Proclaim, serve and share life testimony

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

• Outcome: People follow Jesus

• Key Person: Evangelist in word and deed

• How to Give: Give toward evangelism media, events and materials

• How to Pray: Pray for a person of peace to be touched by God

• How to Go: Go share your faith using your gifts, skills and talents; send a church team

• How to Partner: Partner through sharing stories on Sundays, and connecting new believers “there” with immigrants “here”

Description:

After friendships have developed, the emphasis turns to evangelism. We are looking for the Spirit to lead us to the first person of peace. This stage is complete when some believers are baptized. The mobilization and connecting stages continue, but we are conscious of not over-extending into too many relationships. 

Biblical Foundation:

Jesus came proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, announcing that the powerful presence of God’s reign was about to break into the world.⁵ He called for an individual response to follow him through repentance and faith (Mark 1:16), but also a wholehearted love for God and for others (Mark 12:29-30), which reflects the holistic and relational nature of the kingdom.⁶ Jesus calls his followers to pray that God’s kingdom would come and be experienced on earth (Matt 6:10). Jesus embodied the kingdom with a remarkable synergy between what he said, what he did and who he was, and because “the church’s mission is an extension of the mission of Jesus…[it] must pattern its actions after his.” 

Jesus’ followers, empowered by the Spirit as God’s ambassadors, proclaim the good news of salvation available through the death and resurrection of Jesus, calling people to be reconciled to him (Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:20). Paul recognizes a pattern of witness: being sent by God is linked to proclaiming, proclaiming to hearing, hearing to believing, and believing to calling on the name of the Lord (Rom. 10:14-15). As well, the gathered church, transformed by the Spirit, lives as a sign of God’s kingdom and witnesses to the presence of God’s rule through its actions—new life marked by justice, mercy and love (Col. 3:12-14). In a sense, believers themselves become the gospel when the life of Jesus is made visible through their mortal bodies as they demonstrate the mind of Christ through humbly giving themselves up on behalf of others (Phil. 2:5-8: 2 Cor. 4:10-11). The way of the cross and new life in the Spirit are not only the message proclaimed, but also the character and method by which believers powerfully witness to the saving death and resurrection of Christ. 

Witness to God’s in-breaking kingdom and the saving story of Jesus, furthermore, entails a profound confrontation with the spiritual powers of darkness opposed to God (Eph. 2:1-3; 6:12). Jesus gave his disciples authority to heal the sick and cast out demons as a sign of the kingdom (Luke 9:1), and these signs continue to authenticate the message proclaimed by the church (Acts 3:6; 16:18). God’s people challenge the powers which impoverish, hold captive, blind, and oppress through unjust attitudes, structures, systems and practices (Luke 4:18-19).

<<Mission Strategy Map          Stage 4: Gathering>>

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⁵Dean Flemming, Recovering the Full Mission of God: A Biblical Perspective on Being, Doing and Telling (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2013), 63.