Evangelism

Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), met with the director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) on May 10 to discuss the place of the Chinese Evangelical Church within the global Christian community. The meeting in Beijing was the third between the pair and was part of an ongoing relationship-building process with the China Christian Council (CCC) and the government, WEA official have said.

Over recent years China has experienced a surge in spiritual life which has seen Christianity expand significantly across the Asian economic powerhouse. However, religion remains a sensitive subject in the Communist-led country.

Building relations through open dialogue is the key goal of the mutual effort between Chinese officials and Christian organizations, Tunnicliffe said in a conversation with The Christian Post this week. more >>

Sole plane crash survivor Hannah Luce of Teen Mania Ministries continues to recover after a five-and-a-half hour skin grafting surgery earlier this week, stated her father Ron Luce on Wednesday.

Luce was scheduled for another, perhaps final, skin grafting surgery on Thursday, with the anticipation that she may be transferred to a hospital in Dallas for rehab within about 10 days.

"Thank you all for praying for Hannah – I can't tell you all how much it means," Ron Luce stated on his blog. "The doctors said she did very well, and they did a lot of skin grafting. The whole process causes extreme pain for her, so since the surgery, she has been pretty heavily sedated. She is on a ventilator again and for the next couple of days, and tomorrow (Thursday) she goes in for another skin graft surgery. We think that may be the last one she'll need to have." more >>

The manufacturer of a new T-shirt design using the phrase "MY Jesus" is now under fire from the NFL for using a design similar to the New York Jets football team. The shirts were designed to highlight the fact that team's newest addition, quarterback Tim Tebow, is a popular Christian athlete.

NBC Sports reported on Sunday that CubbyTees.com, the company that produces the shirts received a cease-and-desist letter last week from NFL attorneys. The letter states that if the company does not immediately stop production of the shirts then the NFL will take further legal action.

In addition, The Christian Post reported last week that attorneys for Tebow also sent a letter to the company asking them to stop production because of the assumption that Tebow was endorsing the product. more >>

Dave Gibson is one of my friends, mentors and heroes. He may be the best I've ever seen at personal evangelism. Yesterday he was telling me that he uses the term "relentlessly relational" to describe their church's philosophy of evangelism. It's a slight twist on our "relational and relentless" tag line at Dare2Share and I love it! We should be relentlessly relational with our classmates, co-workers, teammates, neighbors, family members and friends. We should be relentlessly relational with strangers. We should be relentlessly relational with those who love us and those who hate us.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-48, "'You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

This brand of love only comes through the Father via his Holy Spirit to us ("…because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us" Romans 5:3.) As we learn to walk in a moment-by-moment declaration of dependence on Him he will enable us to love the unloveable and pursue them with the gospel in love. more >>

In an article published in the May issue of Decision Magazine, evangelist Franklin Graham says there is no room for compromise in the upcoming presidential election, especially on the topics of abortion and same-sex marriage.

"I realize our nation needs constructive, wise policies for the economy, national defense, energy and a number of other key concerns. My lifetime spans 12 presidents, some liberal and some conservative. They have approached these topics with different policies. At least there is some room for sincere debate on these issues," Graham writes in the article dated May 1.

"However, there is no place for compromise on straightforward moral issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. God has given us clear, biblical direction that we must follow and obey." more >>

It might be tempting, on this 200th commissioning anniversary of the first ordained American foreign missionaries, to directly attribute the current status of global Christianity to their courageous obedience to the Great Commission. Even limiting the scope of their influence to Burma - their primary place of overseas service- the commendable work of these missionaries would produce a very incomplete explanation for the growth of Christianity around the world from 1812 to 2012. In fact, between the Judsons then and us today lay a vast assemblage of unsung local believers around the world who spread the gospel without fanfare or recognition. Ironically, this development would likely not surprise the Judsons.

New England in 1812

Born August 9, 1788 in Malden, Massachusetts, Adoniram Judson entered the world as the son of a pastor. Though his parents hoped he would become a minister, Judson had other plans. While attending what would later become Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, he became a practical deist, turned his back on expectations that he would join the ministry, and later went to New York City to work in theater. This proved less than practical, and while on the journey back to Massachusetts, he experienced a crisis of faith. He providentially spent the night in an inn where he overheard a man dying in agony and hopelessness in the next room. When he inquired in the morning, the cadaver turned out to be his deist mentor from Brown. He set himself back on the journey to ministry and was admitted to the new Andover Seminary. more >>