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There are 2 messages in this issue.
Topics in today's digest:
1. RE: New member
From: "Bangisi, Nikelo" <NBangisi@xxxx.xxxxxxxxx.xxxx
2. Evangelism
From: Masabatha Online <masabatha@xxxxx.xxxx
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 14:45:14 +0200
From: "Bangisi, Nikelo" <NBangisi@xxxx.xxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: RE: New member
Jerry,
I met someone at lunch time today who particularly told me that she is an
atheist. I thought of the discussion on evangelism that has already been
discussed. I have been preaching the gospel of a living God to this
particular lady to a point of my showing her books to read. She would not
accept anything because she is atheist. The other day she gave me a
religious note that she got from a church she had visited.
My plea to the whole discussion team is find a way of preaching differently
to a so-called atheist.
God bless you all.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mashudu Ravhengani [mailto:ravhenmj@umdnj.edu]
Sent: Friday, August 20, 1999 3:21 PM
To: sa-sda@onelist.com
Subject: Re: [sa-sda] New member
From: "Mashudu Ravhengani" <ravhenmj@umdnj.edu>
Welcome Nick,
You are part of the family,
He is at the door!
Jeremiah
>>> "Bangisi, Nikelo" <NBangisi@corp.anglogold.com> 08/20 6:31 AM >>>
From: "Bangisi, Nikelo" <NBangisi@corp.anglogold.com>
Hi all,
I am a new contributor to your discussions. May I take this opportunity to
thank everyone who contributes to the discussions that keep coming up. It is
very stimulating to read all the answers and contributions made by all of
you. I also hope to have a meaningful contribution in the future.
God bless you all
Nick
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 20:00:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Masabatha Online <masabatha@xxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Evangelism
Greetings friends
--Nick Wrote:
>>My plea to the whole discussion team is find a way of preaching
differently to a so-called atheist.
and Mdu wrote:
> Fellow Believers
>
> A great deal has been said about the focus and what should drive
> evangelistic endeavours however I still think that the question of
how do we
> reach the middle class/professionals is still not addressed. I
think this
> question is very pertinent for this forum because I believe a fair
share of
> members fall in this category. Thus they are be best placed to
reach this
> group of people
Let me try to share my views on this subject. It is difficult and
sometimes impossible to give a conclusive methodology on how to reach
a certain class of people. My view is that since our primary task is
to be fishers of men, God will give us wisdom to reach our colleagues
and friends. Our words and deeds should testify that we have been to
Jesus.
I will now proceed to relate some of my experiences and views.
What we need to understand is that to be an atheist has become a
fashionable thing. There was once a time when Christianity was on
style, which was in an era of modernism, and we have now moved to the
post-modern era and this brings unique challenges. I personally think
this change is good, for in time past there was a marriage between
the modern era and the Christianity. In the modern era the church was
not critical of the modern era and because of that the church was
full of those who join so that they can be acceptable in the
community. Now, people who will join the church are those who really
mean business since there are no social pressures.
Here is the approach that I use to reach those in the class in
question:
There are four basic questions that trouble all of humanity; it does
not matter whether you call yourself an atheist, an agnostic, a
Moslem, a Catholic or an Adventist, educated or uneducated, middle
class or no-class.
Here are the four questions:
The first question is that of origin – Where does life comes from
The Second question is that of morality – How can we address the
problem of morality
The Third question is that of meaning – How to find meaning in this
life
The fourth question is that of destiny – Where do we go when we die
All of religion, whether it be atheism, Catholicism, Adventism, etc.
appears to be an attempt to address the four questions above. When I
meet someone who is atheist or agnostic I talk to them about the four
questions above, and suddenly their eyes lighten up. We also need to
recognize that evolution is also an attempt to answer one of the
questions above. By addressing the four questions you kind of open
their eyes to their own real need.
I use this approached all the time even to those who are Christians.
Because in the case of Christians or Moslems the question is, how
does their religion answer these questions? When dealing with Moslems
we need to appreciate that they do a good job in trying to address
the 2nd question, and then the question is how does their religion
answer the remaining three.
Then proceed to show them that Christianity or Adventism in
particular is the only religion that answers these questions
adequately.
The middle class, despite the factor that they might be well off
financially, they have marriage problems, stress problems, boy/girl
friends' problems etc. all of these problems can only be solved by
Jesus.
Now lets change gears. Evangelism is what we are all called to do. As
I have said before the ONLY reason we are in the church is for us to
evangelize, we are fishers of man.
I believe that if we pray and ask God to open a way for us to be
witnesses, God will do it for us, He is desperate to save.
I remember when I arrived in the US one of things that really
distressed me was that I was not going to be able to evangelize as I
used to back home. So we fasted for a day asking God to open ways for
us to evangelize. I think the next day during lunchtime I found
myself sitting at the cafeteria next to two colleagues, after
exchanging greetings I introduced myself, and the man responded by
saying ‘Jeremiah the prophet?’ and my answer was ‘Indeed!' This
simple comment about the name lead us to a Bible discussion and we
later agreed to have Bible study for 30 min every lunchtime. For
about 8 months we had Bible studies with this lady who was brought up
in the Catholic church and was then professing to be an atheist or at
least agnostic. We studied every lunchtime several months. I think
the climax was when we studied the mark of the beast. She went into
the Internet to research the historical role of the beast, and she
was convinced of the truth. This is one big advantage of preaching to
this class of people. The Bible prophecy (Dan & Rev) is a good bate
to these fishes.
This is not the only way that the Lord opened, He opened the gates to
the prison ministry, and preaching appointments. I currently have
more Bible commitments than I can meet.
The point of it all is that, ask, pray, and the Lord will open the
way. Use every opportunity that you can get. There is no time to
waste.
Last year Mashudu Madaba shared with us how he was preaching the
gospel at his job through email and company list servers. Mashudu who
was working for Absa, which employs thousands of people, sent a
message entitled the ‘End of the world is near’ to their network
bulletin board. That created an amazing response, ranging from
threats of breaking company policy on discussion of religion, to
people who were asking for prayers and Bible studies.
We need some revolutionary ways of spreading the gospel.
Get involved in the local church programs. You will be surprised at
how much you can learn about evangelism from some of those old folks
in the church. Since you belong to the class that have lots of money,
instead of running after materialism sponsor evangelism projects.
I know of two professionals who at one time felt so blessed that they
decided to sponsor an evangelist crusade, the Lord blessed their
efforts tremendously.
You don’t have to be a good speaker; God can used anybody and
everybody, if only you are willing to be used.
Finally brethren, the most important way to reach the so-called
middle class is through a consecrated life. A changed life, This is a
sermon which no-man can argue against! As Lungani said, You might be
the only Jesus they will ever see.
Everybody ought to know who Jesus is!
Jeremiah
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