A Day of Renewal
I talked about the Renewal Fellowship before (if you have not learnt, you can read this article: https://familyjgle.wixsite.com/blog/blank-1/2018/04/30/Renewal-Fellowship). I've been working as a board member since. For instance, we regularly meet through online conferencing app for board meetings and prayer meetings. I'm always amazed how dedicated these board members are and how much they love Jesus and his church.
Recently, the Renewal Fellowship board approved a new mission statement, and it reads, "To lead each other and the Presbyterian Church in Canada to authentic Biblical thinking, powerful Spirit-led prayer and effective Gospel witness." I believe this is such a timely and bold statement. This statement, I find, not only brings us to the core of what it means to be a Presbyterian, but really to the core of what it means to be a Christian today.
I'm happy to announce that I will be one of the three speakers at the 2019 Renewal Day and Annual General Meeting (You can find more details here: https://www.renewal-fellowship.ca/2402). We gather annually, not only for AGM, but also for a day of renewal, equipment and empowerment. The other two speakers, Rev. Ian Shaw and Rev. Andy Cornell, chair of RF and Executive Director of RF respectively, are excellent pastors and I know I will be blessed by their presentations as well.
I will speak directly on the theme of "Effective Gospel Witness." I will share some of my thoughts and experiences related to this topic. To give you its teaser, I am going to use one of the books I read. A good friend of mine suggested me to read this book called "Start with Why" (Thanks Marilyn Rough!) The author talks about how every organization and company functions on three levels:
WHAT we do
HOW we do
WHY we do
He calls them a golden circle, illustrated below (Permission by startwithwhy.com):
Here's his observation: "Every organization on the planet knows WHAT they do. These are products they sell or the services. Some even know HOW they do it. These are the things that make them special or set them apart from their competition. But, very few organizations know WHY they do what they do. WHY is not about making money. That's a result. WHY is a purpose, cause or belief. It's the very reason your organization exists."
Interestingly, I find this is often true when I think about how the church engages in witnessing the Gospel to the world. When the church talks about evangelism and witnessing, many talk about WHAT and HOW of evangelism. There's rarely a time to talk about, pray about and discuss WHY of evangelism.
When we hear the word, "Effective Witness," it's easy for us to think about WHAT and HOW of evangelism. But the truth is most Christians have a hard time in witnessing, not because they do not have good programs or resources. Most Christians struggle in witnessing, because they are afraid, they don't feel comfortable or they are not inspired. In other words, it's not WHAT or HOW issue, it's WHY issue.
On Saturday, I will present how the church can have effective witness, building from WHY to HOW to WHAT. I will also share my experience in effective witness, particularly a program called Alpha.
Please pray for me as I will inspire other pastors and church leaders this Saturday, so that they may go back and become effective evangelists and inspire others to be the same as well.
In Christ,
John