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Evangelism

We have all heard the familiar words of the Great Commission, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” But for many of us, that’s where we get stuck. What is evangelism? What is the Gospel? How do we share our faith? And, why does it seem so hard?

The Department of Church Growth and Evangelism recognizes paradigms are shifting, and new themes affect the way we share our faith. People today are looking for stories, experiences, and connections to God. These realities compel us to reinvent how we practice sharing the good news about Jesus. We recognize the need to articulate a biblical view of evangelism because people in our culture are not responding and because people in our churches are not excited or engaged.

We offer this definition of evangelism: Evangelism is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and other Christians to bring one person one step closer to Christ.

We desire for Covenant churches to understand that evangelism is more than just “closing the deal.” The call for evangelism today must be about investing in relationships, incarnating the gospel and inviting people to the mission of Jesus. Evangelism is about participating in the work that God is already doing in the lives of people around us. Therefore, any spiritual conversation, any act of kindness can bring someone one step closer to Christ than where they were before. This is evangelism!

Our hope is that every Covenant church becomes a healthy, missional church. By healthy we mean pursuing Christ, by missional we mean pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world. Jesus constantly sought out those people who were far away from Him. This was one of His highest priorities. May it be ours as well.

Want to read more about evangelism? Read Lisa Orris's blog! 

Lisa Orris is the newly appointed Director of Evangelism for the Evangelical Covenant Church.