servant evangelism

The servant evangelism conference site has this logo on it. I'm not sure I go for the term "outreaching", though it has a freshness to it that is better than the loaded term "evangelism" - Sjogren, modifies evangelism with servant to help us understand evangelism.

The site is full of links to the ministry of steve sjogren. Incidently he is going to be in Cambridge, ON, at the end of Septembers - see details at: Calvary Pentecostal [the details are not up yet, but should be soon].

The logo sticks with me. It serves as a powerful reminder that the Church [both lower case "c" and upper case "C" ] does not exist for its own sake, but for the sake of others. This is a needful corrective in an age when people shop for churches based on what is in it for them.

Jesus told us to go into the world... not sit back on our padded pews and expect the world to come to us. Until we rediscover the true heart of servant evangelism we will not see the Kingdom of God grow, we will merely be shuffling unhappy sheep from church to church.

Jesus modeled this ministry for us by literally taking to the streets. He went where the people were. He talked to adulterous women, greedy tax collectors, self-righteous bigots, snot-nosed children, the aged and the infirm [most of whom would not be welcome in many of our churches]. He took off his outer garment and picked up a wash basin and said as you have seen me do, you do also.

We must be willing to get our feet dusty, our hands dirty and our hearts broken in order to reach people with the Good News. When I was first beginning pastoral ministry, my mentor would quote [he gave me a plaque with this on it as well]: They don't care how much you know, un til they know how much you care.

It's time for the Church
to leave the building
and get building the Church.