Disparity of the Gospel (World Christian Encyclopedia)

Cost per baptism:

Africa 13,888
Antartica 1,677,852
Asia 61,071
Europe 933,371
Latin America 144,910
Northern America 1,518,991
Oceania 634,479

Full-time Christian workers per million

Africa 1,018.3
Antartica 6,666.7
Asia 185.0
Europe 2,482.6
Latin America 890.7
Northern America 5,399.2
Oceania 3,285.1

A good bit to analyze here. But, for starters - seeing how ripe the mission field in Africa is should we not be spending more laborers to that harvest? North America has more than its fair share of workers with precious little receptivity to the gospel to show for it.

Other points to be made?

Pastors Circle - Steve Blakemore

Dr. Steve Blakemore, Executive Director of Third Millennium Faith and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wesley Biblical Seminary, joined the Matt Friedeman Show today to talk about Evangelism.

Describe to me what a sacrament is.

Historically in the life of the church...for protestants we've usually meant baptism...and communion.

A sacrament is a means of grace...in which we discover God is present with us in powerful ways. And we engage in these practices because we understand and believe that God has promised to meet us in these sacraments.

Can we start understanding evangelism as a sacrament?

I think about two scriptures. Of course there's the Great Commission. Jesus said Go...baptizing them and teaching them. He said that clearly as a commandment.

The other is I think about Paul's commandment...faith comes by hearing.

God is not telling us to pass on information. He's challenging us to bring people to Him.

I think that's the way we really ought to see it.

What are the key ways to evangelize?

I think first of all, the most effective evangelist layperson that I've encountered...were people that saw evangelism not just as their own private enterprise. They saw it as a community of faith that they were a part of.

They weren't just trying to pick people off one by one....instead they viewed their calling as inviting people into the church.

Those people also realized that we're not first and foremost called to speak the gospel. But we're called to live it out in our lives.

How do we balance evangelism and compassion?

If a person actually deeply cares about the welfare of another human being, we're of course going to care about whether they have enough to eat. But also about whether or not they have the bread of life.

We're going to be concerned about whether they have clothes to wear. But also whether they are clothed in righteousness.

If you have the love spread in your heart, you care about the unborn baby.

I think it begins with whether we have the love of God spread about in our hearts.

If we have a discerning heart, if someone's hungry, we're going to figure out how to address that.

Do we contextualize evangelism - do it differently depending on location?

In the small town evangelism, there is an awareness of people's lives that you don't have in the anonymity of New York City.

It seems more of this relational, going out with your neighbors, caring for your neighbors to be ready to give a reason for why you help the poor.

In New York City, I would think that just stopping to care for people in the anonymous morass of the city.

Why abandon the Bible? Why fight for biblical ERRancy?

Insight from one of my online students:

I was in a church of a main line denomination recently in East Dayton, OH. The congregation had shrunk from over 1,000 in the 90's to 14 in 2007. The main sanctuary was locked up because they could not light it or heat it for the lack of funds. While I was waiting in the church library I found hundreds of monogrammed and embossed Bibles that were left in the church. I initially thought that they were of old saints that had passed on. I was wrong. These were Bibles that living people had just abandoned as they left the church. It was like an Army, whipped in the field, throwing away their personal equipment to run faster. These people had thrown away their Bibles and left faith period. It is a sad commentary as to the general state of faith outside of evangelical oriented churches. (SG)

Discount the Bible, discount people, discount evangelism. But where there is a high view of scriptural authority (otherwise known as biblical inerrancy) you see spiritual vitality spreading around the world.

So, why do so many want to fight for biblical errancy?

Pastor's Circle - Chris Lohrstorfer on the "Fad of Evangelism"

On the "fad" of evangelism:

Part of the evangelistic fad is that we try to systematize it and make it really easy.

I'm not sure we know what it means to be saved. Part of the fad was, here's this fact of Jesus...you need to accept that. I'm not sure if that's what it is.

I think the evangelistic fad missed discipleship. I think we got the idea that the Great Commission is casting forth seed with no end result in mind.

What does it mean to become a disciple:

The life of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus, the message of Jesus - all of that has to become part of who you are.

Who is good at evangelism:

The 10% (of people who have the gift of evangelism) are salesman. Beyond that, a nurturer is what you need - someone who can nurture in the way of Grace.

The postmodern world in America isn't all that relational, but they want relationships....they're not great at it, but they want it. That's what the church finally is- it's a relational body.

Evangelism must be tied to the church. It's not just "Come to Jesus" it's "Come to the body of Jesus."

If someone wants to say yes to Jesus, but not to the Church:

Evangelism has to turn to the Church.

They cannot be a disciple of Jesus outside the church.

What I shared out at the prison last night...

I love sharing out of Acts 8 at the prison. Much of the insight below comes from an Israel tour guide and scholar named Jim Fleming.

Philip went up to the chariot of the eunuch reading (then, Scripture was always read outloud…learning comes by hearing) a scroll (worth about $20,000). The Ethiopian was a wealthy character…the chief treasurer, a trusted official. He was reading the Isaiah scroll.

• In those days, a eunuch had both testicles and penis removed…which means he could not have been circumcised (which might explain Deuteronomy 23:1). So at the temple, he could only proceed as far as the Court of the Gentiles (which had a railing that said “No Gentiles may go beyond this line, if you do you will be responsible for your death which will ensue”).

• The eunuch wants some help from Philip concerning Is. 53. They began there.

• Perhaps they made it as far as 56: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths who choose the things that please me and hold fast to my covenant – to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.”

• No wonder the eunuch got enthused!
  

I asked the guys in that prison pod whether they ever felt "cut off" - from hope, or their family, or a fair trial, or even a visit from a lawyer who cares. They admitted that yes, they felt very cut off. I asked them to kneel so I could pray with them...that God would give them, by His grace, an everlasting name in heaven that would never be...cut off.

By the way, this is what Dr. Ben Witherington says about what might have happened with that Ethiopian's influence in days ahead...

“It can be pointed out that while there is no first-century evidence of the church in Ethiopia, nevertheless several early church fathers attribute to the eunuch the evangelizing of the region (cf. e.g., Irenaeus, Against heresies 3.12.8-10). We can only say, it may be so, and in any case the eunuch can be seen as a fulfillment of the psalmist’s words: “let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out its hand to God” (Ps. 68:31). (Ben Witherington, The Acts of the Apostles, 301)

5 Reasons Muslims Convert

A survey of 750 Muslims who converted to Christianity shows five predominant reasons they chose to follow Christ.

1. The lifestyle of Christians. Former Muslims cited the love that Christians exhibited in their relationships with non-Christians and their treatment of women as equals.
   


2. The power of God in answered prayers and healing. Experiences of God's supernatural work—especially important to folk Muslims who have a characteristic concern for power and blessings—increased after their conversions, according to the survey. Often dreams about Jesus were reported.
   


3. Dissatisfaction with the type of Islam they had experienced. Many expressed dissatisfaction with the Qur'an, emphasizing God's punishment over his love. Others cited Islamic militancy and the failure of Islamic law to transform society.
   


4. The spiritual truth in the Bible. Muslims are generally taught that the Torah, Psalms, and the Gospels are from God, but that they became corrupted. These Christian converts said, however, that the truth of God found in Scripture became compelling for them and key to their understanding of God's character.
   


5. Biblical teachings about the love of God. In the Qur'an, God's love is conditional, but God's love for all people was especially eye-opening for Muslims. These converts were moved by the love expressed through the life and teachings of Jesus. The next step for many Muslims was to become part of a fellowship of loving Christians.
   

The respondents were from 30 countries and 50 ethnic groups. The survey was prepared at Fuller Theological Seminary's School of Intercultural Studies, and reported in Christianity Today.

Muslims are now 21 percent of the world population, increasing from 12 percent in the past 100 years. And the growth rate of Islam is higher than that of Christianity (1.81% per year, compared to 1.23%). Christians still outnumber Muslims, with one-third of the world population naming Christianity as their faith.

In some parts of the world, significant pockets of Muslims are turning to Christ, including North Africa, South Asia, and Indonesia.

—info from J. Dudley Woodbury, Russell G. Shubin, and G. Marks at ChristianityToday.com.