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Evangelism
Explosion
Ministries
by Richard Harvey Ministers of local
churches have many opportunities to share the gospel with people
and see them come to faith in Christ. I think of one elderly lady
who made an appointment to arrange her funeral. At the conclusion
of our time, I asked if she had made the most important
arrangement of all: had she come to the place in her life where
she knew that if she died that night she would wake up in heaven.
She said she didn’t know. I then shared the gospel with her and
she gladly accepted Christ as her Saviour. While I was very
excited about that, I want to say that there is something more
exciting, and that is seeing someone else I have trained share
their faith and lead another to Christ. But something even more
thrilling is to see someone I have trained, train someone else who
then leads another to Christ. This is called multiplication.
The training method I
have been using for nearly 20 years is Evangelism Explosion. I
have found it to be the most effective tool for teaching others to
share their faith and, more importantly, to train someone else on
a one-to-basis. The EE training which has been utilised for some
20 years in Australia is culturally adapted for the Australian
community and designed to equip Christians to effectively and
sensitively verbalise the gospel. It is a 16 week program with its
strongest feature being ‘on the job’ training.
What
does it offer the church?
It is local church
based evangelism training.
Christians in a local
congregation are recruited, equipped and sent out into their
community.
It is a proven tool
for conversion growth.
We have found, as many
churches do, that we regularly see people come to faith.
Christians who know how to share what they believe and how to lead
a person to Christ will continually see fruit.
It is a proven tool
for spiritual growth.
There is no doubt that
when individuals share their faith they grow very quickly and
strongly in their own walk with Christ.
It creates a vision
for intentional evangelism.
We plan to reach people
rather than just letting it happen. Because of our weekly training
program we need to find people to share the gospel with and that
in turn makes us look hard at our overall Parish ministry program.
This ensures that we are intentionally reaching people in our
community and not just drifting along, hoping someone might come
through the door.
There is a very
strong prayer ministry that supports the training.
Each trainee and trainer
has two prayer partners. So as a team of three people visit, there
are nine others at home praying for them.
What
does EE have to offer the pastor?
-
It produces a
harvest-centred ministry (Luke 10). The EE ministry develops a
mindset where the members of the church see the fields that
are ‘white unto harvest’ and look for creative ways to
reach the lost.
-
It provides an
effective means of equipping Christians to share their faith
(Eph. 4:11,12).
-
It is a process of
multiplying oneself. 2 Timothy 2:2 reminds us that we need to
train faithful men who will in turn train others. The pastor
cannot and should not seek to do all the witnessing.
What
does it offer the person being trained?
-
It really helps them
develop good personal skills in relating to people and being
sensitive to them.
-
Very importantly, EE
training promotes witnessing as a way of life. Christians
learn to share Christ wherever they are, not just during the
weekly program.
-
It contains a sound
theology of the gospel. There is a very clear gospel
presentation, where the person witnessing knows exactly what
they want to say and how to say it. The presentation contains
everything a person needs to hear to make a decision for
Christ.
-
Role-modelling is a
key element. Trainees see their trainers model how to share
their faith in ‘on the job training’. This allows the
trainee to grow in confidence and gradually learn how to share
the gospel.
The major strength and
distinctiveness of the EE ministry is an ongoing equipping process
for the local church which can be effectively integrated with
other evangelistic strategies, eg Christianity Explained, Alpha,
seeker sensitive services, etc. The training utilises the contacts
generated by the local church and then brings them into
discipleship in the local church community.
A recent development has
been Youth EE Training. St Matthew’s at Manly and All Saints at
Figtree have in the last two years sent a youth team to Bali, Fiji
and Papua New Guinea to train Youth Pastors to return to their
churches and train their own youth in how to share the gospel. The
impact on our young people has been amazing. We praise God for
these opportunities.
The training to commence
the process in the local church is through a Leadership Course for
pastors and key leaders - five days in length, costing $290. Once
commenced in the local church, participants receive training
manuals, follow-up materials, etc. The trainee package is
approximately $35 per person.
The training is
conducted by:
Evangelism Explosion
Ministries Australia
PO Box 168
Port Kembla NSW 2502
Phone 02 4275 1033 Fax 02 4275 1367
E-Mail: RodDStory@compuserve.com
Rev
Richard Harvey, Senior Minister at St Matthews Anglican Church,
Manly
©
Richard Harvey (1 November 1998)
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