Postkiwi

Craig Mitchell has invited me to take a seminar on ‘everyday faith for everyday Australians’. Here’s the article on the course from “New Times”, the South Australia Synod newspaper.

Rethinking Evangelism: From Cookie Cutters to Coaching

The Church has run many courses on evangelism, but they haven’t turned us into excellent evangelists,” says Rev Duncan Macleod. “Evangelism shouldn’t be simply motivated by duty or guilt. And people outside the church are cynical about faith that is expressed using traditional words suchas church, sin and salvation. However, many people do have a genuine everyday interest in spirituality. So the question for Christians is - how can our own healthy motivation to integrate faith with the rhythm of our lives become engaging with our friends and neighbours?”

Duncan Macleod is a mission consultant with the Synod of Queensland, and former national youth coordinator for the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. He will elad one of eight intensive learning streams at Parkin-Wesley’s inaugural “Grow and Go!” weekend on May 5 to 7.

“The classical model of evangelism we’ve been given is to convince people that they’ve sinned and need God’s forgiveness,” Duncan says. “To close the deal we run them through the sinner’s prayer. The reality is taht most people’s first response to Jesus doesn’t fit into a cookie-cutter approach. We have believers who first said yes to Jesus’ offer of purpose and meaning. We have those who discover Jesus through an experience of life-giving community. It seems to me that relational evangelism is more like life-coaching. That’s what I’m keen to explore - how people can coach their friends and family into faith and discipleship.”

We hope that people will leave the weekend inspired and refreshed, with deeper faith and a wider vision of God’s mission in the world. It’s a great opportunity for congregations to send a whole team of leaders. Over 200 people are expected to attend.

Session leaders for the weekend include Robin Mann, Ian and Sharonne Price, Peter Trudinger, Tony Eldridge, Deidre Palmer, Wendy Perkins and others. Topics include music in worship, childrens ministry, the psalms, preaching the parables, pastoral care, evangelism, and leadership. A multimedia class will spend part of their time in a computer lab learning to prepare graphics for worship.

We believe that investment in leadership development is one of the most important priorities for congregations. Rural leaders have expressed enthusiasm for this opportunity to come to Adelaide for face-to-face training. Parkin-Wesley is actively exploring ways to make lay education more accessible to people across the state, including distance topics on DVD.

FOr more details about the “Grow and Go!” weekend, contact Rosalie at Parkin-Wesley on 08 8416 8427.