God And The Great Story Of Redemption

Dean Flemming main idea is to explore a robust understanding of the mission of God through examining the articulation of mission throughout the entirety of the Bible. Speaking into the argument of the mission of the church, as one being between proclamation or faithful presence, Flemming tries to reframe the mission of God beyond words verses deeds. He specifically seeks to answer the question, “How should the verbal and nonverbal dimensions of our mission as God’s people connect?” Flemming’s argues that throughout the biblical narrative the concepts of being, doing and telling are interwoven into an inseparable tapestry that displays the mission of God for the church today.

The Art of Personal Evangelism: Sharing Jesus in a changing culture By Will McRaney, Jr. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Academic, 2003, 268 pp., $19.99 paper.

Preaching to a Post-everything World offers several contributions to the art of preaching. New ideas and concepts facilitate sermon design and construction; while at the same time a fresh perspective was given to old ideas and concepts. Eswine’s work added to the discussion of expository Christ-centered preaching as well.

Galindo analyzes that the fundamental “mission” of a congregation is the same as any other congregation that exists in any part of the world. He argues that though every congregation has a mission and a vision, at the same time, it shares a basic common mission. (43) This reminds me of my home church The First Church of Evanston and my Field Site, The Evanston Vineyard Church. Both churches have a common mission of welcoming people to the church, irrespective of their ethnic, cultural, racial, and economic and, gender backgrounds. The mission is to help people be received in the house of God with due and deserved Christian love so that they feel loved and welcomed. Both these churches encourage church attendees to attend the service and receive the Eucharist.

Earley & Gutierrez (2010) “Ministry Is…How to Serve Jesus with Passion and Confidence” (Nashville: Broadman & Holman).

"The three-step key to happiness when everything is down is - Redemption, Reconstruction, and Recover." Redemption, Reconstruction, and Recover demonstrate how the Reconstruction era prevailed. The Reconstruction era did redeem and reconstruct the United States but did not recover it. However, the United States still hasn't fully recovered because we still struggle with discrimination. For example, during the era, slaves were freed from slavery and received suffrage (the addition of 3 new amendments to the Constitution). But, the whites were not able to come to terms with the new Constitution. As a result, they continued to discriminate against the former slaves because of their new rights. Instead, we have to define the most important factor

“I have carefully and thoroughly read the entire book as assigned.” Throughout David Platt’s book, “Radical : Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream”, he encourages the reader to take a look at their life and see whether or not Christ is all they need to impact their life for Jesus in a radical way. He asks the reader to carefully examine their life, and see if there are areas that perhaps the Lord would desire for change to take place. Platt challenges the Church to step up and see the urgency in missions realizing that this is the way God designed the lost and dying world to hear the Good News of the Risen and Glorified Savior Jesus Christ.

God 's mission in the world. For me as a pastor, I enter into this mission field through the local church, but not exclusively based in the local church, but constantly reaching out to near and distant neighbors. This definition is a simple introduction to the concept of “missio Dei” which is basically saying that the work or mission of the church is a part of the work of God in the world, rather than something with an independent disposition. The overwhelming motive for mission is the compassion and love of God for his creation and the telos of mission is the Kingdom, the reign of God over his people.

Subsequently, the church has a mission which is to go into all the nations making disciples, baptizing them, and to teach them to observe the ways of Christ as noted in Matthew 28:19-20. When looking at the differences between the missional model and the attractional model is the missional goes out to win the lost, and the attractional seeks to bring the lost in not focusing the cultural boundaries. Stetzer and Hirsch state, “Missional represents a significant shift in the way we understand the church. As the people of a missionary God, we are entrusted to participate in the world the same way He does—by committing to be His ambassadors.” In retrospect, Hirsch cites that, “The attractional model, which has dominated the church in the West, seeks to reach out to the culture and draw people into the church—what I call outreach and in-grab. But this model only works where no significant cultural shift is required when moving from outside to inside the church.” Both have their uniqueness, however, they are designed to seek and make disciples.

Living life as a Christian, in many ways is difficult in that there is always a war being fought by the enemy for your faith. Dickson insists that, “there are clear New Testament passages urging us all to speak up for Christ when we can” (Dickson, 101). Christians are called to a life of spreading the gospel to all mankind and nations. Dickson urges that the gospel is the announcement of our King coming to make all things new again. Christian’s are called by Jesus Himself to spread this news and work of God’s anointed King and messiah Jesus! The main nugget Christians should take from this is how everyone is not an evangelists, however, Christians are clearly called to proclaim Christ from our lips as well as

1. Demonstrate God’s love and the gospel’s power impacting and transforming the lives of our Soldiers and their Families.

Currently, I am serving in a mission field, my campus, as each day I have been given access to academic scholars, staff, and students who represent different cultures and religions. Our campus is a revolving door that allows for opportunities to share the gospel. While accepting Christ in my late 30’s I did not understand His love or forgiveness for many years. It is through these truths of His love that I can speak with conviction of His love for all people. Aided through the leading of the Holy Spirts, and the life lessons learned, I can speak of the saving grace of God, His love and His desire for all to know Jesus as Lord, and Savior. It is through God’s guidance and His Word that allows me to share His promises to those who are lost and

My personal mission theology is disciplining and proclaiming the pure word of God in the correct context to those that claim to be abiding in Jesus Christ. This includes pointing out and warning them against false doctrine and belief systems. Contrasting what the modern institutions preach about what it means to be a child of God against what scripture actually says it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

This course has had a great impact on my walk with Christ as well as my witness for Christ. I pastor a church and teach two classes and for me I thought that I was doing plenty. However this course has helped rekindle my passion for sharing Jesus Christ with people through personal evangelism. This paper will demonstrate what I have learned throughout this course.

Furthermore, it is vitally crucial for the church leadership to clearly articulate its missional vision, which is to be embraced by the rest of the church’s community. The process of spiritual transformation starts from the invitation and continues through engagement and discipleship. This transformational process embodies the missional vision and the language for 'right now ' and 'here '. Surely, the church’s vision ought to be aligned with the missional attributes of the gospel itself, which are 'the good news is for everyone ' and 'belonging before believing '. Our witness should take place amidst relationship and listening. One principle that I consider to be exceptionally useful in my community is St. Patrick’s idea of Celtic Evangelism: establish community, engage in conversation, and invite commitment (2009, 101).