Persecution

Ryan Lowery
Acts 3:1-4:23

Persecution is a tactic used by God's enemies to halt authentic Christian movements. When Peter and John are faced with persecution, they choose to proclaim the good news about Jesus. Fear of rejection and idolizing comfort can hold us back from speaking, but like Peter we can choose to trust God and proclaim the gospel. For a variety of reasons, persecuted Christians often are more effective at sharing the gospel.

Contours of a Counter-Cultural Christianity

Jim Leffel
Matthew 5:13-16

What does it mean to be salt of the earth and lights of the world? We take a look in detail as to how these are both righteous ways of standing out against our current culture. Do we live as salt and lights or do we hide away and try to dull how we look to the witnessing world?

The War Behind the War

Mike Sullivan
Revelation 12:1-17

In the book of Revelation, there is a massive war described. Really, this was is a culmination of the spiritual war that exists right now between Satan's lies and God's truth. Our role in this is to embrace the fact that there is a spiritual war and to learn how to respond to Satan's schemes as he seeks to accuse, deceive, and devour.

A Model Church

Doug Patch
Revelation 3:7-13

John's letter to the church of Philadelphia is one of encouragement and promise. Christ's recognizes their focus and faithfulness to His Word and their intent on sharing the gospel with others. Christ rewards their faith with four promises: 1) access to God and more opportunities to share their faith, 2) vindication from people who mock them, 3) protection in difficulties, and 4) "complete and lasting security" in His Kingdom! The dynamic between trust in God and His provisions is expanded upon, emphasizing the importance of meditating on Scripture.

Leading Home Group Evangelism

Doug Patch
1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Leading home group evangelism can be challenging to say the least, but it can first be helped by avoiding some common errors. Several general principles that help promote this include having leaders agree on the need for change and beginning change with themselves. There is no rigid formula, but there are steps we can take to approach the group in an effective way to motivate believers. This workshop presents five key steps to summarize an effective approach.

Testing World Views

Jim Leffel
1 Corinthians 3:5-9

World views, or the belief systems people hold about the world and humanity, can be vastly diverse. As believers in Christ and seekers of truth, we are called to test world views and help walk others through this process to determine views that may be illogical. The belief system should be coherent, consistent, adequate, and fruitful or "livable." As we look at some of the main belief systems of our world today, we can analyze their truth statements through this lens and assess if they make rational sense.

Being a Winsome Apologist

John Lennox
1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Christians should always be ready to give a defense for their faith. This defense is a personal, two-way conversation where the apologist needs to be engaging and asking questions. Some helpful practices are to try dropping God into the conversation; don't act like you know more than you do; be sensitive; and be willing to learn, be challenged, and challenge yourself as you go.

Adorning the Gospel

John Cleary
1 Peter 2:12-15

As believers in Christ, we are called to stand out as lights and help bring the Gospel to others in our community in part because of God's own pursuit of His people and in response to Jesus' example. We can begin moving toward this call through prayers for our own heart change and for the lost around us. We can also start where we are today, beginning to adorn the gospel in the very neighborhoods, workplaces, and organizations in which we are already immersed.

Worldview and Evangelism

Josh Benadum
Colossians 4:3-4

The way we understand people impacts our mission. God's role is to open doors and soften hearts while our role is to proclaim and persuade. In order to fulfill our role we need to understand the answer to three questions about people: 1) What are humans?; 2) Who are humans?; 3) How do we speak to humans? There are many perspectives regarding these questions but it is essential to understand the answers from a Biblical perspective. Humans are made in God's image and are separated from Him because of sin. Understanding who they are requires understanding their worldview; the assumptions they have about the world and how it works. Speaking to humans includes drawing them out to better understand them and to know how to best communicate with them. The results are up to God and ultimately people's personal choice but we can have an impact on God's mission to reveal Himself to humanity.\r\n