Jun 29, 2010
Unvangelism - A New Series
Posted by Mitch Sliwa in Mission | Comments (3)
On July 11th Sacred Journey will be starting a brand new mini series on the topic of evangelism and mission called Unvangelism. Unvangelism is a word some of us played around with to sort of poke fun at modern American "evangelism". Most forms of evangelism are not overly helpful or even based off the paradigm Jesus laid down when he was here on earth.
The marks of American "evangelism" tend to have the following characteristics:
- Very awkward and scary to do
- Usually has guilt and a sense of urgency attached to it
- Comes off to the unchurched as a canned sales pitch
- Combative and leads to shouting matches
- The responsibility of individual Christians and called "personal evangelism"
- Disconnected from a relationship
- Done outside of the context of the Church (not the building but the people)
Whenever I used to think of evangelism, I always thought of it as something I was responsible to do, and that if I didn't it was my fault that people were going to hell. There is a shred of truth to this that gets over emphasized and it causes people run around frantically trying to save people as if they could simply pull them from the fire by their own hands. It usually stems from a faulty understanding of the sovereignty of God and an over emphasis on the free will of humans. I won't jump into that debate right now, but I am sure it will come out during the series.
American evangelism normally turns into a sales pitch that is disconnected from any form of commitment to Jesus or his people. Its offered as a shot that you are administered in order to avoid sickness. The gospel is not a shot we take one time and then forget about, but much more like a pill we take the rest of our lives to keep us healthy. The gospel is not a one and one deal that is for unchurched people only but instead it needs to be heard by all people, at all times for the rest of our lives.
I am very excited about this series because I hope it will drive us out of our lazy American mindsets and get us moving into the direction of mission. Sacred Journey Church seeks to be a people who desire to make disciples and not sales pitches. I hope and pray that we move towards mission and discipleship in the coming weeks.
Posted by Mitch Sliwa in Mission | Comments (3)
Alexandra Sliwa
good job, so true can’t wait for this series to start
Brian Chicoine
Very well stated and so true! Many of us have been taught and have experienced American evangelism so it is important to discuss because of the misconceptions. Looking forward to the series!
Pastor Todd Murphy
Nice!