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The Fire Triangle of Faith: Three Elements That Fuel Evangelism by Josh Orndorff

The Fire Triangle of Faith: Three Elements That Fuel Evangelism by Josh Orndorff

Picture of Josh Orndorff
Rev. Dr. Joshua Orndorff is the Director of Development at World Methodist Evangelism, where he builds strategic partnerships with donors, churches, and foundations and teaches how to live out everyday evangelism. He is an ordained United Methodist elder. He is also a John Wesley Fellow and a certified coach through Spiritual Leadership, Inc.

Movement. It is a word that I hear often when it comes to living our faith. I coach in an organization that desires movement. The theme of my Annual Conference this summer was movement. Our mission at World Methodist Evangelism is to “help leaders build faith-sharing movements.” As people who believe in the movement of the Holy Spirit witnessed at Pentecost, movement should be our goal. It is in our DNA. John Wesley and the people called Methodists were catalysts for a faith-sharing movement in the 18th century that still reverberates today.

However, not all sense the movement or even a tremor of it anymore. In fact, some churches are declining.

Why Isn’t the Church on Fire Anymore?

People are not coming to know Jesus at a rate that exceeds death and inaction in the West. This is not how our faith was meant to be. It is not how our Methodist movement was meant to be. Do you know that at one point more people were becoming Methodists from adult conversions in the United States than there were babies being born? Early on, it was like a wildfire that spread to the frontiers as people were on fire for the Lord. It’s my hope and prayer that we would experience that same kind of fire. I want this for your life, your church, and our family of the people called Methodists around the world. Our faith should be such that we can’t contain it.

The nature of a fire is that it’s supposed to spread. I know this from being up in the mountains. My family is part of a co-op of five cabins, and a wildfire happened in our valley that spread all the way to the nearby road. If we truly are on fire for Jesus, that faith is supposed to be shared with others.

The nature of a fire gives insight to how our faith can grow and spread. One of the lessons I taught at our homeschool co-op was on how to build a fire. My wife taught the fire triangle indoors, and I taught outdoors, where I actually built the fire with the students. We had to gather wood as fuel, build a structure that allowed enough oxygen to support the spark we gave it, and use a match to generate heat for the fire to ignite and burn. Fire takes three elements for the chemical reaction of fire to happen: heat, fuel, and oxygen. Together, these elements create what we see as a fire and a flame. My sons, now that they’ve had that lesson, have their flint rods out regularly and are striking fires in the fire pit just about every other day. I think it’s the same in our faith; we need these three elements to experience a fire in our hearts that can burn bright so people can know Jesus.

Heat: Surrender to Jesus

Heat is our surrender to Jesus. It comes when we say, “Lord, use me. I trust you as my Lord and Savior,” and are then filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. In that filling, we should start to see the fruit of the Spirit produced in our lives. We are given gifts not to hold onto, but to use to bless the church, bless the community, and bless our families. As we receive that heat that comes from the assurance of knowing that we are children of God, we should be filled with passion for the people that don’t know our good God who wants them to be adopted as His children.

Fuel: God’s Word and an Incarnational Faith

The second element is fuel. There’s no better fuel than God’s Word. God gives us this gift so we might be filled regularly, know who God is, and know who God wants us to be. One study by the Center for Bible Engagement found that individuals who read their Bible four times a week were 228% more likely to share their faith than people who read less than half of the days in a week. We also need to make sure we have the right kind of fuel. If we want to see a fire burn, we can’t just break a green branch off a tree and try to set it on fire. You’ve got to have the right approach to see that fire take place. To share our faith, the right approach is incarnational. The word must be lived out in our lives. Just as Jesus became human to show us the way to the Father, we too need to walk with people to understand who they are so we can share our faith through connection and grace.

Oxygen: Accountability

The third element is oxygen. Oxygen keeps the flame going; as soon as fire doesn’t have air, it can go out. From a spiritual perspective, the oxygen for our faith is our commitment to our calling. All of us are called by name to use our gifts in whatever place we are – whether caregiving, at work, at school, or retired. We are called to the Great Commission to go and make disciples. The next piece is accountability. You can’t do accountability by yourself, and we were not meant to do our faith journey alone. Jesus sent out the disciples two by two, together. We need to make sure we have opportunities where we partner with others for the work of faith sharing in accountability groups. The last piece of oxygen is movement. We need a plan for how we go out and share our faith … and then we need to go! Wherever we are going, we can be intentional in how we pray for people and introduce them to Jesus.

A fire takes all three elements to burn and spread. Remove one, and the fire goes out. The loss of heat is known as cooling. If the fire does not have enough fuel, the flame is being starved. When there is not enough oxygen, the fire is smothered. Cooling, starving, smothering: all kill movement.

Diagnosing Your Church’s Spiritual Health

If you or your church are not on fire for the Lord, it may be that one of the elements is missing or not connecting with the other two. Maybe you need that heat of the Holy Spirit renewed within you, or maybe, you need to know the assurance that Jesus loves you and wants to be your Lord and Savior. Maybe you need to make sure you are in God’s Word regularly, receiving the fuel that we need for life. Maybe you need relational fuel – a faith that seeks understanding to meet people where they are and build a relationship with them. Maybe your fire is being smothered by not being connected to one another for gospel work. When a log is alone, removed from the fire, it loses heat and eventually ceases to burn. We need to be in community.

We need each element of heat, fuel, and oxygen to burn for the Kingdom of God. If we desire to see a movement of people knowing and living the Gospel, we need these three elements of everyday evangelism in our lives and in our churches.

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Women in prison holding Bibles during a World Methodist Evangelism event.

Unexpected Lessons Learned Behind Bars by Ashley Collins

Unexpected Lessons Learned Behind Bars by Ashley Collins

Women in prison holding Bibles during a World Methodist Evangelism event.
Picture of Ashley Collins
Ashley Collins is an author, speaker, and Bible teacher from Decatur, Alabama. Ashley has served in jail ministry for more than 14 years. Her experiences behind bars inspired her to write her 31-day devotional “but God: Stories of Hope and Grace from an Alabama Jail".

I have been in and out of jail more times than I can count.

The first few times were intimidating. But before long, I became comfortable with the surroundings, the women I met, and the conversations I never expected to have.

When you read the above sentences, what was your initial thought? Did your mind go to Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 of visiting those in prison? Or did you wonder, what did she do to end up in jail so many times?

Before I began serving in jail ministry, I probably would have assumed the latter. But after years of walking through locked jail doors, I now understand why Jesus specifically told us not to forget those in prison.

From the outside, jail is a completely different world; and indeed, in some ways, it is. But in other ways, more important ways, it isn’t. Every person has sinned. Every person struggles. Every person has made mistakes. Every person needs God’s grace.

I didn’t volunteer for jail ministry. When the opportunity presented itself, the Holy Spirit first nudged me, then pushed me in that direction. I didn’t feel prepared, qualified, or equipped to walk into a jail and share the Gospel in what I assumed would be such a dark and desolate place. But that was my issue, not God’s. I knew God had called me to share my faith and teach His Word. The problem was that I preferred to answer that call on my own timeline and within my comfort zone. God, however, is far less interested in our comfort than in our obedience. He doesn’t call us to stay where we feel capable; He calls us to depend on Him. Time and again, He invites us to say, “Yes,” trusting that He will provide everything we need.

It shouldn’t surprise me that God was right. My first time in jail was eye-opening; one I will never forget. I started listening to stories of incarcerated women, and my heart began to fill with compassion, like nothing I had ever experienced. I was overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit, and I knew this was the place to serve Him. I have been returning to jail week after week for over 14 years.

Looking back, I realized Jesus had been preparing me to understand one of His most overlooked lessons. The people Jesus mentions at the end of Matthew 25 aren’t difficult to find. Every community has people who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, in need of clothing, sick, or in prison. Jesus wasn’t describing a rare ministry opportunity. He was describing the people His followers would encounter every day.

But why did He include prisoners on that list?

We Are All Made in the Image of God

Our culture is quick to assign labels: felon, inmate, addict, criminal, outcast. Those labels often become the lens through which we see a person. God sees something different. He sees image bearers, people created in His image and deeply loved by Him. That truth should shape the way we see everyone: our friends, our enemies, and those behind bars.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Scripture reminds us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The difference is not that some people need grace more than others. The difference is that some people’s sins are a Google click away while others are easier to hide.

When we begin to see incarcerated men and women as fellow image bearers rather than labels, Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 begin to make perfect sense.

One of the women I met in jail had spent most of her life wearing labels others had given her and labels she had given herself, such as addiction, failure, unlovable, and broken. She believed she had nothing left worth saving.

One day in Bible study, she shared that after years of running from God and multiple failed attempts to end her life, she finally cried out to Him with complete honesty: “If You want me to live this badly, then You must know something about me that I don’t.”

That prayer marked the beginning of a new identity. She discovered that God saw her not as an addict or an inmate, but as His beloved daughter. Today, she is sober, her family relationships have been restored, and she now encourages others who are battling addiction. The labels that once defined her no longer do. The only label that ultimately matters is the one God gives His children.

What the Church Misses by Overlooking Jail Ministry

I’ve often walked through the doors of our county jail carrying a Bible and a lesson. My plan was to teach. What I didn’t expect was how much I would learn.

I’ve met some of the most incredible women behind bars. They have taught me about so many important lessons on God’s timing, freedom, and hope in Christ. As I think about it, I could replace the words “the women taught me” with “the apostle Paul taught me.” After all, Paul wasn’t just a missionary, he was also a prisoner. Some of his greatest lessons were written from a prison cell.

The women I’ve met behind bars have reinforced what Paul learned long ago: God often does His deepest work while we wait. I don’t like waiting. I prefer microwaves to crockpots. One is fast and efficient; the other takes time, but the result is far better. God often works more like a crockpot than a microwave. His transformation is slow, steady, and intentional. Sometimes He allows what I like to call a “divine timeout”; that is, a season that gets our attention and redirects our hearts. Not every divine timeout happens behind bars, but every one of us will experience seasons when God asks us to stop striving, trust Him, and wait on His perfect timing.

Perhaps the greatest lesson they’ve taught me is hope. Many have waited months – or even years – for court dates, sentencing, or the chance to see their children again. Yet I have heard them say, “God saved my life by putting me in jail. He has a better plan for my life.” Sometimes hope in Christ is all they have, and yet, it is enough.

When the Church overlooks the incarcerated, we don’t just miss an opportunity to serve. We miss those who have much to teach us about following Christ. Like Paul, they remind us that our circumstances don’t have the final word. God does.

Encountering Christ Through Unexpected Friendships

Jesus spent much of His ministry with people society had written off – tax collectors, sinners, and outcasts. He reminded the Pharisees, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” Mark 2:17. Jesus continued pursuing conversations with people until the very day He went to the cross. As His followers, we are called to do the same.

Some of the most honest conversations I’ve ever had have happened inside a jail. We talk openly about sin, shame, temptation, and God’s grace. We confess our struggles, pray for one another, and point each other back to Christ.

When was the last time you walked into church and honestly shared your deepest struggles with a group of believers? For me, learning that kind of vulnerability began behind bars. Ironically, it is often easier for me to be completely honest in a jail Bible study than in a church. Maybe that’s because everyone in jail already knows they need grace. Outside the jail walls, we’re often tempted to pretend we have it all together. One of the unexpected gifts of jail ministry has been discovering that some of my greatest encouragement has come from people I never expected to call friends.

Don’t keep your circle so small (or your assumptions so strong!) that you miss the people God wants to use to shape your faith. Some of the people who will point you closest to Jesus may come from the places you least expect.

So, why does Jesus include prisoners with his reference in Matthew 25?

After years of jail ministry, I think I’m beginning to understand. Yes, Jesus cares deeply for those behind bars. But I’ve also discovered that He uses them to transform the hearts of those who walk through the doors to serve. Every Tuesday I leave the jail reminded that God is still transforming lives, including my own.

You may never be called to serve in a jail or prison, but don’t overlook the people God has already placed in your community. They are in your grocery store, your neighborhood, your homeless shelter, your workplace, and yes, even your church.

The people we are most tempted to overlook may be the very people through whom God wants to use to reveal more of Himself, shape us into the likeness of Christ, and continue His work of sanctification in our lives.

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People engaging in conversation at a coffee shop for World Methodist Evangelism.

Essentials To Sharing Faith (Part 2) by Dennis Hallaron

Essentials To Sharing Faith (Part 2) by Dennis Hallaron

People engaging in conversation at a coffee shop for World Methodist Evangelism.

In Part 1 of this series, I shared how God challenged me to become more intentional about sharing my faith. I realized that although I had spent my life in church, I had never learned how to have meaningful spiritual conversations. Preparation became the first step. Before we can confidently step out, we have to sit with our own story. We must know why we follow Jesus, understand the grand narrative of God’s grace, and be able to articulate how Christ met us in our own lives. And, of course, the entire process must be deeply rooted in prayer.

Now we turn to the how.

What do we do when the opportunity finally comes? How do we actually share our faith?

To navigate this, I rely on Jamie Winship’s simple 4 “L” method: Look, Listen, Learn, and Lead.

Look: Build Relationships Before You Build Conversations

If we want to love our neighbors, we must first actually know them.

Think about the ministry of Jesus. He was famously called a “friend of sinners” because He chose proximity. He ate with tax collectors, spoke with outsiders, and built relationships with people long before their lives were transformed. He loved them first. Then he worked to influence them towards His Kingdom, not to win an argument, but because He loved them.

Like Jesus, we are called to build authentic relationships grounded in mutual trust and respect, and then point to His love and truth. That means being open about who we are, honest about our love for people, and clear that our hope, born of that love, is to lead them toward His Kingdom.

We should want everyone to come into the Kingdom, and we should be ready to help take them there, not closed off in our own small world. The Holy Spirit can turn any conversation or chance encounter into an opportunity to share the Good News.

For a long time, I caught myself saying, “All of my friends are in the church.” But after some self-examining, I realized that wasn’t entirely true. They weren’t all in church; I simply never talked about spiritual matters with anyone outside of it. I had bought into the lie that I wasn’t qualified, or that I would automatically offend them if I brought up my faith.

The truth is this: Sharing the Good News is not about the skills you possess, degrees, or specialized trainings. None of these things are required to make disciples where God has placed you. Remember, God has a history of using entirely ordinary people to reveal His extraordinary glory.

Introvert or extrovert, lifelong believer or brand-new convert, the call is exactly the same: look around your daily life, build genuine relationships, and watch for where the Holy Spirit is already at work.

We have been appointed by Jesus to go and tell others about the Kingdom. Part of the great commission is to go into all the world. We are meant to live a life on mission. It takes time, but nothing is more rewarding than faithfully following where Jesus leads.

You will never feel fully ready or qualified – neither did the apostles – so simply do your best to be prepared. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will tell us what to say, and I have experienced this again and again. I’ll be praying with someone, and my heart – through the Holy Spirit – begins doing the talking. I don’t consciously plan the words; they simply come. It is a beautiful thing to realize that the Holy Spirit can use me, and you, to do His work.

But you have to get into the game. If Jesus truly matters to you, He will come up naturally in your conversations. Jesus is with us, so you will not fail in presenting Him. Remember it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to do the convicting.

No one has a more powerful witness than a person willing to take time for a spiritual conversation. Bearing witness is part of our calling.

I’ve heard it put this way: if someone discovered a cure for cancer and kept it to themselves, what good would that do? We would shout a cure like that from the rooftops, wouldn’t we? Well, it should be no different with the cure for sin. We aren’t meant to live a quiet Christian life kept to ourselves; we are called to let others know of this Good News.

So think about where you need to be sharing the Kingdom of God – the office, school, coffee shop, gym, home. Pray about it. Our world doesn’t simply need more people who know facts about God; it needs people who are falling deeper in love with who God is.

Listen: Listening as an Act of Love

Once we are in proximity with others, our first instinct is often to start talking. Most of us are quick to offer answers. Jesus often began by asking questions. The second step is simple: Shhhh. Listen.

Purposefully enter into conversations with the goal of listening deeply. Hear what is happening in their lives. Find out where they are struggling, what is causing them anxiety, and where they are placing their hope. This takes time and patience. It requires us to lay down our urge to immediately “fix” everything. When we listen without an agenda, we communicate a profound truth: we value them as a person, not just as a spiritual project. Eventually you learn that listening is loving. When people know they have been heard, they are far more willing to hear what we have to say.

Learn: Discover Where Someone Is Spiritually

To point someone toward Christ, you first have to understand where they are on their journey. What is their story? Don’t condemn them or try to change them. Let your genuine curiosity and care draw them closer to you, and let your relationship with God, in turn, draw them closer to Him. Never argue. Arguing does not change human hearts; it only builds walls.

Consider their spiritual identity. Are they unfamiliar with the Gospel? Do they know about Jesus, but have never experienced a personal relationship with Him? Have they walked away from faith?

Many believers try to share a deep, discipleship-level message before they even know if the person they are speaking with believes in God. Before you can help someone take their next step toward Christ, you have to find out where they currently stand.

The church’s calling is to bring people into maturity, some call it discipleship or sanctification. Our job, one person at a time,  is to help move someone one step further toward believing in Christ.

Lead: Stepping Into Spiritual Discussions

When the Holy Spirit nudges you and the time feels right, you can gently lead the conversation toward more direct spiritual questions about their personal beliefs or their relationship with God. The best way to do this with respect is simply to ask for permission. It shows that you value their comfort and honor their boundaries. 

If you struggle to make this transition, here are some questions that can open the door to a spiritual discussion:

“I’ve really valued hearing your perspective. Would it be okay if we had a brief spiritual discussion about that?” (If they say no, respect the boundary completely.)

“Do you have any spiritual beliefs?”

“Do you believe in God?”

“Did you grow up with any kind of faith tradition?”

“Who is Jesus to you?” The big guy in the sky versus my Savior tells you a great deal about their relationship with Him.

‘Do you believe in heaven or hell? If you died today, do you know where you would go?”

“If you found out that what you currently believe wasn’t entirely true, would you want to know?”

“Could I share a little bit about what I’ve come to believe and how it changed my life?”

If they say yes, speak only of what you know firsthand. Don’t try to change the person in the image of your own understanding, your culture, or your view of a Christian’s duties. Instead, love them and tell them what Christ wants them to know: “Jesus loves you, and He wants a relationship with you.”

Never argue. It isn’t what we do, even though for some of us it’s the hardest thing to resist. Arguing doesn’t come from the Spirit, only truth from Scripture and the story of what you know to be true.

Become a servant. When you enter a place, ask God: “What do you want me to do here?” 

Use your faith to help someone walk into belief and into the Kingdom. Explain why you are a Christian. Use your story, God’s story, and your own experiences, knowing you don’t have every answer, but that you have found something to be true.

Be real and authentic. Canned lines and too many examples can sound like you’re forcing something on someone. Be confident that God has something planned for you to do. Walk in the confidence of our King, trusting that He has put you in contact with exactly the right person He wants you to share your faith with. Know that God has sent you into this time and this place. You can feel it.

You should be able to walk into a room and have people sense that you belong to the Kingdom, and that you can lead them into it. Love them. Bring healing where life has not worked for them. You lead people by sharing the healing you yourself have received and by telling them the Kingdom of God is near. The good news of the Kingdom can lift what distresses them, reveal where they’ve been hurt, and redeem the parts of their life that aren’t working. Show them, through your own story, how God healed your distress.

5 Keys to Natural Spiritual Conversations

To keep your conversations organic and meaningful, keep these five principles in mind:

1. Take Initiative: Too often we wait, lose the opportunity and think to ourselves “I wish I had said something”. The non-spiritual person will rarely bring up faith first. We must be willing to initiate the discussion.

2. Keep it One-on-One: Deep, vulnerable spiritual conversations happen best in private, quiet settings, not in a crowd.

3. Engage in Dialog, Not Monolog: Talk with them, not at them. Ask questions and let them respond.

4. Offer Truth in Doses: Ask God for sensitivity – when to speak and when to back off and wait.

5. Watch for Split-Second Opportunities: Often, a transition point appears in a fleeting moment.

When you sense the Holy Spirit’s prompting, be intentional about steering the conversation from an everyday topic to a deeper spiritual conversation. A few ways to get there:

– Bridging: Use the current topic as a bridge to a related spiritual one – just as Jesus used physical water to talk about living water with the woman at the well.

– Questioning: Similar to bridging, but instead of a statement, you invite a response by asking a question. “Physical fitness is important to me as well but so is spiritual fitness. Do you ever think about the spiritual side of life?”

– Inviting: Invite them into your community, whether that’s a small group, a church event, or a casual service project you think might resonate with them.

– Ending: Pivot to what comes next. For example: “I believe God is reaching out to you right now. It’s no coincidence that we’ve met and are talking about this. He’s using me to let you know that He loves you and wants a relationship with you.”

Living a Life of Purpose

When we do what God made us to do, it is deeply freeing. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom – and that is where our confidence comes from. No matter what happens, nothing can take away the peace and joy we experience while doing what God created us to do. Nothing is as freeing as that.

How great is our God! Let’s go forth, Church, and be what we were made to be.


A note from the author: I have had the privilege of sharing these and other how-tos about sharing our faith with others. If you would like to learn more feel free to get in touch with me at the contact in my bio. We can continue discussing how to approach certain folks when you don’t know where they stand in their faith journey. I can also share a few tools that you might find helpful in walking people through Scripture.

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Two women engaged in conversation at a World Methodist event.

Essentials To Sharing Faith by Dennis Hallaron

Essentials To Sharing Faith by Dennis Hallaron

Two women engaged in conversation at a World Methodist event.

In 2014, I walked out of a Sunday service deeply challenged by my pastor’s sermon on sharing our faith. As I reflected on what he said, I realized I believed in sharing my faith, but at 57 years old, I had never actually done it.

I had been raised in the church and lived in it my whole life. I had raised my own kids in the pews. I taught Sunday School classes and led weeknight Bible studies. And yet, despite a lifetime of religious activity, I had never sat down one-on-one with someone and talked about God’s great love. 

The truth was simple: I believed in evangelism, but I did not feel prepared for it. I was living a life that loved Christ, but I wasn’t actively leading anyone into His kingdom.

So where should I start? What should I say? How could I share my faith well and effectively?

That Sunday, everything changed. I started reading, studying, and learning how to share the love of Christ with my family and friends, and I began to intentionally make space for spiritual conversations in my daily life.

 

Why Preparation Matters in Personal Evangelism

As Christ followers, our responsibility is simply to be ready when opportunities arise. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to change hearts and convict. And that is freeing … it’s not up to us!

Peter puts it this way:

“In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15

While there are countless ways to witness to those around us, I have come to believe that effective evangelism begins by answering three essential questions.

 

Three Questions to Answer Before Sharing Your Faith

To move past the initial intimidation, we must first get clear on our own experience of grace.

 

1. Why are you still a Christian?

This isn’t just the history of how you first came to believe, but a declaration of why you continue to follow Christ today. Here is my own answer:

“Because Jesus answers the ultimate question of my life. I know why I am here. I know that God loves me. More than that, I get to live in His love, peace, joy and purpose, both in this earthly life and in the eternal life that has already begun for me.”

Your answer will be different, and it should be. Authenticity matters.

 

2. What is God’s story?

Have you ever tried to explain God to someone else? Explaining the grand narrative of Scripture can be quite intimidating. I found that I had to write my words down so I could remember them when the moment to share arrived. Try it. Here is how I would summarize God’s story:

“God created all things in heaven and on earth. Human beings were a special creation, and from the very beginning He sought a close relationship with us. He created us with the ability to choose right from wrong (free will), but we don’t always choose well. We consistently fall short of His standard (perfect holiness) in the ways we treat Him and each other. That is called sin. Because of sin, our relationship with God was broken. Because God is entirely holy, sin separates us from Him for as long as it remains in our lives. Trying to be good, or doing good things, will not erase sin. But God loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to live the perfect life we couldn’t, taking the penalty for our brokenness upon Himself. He lived a physical life on Earth 2,000 years ago, teaching and living among the Jewish people. The religious leaders of His day rejected him. And yet, He performed many miracles with love and compassion. He was brutally executed, but His greatest miracle was that He said He would raise Himself from the dead 3 days after His execution. And He did, as hundreds of His followers witnessed. The Good News is that Jesus has done all the work to make up for our sins and restore our relationship with God. All we must do is believe and obey him, and then we can live forever in the close relationship God desired from the start.”

You do not need to memorize someone else’s words. What matters is understanding the gospel well enough to explain it clearly in your own voice.

 

3. What is your personal story?

No one can tell your story better than you can. People may debate theology. They may question Scripture. But they cannot deny your experience of God’s grace in your life.

As you think about your testimony, ask yourself: What do you know of God? What has He done for you that no one can take away and no one can argue with? Think of miracles you have witnessed, times when God worked in or through you, and moments when His word spoke directly to you.

A good personal story moves through the three stages of your faith journey:

What were you like before you found your savior? How did you come to know Him? What is your life like now?

Answer each of these questions in your own words. Borrow someone else’s and it will sound canned instead of authentic. Being real matters more than ever in today’s culture.

Once you have sat with your answers, you will find confidence growing within you. Look for opportunities to weave what you know to be true as a natural part of an ordinary conversation.

Of course, sharing our faith involves more than words. Our lives should reflect the character of Jesus. Loving our neighbor is an absolute necessity. Otherwise, we create confusion, or worse, we model the gap between word and action, and our message is swallowed up by hypocrisy. However, we cannot rely on our behavior alone. I used to think that if I simply lived differently, people would naturally ask me why. They never did. We must be ready to speak the word, not just silently model it. Faithful witness involves both living the message and sharing it.

 

Start With Prayer: Let the Holy Spirit Do the Work

In all things, begin with prayer. Let it be the starting point of your journey into evangelism. Each time you enter a room, ask God for His direction. Ask whether there is someone He wants you to reach.

And here is the freeing part again: you are never operating in your own strength, the work of conviction belongs to the Holy Spirit. A changed heart is not up to you. You are simply called to be a faithful witness and be ready to tell the Good News, the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

 

Note from the Editor: Most Christians are not unwilling to share their faith; they simply do not feel equipped to do so. Start by answering these three questions for yourself. Write down your responses. Pray over them. Ask God to open a door for a spiritual conversation.

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The Gospel Matters by Andrew Barker

The Gospel Matters by Andrew Barker

In our world today, there are many groups of people who have instantaneous access to so much information. With little time to discern its truth, we witness competing philosophies and differing opinions filling the media landscape. The sheer volume of differing views causes some to feel that the Gospel is outdated, too complicated, or worse, irrelevant, for our world today. Despite these claims, when we take the time and effort to read the message of Jesus Christ, we are gifted with a wondrous and simple message of good news. This Good News holds God’s promise of the forgiveness of sin, promotes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and provides us with the hope of an everlasting life in our Father’s heavenly kingdom. The Good News bridges the gap that sin has torn open between the Creator and His creation and compels us to join in the work of new creation.

This truth stands with integrity amidst the steady bombardment of data and opinion and the quest for the ultimate meaning of life. The message of the Gospel is not complicated, even though we often try to make it complicated. It is the eternal Word of God and remains the primary source of hope and good news for all people throughout time.

 

What Is the Gospel Message? A Simple Explanation

The beautiful and simple message of the Gospel has, at its heart, the love and truth of Jesus himself. Put simply, the Good News is this: God loves you. Out of that love comes the promise that, through Jesus, God offers forgiveness, restores our broken relationship with Him, and transforms our lives so that we can do his ongoing work in the world with Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Good News is simple, yet it changes everything. Through the powerful work of the Gospel, lives are transformed, souls are saved, hope is restored, and all are called into a redeemed and renewed relationship with God for shalom of the Kingdom.

In Romans 1:16, Paul shares that the Gospel is not just a philosophy or idea but the actual “power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…” In the same message, Paul tells us that we do not need to be ashamed of this power. To put it simply, the message of the Gospel is eternal and has the power to change lives still today. We need the Gospel, and through God’s grace, are invited daily to not only receive this good news but live in it and through it.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

 

Why Do We Need God? Understanding Sin and the Human Condition

Scripture is clear in its description that as humans we all long for more than the world alone can offer. Ecclesiastes captures this reality by saying God has “set eternity in the human heart.” Human hearts and minds sense that something is missing within, and trying to fill that emptiness with earthly pursuits and promises leaves us feeling empty and hollow. We can all confess to moments when life has not gone according to our plans. Relationships break down, we experience limits to our own strength and understanding, and disappointments pile up. Awareness of the resulting discomfort and incompleteness is not accidental; it is God’s grace at work in our lives. The realities and experiences of life point us to a profound realization; we need help… we need God. One beautiful aspect of the Gospel is that God’s grace goes before us and awakens in us an understanding that our longing is a yearning for Him. 

God, in His love, reaches out to us before we ever respond or recognize his presence. This pre-eminent grace is vital. God continues to seek us and call us towards an ever-deepening relationship with Him, a new and full life with Him, and it happens even before we are aware of it. The message of the Gospel is not about behavioral modification, it is about restoration of our most basic relationship, our connection with God. The Gospel meets us in our moments of need not with condemnation but with an invitation.

At times, it can be tempting to reduce sin down to mere rule breaking.  However, Scripture presents us with a much deeper picture of the reality of sin in our lives and in the world. Isaiah 59:2 states, “… your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Sin not only disrupts our relationship with God but also plays havoc with our relationships with others and how we feel about ourselves. Romans 3:23 clearly states that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” I have heard it said many times that sin is missing the mark. Sin is not merely doing wrong, but it results in us missing out on the fullness of life that God longs for us to have. 

Sin fractures our relationships and distorts our love. Sin creates both personal and social challenges. The effect of sin is seen not only in our personal lives but reflects out into society through disharmony, warped values, unjust systems and practices, and violence. We not only sin by what we do, but we also sin by what we fail to do. James 4:17 remarks, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” 

God does not reveal our sin to shame us. He illuminates our sin to help us acknowledge the damage it has created, turn away from sin, and come to Him and be healed. God convicts, He does not condemn. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17) Through conviction, we are led to pray similar words to Psalm 139: 23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”  

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:10-12

 

How Does Jesus Transform Our Lives?

Like a shining light, the Gospel pierces through the backdrop of the darkness of sin. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) Jesus Christ, Immanuel (God with Us), who is the Light of the World, stands at the center of this true story. Jesus lived among us, died, and rose again to reconcile us to God. Romans 5:6,8 summarizes the greatest news we have ever received. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The good news, the Gospel, proclaims redemption and forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7), the promise of a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17), and a restored relationship with God (Romans 5:1). All of this is brought about through the love and work of Jesus. The Good News does not end there; we are also transformed through the Holy Spirit and God’s continual grace. We become disciples of Jesus who are empowered to grow in holiness and love. As Titus makes clear, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age.” (2:11-12) Beyond mending our relationship with God, through God’s grace we can also experience healing in our relationships with ourselves, others, and the world.

The Gospel is beautifully simple. It is not shallow or complicated. The Gospel reveals the truth of Jesus. In Jesus, we not only have a Saviour, but a Healer, Teacher, Redeemer, Comforter, Shepherd, Lord, and King. In Jesus, we have the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (John 14:6). The Gospel is an invitation to a transformed life and an ongoing journey of grace.

“When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7

 

What Does It Mean to Live as a Disciple of Jesus?

Receiving the Gospel is the beginning of our life as disciples of Christ. We are called to follow him and grow in faith and spirit. “O then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

John Wesley describes growing and experiencing more of God and his goodness through the means of grace. These means are not ends unto themselves or ways to earn God’s favor. They are ways in which we enjoy and grow in his presence and grace. Scripture reading, prayer, fellowship, and acts of mercy are ways that enable us to grow deeper in faith and experience God’s love and grace more fully. These behaviors are modelled by the early church as “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42)

Living in the Gospel truth shapes our lives and alters how we see ourselves, others, and the world. We grow in love – love for God and love for others. Jesus made it unmistakably clear in John 13:35 when He said, “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” We are called to holiness and are invited to experience the love and grace of God increasingly each day. As we ourselves grow in love and holiness, that same love and holiness reveals itself through our love of neighbor, justice, humility, and service – and compels us to do the good therein. 

Living out the Gospel encompasses far more than a solitary journey in search of personal holiness. It requires commitment to the communal pursuit of a common goal – becoming effective disciples of Christ through reconciled community – the church. As a body, we are called to be salt and light and to spread that salt and light to others through lives of following Jesus in Kingdom living. A devoted and unified church who, through our own transformed lives fleshed out in everyday community, bears witness to these truths in the lives of others. This is the good news being lived out today.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

 

The Gospel Is an Invitation to New Life

The Gospel may be simple, but that does not mean it is not powerful. The truth of the Gospel continues to stand unscathed and victorious throughout all generations. The call to a life of devotion can be answered by anyone and everyone. The message of the Gospel brings with it a lifetime of transformation. The Good News tells us that we are loved before we “get it right”; and we are forgiven before we are perfected. We are invited into a relationship with the Lord God that takes us on a journey of holiness shaped by grace that has a Kingdom impact in the lives of others.

The Gospel is an invitation. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). To receive the Gospel is to accept the invitation to a life that allows God’s grace to shape every aspect of who we are and how we live. Praise God for this wonderful news!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

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Graffiti-covered rusted metal structure at abandoned industrial site.

On Mission With The Messiah by Michael Cloud

On Mission With The Messiah by Michael Cloud

Graffiti-covered rusted metal structure at abandoned industrial site.

Note from the author: Somewhere along the way, I was told that a good Methodist preacher should always have a sermon and a prayer ready. Wanting to be faithful in that calling, I keep a few in reserve for those times I am asked to preach in different places. This one has become a favorite. I have preached it in churches across the United States and in a church in Cambodia that is deeply meaningful to our family.

I had the opportunity to travel to Cuba as a Flame Fellow with World Methodist Evangelism, and I knew this was the sermon I would bring. Preaching it there, just before the country entered its current state of emergency, was a humbling yet powerful reminder that what follows are not merely words on a page. It is not simply a message of comfort and encouragement. It is a truth from our God who loves us and cares for us, even when everything around us begins spiraling out of control. 

 

Lessons from the Healing of the Bleeding Woman and Jairus’ Daughter

I want to walk with you through a way of reading Scripture that has become very meaningful to me. I like to take a passage, especially one I already know well, and look at it as if I am reading it for the first time. I like to read it as if I do not already know how the story ends. It reminds me that these stories were not written as fiction or legend. They all happened in real time for the people walking with Jesus.

Take a moment and read through Luke 8:40-56.

In this story, I find myself identifying with Jairus and looking at the interaction with Jesus through his eyes. The text tells us that Jairus is a leader in the synagogue. But you might be interested to learn, as I was, that Jairus is laity, not clergy. That’s a beautiful reflection of the Kingdom of God. When it comes to being on a mission with the Messiah, there is no difference between clergy and laity. We are all on the same journey. We all need faith. We all need Jesus.

Jairus has a twelve-year-old little girl who is dying. It is not just his baby girl. It is his only child. The mission is clear. Find the Messiah. Save the girl.

As Jesus is on the way to Jairus’s house, the crowd presses in from every side. Suddenly, Jesus stops. A woman reaches out and touches the edge of his garment in a way that draws power out of him. In Mark, the woman says to herself, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed” (Mark 5:28). In the Greek, that word “healed” can also mean “saved.” If I could just touch the Messiah, I would be saved. That phrasing makes me wonder why she thought this way. Why is she thinking about salvation while she is talking about touching his clothes? The answer is not as random as we might think. 

 

Understanding the Biblical Meaning of Faith and Salvation

In Numbers 15, God instructed the people to make tassels on the fringes of their robes as a reminder for them to observe the law and to remain holy. At least five different times in the law, God specifically commands the people to “Be holy for I am holy.” These tassels also became a marker of their identity as the people of God. 

But as Peter points out in the text, many people are touching Jesus at this moment (v. 47), yet the woman is the only one healed. So, what is the difference? Many people reach out because they believe Jesus can help. This is not wrong. But the woman reaches out because she believes only Jesus can save her. It was not just that Jesus can help. He was her only hope. She is not just asking for relief. She is reaching for salvation. As the woman reaches out in desperation to grab hold of Jesus, she is reaching past the law that identifies her as unclean, and she is healed by the identity of the one wearing the robe. Behold! He has come to put away the old and create something new. 

This woman who stops Jesus in his tracks had been bleeding for twelve years. That’s twelve years as an outcast. Twelve years as unworthy to approach God in the temple for worship. It is twelve years of humiliation and shame among her people. But when she touches the hem of Christ’s garment, that hem which represents the law of God and the holiness of heaven, the power of our Holy and Almighty God does not reject her, it heals her! In Jesus the holiness of God comes close enough to reach out and touch in a way that we can grab hold of and plead for healing — for salvation. Jesus did not come to cancel the law. He came to fulfill it. And now, in Christ, we are no longer condemned; we are set free! 

In this moment, we are reminded that the Scriptures bear witness to the fact that the same power that saved her, the same power that saved us, now sends us out to proclaim this life-saving power to others. As mission evangelists, it is our job to proclaim the Gospel we have been given. It does not matter where you have been, how far you have walked away, or how far you have fallen. There is no depth of hell that Christ cannot reach. In Jesus the unclean find salvation. In Jesus the forgotten are restored. By the grace of God and the power of Christ on the cross Jesus came to take a lifetime of sins and shortcomings and offer salvation in their place.

“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (v. 48). It is a faith awakened within her by God which trusts that Jesus is the Divine Healer and that there is no other name under heaven or on earth by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). 

How beautiful. It would be impossible to not celebrate this story. But while all of this is happening, the little girl dies. Did you forget about her? Do you think Jairus felt like Jesus forgot about his daughter? Remember, the mission is not about the bleeding woman. It is about Jesus going to heal Jairus’ daughter. The woman is healed. That’s great. But while Jesus is distracted by this unclean woman, someone from Jairus’ house comes to stop Jesus from traveling any further. “Your daughter is dead… do not bother the teacher anymore” (v. 49). So, if I’m Jairus, I’m not going to be so happy that Jesus took his time. If I’m Jairus, I may not say it, but I’m going to be a bit bitter that Jesus helped someone else while he let my little girl die in pain.

They had set out on the mission to save Jairus’ daughter. This woman is in the way. She is an obstacle. She is the reason the little girl dies without Jesus. The mission has failed, all because this unclean woman had to touch Jesus. She could have waited. She could have followed Jesus and been healed on the way back. Jesus should have kept moving. There was something a little more urgent to deal with, wasn’t there? Interestingly enough, Jesus didn’t see it that way. Even while a little girl lay dying, Jesus does not turn the woman away, nor does he call her unclean.

 

Finding God’s Purpose in Life’s Interruptions

Here is the truth at the heart of ministry. Jesus did not sacrifice the mission by healing the bleeding woman. She was not in the way of the mission; she was the mission. The mission of the Messiah was to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Being on mission with Jesus is about embodying His mercy, His presence, and stopping to hear the cries of the needy. In Jesus, we do not just find healing. In Jesus we find salvation. In Jesus we find new life. When Jesus arrives at Jairus’ house, he does something no one is ready for — he raises the little girl from the dead. Take heart, brothers and sisters. Jesus is never late. Jesus is always right on time.

Sometimes our walk with Jesus is interrupted. We were moving forward trying to accomplish the work He has given us to do. We are praying. We are enduring. And suddenly, something appears in our path. A person. A need. A situation we did not plan for. And we think, “Lord, I was already carrying enough.” And while we may not admit it, our weariness in life tries to make us forget how holy and powerful God truly is. But if we really are walking with Jesus, if the Son of God and Savior of the world really is by our side, then maybe that person that interrupts our plans is not so random after all. Maybe they are reaching out to be healed by the very Savior who calls you friend. Christ died so that none shall perish but that all may have eternal life (John 3:16). That includes you… and me… and those we meet along the way. It includes those we have labeled unclean, unworthy, or beyond our reach. 

This is where we must be attentive. Jesus has a mission that is way beyond the one that is right in front of our face. We cannot get so focused on the work before us that we lose sight of what the Master is doing along the way. If Jesus never stops for the woman, she continues in a life of horrible torture and pain, perpetually unclean and cast out. And so even though helping her seems to take away from the mission objective, Jesus stops so that she may be healed and have a new life. What if the people we stop for along the way are not delaying God’s work but are the very place where God is already at work? As mission evangelists, our mission to make Christ known to the end of the earth must be modeled after the one who took his time.

Following Jesus is a journey that is not defined by the destination alone. After all, we know how the story ends. Jesus continues on until he gets to Jairus’s house and brings the little girl back to life. Resurrection and new life are indeed at the heart of His work. But look with me at what happens right before this. This moment matters. If we miss it, we risk missing the miracle. It is just after the messenger comes from Jairus’s house and tells them that they do not need to keep traveling any further. Look at what happens in Jairus’s life right before the miracle takes place. In verse 50, Jesus turns to Jairus, a father who is mourning the loss of his daughter, and says, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

 

How to Keep Faith When Life Feels Out of Control

I come back here to pause for this moment because the statement almost demands it. This whole journey began with Jairus believing. Why else would he come to Jesus if he did not believe? But just like the woman who had been bleeding, Jesus is not asking for a new faith. He is calling Jairus to hold on to the faith he already has. 

Jesus is not saying, “Start believing.” He is saying, “Don’t let go.”

It’s as if Jesus looks at Jairus and says, “I know you believe. I know your heart is breaking. I know you just heard news that has turned your world upside down. But take heart. Do not lose faith. Because I am about to do something far greater than you could ever ask or imagine.”

So, let me ask you: Do you have the kind of faith that Jesus speaks of in this passage? It does not talk about a perfect faith or a loud faith, but a faith that holds on. Do you have faith that when the walls are closing in around you, and it feels like you have lost everyone and everything — when your life starts to hemorrhage at the seams, and you find yourself in perpetual suffering and in pain — that Jesus will stop to save you? Faith does not mean the absence of doubt. Faith trusts that Jesus knows what he is doing, even when it looks like the mission has failed.

The saving faith that God, by his grace, awakens within us is a faith that breaks through the crowd of concerns that keep us from Jesus. It reaches out in desperation for the One who takes on death and gives life in its place.

Do not be afraid. Only believe. Do not lose faith. Salvation is found in the One who is making all things new.

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Bible open on a wooden surface, symbolizing faith and evangelism.

The Gospel by Rob Haynes

The Gospel by Rob Haynes

Bible open on a wooden surface, symbolizing faith and evangelism.

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

Jesus, Mark 1:15 ESV

 

“Gospel” is a word that we hear quite a bit in church circles. However, what exactly is “the gospel?” In many settings, at least in churches in the West, it runs the risk of being reduced to something easily distilled to a few spiritual laws or a plan of Salvation that can be shared with someone else. While it is certainly admirable to try to make the message of Jesus one that others can understand, I am not sure that this always presents a biblically faithful presentation of the “gospel.” Rather, we should speak of the gospel as the Christian Scriptures do.

 

What is the Gospel? Defining the Good News

When the New Testament writers speak of the gospel, we see that the words translated from the Greek give us “gospel” or “good news.” This includes the words of Jesus recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The first hearers of this would have understood it in a way perhaps different from our use of it today. We need to, instead, speak about the gospel the way that the New Testament does. Correctly understood, this is a foundational message of good news that is incorporated into the entire Bible. The entire Bible contains the story of all that God has promised, has accomplished, and will bring to completion through his Son, Jesus. Jesus is the promised Messiah, the savior who takes away the sins of the world and will return as the Eternal King.

 

The Gospel in the Old and New Testament

“Bible” and “gospel” are almost interchangeable terms. The primary function of the Bible, from the opening chapter of Genesis to the complete story of John’s Revelation, is to bear witness to Jesus Christ. To put it succinctly, God’s good news is Jesus. This is important because many may be tempted to discard the Old Testament as inconvenient, unknowable, or an embarrassing preface to Jesus’ arrival. Rather, the Old Testament reveals God’s plan and accomplishment of his purposes in Jesus. The teachings and story of Jesus make sense because of the Old Testament backdrop. The same can be said of the parts of the New Testament letters that make us uncomfortable. Rather than discard them, our goal should be to understand them as God intends to use them to reveal the gospel.

To put it another way: The gospel is centered on Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Jesus is the good news which God proclaims to us. The Bible is God’s self-revelation to us. The whole Bible bears witness to Jesus in one way or another. Therefore, the “gospel” is made up of the entire Bible, for God has given it to us to know and understand the person and work of Jesus as God’s good news.

 

Kingdom of God Meaning: Repentance, Faith, and Salvation

The Kingdom of God that Jesus reveals is the gospel that was proclaimed by the apostles and his faithful evangelists ever since. The response that God asks for is two-fold, repentance and faith. This response also brings demand and promise alike. On one hand salvation is promised by the King of Kings for any who respond in that faith and repentance. Since Jesus is King, change is also necessary. Jesus offers salvation and requires our obedience. These are both the blessings and the demands of Kingdom living.

This may sound harsh at first. But to those who have been set from the slavery to sin and death it is the life-giving message of freedom here and in the life to come. It is God’s life-giving, transforming power at work in the world. “It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16) Once we have experienced this transforming power, we cannot keep it to ourselves. Obedience to Christ is “faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6)

May we each faithfully work through love to share the gospel wherever Christ has placed us.

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God And The Priority Of Love by Beth Felker Jones

God And The Priority Of Love by Beth Felker Jones

The following article has been reposted with permission from Beth Felker Jones. Check out the original post at her Substack: Church Blogmatics.

 

 

Understanding the Mystery of the Holy Trinity

We should not be surprised to discover that God, being God, goes beyond human categories and assumptions, and we should be suspicious if we find our theologies supposing themselves capable of handling the mysteries of God …

Sometimes the limits of theology come from humans being human, and those limits are proper and even benign. But sometimes theology’s limits are revealed to be something more sinister than limitations of finitude and are instead revealed as sinful limitations. Here, perhaps, the blinders of sin prevent us from imagining a sensibleness that goes beyond the sinful common-sense of violence and reaches into the trinitarian sense of consensus. 

A hearty appreciation of the magnitude of sin will ask us to search for the limits of our imaginations and may open us to the mysterious Triune consensus in which the coincidence of threeness and oneness does not mean violence or domination or assimilation but, instead, threeness and oneness together mean community and peace.

Theology must respect the limits of human finitude and tremble before the limits of human sin. For this reason, I have little interest in solving any “problem” of oneness and threeness, though I am happy to talk of the “mystery” thereof. As a “problem” though, the thing can only be reductive. As a “problem,” the thing ignores the mystery and fecundity of analogy, denies God’s fundamental holy otherness, and so imagines God in violent competition with God. 

As a “mystery,” oneness and threeness is revealed in scripture as the wholeness of the God of Israel. The Triune God is, without doubt, an integer, whole and full in oneness and threeness, but God’s Triune integrity cannot be reduced to human understandings of number …

 

What Does the Bible Teach About the Trinity?

The oneness of the God of Israel is about who we do and do not worship, and when Jesus rightly receives our worship, we are recognizing him as the One God revealed in both testaments … 

I want, then, to speak of and practice the mystery of divine threeness and oneness through invoking and witnessing to the Triune God rather than through trying to solve a supposed logical problem which God has revealed as unproblematic in that it is no impediment to the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for one another and for the world … 

The church does this work of witness when it recognizes the work of Jesus and the Spirit as the gift of the Father and when it does the difficult intellectual and spiritual work that would eventually bear fruit in the creed we now call Nicene, the best efforts we have been able to offer at speaking of God in a way that coheres with the surprising fullness of the biblical witness, a witness that is full of God’s one-ness and three-ness. 

The church is able to witness to the Triune God because “the Lord, the Spirit” removes veils from faces and displays glory in the people of the body of Christ, who are “being transformed” (2 Cor 3:18). The church tells the Triune story when it speaks, preaches, and testifies to the resurrection of Jesus, who lays down his life and takes it up again, having “received this command from” (Jn 10:18) his Father. We invoke and witness to the Trinity when we trust that “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit” is indeed the one sent by the Father in Jesus’s name and when we allow the Spirit to do the work of teaching us and reminding us of Jesus and converting us through him (Jn 14:26). We trust and witness to the Trinity when we come to the Father through Jesus (Jn 14:6) and accept that Jesus himself has shown us the Father (Jn 14:10), and we practice the doctrine of the Trinity when we keep Jesus’s commandments (Jn 14:15) just as Jesus practices it when he does “as the Father has commanded” him and, in so doing, lets “the world” know that he loves his Father (Jn 14:31).

We witness to the Triune truth when we live the kingdom life of “peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17) and, in doing so serve Christ in a way that is “acceptable to God” (Rom 14:18). This kingdom dynamic makes sense because the oneness and threeness of the Triune life is sense.

 

Living the Trinity

I will close this … section … with reflection on a pair of biblical passages which help us to enter into the oneness and threeness who is the God of love. First, from the fifth chapter of 1 John:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments … Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree … And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life … We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 Jn 5: 1-2, 5-8, 11-12, 19-21).

This passage is a lived doctrine of the trinity, for in it we see the eternal relationships of Father, Son, and Spirit invoked as definitive for human relationships with God and with one another. Our love for the Father is naturally connected to our love for the Son and to our living in love for one another and through obedience to God. We are invited to participate in Jesus’s relationship with his Father and so in Jesus’s victory over the world. And we are invited to participate in the Spirit’s true testimony, which is to the eternal life we share with the Son. We are “in him,” and so we are in a life which participates in the inter-triune relationships. The last verse quoted above, with its warning to reject idols, is part and parcel of this lived doctrine of the trinity. When we are in this God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — we are drawn into a certain life, a life of love, and we reject other ways of life, the ways of the violent world which Jesus has conquered.

We find another source for living the doctrine of the trinity in Paul’s rich thought in Ephesians. Paul sends “grace” and “peace” “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:2). Even his greeting participates in the triune life.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will …I n Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory (Eph 1:3-5, 11-14).

The Father blesses and chooses; he wants us “for adoption” through Jesus and so we receive the status of children, the inheritance that is Jesus’s. The purpose of the inheritance is our ability to live in testimony to the triune love, to “live for the praise of his glory” (v. 12). We are sealed by the spirit and so pledged to the life Paul here imagines for us.

 

The Role of the Father in the Trinity

Because the Father is the one from whom the Triune unity flows, and so has a Fatherly priority, we sinners are prone to imagine priority as something which could be lost and so we imagine a father who protectively guards His priority. In the sinful life, at odds with God, we have no tools for imagining a secure life, a life free from any need of such defensive guarding. We grasp and strive, hoard and guard. If we come by any priority, we immediately fear its loss. We play zero sum games and worry about allocation of scarce resources. We build fences and thrones. We lock gates and draw blinds. Where we close, the Father opens.

For the Father is utterly secure in his Fatherliness, and that Fatherliness never has known nor never could know any lack. In his all-sufficient, unoriginate, almightiness, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is powerful to be the one who he is, and this Father is the one who gives good gifts. The Father gives good gifts in freedom, never thereby to be diminished. This seems true both in the love life of the Godhead, wherein the Father is all-powerful unto eternal generation and inspiration and all-powerful unto sharing his glory fully with the Son and the Spirit. And this seems true in the love the Triune God offers to the world, wherein the Father gives his Son in the Spirit, and with that giving, gives every other good gift as well. The Father’s all-powerful gift giving nature is so plenteous, it opens up even the Triune life itself, drawing human beings into that life as we are enabled to share the status of the Son in the Spirit; “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are” (1 Jn 3:1a). In giving the only begotten son of the Father, God is revealed as the one who “so” loves the world, drawing men and women into God’s own “eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

Contemporary theology is in desperate need of a recovery of the Father. So much theology has given up on the Father, consigning any idea of fatherliness to hopelessness and hierarchy, but it is only in the Father’s fatherliness that the hierarchy which, among other things, underwrites demonic conversion by coercion instead of Spirit-led conversion by consensus, can be undone. The Father’s fatherliness undoes hierarchy and coercion. The Father’s fatherliness is steadfast love, unshakable and unassailable. It is the Father’s love for the Son and the Spirit and the Father’s love for us all, consensus-love.

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Are You Asking The Right Question? by Rob Haynes

Are You Asking The Right Question? by Rob Haynes

I like to do projects around the house and the garage. It may be a small chore like changing a light fixture or a large job repairing the car. I like to be part of the solution. Over the years I have learned that one key to doing the job well is having the right tool for the job. You may be able to get by with a substitute, but you can save a great deal of time and frustration by using a tool designed for the task. You can even avoid hurting yourself or damaging the things you are working on. For example, I can drive a nail to hang a picture with a golf club. However, I might damage the wall or hit my thumb. I might be able to sink a putt with a hammer. But is that the best way to go about it? I think you see where I am going. 

 

Choosing the Right Tools for Christian Mission

This principle can also apply to Christian mission. There are many tools that we can use to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. It may be a trip to another place to do some work, the managing of a soup kitchen in the inner city, preaching in the streets, or a number of other things. I meet many Christians who ask how and where their particular church can serve in some sort of mission endeavor. What they are usually looking for is a ready-made program they can use as a tool for a goal they have in mind. However, that may not be the right question. Are they trying to use the right tool for the job? Put it another way, are they asking the right questions about how they could serve? Let’s look at mission for a moment, then we can ask a better question.

 

What Is the Mission of God? (Missio Dei Explained)

First, it is important to remember that mission flows from the mission of God. It is not the church who has a mission from God. It is God who has a church to fulfill his mission. Throughout the Bible, God is a sending God. When we see a problem in our relationships, communities, or the world the first question we should ask is, “What does the Bible have to say about this?” and “What does the revealed nature of God in the Person of Jesus Christ tell us about how to address this?” This will tell us how we should respond.

We see throughout the Scriptures that there is a “centrifugal” nature of God. We see this in the Trinity who is constantly moving outward, touching all of Creation with his self-giving love. God uses prophets, teachers, and witnesses to do so. The Son is the ultimate demonstration of this, in both the One who is Sent and is Sending. God has a design and purpose for all of Creation. We can say that he is ‘on mission’ to accomplish these purposes.

 

Evangelism and Service: Why Both Are Essential for Christian Mission

It is amazing that Jesus, in his great love, invites his followers to act on his behalf: to comfort, to heal, to correct, and to bring freedom. We do this in many multitudes of acts of service that we frequently call “mission work” today. At the same time, God sends his people to proclaim on his behalf: to be messengers of good news in his world. Acts of service done in Christ’s Name and the verbal declarations of his message should always go together. Using our example of tools: it is like a pair of scissors. You cannot have only one side of a pair of scissors and have an effective instrument. Likewise, we must have both service and the proclamation to accomplish the work of Christian mission.

 

How to Prepare Your Church for God’s Mission

Since it is God who has a mission to accomplish, and that mission is lifegiving and complex, we should prioritize asking the right question regarding our participation in it. As I mentioned above, many ask, “What are the instruments around me that I can use to accomplish the work I have in mind?” I want to suggest that the better question is, “How does God want to form and shape me, my family, my church into the instrument he wants for his Mission and the way he wants to accomplish it?”

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Good News: God Is Moving In Asia And Far Beyond (Part 2) by James Loftin

Good News: God Is Moving In Asia And Far Beyond (Part 2) by James Loftin

There has never been a time when God was not moving toward human brokenness and lostness. From Genesis 3 until this moment, gracious God has been on the move. Often, we are oblivious to God’s redemptive work, but sometimes we get a glimpse of his grace and stand in awe. As my wife and I traveled through East Asia for six weeks last summer, we were blessed to see the miraculous movement of God day after day. As I reflected on those experiences, God gave me eight insights regarding his global movement and our partnership with the Holy Spirit. In part I of this article, I shared about the inherent value of every soul, the fact that no darkness is impenetrable, God’s prevenient and ongoing grace, and the importance of indigenous leadership. I pray that these next four insights cause you to think carefully about God, our faith, God’s mission, and the people waiting in darkness.

1) God continues to use imperfect tools. Despite our real limitations – in my case, my age, average intelligence, modest bank account, brokenness and ability to only speak one language – God can and does use any willing vessel. Across Asia, God opened doors for us to share and demonstrate the Gospel. This had little to do with our worthiness or training. It was mostly because we asked God to use us, we prepared well, and we were sensitive to God’s movement during our daily activities. God can and does use all types of personalities and skills. God uses children and senior citizens. God uses broken bodies and professional athletes. God uses anyone who is bold enough to ask God to use them. 

During my week in the remote part of Asia, I was shocked by the way the people responded to me. For the first time in my life, I could somewhat relate to what it might feel like to be a celebrity. Every taxi driver, hotel receptionist, restaurant worker, and new friend reported the same thing: “You are the first American I have met.” My height, white hair, and blue eyes caught everyone’s attention, and I was routinely approached with requests for a photograph. People were curious about my life and beliefs. They wanted to talk with me. In each of those encounters, I was able to pray for a person or family and/or speak a word of blessing to them – either silently or spoken. One day, my presence caused such a stir at an outdoor event with thousands of children that I had to leave. 

As I reflected on the crowd’s response to me that day, I was humbled. An old, mono-linguistic man from a lower-middle class family in a rural part of the United States had found his way to the opposite side of the earth. How did that happen? Why did it happen? Once again, I praised God for continuing to use imperfect vessels like me for his glory.   

2) It’s still time to cry. I cried a lot in Asia. I cried with gratitude and praise as I gazed at vistas that only a majestic God could create. I cried as I looked at beautiful people created in God’s image – although they had no knowledge of the Creator. And I cried over the oppressive darkness in many places. Instead of fighting back my tears, I embrace the sensitivity God has given me. 

When I consider possible reasons that so many lost and hurting people remain unreached, I wonder if one reason is related to the absence of tissue boxes in the sanctuaries of our churches. If the pain in the world does not move us to tears, we will probably not be moved to act in ways that shine Christ’s love. If you can’t relate to this tear-talk, join me in praying what Bob Pierce prayed 60 years ago: “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” 

But this season of sorrow will come to an end – Hallelujah! Light ultimately and completely will conquer darkness as the King of light is fully revealed and his kingdom comes – And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21:4). And with that confidence, we smile through our temporary tears. 

3) Some things never end. Tears and suffering will cease when Jesus establishes His Kingdom, but some things will never end. Even after we pass through the portal of death, we will forever declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (I Peter 2:9). The purpose and passion of a Jesus follower is to live, speak and act in ways that point to Jesus. As our lives roll forward, however, failing health and other life realities can lure us into thinking: “My Kingdom impact has practically ended. The younger folks are shining now. It’s time for me to take a comfortable seat and watch the action – and maybe just pray.”

Vivien and I had been in Asia for over six weeks. It had been a wonderful but weary journey, and we were finally on the way to the Saigon airport to fly home. As our driver, “King” navigated the traffic, Vivien and I did what all travelers do when they are on the way home. We checked and double checked our passports. We reminisced about the glories of the journey. And we thought about getting in our own bed. The trip, our mission, was over.

Or was it? After a few minutes, King mentioned that he hoped to get married soon. I encouraged him, but my focus quickly returned to thoughts of home. After a few moments, he broke the silence with these honest and vulnerable words. “But I have a problem.” Amazed that my new friend was being vulnerable with a stranger, I leaned up to hear and see him better as he continued. “My girlfriend and her family are Christians. My parents are Buddhists, and I am nothing. My girlfriend’s family is insisting that I become a Christian before we get married. I think that is unfair.”

Once again, the presence and the voice of God became so clear to me: “Your mission is not over.” I smiled, fought back tears of joy, and asked God to guide my words. For the next forty-five minutes, Vivien and I shared our light stories and pointed our new friend to Jesus. King and I still communicate, and we hope to be at his wedding in 2026. 

Every day that we have breath is a day to share and demonstrate the glory of Jesus. We may not be able to visit another country, but there are countless other ways to point to Jesus. We can serve and proclaim God’s glory in our own area, support others who go far, and we can pray. Today, tomorrow and forever, we point to Jesus.

4) No passports are needed to impact the world with prayer. At several points in our journey, I had the strong sense that someone was praying for us. As I shared my light story and God’s grace with people like Inna and King, I was often aware that we were not alone. Sometimes, I even looked over my shoulder to see who had entered the room. Only then did I realize that the Holy Spirit and a praying friend had joined us. I can’t adequately communicate how the prayers of the saints impacted me as I stood in foreign lands in the face of beautiful people who need Jesus. Prayer is indeed a viable way to participate in the work of God far beyond our own homes.

In Acts 1:8 and countless other places in Scripture, Jesus calls us to move out in the Spirit to impact the world for Christ. Prayer is not the only way to participate in the Great Commission, and it is not a faithful substitute for other steps God has called you to take. But God continues to use the faithful, tear-filled prayers of his children to encourage missionary servants and change the world. So let’s pray! 

As you reflect on these four insights – 

– Which insight best connects with your needs or passion today?

– Which lost, hurting and unreached people has God put on your heart?

– In what ways is God calling you to lift the lamp of Jesus’ love even higher? 

Lord Jesus, thank you for moving with transforming power around the world. May the Church in every nation faithfully follow you in your mission of grace. Amen.

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