Tuesday morning evangelistic smack-down, xii

Word study: “I think we are now living in the very decade when God may thunder his awesome paradidomai (I abandon, or I give [them] up) (Rom. 1:24 ff.) over America’s professed greatness. Our massacre of a million fetuses a year; our deliberate flight from the monogamous family; our normalizing, of fornication and of homosexuality and other sexual perversion; our programming of self-indulgence above social and familial concerns -- all represent a quantum leap in moral deterioration, a leap more awesome than even the supposed qualitative gulf between conventional weapons and nuclear missiles. Our nation has all but tripped the worst ratings on God’s Richter scale of fully deserved moral judgment.” (Carl Henry, Christian Century, November 5, 1980 pp. 1058-1062)

Quote: “It must be kept in mind, however, that Jesus’ teaching was not merely, or even primarily, doctrinal or theoretical, but rather practical and exemplary. That is to say, his teaching consisted, above all, of his example and his actions, through which he communicated the values of the Kingdom of God incarnated in himself….There can be no doubt that this sort of teaching is an essential part of the apostolic tradition, the ‘commandment’ which he entrusted to his followers so that they could fulfill their mission to make disciples.” (Rene Padilla, Transforming Church and Mission)

Stat: “By 2050, only about one-fifth of the world’s 3 billion Christians will be non-Hispanic Whties. Soon, the phrase ‘a White Christian’ may sound like a curious oxymoron, as mildly surprising as ‘a Swedish Buddhist.’….The era of Western Christianity has passed within our lifetimes, and the day of Southern Christianity is dawning. The fact of change itself is undeniable: it has happened, and will continue to happen.” (Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom)

Sad Fact: No county in the U.S. has as great a percentage of its population attending church today as a decade ago. (Win Arn, Pastor's Manual)

Resource: Analyzing Your Congregation's Evangelism Readiness: Click below to download a one-page pdf file that provides a tool for determining your congregation's outlook on evangelism. Download “Our Church's Readiness to Evangelism” (Need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view).