Friday Communication - 10th November 2023
A couple of times in the early 2000’s the congregation created formal opportunities with visiting speakers like John Chapman and John Dickson for people to hear the gospel and be challenged to respond with repentance and faith. The emphasis in our evangelism then shifted to provide continuous opportunity through running ‘Introducing God’, ‘Simply Christianity’ and more recently ‘Christianity Explored’ courses every year, and recently a couple of times a year. Those courses are good, and have borne fruit, but their consistent provision has paradoxically allowed evangelism to lose prominence in our common life, to blur into our routine.
An invitation to Mission
Next year, however, evangelism will return to center stage as we share in the AFES National Mission whose theme will be “Meet Jesus”. AFES, the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students with which the campus Christian Union’s are affiliated, have from time to time encouraged all the campus groups to share in a common themed mission throughout Australia. This year they have invited churches to join them to help create Australia wide momentum and a larger social media impact for the gospel message. Richard Chin, the AFES national director, says the advantages of working together are:
“Many voices are louder than one: As we promote Jesus using the same brand and slogan, we hope Australia is overwhelmed with invitations to ‘meet Jesus’.
Many hands make light work: You will save time in utilising the ready-made ‘Meet Jesus’ templates and designs.
People know people everywhere: In the national village that is Australia, social networks extend beyond local borders. You can invite friends and family living in other parts of the country to attend similar events happening in your area.
Gospel unity is a witness of God’s unity: Proclaiming Jesus with one voice displays the unity given to us by the Triune God.”
Reasons to embrace the opportunity
We, Session and Board, are excited and grateful for the opportunity to share in this initiative of AFES. Let me give you six reasons why I hope you too will be excited by this opportunity.
Firstly, the gospel is the power of God to save [Romans 1:16-17] and we need saving. As Paul says in Romans all have sinned, none is righteous, and all face God’s holy wrath at the judgement day unless they are justified by faith in Christ. This is the awesome reality of human existence. And those who have believed the gospel know how good it is to be forgiven, justified, to enjoy peace with God, to know His love. All this is God’s gift to those who believe the gospel, and only to those who believe the gospel. We are excited because we want people to hear the gospel, and to hear it clearly, and here is encouragement to share it and a structure to help us do so.
Secondly, we are better together. The message you share with a work colleague or fellow student can, unknown to you, be reinforced, repeated, clarified by other friends or family from other churches and groups who are also sharing in the Mission, and the online presence and resources will be greater.
Thirdly, God’s patience waits for now, but for how long. There is an urgency in bringing others to hear and respond to the Gospel.
Fourthly, the peace we enjoy gives us opportunity to work together in sharing the gospel. But, as current events remind us, we live in an uncertain world. We should not take our peace and prosperity for granted, or just as opportunities to pursue our own goals and ambitions. We have to use our opportunities to love others by sharing the gospel while we can.
Fifthly, opportunities to share the gospel and that God would open a door for the gospel in our community have been the focus of our prayer meetings on Wednesday night from the beginning. Perhaps the Lord is giving us the opportunity to be part of His answer to our prayers, just as the Lord Jesus sent out the disciples to preach after He had commanded them to pray that God would send out workers into the harvest [Matt. 9:37-10:7].
Finally and sixthly, in a time when there are other things to distract us like looking for a new senior pastor, committing ourselves to fully support this gospel mission in whatever capacity we can will be good for us as a community. It will keep the main thing, that the Lord Jesus is the Saviour of the world and He saves through His gospel, the main thing. It will keep us, in Paul’s words, boasting in the Lord [1 Cor. 1:26-31], wanting to be known for what we have in common and what unites us, and what keeps the focus on our Lord Jesus and His glory, the cross as the power and wisdom of God. There is so much encouragement, whatever our present circumstances, in declaring the truth of Jesus.
What will our participation involve?
At the heart of the Mission will be two things. Firstly, inviting someone to read the gospel of John with you. As Richard writes “The best way for people to meet Jesus is by letting Jesus introduce himself through the Bible.” This is what already happens in the “Christianity Explored” course, which works through the gospel of Mark. But for next year AFES are producing a “ modern, pocket-sized, hardcover version of John’s gospel” that will come with an introduction outlining five simple questions to help people read any part of the gospel, and a fuller treatment of six selected passages to work through with the person you are reading the gospel with. This will be supported by online resources which will be launched at AFES’ National Training Event in December this year.
Secondly, those six selected passages from John will be preached on over six Sundays from August 4th to September 8th, Lord willing. We will be encouraging you to invite your friends and family to these services knowing the gospel will be clearly presented and people will be invited to respond by putting their trust in the Lord Jesus.
That is at the heart of the mission but this is an opportunity we are seeking to make the heart of all our planning for next year. Growth Group leaders have already been invited to consider looking at John’s gospel in their groups in term 2 in preparation for all our members to be confident in reading John with another, and the Mission will be the consistent focus of our Prayer Meetings for the next twelve months. But we have planned the whole calendar around encouraging each other to share the gospel and making it easy for people to come and hear the gospel. What that looks like in the calendar I will share in the next email when I will run through the calendar with you.
All our plans are Lord willing, and only He can make His word fruitful in the lives of those who hear. So please start praying now for the planning and preparation, but above all that the Lord in His mercy would open a door for the gospel in our suburb and city, and throughout Australia, and save many.
