written this a few weeks back, that prompted me to suggest an alternative plan to Darrel.
“One thing I have to learn is to get more flexible and creative when my plans don’t work out. Simple church is all about “creating work” for yourself. When things don’t work I have to beware of defaulting to doing “ministry type things” that make me feel like I have ticked the boxes of productivity and significance. Rather I need to take those times to simply be there in the community – watching, listening and learning.”
As a result Darrel, myself and my family, together with about 10-20 young people are headed up to Bain’s Kloof on Sunday for 4 days of missional training. After trying to rework 1 Peter to fit into the new plan, I decided to rework it completely. As a result this week has been quite preparation intensive again – as I worked on The Story of God’s People: Missionaries, Family, Disciples; Missional Living, Decision Making, Possessions, Gospel Communities, Knowing your Neighbourhood… I am really excited about our time together. Praying that the Spirit would use our time to challenge young people to see the counter-cultural, radical, big life of the gospel and to dream big, impossible, audacious, Kingdom dreams together.
Due mainly to walls being knocked out of houses and the ever-present winter flu, our Tuesday prayer meetings have been a bit sporadic the past few weeks but we did manage to all agree to get together last Tuesday. We sat around in a half-renovated house in the dark praising and calling out to our God. It all sounds rather post-modern, and new liturgical doesn’t it? The actual story is a bit more mundane and yet bizarre – the electricity ran out at the half-renovated (better than their own house due to the presence of walls if you were wondering), house of a friend that Alan and Nicole were staying at, no-one could find any candles and the corner shop only opened in 30 minutes time. So no coffee and on top of that Alan could not find his glasses… not that they would have helped him that much. It was a plus point for having a Bible programme on your phone though.
On Tuesday I braved the chilly weather to tackle head on the weekly challenge of the Woodstock Lounge pub quiz. Had a couple of friends join with me – was good to catch up a bit between the questions. The advantages of having a bartender, lyrical poet and a health food store owner proved decisive and The Young League once again crushed the imperialistic tendencies of the other teams to emerge victorious with a (way too small) T-shirt and some bar snacks for our brilliance! Tenderpreneurs we are not…
The other thing that has taken quite a bit of my time lately has been working on a Regional Learning Collective for the Porterbrook Training. Colin and I have divided up responsibilities for Porterbrook in such a way that he is looking after all the distance for the rest of the country while I am going to try get some new collective learning initiatives going here in Cape Town.
Porterbrook in Cape Town is looking to enhance the learning experience for those students in and around Cape Town by encouraging students to participate in a common learning syllabus for the greater Cape Town area. To this end:
1) We will be holding 3 Regional Collective Learning Days with a 3-fold function of providing more information to those interested, introducing the curriculum based learning for that term and providing a forum for students to share how they are learning and applying the principles in their contexts. The first Collective Learning Day is 23 July. E-mail me at capetown (at) porterbrooknetwork (dot) org for more details.
2) We are going to be offering weekly tutorials for those not currently in existing learning groups but who would enjoy having the accountability and benefit of collective learning.
You can also check out our website and Facebook page
This coming weekend – you can best believe you will find me at the Woodstock Lounge around 5pm, having a Whale Tale Ale and shouting for (at?) the Stormers in the S15 semi-final.
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