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Written by Wes
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Thursday, 13 October 2005 |
Background  Biblical Evangelismis a devotional study, designed to awaken a local congregation to a new/old form of Evangelism. It was first developed as a devotional arc for the outreach committee of the Central Baptist Church of Riverton-Palmyra, but when that committee collapsed it was expanded/reformatted into a small-group guide.
As people began to see the small-group guide on the web, Deb Avery, a friend of wezlo's, encouraged a further expansion of the materials to touch upon the worship gatherings of the Church as well. Deb's suggestion led to the creation of a leader's guide (available soon) - which will give guidance on working with BE in both a small group and as a larger congregational movement.
It is our hope that BE, along with the resources here at crosspointings.org, will be used by God to help people re-visit and re-consider this often misused word, "Evangelism." What It Is As stated above, Biblical Evangelism is a devotional-study in the nature of evangelism. The study, made available for download below (or purchase through this site), looks at evangelism in both Testaments - highlighting four Biblical images: The Mighty Acts of God, Ethical Uniqueness, Unsurmountable Perseverance, and The Image of God. The full movement of BE consists of the following:
- Prayer for the congregation and for "seekers." This can be done in groups, as individuals, or as a mixture. The prayer movment that proceeds BE should be focused on people and not the "program" that is coming.
- Leadership training. Every small group must have a leader who is familiar with the material prior to the start of BE.
- Weekly small groups go through the devotional material and put it into practice.
- "Work Outs," lead participants out of the group, and teaches them to listen to the voices of people around them.
- Worship re-inforcement. A twelve-week series that transforms all of worship, highlighting the previous week of the devotional study.
Resources It's our hope that crosspointings.org will be a place of on-going conversation about how to best allow Biblical Evangelism to impact people for the sake of the Kingdom. As such, we've prepared these resources to start you on the journey:
- The Devotional Guide. We have the Biblical Evangelism devotional study for download here at CrossPointings.org. Soon you'll also be able to purchase the guide from this site for $3.50+shipping. The downloadable guide is in two forms:
- The on-screen version allows you to easily read through the guide on a computer screen.
- The printable version is repaginated so that a printed copy will be in booklet form.
- The Leader's Guide (available soon). Contains ideas on how to run BE in a small-group and in a larger congregation.
- The BE videos, corresponding to each week of the movement, can be downloaded here.
- The author's reflections throughout the progress of the study can be found here .
Additional Resources - Flash Introduction. This short flash introduction highlights the images studied over the course of the devotional. Feel free to use it this in your own small-group or congregation.
- "The Pitch." This OpenOffice.org presentation was used to make the initial introduction to Central Baptist Church. Feel free to download it and re-contextualize it for use in your own congregation. To open the file you'll need to download the free office suite at openoffice.org.
- Forums. CrossPointings.org's forums are places where you may post questions, glean ideas, or ask for prayer as you prepare for, and work-through, Biblical Evangelism. We strongly encourage everyone who uses BE to participate in the forums, as your insights and experiences may be of help to others!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 15 July 2006 )
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