Get ready to 'Engage'
Engage is a new resource from the Office of Evangelism, that emphasizes the importance both social justice and faith sharing. Designed to connect evangelism with disciple making, Engage enters into the Jesus question "Who do you say that I am?" Focus groups are helping us refine Engage, so as you use it now please provide us with any feedback. A revised edition of Engage is expected in 2012.
Watch the Engage videos
Engage our Culture: Discover how to become relevant by reaching people outside the walls of the church.
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Engage the New Normal: Understand how our culture has radically changed.
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Engage the Vine: Realize you have a personal faith story to share through your relationship of God.
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Engage our Story: Learn how to connect your personal faith story with God’s story of love and reconciliation.
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Comments
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Thank you for this resource. Good point: waiting for people to show up for church is no longer our most effective evangelism strategy. Look forward to additional material.
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Holly thanks for your thoughtful response to the videos. We were hoping that the videos while being in short format and accessible to viewers would bring about deeper thinking and response. The “New Normal” video was not meant to be a negative portrayal of postmodernism that would lead to further entrenchment but rather a tool to help respond and engage a changing culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and with all “gentleness and respect”. As a Postmodern myself I hope our church can truly learn not only to reach those outside the church but also to make an impact in tangible ways by serving our communities, and being an “embodied” apologetic for those around us. These are just a few sample videos in a longer more comprehensive video training series that will be out this summer. I hope you will continue to interact with this material as the series is put out in final production and I hope that some of your concerns may be addressed holistically with the evangelism series.
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Overall, very good videos. However, I do have concerns about "Engage the New Normal." The tone of this video comes across as decrying all characteristics of the postmodern world as negative. Is there no potential for good and positive reconstruction of a greater metanarrative as our future goal in living as a world community through this period of deconstruction? I would argue that seeing that potential and leading toward it is our mission now. This video to me is somewhat dangerous in being too simplistic in presenting these issues to the church public at large as solely negative, which could well drive a reactive rebound toward digging deeper into the oppressive type of metanarrative you're talking about, which would not be the bridge you explain in the "Engage Our Culture" video. In short, we need to be careful in distinguishing between a symptom and a disease. That question needs to be explored more before we jump too quickly to a simplistic diagnosis, especially in a piece designed to guide our congregations.
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You are right! Evangelism is all about relationships. People outside the church need loving and authentic relationships with followers of Jesus.
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I want to see support for evangelism through god Reformed worship. So-called contemporary worship is running it's course. Preaching the 'given' word via the lectionary opens up to preaching the Word as given/passed down and not as a support back-up for my great idea each week or during this series. Following the classic lines of BCW worship is as contemporary as you can get. Provide support for those who have never learned how powerful this resource and historic compendium can be when done well. What better way to witness 'what we say that he is' but through faithful worship that sends the disciples out filled and prepared. Let's prepare Bobbie's 'angels' well.