First Time (warning - Christian thread)
 

Hey all! I just wanted to say that I went for the first time this morning (well yesterday morning) to evangelize! I know it sounds horrible, but it's something I never did before.

As a younger person, I did "lifestyle evangelism" and tried to set a good example. Then I went through my insane years - yes they deserve to be italicized - and now I'm back.

It was a great experience and one of the strangest effects was that, while I'm not very eloquent, for lack of a better word, in prayer, I found my prayers just pouring out today. Very cool! So, I'm a happy girl going into Thanksgiving - my favorite holiday.

Yes, I know that Thanksgiving was created under questionable circumstances, but I love the meaning we've given it.

Kudos to you!!

Isn't it a great feeling? I know the feeling too, and I'm so excited when ever I get a chance to share my faith and beliefs with my students. Of course, not in the classroom, but through our activities where I can be a role model. I'm active with a group of students called First Priority and a community service group where we go out into the community to help those in need, and to me, it's so important for the kids to see teachers involved in living the walk! It's great to be able to tell the kids if they ask, where I go to church, what my faith is, but mostly, just sharing my beliefs! I definitely try to show them that Christ was important to us as a servant-leader, and that we should follow is example.

Blessings to you on this holiday!


Cheryl

Congratulations!!!!!!! The "high" of that first time is unlike no other out there! I'm thrilled for you, and glad to see more people (esp greeks!) working for the glory of Jesus! :)


(edited for spelling error!)

wow that is pretty amazing. it shows me how i need to work on myself. i doing the best i can by being an example, but i know that my faith needs some fine tuning :)

great job jeni

Congratulations as well!!! I remember my first time and it is scary - moreso nervous because you don't want to come across sounding like an idiot (at least it was for me). LoL

Just continue to lean on the Lord's understanding and strength for He will ALWAYS give you the right words to say.



:)

COSIGN!!!

One of the largest joys during my collegiate years was knowing that several of the Greek women at my college were very active in Campus Outreach ( similar to Campus Crusaders) and other activities like Baptist Campus Ministries. It was through their great examples that I was able to find my spiritual path again! I was also fortunate enough to serve on a BCM "clown team" to share the word through clown drama. It was a blast, and a great way to show others what I could do.

Now that I'm older, I hope to be an inspiration by serving as a role model, especially to the younger generation who sees/goes through so much these days. It breaks my heart to see so many young teens/teens indulgining in at-risk behaviors, and I feel that if they had a better spiritual relationship with Christ, they can then find the path to make better decisions.

Keep up the good work!

Re: First Time (warning - Christian thread)
 

Everyone seems so happy for you Jeni ! I can hear the happiness in words...I'm not familiar with this, could someone fill me in.

Re: Re: First Time (warning - Christian thread)
 

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but those of us who responded (and Jeni!) are believing Christians, and we believe in spreading the Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ. Taking that first step into evangelism is a huge step, and there really isn't any going back easily. Sharing your faith can get some major doors slammed in your face (figuratively, not literally!), and I for one am terribly happy and proud of Jeni for making that first step!

After all, isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about - giving thanks to our Lord, who provides so much for us? :)

I think she means (if not, this is what I want to know) what exactly do you do when you evangelize? What does it look like?

There are so many ways & styles, I'll let Jeni tell y'all about hers!

I'm reading a book right now called Lost in America. It's a new way of looking at evangelism. In my situation, I'm lucky that the people in my village are familiar with my seminary. My group (before I joined up with them) would go into downtown and talk to people on the street. We are so helpless, so all we can do is ask the Holy Spirit for the right words. Sometimes people will hear us. In that case, we tell them about our experience with God, give our testimony (how we came to Christ/became Christians) and try to express the greatness of God in all aspects of life. Many times, people are desperate to hear more and they give their lives to God right then and there. We offer to take them with us to Worship Service/Church to learn about discipleship - since we are called in the Great Commission to "make disciples" not just spread the Gospel.

The people who are not interested will either get nasty and walk away, simply say they don't want to hear anymore or say they've heard it before. We simply pray that we run into them again when they're more receptive.

In my case, we just started walking in the village and knocking on doors. Most of the people did hear us. There was one man who is Jewish who was very interested to hear about a Messianic Jewish congregation in the next village over that welcomed Jews who want to learn more about Jesus.

We also ran into a Catholic clergyman. Personally, I see that there is so much we can all learn from Catholicism...the reverence for God, the devotion to what we're all supposed to be doing. But, I do find that many Catholics aren't certain that they have the relationship with God that will put their names in the Book of Life. You can be Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc. and not be a Christian. Likewise, you can be a Christian and not subscribe to a particular denomination. Just going to Church does not make one a Christian. (Just going to school does not make one a student. You have to have a devotion to study.)

We also ran into a woman who said she was of a different religion, but didn't say what, who was offended at what we were doing.

Hope that explains!!

Oh, to respond to another question, I am a believing and convicted Christian woman, doing my best to fulfill the Great Commission to the best of my ability with the direction and support of the Holy Spirit.

IT sounds like cult recruitment. I guess the technology of it is the same even though the perception of it is different.

Many things we all do (faith-based or otherwise) can be classified as "cult recruitment" (i.e. rush, recruitment, fan clubs, etc.)

~~~~~~~~~

Main Entry: cult
Pronunciation: 'k&lt
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate -- more at WHEEL
1 : formal religious veneration : WORSHIP
2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults>
5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion
~~~~~~~~

So if you all will excuse me, I'm off to join other cult members of the American Girl series. lol Its on now! :)

Re: Re: First Time (warning - Christian thread)
 

My experience:

We usually evangelize while doing an activity such feeding the homeless, distributing clothing to them, etc. For my church, you have to attend a 6 week course. The course baasically covers things like finding "your style", how to handle rejection (because some people can be nasty) and to not take it person, etc.

Evangelizing isn't just walking around "preaching". lol. Many times you can just simply be having a conversation with someone as you go about your everyday life and can sense when the time is right or when someone is truly hurting and needs to know that there is more to this life than just existing or getting by.

As Honeychile said, there are so many ways and styles that its kind of hard to describe with just one story or scenario.

Its like public speaking right? Another word for making public presentations?

Very little different than running for student government or some other office . . . or speaking in front of hundreds in a business presentation.

I've also taken courses in evangelism, and have been commissioned as a missionary. Both of my parents have taken EE, and my brother & sister-in-law have been short-term missionaries in Guatamala, England, and Scotland. My mission field is here, among a specialized field of people.

That's more Billy Graham style evangelism. I would happily do that, but I don't (yet) feel led to do that. The rest of us evangelize on a smaller scale. Like Honeykiss, my roommate (whom I would join, but I have class on the day they do it!) goes into NYC and helps provide meals for people. In doing so, she comes in contact with very downtrodden individuals who, knowing that the group is Christian, ask for prayer. So members of the group pray with and for these people. Sometimes, the people are led to Christ in the process. :)

Like I said, there's a great book called Lost in America that provides a lot of different ways to evangelize.

Also, James, I would never be one of those people who stand up in front of crowds telling people how horrible they are and that they're going to hell. That is not the way Jesus worked and not the way I work.

Praise the Lord.

Now I see what you're saying!!

Thank you everyone for filling me in. I sort of hand an idea, but didn't want to be wrong.

I think its wonderful that each of you have found God and want to share that with others. There are so many people that I have been very close to in the past that now, seem to have found God and the right religion for them...and they all seem to want to share it with me.....

Right now I'm still wondering looking for God. I was born Catholic, sent to Catholic schools, and know every Catholic tradtion...however...like allot of people, I'm starting to wonder if I'm "Catholic" because I TRULY believe in the faith or simply because it is what's been taught to me since birth??

I've sat down to talk to people who have found there place with God to see if maybe there religion is one I should look more into, but allot of it makes me leave with more questions than answers.

Being on GC, you know I'm in a GLO...I've spoken to other people who I know are also members of a GLO and know they have found God, but don't acknowldge the fact that they are members anymore. They say that membership was from their "pervious life". I've also had someone tell me that I'm going to hell because I'm in a MCGLO... Because there is only one religion and since I'm trying to promote all cultures, that's saying false relgions are the right ones....

absoluteZChi, I'll be praying that God leads you to the right church/denomination (or non-denomination) that is for you.

I don't see anything wrong with people who do this because we (as believers) are not to put anything before God - not our career, money, friends, GLO - whatever. If there is something in your life that is hindering your walk with Him, you need to remove it.

We all have our "areas of weakness" and for some it may be their association with their GLO.

Once a person accepts Christ as their Savior and choses to ACTIVELY follow Him and to live their life according to His word, sometimes their priorities in life change. This is dependant upon where their where in their life when they accepted Him.

Things that were once sooooo important before no longer seem so. Behaviors that were once done regularly (i.e. being drunk, high on drugs, etc.) are not desired anymore. There is no longer the desire to associate with people who do things that you no longer participate in.

please please dont take this the wrong way. In the past I've always been really turned off by people evangilising (sp?) because I viewed it as trying to convert others to their religion.

However, after reading this thread I now think that if you are doing so in a non-pushy way (ex: casually mentioning your religion during some sort of activity and going further into detail if you feel your companion is interested) then it's great! However, I am not really in favor of going door to door trying to convert people you do not know with phrases such as "Well, you're going to go to hell because you're Jewish. You must accept Jesus into your heart as your savior otherwise you are going to burn in hell forever." (and yes, I've had someone say this to me with a straight face).

Absolute,

I just sent you a PM.

So many people have had negative reactions to evangelism. I think that is why NOW there are so many different programs now to spread the Word in "non-threatening" formats and people realize that a person can teach about Christ in a way that is comfortable to them.

I taught at a private Christian school for 4 years, and I remember an incident my first year. Coming back from lunch, one of my little 7th graders was in absolute tears. During lunch, some of the little girls were talking about their churches and youth groups. When she was asked, she mentioned that she belonged to local Catholic church, and a few of the girls told her that she wasn't a "real Christian". I hit the roof. during that time we were also doing our unit on world religions and I used this as a time to go over the basic belief systems of the major world religions. At this time, I also developed what I call the "Baskin Robbins" analogy. I asked the students what kind of flavors they liked in ice cream when they entered the shop. As they answered, I asked what was in the ice cream. As they answered, I said " don't they all have the same basic ingredients--milk, etc." And the kids answered 'yes," so what makes the ice cream taste different? The flavor you put in it, right?" I then explained that the different denominations of Christianity were similar to ice cream--they had the same basic ingredients( belief in Christ as Savior and acceptance), but were different flavors ( styles of worship).


Believe it or not, I as also able to use this as well recently with some adults as well! It went over really well with them also!

This is something I was concerned about. But, Christians are in the world not of it. Being part of a GLO gives you opportunities to reflect Christ's love to so many people. Since they are in close contact with you, they may be more interested to hear your testimony and then ask you to help them find the way to Jesus. Also, being in an MCGLO, I've found, gives me a great place to learn about the beliefs of others so I can be even more sensitive in my evangelism.

:( That's so sad...of course, those girls were just parroting what their parents/youth group leaders/etc. were saying.

Do you know how stupid you sound? I bet you watch Joyce Meyers, John Hagge, Creflo Dollar, Rod Parsley, TD Jakes etc etc etc....am I right?

easy there Craig. I know you dont agree, but there is no reason to ridicule a belief that is important to her.

Adrian, I'm just trying to get her to look outside the box. I'm trying to get her to look at it from a different point of view.

Perhaps I never made it clear that I lived "outside the box" before I came to Jesus. :) But, I've had run-ins with you before on GC regarding some questionably worded statements. So, I'll take no more offense this time than I ever have.

Well keep doing what you're doing preciousjenni (and anyone else). Remember, a servant is not greater than their master, so if they hated Jesus for what He had to say, please believe that people will feel the same way(if not worse) about you.

All you can do is put it out there and for those that criticize(or are rude), just pray for them, "shake the dust of their city" from your feet and keep moving.

There is room for the many styles of evangelism, contrary to what some may say. :)

Calling people stupid isn't usually the best way to get them to "see it from a different point of view."

Preciousjeni, congrats on your experience...........go win some crowns!

This whole thread sounds like a convo I've had with many people in the past. A few try to explain their beliefs, a few back lash, and a few like myself just keep coming up with questions...for both parties.

Thank you to each of you for answering my questions, giving me additional information and even offering to speak to me personally.

I just recently got on this road of soul searching and I always pray that God will give me a sign of what to do or point me in the right direction, and I believe finding this thread is a small sign of bigger things to come.

Absolute,

I am a huge fan that things happen for a reason..we don't always understand why things happen when they do. It might be that you were led to comment here and to find some friends HERE that have similar beliefs or at least share some experiences as you search for yourself. I went through this same journey as a college student and am still continuing this journey today. There are times that there have been real challenges in my life and I've always found that having a strong faith has led me through those challenges. Good luck on your journey and I'm open if you want to talk.