|
Creative Evangelism Michelle Moran
In these articles, I have tried to make evangelism seem less of a chore, or a duty which has to be done because we are Christians. Therefore, the emphasis has been shifted from ‘Going to evangelise, to evangelising as we go’. Evangelism then becomes a natural part of our Christian life style rather than an additional burden or obligation which we end up feeling guilty about. This month I’m going to share some fun ideas which are ways of engaging in low key first contact evangelism. To build up your confidence you can even try a dry run with some of your Christian friends! The first couple of ideas are ideally suited to a home environment but they could be adapted for a larger gathering. FAITH AND FILMS This is an idea that we have been developing in our Youth evangelism and discipleship programmes within the Sion Community but it works well with any age group. The basic format is showing short . lm clips which are used as discussion starters or lead into testimony. It is amazing how much discussion can be generated at a fairly deep level in response to the clips. It is as if people feel a greater freedom to open up when initially the . lm is the topic for discussion. However, the conversation rarely stays at an objective level for too long. Films can pave the way for talking about our faith journey or discussing core issues, such as, life, death and the search for meaning, which lie at the heart of our faith. To organise an evangelistic faith and . lms evening, invite a few Christian friends round to your home and ask them to bring a friend. Have drinks and simple eats (a meal will take too long). Then have about four clips which you show over the duration of the evening. After each clip have some suitable input, either a discussion starter or a testimony and then leave time for people to talk and share before moving onto the next clip. You will need to think through the running order for the evening and keep an eye on the time. The clips shouldn’t be longer than ten minutes because they are an aid rather than the focus of the evening. Three clips may suf. ce and you could have a fourth available as a back up. However, conversation usually . ows quite naturally. In fact, you may need to steer the conversation so that things don’t get sidetracked and Hollywood actors become the main talking point etc. We have used clips from a wide variety of . lms such as The Lion King, the Star Wars series, Shawshank Redemption etc (Do get in touch if you want some ideas, give me an idea of your intended audience and our Sion film experts will make some suggestions). POEMS AND PINTSThis is a similar idea to the above except poems are used as the discussion starter. A number of people share a piece of favourite poetry and explain why they have chosen it. Then there is time for open sharing. This style of evening is best done in a relaxed environment over a glass of wine or beer with . nger food. Then budding bards can really get into the swing of things. MUSIC AND MOODSAgain a variation on the above with pieces of music being used as conversation starters or leads into testimony. I hope that these suggestions will fuel your own creativity. You may even wish to plan a series of evenings once you have seen how things go. The beauty is that they can all be repeated using different material. Remember the usual advice for creative evangelism i.e. pray for the right people to attend and for divine appointments. The above are fun events, however, it is important to remain, evangelistically focused giving people time to think, share and reflect.
|
A
wise spiritual director once stated that an indication of our spiritual
life is how we operate when we are on holiday. These words are uppermost
in my mind at the moment as I’m preparing for a few days vacation.
There are times when being a ‘full time’ evangelist has
its drawbacks. Clearly, we are never on holiday when it comes to serving
and witnessing to the Lord. St Paul reminds us to ‘preach the
Gospel, in season and out of season.’ (2Tim 4:2). 
