Goals: To Learn

As mentioned before, we have several goals for this blog:

• To Obey
• To Pray
• To Learn 
• To Teach
• To Model
• To Report 
• To Encourage

Jesus told people, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."   I remember reading this verse not long after I became a Christian and not understanding the metaphor.   How do you fish for men?   I remember asking a mentor who explained it to me, and I've learned over the years how appropriate the the metaphor is.   

I've recently tried taking up fly fishing. Fishing on the Bow River flowing in & about Calgary is supposed to be some of the best in the world.  But all the technique of casting will not do one any good if you don't know something about the fish and something about flies.  One has to know something about the time of year and types of flies in season, as well as something about where fish hang out and what spooks them.   

The fishing analogy could not be more appropriate.   

Fishing for people is a lot like fishing for trout.  You have to know something about people (& what the Bible says is true of them) and the basics of the Gospel, what they need to hear and what concerns (& spooks) them.   

Learning to fish for people is a life-long journey.  It is not something that is mastered in this lifetime. Rather, it's something you devote yourself to for the long haul.  

And just like fishing in a stream, you have to actually fish for people in real life.  That's how we learn, plain and simple.   

In fact, I often tell people that you don't even know what you don't know until you get into conversations with people.  You will find out what questions to ask, what verses you need to memorize, what types of objections are common, and what concerns people have that the Gospel of Christ addresses.   

And just like you learn to fish by actually fishing, so to you learn to evangelize by evangelizing.   

As I reflect on conversations with people about the Gospel over the years, I've always reflected on what I would have / should have said differently.  And that's just part of the journey.   I've learned the in's and out's of flies, different baits to use, how to approach fish by trial and error.   

And I'm glad to be a life-long student.  And the thrill of the catch keeps me going.   

I once heard someone define evangelism as "taking the initiative in the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel and leaving the results to God."  It is our privilege to join God in his mission since he is the Great Missionary.   

Or to put it another way, He is the Master Fisherman, and we get to join him on the fishing expedition.   

Goals: To Pray

I have a handful of goals for this blog...

• To Obey
• To Pray
• To Learn 
• To Teach
• To Model
• To Report 
• To Encourage

To Pray.   The Apostle Paul wrote to the young evangelist, Timothy:

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time" (1 Timothy 2:1-6).

The mission that we are a part of is a participation in the very mission of God.   He is the Lord of the harvest, and we are called to pray to him.

So at a very basic level, this blog exists as an aide to prayer, both for myself and for others.   Writing about gospel conversations with people in Calgary helps me to remember names to faces as well as imprinting the conversation more firmly in my memory.

Would you join me in praying for these folks?

I'll try to include a brief prayer at the end of each Gospel Conversation.   There's a place where you can register your prayer as well...

Goals: To Obey

In the first post of this blog, I mentioned that there were seven goals I had for starting this "Good News for Calgary" blog:

• To Obey
• To Pray
• To Learn
  
• To Teach
• To Model
• To Report
  
• To Encourage

I want to spend a few moments reflecting on the first goal:  to obey.  Simply to obey.  

The Lord Jesus commissioned his disciples to make disciples by going, baptizing, & teaching.  The classic text is Matthew 28:18-20. 

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you alwasy, to the end of the age" (ESV).  

We are explicitly commanded by our Lord to "go."  Disciples make disciples by going, by doing something.    

Just before His resurrection, He told his disciples,   

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

I have had the privilege of talking to people about the Lord Jesus Christ since I became a Christian at age 16.  Some have been hardened, some have been apathetic, and some have been receptive.  I've had the privilege of ministering in a number of different settings and in 3 different countries, yet I can do far more.  The older I get (hitting the top of the hill this year!), the more pressing this seems to me.   

Jack Dennison says in his book, City Reaching,

"Evidence suggests that 95 percent of all Christians in North America will not lead a single person to Christ in their entire lifetime."

In his book, The One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven, Mark Cahill references a Zondervan Church Source that says

"...97 percent of church members have no involvement in any sort of evangelism." 

He goes on to say,

"A survey by Christianity Today found that only 1 percent of their readership had witnessed to someone recently.  Does anything strike you as being wrong with this picture...?"

Clearly, it is the duty & responsibility (& should be the joy) of every believer to witness for His Lord.  There are many ways to do this from the evangelist who goes out intentionally speaking to folks about the Gospel to the average Christian who provides answers to those within his or her sphere of influence for the hope that is within them.

Yet so many Christians have no intentions whatsoever of speaking about Christ.  I know many pastors who don't ever talk to anyone outside the four walls of their own church about the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul wrote to his friend, Philemon, in a short little letter in the New Testament.  One of the things he said was,

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ" (NIV).

That is my prayer for myself and for others, and this blog hopefully, will keep me focused on the task at hand.  So the first goal of this blog is to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, and to hold myself accountable in proclaiming the Gospel to Calgary.  Not every conversation will be recorded here, but I hope to write about a lot of them, and so spur on my fellow Christians in their own obedience to the great task that God has given to us. 
 

Why does this blog exist?

What is the purpose of this blog?  What are my goals? 

That is a good question to define as one starts something new like this. 

A blog is a web-log, that is, it records the thoughts of its creator that he or she wants to share with others.  There are probably as many purposes for blogs as there are blogs out there, yet I recently searched specifically for blogs that talked about people’s actual conversations about & attempts to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I found that there are not many blogs out there in the blogosphere that fit this description.  There are blogs about the subject of evangelism/ witnessing/ defending the faith, many blogs about ministry, but not many that actually blog about real conversations with real people about the real gospel, though there are a handful (here, here, here, here, & here).    So I thought I would carve out my niche & contribute to this neglected area of the blogosphere. 

So is the purpose of this blog? 

Simply put, this blog will record recent conversations with people in Calgary about their spiritual beliefs & interactions with the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ & His kingdom, as well as random thoughts about the task of evangelizing such a great city. 

I have a few goals as well.  What are my goals?  There are at least seven goals that I hope to accomplish by starting this blog, Good News for Calgary! 

• To Obey
• To Pray
• To Learn
  
• To Teach
• To Model
• To Report
  
• To Encourage

I will blog about them in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned...