Purpose of Engage!

October 9 – Purpose of Engage! for Most Presbyterian Churches  - Acts 2:32                   “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.”  Acts 2:32

Evangelism is good news. The good news is not about introducing a program, gaining more members, or increasing budgets. Evangelism is the good news of God’s healing and saving love in Jesus Christ. Evangelism is a lifestyle in which a follower of Jesus Christ both shares faith and serves others in need. Even though evangelism is about bringing this good news into our communities, evangelism has become bad news to many of our churches.

This resource is designed to help churches recover the good news we have to offer one another and the people in our communities. In order to recover the best of what evangelism has to offer our lives and churches, this resource will help people engage the gospel, discipleship, the

community around the church, and shifts in church life that will move the church from a membership model of ministry to disciple-making.

Jesus is the hope for the world. Being the body of Christ, the church bears witness to that hope in the world. However, many churches are in decline and are no longer pursuing God’s mission of reaching people in our communities. Even though the church is to be salt and light in the world, recent statistics reveal that we are no longer bringing out the God flavors and reflecting the light of Christ in the world. In 2008, 75 percent of PC(USA) churches did not have a single adult baptism. There are many reasons why we Presbyterians have abandoned the ministry of evangelism. We may be turned off by the many negative images of evangelism that manipulate

and offend people. We may not hang out much with people outside the church. We may be uncomfortable talking about personal issues of faith. We may not believe we have a story

to tell. We may not even understand our own story of faith found in Scripture.