It seems like my graduation represented the opening of some kind of floodgate to evangelistic opportunities.
Last week, I had two people contact me through Facebook whom I didn’t really know that well, who came to me for advice and I was able to share much of the Gospel with each of them. It was amazing.
Then around the same time, my sons got invited over for the first time to the neighbours who live kind of behind us. They have a couple of girls (which kind of explains why they never got invited over – young boys and girls typically run in different circles with different interests), but this time they did and that opened up an opportunity to build a relationship with that family. We sent them cookies as a thank you, and they lobbed back with some brownies (which Cheryl said were excellent) and we now have their phone number and their names. Cheryl and I are plotting our next move…
Now, with our membership classes kicking up, Philip has put me in charge of our Gospel of John study, meant to introduce people to the truth about Jesus. I will be leading an entire family through this class (a husband and wife, both of Catholic background and their two teenage daughters) and another lady I have known for years.
It is such an honour to be used for such a task. But what I am really feeling the weight of is doing well – the one place where I have been uncomfortable with this journey towards church planting is bearing fruit in terms of sharing my faith. I really haven’t had a lot of practice or opportunity in my life to date. Recognizing that if you are going to start a church from scratch, you need to be telling people a LOT about salvation, has caused some trepidation. So I pray that these opportunities would be blessed, and that my comfort would grow through these challenges to the point where it becomes second nature. I want to plant a church that saves people, not a church that offers a “better brand” than the other churches in town and attracts disgruntled people who are looking to “get the most” from their church.
Tags: evangelism, facebook, membership classes, neighbours, Philip Bryant
