How can Elim be really good news to people exploring faith?

Rico Tice explores Elim’s National Evangelism Vision and its lessons

INTRO by Mark Greenwood, Director of Elim Evangelism
Picture the scene… you are sitting at home and there’s a knock at the door. You open it and there is a salesperson trying to sell you double glazing (even though you already have it). All that’s said is this: “If you sign here, right now, you can get your soffits and facias done completely free if you replace your windows and doors.”

“Can I get some information so I can think about it,” is your reply.

“No, you have to decide right now,” demands the salesperson.

So you respond now and say, “No!”

Would it not have been better to give you an opportunity to explore whether it is what you want or need?

Rico Tice is a passionate evangelist. His background is in the Church of England but he now works full time for Christianity Explored Ministries, which he founded 25 years ago to help churches facilitate exploring faith. Rico reflects on Elim’s National Evangelism Vision and what it has to teach the wider church and how it can help Elim churches be really good news to help people explore faith.

Be faithful to Scripture

The first reason I think Elim is really important for the gospel going out in this country, is that the leadership are convinced of the authority of Scripture. The great issue currently in the church is whether we’re going to properly preach repentance and that Jesus is Lord, knowing that God will open blind eyes.

In Elim it is a given that Scripture is authoritative, not least because there is a real trust in the Holy Spirit to regenerate and change hearts. Second Corinthians 4:1-6, is an essential passage to help us understand our role and God’s role in evangelism. Paul says: “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God.”

So, what do we do?

“What we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.”

What does God do? God says, “Let light shine out of darkness.” He does a miracle and helps people see who Jesus is.

Understand evangelism is a process

One of the things I found so helpful about ‘Big Yes, Little Yes, Healthy Maybe’ is how it reveals that there is a process; that there are moments and opportunities for people to become Christians, and we want to help by just giving people those little opportunities.

What I’ve seen in Elim’s evangelism, which I think many churches could really learn from, is a loving gospel pathway process. Which leads to my third point...

Remember it’s a balance

Don’t take for granted that you’ve got caring actions and relevant words.

In 1974 at Lausanne John Stott came out amongst the conservative evangelicals saying there has to be two wings of the plane: there’s got to be social action and there’s got to be gospel proclamation. I’ve already covered the gospel proclamation but there’s also the Caring Actions – that we need to be serving in our communities.

Right in the centre of the DNA of Elim is this caring action.

The seminal verse that John Stott used was Proverbs 29:7: “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.”

Train people in evangelism with the verses they already know

I watched Mark Greenwood do training at a church in Northfield last year, and what I really liked was that people were asked to think of verses that they already knew.

I’ve always given people a gospel outline and then verses to learn. What Mark did was give a gospel outline but then said, “You give me the verses you know.”

For example, we already know for creation: Genesis 1:1, God made the world. For sin: Romans 3:23, we all fall short of the glory of God. And for the cross: Isaiah 53:6.

What was new for me is that it’s about getting people to feel confident with the verses they learnt 25 years ago.

The work of the evangelist takes time

Elim has taught me how much time you need to invest. Ephesians 4:10-11 says that the work of the evangelist is to equip God’s people for works of service. There’s no point in us at Christianity Explored producing resources for evangelism unless churches are going to use them. And for churches to use them requires training.

I’ve tended to do one-off training at churches, but what is far more beneficial, and what I’ve seen at Elim, is an investment in time. Elim evangelists invest time in the pastors to help them mobilise the church, then in the people, training them and building up their confidence, before they go back and speak at evangelistic events. All this is helpful for getting churches going in evangelism again post-Covid.

Rico Tice is the founder of Christianity Explored Ministries which makes thought-provoking, Bible-based video resources and courses for people exploring the Christian faith.

OUTRO
I am so encouraged by Rico’s humility and hunger to learn how to get better at sharing faith. And I am thankful for the many resources that Christianity Explored Ministries has created that help those exploring faith. Why don’t you join the many Elim churches that use their outstanding resources. You can visit their website, www.christianityexplored.org and listen to my podcast with Rico here.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

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