Evangelism

Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him, that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP 816)

Simply the word Evangelism usually leaves a dry feeling in the mouth of Episcopalians. "Go tell someone about Jesus? Isn't that for the Baptists or the Evangelicals?" Yes, it is for them to do, but it is also for us to do. Part of fulfilling our call as Christians is by sharing our stories of relationship with Jesus with other people. Jesus specifically tells his disciples to go out into the world and share, to tell other people and to have them tell other people. Jesus created not a religious institution, but a movement.

Evangelism isn't about gathering more people into our church or converting people into Episcopalians, however much we might think that. Evangelism is about celebrating Jesus in the lives of our neighbors and community. Here at St. John's and Grace, we are putting together an Evangelism Team to start looking at how we are sharing the Jesus story with those outside our community and how we can go about better telling and celebrating the stories of God working among us. I hope you will join us in this effort!