The Goals of Outreach and Evangelism
by Michael Kinsey
When Fr. Kevin asked me to write each month for the church's
blog I felt quite honored. Never had I
thought anyone would ask me to write about such a weighty topic as outreach and
evangelism. I took one week to ask myself
about outreach and evangelism and what they are, by definition. After a week I realized that I could not come
up with an adequate definition that satisfied the convergent nature of our
communion. So instead I decided to focus
on the goals of outreach and evangelism.
I would like to share my findings with you in the first installment of
“O and E in St. P's CEC.”
Outreach. Staying true to my previous
intent I will define the goal of outreach, instead of outreach itself. Since outreach can be done in different ways
depending on the character of the congregation doing it, it makes more sense to
focus our attentions elsewhere for the time being, such as on the intention of
outreach.
The goal of outreach is to
actively and intentionally pursue people who are outside of the Christian faith
with the purpose of bringing them into communion with the Church so that they
might be evangelized. Since each
congregation has a different character (and by no means am I an expert on
identifying that character), defining the specifics of what outreach is can
create voids in coverage for people who really need the love of Jesus
Christ
For instance, a communion with an emphasis on reaching out
to struggling families will intentionally find people to reach out to who are
suffering deeply because of their family circumstances. While this is admirable and necessary in any
effective outreach attempt, if it becomes the end all be all of outreach there
are several demographics of people which are still being missed. For the communion of believers whose emphasis
is on attracting younger people only, the older generations already within the
communion can oftentimes feel neglected and unable to minister to newcomers.
Outreach must have the goal of reaching out to anyone who will listen,
regardless of age, race, orientation or social circumstance. Jesus is for everyone.
Evangelism. The goal of evangelism is
three fold:
(1) To see more individuals connect to the Ancient Church through the attending
of worship services at St. Patrick's CEC;
(2) To see more individuals saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and in
relationship with Him; and
(3) to see more individuals given to the ministry of the Church and using their
Holy Spirit-given gifts in that ministry.
These goals in evangelism fulfill the broader vision of the CEC, that is, to
converge the sacramental-liturgical, evangelical and charismatic flows of
Christianity. How can anyone experience the
sacramental or liturgical richness of Christ without being present during the
worship service? It is necessary
therefore to express the desire to see our communion grow numerically so that
the sacraments can be duly administered and the liturgy being faithfully heard.
The evangelical goal of evangelism is witness more people come to Christ
through faith in Him. If we come to
church and no one experiences the living Christ then what good is church?
Likewise, the charismatic goal of
evangelism is to allow individuals to use their gifts to minister to the
flock as the priesthood of all believers.
If we do not have gifts (or fruits) then what good can we do one for
another in ministry?
The way which we do outreach must be done in a way that is influenced by
evangelism. How can we bring the
convergent Church to the masses in a way that will both attract and educate
them, perhaps enough to begin wondering, “what makes St. Patrick's so
different?”
This is the question with which I will leave you; since you are such an
integral part of this communion, how can you reach out to someone with the
intent of seeing them come to church, know Jesus personally and minister to
them with the gifts you have received?
Stay tuned for next month's “O and E in St. P's CEC”
Michael Kinsey is a seminarian pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at Northeastern Seminary At Roberts Wesleyan College. He attends St. Patrick's CEC.
