The Thriving Church, Part 4: Evangelism

Brett Poynter

The Thriving Church Series • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

Luke 9:23–24

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Luke 9:23–24 CEB

23 Jesus said to everyone, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me. 24 All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will save them.

Hey You!

Intro story about empathy and forgiveness, taking Jesus’ message seriously.

Six Core Commitments to Thrive and Grow Young (General): Leadership, Empathy, Discipleship/Evangelism, Community, Priorities, Neighbors

Fine details Six Core Commitments: Keychain leadership, Empathize with Today’s Young People,

Today we look at Evangelism/discipleship. What is this anyway? There are many ways to evangelize, make disciples. Big tents, camp meeting, seminars, small groups. Whichever, at their core, they should be centered around Jesus and His message. So yes, today’s topic is about Evangelism and discipleship. And specifically, we will look at the core of our evangelism and discipleship; Jesus Christ.

Core Commitment: Take Jesus’ Message Seriously

The findings after looking at churches that are thriving, growing young, are that they are committed to some core items.

One of these is a commitment to take Jesus’ message seriously.

In other words,

Jesus should be at the core and center of our evangelism and discipleship. Matt. 28:19-20

We aren’t called to make people into disciples of the pastor, president Ted Wilson, disciples of the Sabbath or vegetarianism. We are called to go and...

Matthew 28:19–20 CEB

19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

Who is the “I”? … Jesus.

Jesus.

Make disciples of Jesus. Teaching them about His message. What is His message? What has he commanded? Do you remember His stories, messages, parables, teachings, antidotes?

What is His message? It’s the good news. The gospel. The good news of salvation through faith in grace.

Jesus’ message is the Good News, the Gospel, about salvation through faith. ; 2:4-5.

Ephesians 1:13 CEB

You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ.

Ephesians 2:4–5 CEB

4 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace!

It is the same and unaltered gospel, the proclamation of which started at Pentecost. It is the good news about Christ, his ministry, his death on the cross and his resurrection, his ascension to heaven, and his subsequent enthronement on the heavenly throne from which he rules as Lord over the universe. It is also about his intercession and judgment, and his soon return to the earth. This everlasting gospel is to be proclaimed and heard in the closing days of this world’s history

Matthew 24:14 CEB

14 This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all the nations. Then the end will come.

It’s the good news about Jesus. That he did all this for us. To forgive us of our sins. To offer transformation and grace. And then He sends us out to go and share the good news.

Today we look at what it means to take Jesus’ message seriously.

Jesus embodied the message as the fullness of God’s unconditional love and unending faithfulness.

Today for all of us, and especially for young people, there are a lot of obstacles that threaten to hinder the pursuit of Jesus. Secular society, pluralism, social pressure, busy lifestyles.

In churches growing young, Jesus reigns over busy lives and pervasive distractions of life, and his words ring true for young people on a journey, hungry for life-giving direction.

Proclaiming Jesus as the centerpiece of the story of God and seeking to live out his message in everyday relationships, we need to be a church that reclaims the very heart of the Good News, and lives it out every day.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Look!

We need to ask how we as a church and as individuals embody Jesus’ message as we relate to people who are in need of Jesus.

Are we sharing a story not of shame but of redemption? Not a narrative of being cast out based on sin but one of being embraced and restored.

One parent of teenagers in the congregation that was interviewed about how they were growing young said this,

“Here it is not all about being perfect. That is what we loved when we were looking for a church. We said, ‘Our kids are going to screw up. How are we going to be treated when they do?’

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

We want our kids to be in a place where God’s people say, ‘Okay, you messed up. What now?’

Not a place that says, ‘You messed up and we don’t know what to do with you. You might be better off someplace else.’” This type of place will not grow young, let alone grow at any level.

Here is a picture of a thriving church growing young. It is a congregation following Jesus earnestly today. The Jesus who did not condemn but set free. The Jesus who took what seemed broken and restored wholeness. The Jesus who invited followers into a life of discipleship that required sacrifice.

This process is called evangelism and discipleship.

How committed are we to evangelism in all of its forms?

How committed are we to Jesus’ message? The Gospel message. The good news. His life, death, resurrection, priestly ministry, restorative power, and hope in the second coming,

The research of observing churches that are growing young shows how the commitment to take Jesus’ message seriously is both a demonstrated action and an overall spirit or ethos in churches growing young. Of course, Jesus’ message is not contained in just one core commitment; rather, the Good News of Jesus permeates and indeed animates all other commitments. Just as Jesus is “before all things, and in him all things hold together” (

Our commitment to take Jesus’ message seriously should be

Colossians 1:17 CEB

He existed before all things, and all things are held together in him.

how the commitment to take Jesus’ message seriously is both a demonstrated action and an overall spirit or ethos in churches growing young. Of course, Jesus’ message is not contained in just one core commitment; rather, the Good News of Jesus permeates and indeed animates all other commitments. Just as Jesus is “before all things, and in him all things hold together” (), pursuing Jesus—not just pursuing young people—is the heart of churches growing young.

), pursuing Jesus—not just pursuing young people—is the heart of churches growing young.

pursuing Jesus—not just pursuing young people—is the heart of churches growing young.

Let’s display our core committements in this way to visualize where Jesus needs to be in all of this.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. both a demonstrated action and an overall spirit or ethos in churches growing young. Of course, Jesus’ message is not contained in just one core commitment; rather, the Good News of Jesus permeates and indeed animates all other commitments. Just as Jesus is “before all things, and in him all things hold together” (), pursuing Jesus—not just pursuing young people—is the heart of churches growing young. As we mentioned in chapter 1, we could imagine the entire set of core commitments orbiting around the basic commitment to a Jesus-centered community.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

As a movement, a wheel is a fitting mechanism to illustrate a growing young thriving church.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Let’s imagine the entire set of core commitments fashioned as a wheel.

Now let’s see them rolling around the basic commitment to a Jesus-centered community.

As we commit to this, taking Jesus’ message seriously, then we can do better at showing young people how to relate to Jesus.

Show young people how to relate to Jesus.

See!

It helps overcome the overarching tendencies out there that are swaying people of all generations away from Jesus.

In the last part of this series we noted that young people are not hostile to Christianity and faith. At the same time, many don’t care about it. Which is why so many are not in the church and those that are now, 1 in 2 will drift away.

“American young people are, theoretically, fine with religious faith—but it does not concern them very much, and it is not durable enough to survive long after they graduate from high school.” - Kenda Dean, Almost Christian.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Belief systems that are missing Jesus’ message.

Central finding of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Sifting through hundreds of discussions with American teenagers, researchers identified the dominant, de facto religious belief system of teenagers today as moralistic therapeutic deism.

The dominant religious belief system today among young people is moralistic therapeutic deism.

MTD for short.

It is moralistic, meaning that religious people equate faith with being a good, moral person.

It is therapeutic, so faith becomes a means of feeling better about themselves.

And it is deistic, meaning God exists, but this God is not involved in human affairs with any regularity.

The central message of the gospel is that someone is always there for you and that there are many different paths you can take but ultimately they lead to the same thing, which is heaven. I feel like there are many good things you can do and many bad things you can do, but no matter what, you are always going to be forgiven. Even if you think something is unforgivable, God is like this magic person that can always cure it and can make it okay. And there is always going to be a happy place even when you are in your darkest of darks. There is always going to be a light that is there for you. (Alyssa, age 18)

Notice a few features of Alyssa’s description of the gospel: it is fairly universalist, focused on an abstract notion of “heaven” (or “a happy place,” or “light”) off in the distance; it describes grace like some kind of vague magic performed by a mystic fairy godmother figure; and it fails to mention Jesus and his life, suffering, death, and resurrection for our sins.

Another prevalent belief system

Probably the second most prevalent religious belief system is the...

Golden Rule Gospel: is more about right living than right believing.

Luke 6:31 NIV

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

In looking at young people and anyone’s tendencies to reflect Golden Rule language or themes, it was found that those who profess this gospel show less faith maturity in general. More specifically, they tend to read the Bible less, attend worship less, talk less with others about their faith questions and struggles, and respond less to social issues in light of faith. The passion generated by Golden Rule faith is lukewarm at best.

It’s more about right living rather than right believing.

Most important to Golden Rule Christians is care for relationships, doing good deeds, and looking for opportunities to provide care and comfort for people in need. Their goal is neither changing another’s beliefs nor changing the whole political system. They would like the world to be a bit better for their having inhabited it, but they harbor no dreams of grand revolutions.

On the surface this is fine. What is alarming is that Jesus is largely absent from the picture.

Jesus is largely absent from these belief systems.

MTD and Golden Rule Gospel are behavior based belief systems on right living, devoid of a relationship with Jesus. Many of the elements of these systems are good. But the absence of Jesus makes them incomplete.

The good news and hope found from studying the congregations that are growing young is that those who are thriving and growing young are embracing, teaching, and living out a robust and full, unaltered gospel in a special way.

The young people polled in these churches has a

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

However, Churches growing young had high percentage of young people that were not adhering as much to these systems. Rather they had a mature faith and were searching for Jesus, and relating to Him. About 90-95% of young people who are active in a church that is growing young adhered to a robust full gospel message.

The young people polled in these churches have a more complete and mature understanding of the gospel.

There is nothing that you have done that makes you unlovable or unforgivable in God’s eyes. This man Jesus—he came to tell us that it is not about being the cleanest, shiniest-looking person on the outside. He cares about the hurt in your heart and is able to hold that and walk with you through it. Ultimately, he died for everyone’s sin, so the weight of this world is not so heavy on our shoulders. (Armen, age 21)

In other words, it important to live out a faith that is more than behaviors and following the rules. Churches that are growing young move past the superficial teachings of the golden rule gospel and MTD, and emphasize these three areas:

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Here’s what was how those faith communities were exhibiting their faith.

Churches that are thriving and growing young take Jesus’ message seriously by:

Talking more about Jesus.

Talking more about Jesus. Acts 20:20

Focusing more on the story of redemption.

More talk and action concerning transforming lives. Luke 9:23

Three Shifts or standout

More talk about Jesus.

More focus on the story of redemption. Acts 2:14-41

More talk and action concerning transforming lives .

More talk and action concerning improving our lives here and now.

Less about heaven later and more about life here and now.

More talk about Jesus.

So it’s not abandoning teaching or abandoning the living out of core doctrines. It’s talking more about Jesus and his role in all of the Bible’s doctrines, and especially his redemptive, restorative work.

For instance, this shift can be seen in less of a don’t do this, don’t do that approach to Sabbath keeping as part of our faith. And an emphasis on how keeping the Sabbath gives us more time with Jesus to build relationship with him and share him with others.

According to the research, the vast majority of young people who are part of churches that grow young find Jesus compelling and want to talk more about him.

So let’s lift up Jesus more.

Maintain our position as a Christ centered community. And make corrections where we are not as Christ centered.

Jesus is compelling, and the vast majority of young people in churches growing young want to talk about him.

More focus on the story of redemption.

This does not mean ignoring the rest of the Bible, OT teachings, the father, holy spirit, sanctuary. It’s about highlighting how the story of redemption is a golden thread that runs all throughout the bible from the fall of humanity, to the final events portrayed in Revelation. In this way the Bible isn’t disjointed, piece meal, parceled out, a random puzzle.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

When we show the story of redemption all throughout scripture, as a narrative, then it makes more sense to young people, and anyone. Especially first time readers.

it’s a coherent story of an unlikely clan or family and a God who refuses to abandon them to their own ruin. The clan or family is our family.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

As we interpret each part of the Bible within the whole unfolding story of god and god’s people, the family of god, it makes sense to people. They can then see their story within god’s story.

One 16-year-old Asian American boy grasped this family story deeply. Speaking vulnerably while sitting among a circle of peers, he choked up as he shared,

“God is the Creator of the universe; he made everything. And he not only wants to be your friend . . . he wants to be your Father.”

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

When a people can see their story located within God’s story, the work of the church gains greater meaning.

Hebrews 1:1–3 CEB

1 In the past, God spoke through the prophets to our ancestors in many times and many ways. 2 In these final days, though, he spoke to us through a Son. God made his Son the heir of everything and created the world through him. 3 The Son is the light of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being. He maintains everything with his powerful message. After he carried out the cleansing of people from their sins, he sat down at the right side of the highest majesty.

According to the research, churches that communicate the gospel of Jesus as the centerpiece of God’s story are more likely to have young people with greater faith vibrancy and maturity.

Linked with this shift toward narrative is a step away from myopic spirituality. When interview participants were asked about the practices that most help build their faith, their responses split evenly between practices that take place in a group (47 percent) and those done individually (53 percent).

A closer look reveals that when young people talk about their faith, they focus less on “me and my Bible” or “me and Jesus” in a manner that ignores the world around them. Instead, young people focus more on worship with others, communal small groups and Bible studies, and service in the neighborhood or around the world.

Churches that take Jesus’ message seriously emphasize an integrated, holistic spirituality.

As young people understand their place in the redemption story, they begin find their role in sharing their redemption story with other people as a disciple maker.

That leads to SHIFT 3

More talk and action concerning transforming lives.

It’s talk about salvation and life here in the present and what we are to do about the gospel. In churches that are thriving and growing young, people of all ages, young, old, parents, leaders are compelled by a faith that promises not only reward at the end in heaven, but also transformation now, in everyday life.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The gospel reorients the way we look at all of life. That’s our preaching paradigm, our language, and how we explain the heart issues behind why we do what we do. The gospel works itself into every nook and cranny of our lives; it is constantly messing with how we think about things. The gospel reorients how we view ourselves as neighbors, parents, and children.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Taking Jesus seriously means that rather than succumbing to the gospel of “sin management” that mostly deals with reward at the second coming, we pay attention to real life, in this moment, in this place, with these people. This gospel is not simply something from two thousand years ago or for two thousand years from now. It’s for today.

“The gospel is not a moment or transaction; it is not even simply a message; it is actually a new way of living, a new reality that is intended to pervade everything in this life, and it has both present and eternal implications.”

It’s Not Just about Being Saved from, It’s about Being Saved For

As parents, we are often tempted to give only nos and miss the opportunity for yes.

Kids need to hear boundaried nos, of course, but too many restrictions without hopeful yeses create more than boundaries; they create identity, belonging, and purpose dead ends.

Similarly, some young people wonder whether Christianity is offering them anything to do or simply a list of things not to do. Don’t do drugs. Don’t have sex. Don’t curse. Don’t watch R-rated movies. Don’t become a social liberal. Don’t become a hyperconservative. The nos declare a boundary, but they don’t provide a hopeful way toward a new vision for living.

Young people’s resistance to a gospel presented as a list of nos is both fair and logical. Young people don’t just want to be saved from something later; they want to be saved for something now. They want to get to work. They want to be significant. They want lives filled with action, not just restriction.

The good news is that this is not only the kind of life young people want, it’s what Jesus wants too. Following Jesus is costly, requires sacrifice, and invites us to actively participate in God’s kingdom. In fact, the church by its very nature is participatory, which means everyone shares the work. It’s a body (; ; ), and every part needs to play its role in order to build up the whole. As indicated by Jesus’ command to both “follow me” and “take up your cross daily” (), pursuing Jesus requires no less than everything, every day (). There’s nothing therapeutic about that call.

Luke 9:23 CEB

Jesus said to everyone, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me.

Challenge Is Not Something to Avoid

During interviews, 40 percent of young people specifically mentioned “challenge” when they talked about why their church is so effective with their age group. They appreciate challenging teaching in their church, even when it makes them feel uncomfortable and invites them to make changes based on Scripture’s teachings.

In short, teenagers and emerging adults in churches growing young aren’t running from a gospel that requires hard things of them. They are running toward it.

Evangelism/Discipleship among young people

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

more concerned about generating authentic dialogue about faith.

gospel sharing is seen coupled with an increased honesty about questions and struggles.

young people in our study share faith in a posture that communicates, “I get you, and I can walk with you as a witness of Christ without being intrusive or arrogant.”

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Overwhelmingly, the students said that their most important discovery was how powerful it was to actually listen. Not only did they learn more than if they had tried to give an immediate response, but once people realized that they truly were just going to listen, they were much less defensive and more eager to talk.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

How God created everyone, we are one family, and t

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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The most pervasive is*******

Do!

Ideas for Action

It’s about leading people to Jesus, making disciples, and this can be done through showing, teaching, training, about the gospel, retelling your personal gospel story of how Christ changed your life, listening to people as they share their questions,

Create space for taking questions, reflecting on scripture, to discovery the gospel story.

Small groups, like in the early church.

Won their confidence

MH 143

Paul did this as well, on Mars hill, inscription to unknown God.

Challenge young and old to take up the cross and follow Him.

Less about attending an event, and more about going out to serve and make friends and community with the intention to be like Jesus to them.

Tie Each Part of Scripture into the Grand Narrative of God.

Books that do this well, Great Controversy and The Desire of Ages

Peter’s story -

Stephen’s story -

Paul’s story - Acts 13:16-41

did this well.

Tell your story of redemption.

Ask the young people in your life what they believe. Start the conversation. It helps you know how to minister to them and shows that you care.

Allow Salvation to Look More like a Journey

Salvation to Look More like a Journey

2 Thessalonians 2:8 CEB

Then the person who is lawless will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath from his mouth. When the Lord comes, his appearance will put an end to him.

Share Testimonies Frequently

1 minute testimony.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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The Thriving Church, Part 4: Evangelism

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Core Commitment: Take Jesus’ Message Seriously

Belief systems that are missing Jesus’ message.

Churches that are thriving and growing young take Jesus’ message seriously by:

Ideas for Action