Chris Folmsbee has already offered us two posts about youth ministry, and this is his third. Along with Marko\u2019s new book we have two posts today about youth work. This post about evangelism is very important to me. I\u2019m working right now on an evangelistic book for young adults.<\/i><\/p>\n
Chris: Over the last couple of weeks I have been in some terrific
\nconversations about youth ministry and evangelism.\u00a0 One youth worker
\nfrom a church in Toronto asked me, \u201cWhere did evangelism go?\u00a0 It seems
\nas though evangelism is way less important as it was 10 years ago when
\nI began working with teens and their families.\u201d\u00a0 I responded by asking
\nthis youth worker, \u201cIs it less important to you?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u201d He shouted
\nback.\u00a0 He continued by saying, \u201cIt isn\u2019t less important, I just don\u2019t
\nknow how to do it these days!\u00a0 Students are just so different.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Personally, I don\u2019t think that youth ministry has forgotten about
\nevangelism or that it is less important.\u00a0 I do, however, wonder what it
\nwill take for us to feel like we know \u2018how to do it these days\u2019.\u00a0 Maybe I am wrong.\u00a0 Has evangelism become less important in youth ministry?\u00a0
\nOr are our traditional methods no longer effective so we, therefore,
\nawait a more effective approach?\u00a0 What might a more effective series of
\napproaches look like?<\/b><\/p>\n
\nI have observed, from my limited vista, that youth ministry in North America has been making wonderful shifts.\u00a0 I especially have enjoyed observing and participating in the shift from what is often labeled an attractional approach to what is commonly referred to as a missional approach.\u00a0 Specifically, I have noticed that within this missional approach we have allowed our view of evangelism to be as much about embodiment as it is about proclamation.\u00a0 This is good.\u00a0 But, just like proclamation without embodiment is incomplete, so embodiment without proclamation is incomplete. Perhaps this is what my youth worker friend in Toronto meant by evangelism being of less importance.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t quite wrap my arms all the way around the issues related to new perspectives on evangelism and that frustrates me.\u00a0 However, I have come to personally conclude that the articulation of the gospel story today must be related to people\u2019s lives \u2014 it cannot be just a rational argument.\u00a0 The gospel story must be holistic in the sense that 1) it isn\u2019t merely about the accumulation of knowledge and 2) it doesn\u2019t separate the soul from body (and ultimately a Kingdom society).\u00a0 To effectively and faithfully articulate the gospel story today it seems important to proclaim and embody it in a community that exists as a hermeneutic of the gospel. Too often the end is to make converts, not invite students into a community of disciples interested in the ongoing work of God\u2019s transformation.<\/p>\n
To this end, we have to also articulate how our students\u2019 stories connect with the story of God. Evangelism includes helping students see themselves in light of the imago Dei, helping them discover their identity and calling. In what ways can we more deeply connect our students\u2019 stories to the imago Dei?\u00a0 What do we need to start doing, stop doing or do differently in youth ministry to guide a generation to articulate the gospel story in both action and word?\u00a0 How do we train and equip our students to articulate the gospel story?<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chris Folmsbee has already offered us two posts about youth ministry, and this is his third. Along with Marko\u2019s new book we have two posts today about youth work. This post about evangelism is very important to me. I\u2019m working right now on an evangelistic book for young adults. Chris: Over the last couple of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[540],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-youth-ministry"],"yoast_head":"\n