The final corner of Bebbington's four poster is activism, the expression of the gospel in effort. It can be seen as the working out of a believer's salvation via activism in mission, most commonly through personal evangelism. In the nineteenth century heyday of the movement this element was expressed in outdoor preaching and distribution of tracts, in a rash of construction of churches, chapels and mission halls, in the foundation of hundreds or even thousands of mission societies and charities and in movements for political and social reform led by evangelical celebrities such as William Wilberforce, Lord Shaftesbury, General Booth and Dr. Barnardo. Our survey data suggests that even if reduced in scale, the same spirit is alive and well in UK evangelicalism today. Evangelicals still take seriously the great commission of Matthew 28 and the second great commandment to "love your neighbour", alongside passages such as Matt 25, Galatians "remember the poor" and the manifesto of Luke 5 quoting Isaiah to bring good news to the poor.
Anna Strhan has studied ethnographically the life-worlds of conservative evangelicals in London and in this quote from
The Metropolis and Evangelical Life: coherence and fragmentation in the 'lost city of London' Religion vol. 43, no. 3., 2013 (special issue on Urban Christianities)Anna Strhan You can download it here
suggests a lack of confidence in talking about faith and a tension between verbal proclamation and the much quoted advice, (often attributed to St Francis of Assisi) "Share the Gospel -use words if you have to".
The nature of mission has however become an area of disagreement within contemporary British evangelicalism. Within the history of the evangelical movement, forms of missionary engagement with non-Christians have often extended beyond preaching the gospel to modes of philanthropy and activism on issues of social justice and humanitarianism (Bebbington 1989: 12). Although some conservative evangelicals may be involved in such activism today, there is a particular emphasis placed within contemporary British conservative evangelicalism on an understanding of mission in terms of verbal evangelism, in contrast with contemporary charismatic evangelical emphasis on both the 're-evangelisation of the nations and the trans- formation of society'.5
This was expressed in many sermons at St John's, for example, a sermon focusing on a chapter from Luke's Gospel, in which David stated that 'Christian mission is only Christian mission if it has to it verbal content.' He differentiated this from approaches other Christian groups might take: 'It's a wonderful, godly thing to care for your neighbour, to love others. But it is not Christian mission unless the gospel is being proclaimed verbally.'
Members of the group I observed talked about how they often felt embarrassed or awkward trying to talk about their faith with non Christian friends, family and colleagues. This, together with the fact the leadership of St John's felt it necessary to devise a course specifically teaching people how to speak of their faith, appears to demonstrate that despite the leadership's aim to encourage members of the church to speak about their faith outside the church, many have internalised the sense that speaking publicly about their faith is a cultural taboo.
In this paper I will draw on our survey date from the Evamgelical Alliance 21st Century Evangelicals research programme to explore these issues.
In the Baseline survey of 2011 9 out of 10 evangelicals agreed that all Christians should be actively involved in evangelism. 7 out of 10 believe this strongly.
They affirm the desire to preach the gospel to the whole of humankind. In the Religions and beliefs survey in 2016 92%. agreed or strongly agreed that Christians should invite people from other faith communities to visit their churches and 99% that Christians should share the gospel with those of other faiths.
In The world on our doorstep? - February 2012 71% strongly agreed and 27% agree that God still wants the Church in the UK to be active in world evangelisation and 62% strongly agreed and 34% agreed that there is still a lot to be done before the Great Commission is fulfilled and the gospel is proclaimed to all the nations.
In What is Evangelicalism? - Spring 2016 39% said they were completely and another 48% to some extent actively committed to spreading the gospel among you friends, colleagues, neighbours and local community. However, as the table shows there were more people completely committed to some less direct styles of sharing and promoting their faith, such as prayer, practical care for others, social action ministry and particularly in passing on faith to the next generation.
| 1846 and All That - What is Evangelicalism? - Spring 2016 | |||||
| How far would you say you are actively committed to | |||||
| Answer Options | completely | to some extent | only a little | not at all | Response Count |
| passing on the Christian faith to the next generation | 63% | 30% | 6% | 1% | 100% |
| praying and working for the growth of the Church throughout the world | 56% | 37% | 6% | 0% | 100% |
| helping other people when you see they have a practical or emotional need | 55% | 42% | 4% | 0% | 100% |
| being involved in at least one social action or social justice project | 44% | 37% | 14% | 5% | 100% |
| spreading the gospel among you friends, colleagues, neighbours and local community | 39% | 48% | 12% | 1% | 100% |
| working to achieve political change in line with Christian beliefs and values | 21% | 43% | 27% | 9% | 100% |
| answered question | 1420 | ||||
| skipped question | 64 | ||||
The table below suggests that most evangelicals take opportunities to care for non-Christians they know by listening or practical acts of kindness, that many socialise with them from time to time. However smaller numbers report they have often engaged verbally with unbelievers about faith issues, shared a testimony or invited people to outreach events or church services.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||||
| Thinking about people with whom you are in frequent face to face contact who YOU KNOW are NOT yet committed Christians - When did you last do any of the following with one (or more) of them? | ||||||
| Answer Options | Within the last week | In the period since last Easter | Less recently | Never | Don't know or can't recall | Response Count |
| Listen to someone's worries or concerns. | 57% | 34% | 7% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| Do a practical act of service or kindness for them which you hoped was a witness to Christ's love. | 43% | 42% | 11% | 1% | 2% | 100% |
| Take part in a social or cultural activity with them. | 29% | 46% | 17% | 5% | 3% | 100% |
| Become involved in a conversation about some aspect of Christian belief. | 28% | 47% | 20% | 2% | 2% | 100% |
| Feel you missed a chance to speak to them about God. | 21% | 41% | 25% | 3% | 10% | 100% |
| Recognise that God was already doing something in their life. | 18% | 36% | 28% | 7% | 11% | 100% |
| Try to answer a question about faith which they asked you. | 17% | 44% | 30% | 5% | 5% | 100% |
| Feel it was appropriate to offer to pray with or for them. | 17% | 35% | 32% | 13% | 4% | 100% |
| Share something of your testimony or explain what your faith means to you personally. | 17% | 43% | 31% | 5% | 4% | 100% |
| Use the Web, Facebook or email to share or discuss something about Christian faith with them. | 13% | 20% | 23% | 37% | 8% | 100% |
| Invite them to an event or activity (other than a church service) which was clearly a form of Christian outreach. | 9% | 31% | 42% | 14% | 5% | 100% |
| Invite them to come to a service at your church. | 7% | 30% | 43% | 16% | 3% | 100% |
| Please use this space to tell us about any recent experiences of sharing your faith with non Christians. | 264 | |||||
| answered question | 1052 | |||||
| skipped question | 61 | |||||
The next table suggests that in church life most evangelicals are keen to make visitors welcome, and to take part in regular programmes which have an element of outreach, but that specific evangelistic events or activities are relatively infrequent, or the specialist ministry of a few.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||||
| When did you last play an active part (that could be anything from leading or organising to stewarding or distributing publicity) in any of the following evangelistic outreach activities - either on behalf of your own church or organised by other Christian organisations? | ||||||
| Answer Options | Within the last month | In the period since last Christmas | Less recently | Never | Don't Know or can't recall | Response Count |
| Talking to or befriending a 'new' visitor to a Sunday service at your church. | 48% | 31% | 16% | 3% | 1% | 100% |
| An outreach event or club aimed mainly at unchurched children or young people. | 25% | 18% | 40% | 13% | 4% | 100% |
| An activity, event or meeting (other than a regular weekly worship service) aimed at attracting seekers or 'fringe' people. | 20% | 29% | 37% | 10% | 4% | 100% |
| You preached or spoke in public with an evangelistic intent. | 18% | 16% | 29% | 33% | 4% | 100% |
| Producing or distributing printed Christian literature. | 12% | 17% | 38% | 28% | 4% | 100% |
| A small group for people to explore Christian faith. | 9% | 21% | 54% | 14% | 2% | 100% |
| A broadcast or media ministry (radio, TV, internet). | 6% | 4% | 18% | 67% | 5% | 100% |
| A door to door visitation programme. | 3% | 4% | 52% | 36% | 4% | 100% |
| Other (please specify) | 72 | |||||
| answered question | 1011 | |||||
| skipped question | 102 | |||||
The next table suggests that the current culture of evangelicalism favours outreach through relationship building, youth work and social action rather than the formerly popular methods of open air preaching, mass meetings and mission campaigns.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | |||||
| Which of the following approaches are effective ways of sharing the Christian gospel today? | |||||
| Answer Options | I've seen it work effectively in the last couple of years. | I think it might be effective these days. | I don't think it is very effective these days. | Don't know or not sure. | Response Count |
| Building friendship. | 81% | 18% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| Small group work - with sharing food - as in the Alpha or Christianity Explored courses. | 76% | 23% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| Youth clubs, cafes, camps etc. | 64% | 34% | 1% | 1% | 100% |
| Faithful biblical preaching in church. | 60% | 33% | 7% | 1% | 100% |
| Social action and community involvement (such as food banks and drop ins for homeless people.) | 54% | 43% | 2% | 1% | 100% |
| Work in schools. | 48% | 47% | 3% | 3% | 100% |
| Street Pastor teams. | 46% | 46% | 3% | 5% | 100% |
| Church run events at Christian festivals such as Christmas and Easter. | 46% | 46% | 6% | 1% | 100% |
| Healings, miracles, signs and wonders. | 42% | 44% | 8% | 6% | 100% |
| Services for baptisms, weddings, funerals etc. | 36% | 47% | 14% | 4% | 100% |
| CAP Money Courses and Debt advice work. | 34% | 53% | 3% | 10% | 100% |
| Messy Church sessions. | 29% | 46% | 6% | 20% | 100% |
| Local church-based mission weeks. | 27% | 49% | 18% | 6% | 100% |
| TV, radio and the mass media. | 18% | 57% | 16% | 9% | 100% |
| Mass meeting evangelism. | 18% | 41% | 35% | 6% | 100% |
| Taking part in current public debates about religion, different faiths, and atheism. | 17% | 57% | 17% | 9% | 100% |
| Social networking via the internet. | 16% | 58% | 6% | 20% | 100% |
| Open air preaching. | 9% | 29% | 56% | 7% | 100% |
| Please write in your comments about this section if you wish. | 90 | ||||
| answered question | 1003 | ||||
| skipped question | 110 | ||||
The Table below suggests the main hindrances to personal evangelism are seen as apathy to the gospel among non-christians (stony ground to use Christ's own metaphor), and a lack of confidence to speak or in knowing what to say or how to say it.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||
| To what extent do each of the following factors hinder you personally from talking about your faith with non Christians? | ||||
| Answer Options | To a great extent | To some extent | Not at all | Response Count |
| None of my non Christian contacts seem interested in talking about spiritual things. | 13% | 60% | 26% | 100% |
| I feel I can share the gospel well enough without needing to use words. | 5% | 51% | 44% | 100% |
| The devil always seems to prevent me from sharing the gospel. | 2% | 47% | 52% | 100% |
| I am just too scared to talk about my faith with non Christians. | 6% | 41% | 53% | 100% |
| I don't feel very well equipped or trained to share my faith, so don't know what to say. | 5% | 36% | 59% | 100% |
| I'm not really very motivated to share my faith. | 3% | 35% | 62% | 100% |
| I don't come into contact with many non Christians. | 9% | 34% | 57% | 100% |
| I feel evangelism is a special gift which God has given to some people but not to me. | 3% | 32% | 65% | 100% |
| My church doesn't support or encourage me to evangelise. | 3% | 17% | 80% | 100% |
| answered question | 1006 | |||
| skipped question | 107 | |||
We also asked Has your church in the last two years put on a training course or session to help people gain confidence and skill in communicating the gospel? 23% replied Yes - and I attended, 17% Yes - but I didn't take part, 50% No and 10% Don't Know.
The next table relates to perceptions of cultural factors which may hinder evangelism. They include a wide range of church internal as well as external factors which are thought to play apart by the majority of respondents. The one suggested factor which was largely dismissed was that there is too much emphasis on social action.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | |
| What do you think are factors in British culture today that hinder people responding to the gospel? |
|
| A very important factor | A significant factor | Not really an important factor | It is not the case | VI + Sig |
| With all the leisure (and work) alternatives on offer, most people don't want to be in church on a Sunday. | 37% | 52% | 10% | 1% | 89% |
| Christians don't pray enough for revival. | 28% | 61% | 8% | 4% | 88% |
| The unattractive public image of the church and its leaders. | 32% | 54% | 12% | 1% | 86% |
| The multi-faith environment means that people are uneasy about saying that Jesus is the only way. | 28% | 57% | 12% | 3% | 86% |
| Most Christians in Britain lack confidence in talking about their personal testimony. | 33% | 45% | 15% | 7% | 78% |
| Some of the ways preachers and evangelists talk about Jesus make people cringe. | 24% | 53% | 21% | 2% | 77% |
| It is very hard for a church with a middle class ethos to communicate the gospel effectively to working class and less affluent people. | 19% | 54% | 22% | 5% | 73% |
| It's becoming more difficult for Christians to speak freely about what they believe. | 14% | 54% | 27% | 5% | 68% |
| People don't want to join formal organisations such as churches. | 18% | 44% | 30% | 8% | 62% |
| People reject Jesus because the church has such narrow condemnatory views on sex. | 12% | 49% | 32% | 8% | 61% |
| Christians aren't able to give easy answers to the problem of suffering. | 11% | 49% | 34% | 6% | 60% |
| It is hard to convince people about Christianity because of what they have learned about science. | 8% | 52% | 34% | 6% | 60% |
| The attacks of atheists like Richard Dawkins. | 8% | 43% | 44% | 6% | 50% |
| Many churches and organisations are placing too much emphasis on social action. | 4% | 20% | 48% | 28% | 24% |
| Please feel free to write in any other factors you think are important | 125 | ||||
| answered question | 995 | ||||
| skipped question | 118 | ||||
Of the hundreds of comments on this question a large number focussed on the failings and weaknesses of the church. Some perceive the church as indistinct from "worldly" society, as divided, inward looking and apparently hypocritical.
We do not appear to be very different from non-Christians - they don't see Jesus working in the lives of Christians in significant ways.
The church is often too distinctive in culture and language and not distinctive enough in living differently - people in church are likely to be nice to each other but not likely to look like a radically different community sharing what they have, loving each other powerfully, and free from the anxieties and delusions of the society around them.
It is the attitudes and behaviour that put people off Christianity more than anything else. However successful evangelism strategy is, if Christians are perceived to be unloving, judgemental and quarrelsome it will not be effective. Conversely Christlike behaviour even in the absence of direct evangelism will always attract people to the faith.
The biggest challenge facing those in the Methodist church we have recently joined based in prior experience of being in a free evangelical church is that people use church as a social club and whole life Christian Living is not taught or lived out.
Jesus is a stumbling block and many eyes are blinded to His beauty. It's God's job to remove the scales but we could help by not fighting so much amongst ourselves. Although I agree completely on the sanctity of marriage and heterosexuality I was heartbroken to see Christians on main-time television reviling each other. I also think that people no longer believe that sin is wrong or any sort of problem; so why do we need a Saviour if we're perfectly good in ourselves? Conversely because the view that you have to be 'good' to get to heaven non-Christians see us as being smug and self-righteous unless they bother to listen to and engage with the truth.
The emphasis in many churches that I have been in seems to be on looking after the sheep that are here, rather than equipping them to be witnesses - in other words the church is still inclined to be too inward looking.
I agree with Gandhi - your Christ I like - your Christians I do not like!
Others were conscious that the Church often comes across as narrow and judgemental, especially on issues of sexuality and gender, and has been tainted by association with American right wing fundamentalists.
I think the point about people rejecting Jesus because the church has such narrow condemnatory views on sex is true. I think for too long the church has been predominantly known for what it is against rather than what it is for and I think this is a huge problem and not representative of a Jesus who dined with sinners and those deemed unacceptable by society.
...the church appears to them to have such narrow condemnatory views on sex'. The church has to stand where its stands on sexual issues, but the 1960s counter-culture was so successful in changing public attitudes that this is a gospel handicap for us. And sex is such a powerful factor that the cost of becoming and staying a Christian is much too high for many.
We have become side-tracked by issues of women in leadership and homosexuality, which are not pressing issues for non-Christians.
My environmentalist friends hate the American Right and think they are representative of all Christians. I also believe that the vocal adherence of some Christians to Creationism (which is not central to faith) puts a lot of people off.
I frequently talk with people who have found it hard to follow Jesus because the "bar" for conversion is set unreasonably high: e.g. their Christian friends imply that to follow Jesus it is essential that they accept the infallibility of Scripture, 6 day creation, other faiths going to hell, penal substitution, the virgin conception of Jesus. While things are (largely!) good and helpful, hesitation over them should not - in my view - be an obstacle to real faith.
I am passionate about evangelism but often find evangelists are very white male, often misogynist and without compassion (one of the driving forces of Jesus' ministry...so the
Bible tells us!). Many older people have no idea about the world inhabited by the "missing generation".
I get fed up when I meet someone who does not yet follow Christ that the last believer they met built a wall instead of a bridge by demonstrating bigotry, prejudice etc.
I believe evangelism starts at home, it needs community and relationships. I do not believe bible bashing is the way to go and it gives Christianity a bad reputation and name because people don't like being told what to believe.
Several respondents suggested that they or the church is very much out of touch with the culture and life worlds of ordinary un-churched people. In some cases this was because they spent the vast majority of their time in Christian networks so that they had few contacts among non-Christians.
The majority of people in the church - and particularly the ministers are out of touch with people in the "real world" today. They are stuck in the mindset of getting people into church rather than going out into the world to meet people where they are. Those of us in the church who want to get out there feel discouraged and unsupported by the hierarchy so it doesn't happen.
I work for a Christian organisation, moved to a new place for the job, and find work, family and childcare take up all my time, so I know very few non-Christians these days when I used to know lots.
I work in a Christian school and have few non-Christian work colleagues. I am also so busy with work, family and church that I don't find time to interact with non-Christians in a social setting. I hope to correct his when my family have grown and I am less busy with work.
I have work for a Christian organisation for the last 5 years, so have been a group leader in both Alpha and Christianity Explored in order to meet non-Christians. However, the way it turned out, there were no non-Christians in the groups I led, although I did have conversations with some of the non-Christians in other groups, but more getting-to-know-you than evangelistic..
I see my main area of service as the workplace where I have regular contact with 200 unsaved. My church doesn't compute that in it's thinking.
I like the idea of evangelism, but apart from work colleagues, I have little or no contact with non-Christians. My work colleagues know I am a Christian, and out of a staff of, say, 30, 3 of them are regular church attenders with a further 2 or 3 who would say they are Christians. The majority see 'religion' or 'church' as irrelevant to their lives. Opportunities sometimes arise for a discussion on spiritual subjects, but time for these is limited at work.
Many churches are irrelevant to people. They often use language people do not understand and since more and more people are not being brought up to go to church it simply is not something which matters to them.
The current styles of worship in many churches do not attract people. On Sundays, people in church can be so busy talking to each other that newcomers get overlooked. Fresh expressions of church, which form a deeper part of the community seem more likely to have an impact.
I feel I have a strong personal relationship with Jesus and I am very happy to talk about my faith. I have difficulty, though, with the thought of inviting anybody to attend church. It doesn't often do anything for me! I am closer to him at home and in my everyday life.
Most of us from Africa find it challenging to introduce Jesus to the white community the way it will matter to them.
I'm a firm believer in a Mother Teresa approach of "A life not lived for others is not a life." So I think it is unlikely that churches are placing too much emphasis on social action. Obviously there needs to be a balance of other important factors such as prayer, worship, teaching, discipleship etc...However I think a greater problem could be churches placing too much emphasis on teaching, preaching, "evangelism"....many can talk the talk, but can we walk the walk and that means loving Jesus and loving our neighbour with every bit of us
In contrast there were comments which suggested that the church was unclear and woolly rather than robustly presenting Gospel truth or even concerned about evangelism
In many churches, the Gospel message isn't preached clearly. I spent 12 years in the church, mostly Anglican, without understanding that Jesus died to pay for my sins and without being taught about needing to repent and to be born again.
As an evangelical, my wife and I are out on a limb in our church apart from our Minister who is as committed as we are to evangelism.
… I have been struck by how much my church talks about, funds and sends people to remote missions (regionally and internationally), but how most of what we do locally is social outreach or socialising, with little or no direct communication of the Gospel.
The church needs to read and believe the Holy Bible and not to be ashamed of what the Gospel and the Old Testament say about the character of God, faith and salvation
… we are very sad for our Church of Scotland here. We have attended for seven years, and prayed for a revival of faith, but most of the influential people do not seem to be willing or wanting it at the moment. We are the last people under 50, and we are leaving in a month when we move away and begin attending the evangelical church. Please pray for the Church of Scotland.
English culture is very non-confrontational, there's a great emphasis on being nice and polite and tactful, and challenging people doesn't come naturally to people here. (I'm not English, I just live here.)
The confused messages coming from organisations such as the Anglican church and the Archbishop of Canterbury that leave people with completely the wrong idea about Christianity.
Many are confused as to what the gospel is, in the context of evangelism, so false gospels grow in popularity. "Jesus loves you" is not the gospel, and we are afraid to mention sin and repentance, in case we offend people.
We had a Vicar for 29 years. I'm not sure he had a bible. The church has an attendance of mostly over 60's who regard formal church attendance as their way to Heaven. We have a new younger Vicar who is evangelical in belief but has taken on the formal high church style and we are praying that he will see that this will not result in younger attendance or conversions.
I think one thing that is causing significant growth in US churches is neo-calvinism (or reformed theology). This is forcing the explicit message of the Gospel to be preached and believed. Whether we agree with that line of theology - we have to agree that explicit proclamation of the Gospel message, whether on a stage or in a kitchen, is a vital ingredient of our witness. Without this our evangelism has no power - our efforts lose their sting.
My church is in the centre of a city and lead by pastors no older than 35. It is a young congregation of about 200 with a big emphasis on the Kingdom of God and over the past few years a number of Alpha courses have been run and seen a significant number of people come to faith. However, their is a large divide in doctrinal beliefs. A large percentage of "believers" do not believe in Hell, struggle to read the Bible and frankly are no different to what have been called "universalists" in centuries gone by. Modern evangelicalism, in my view, has been significantly effected by this doctrine. Hence, often outreach (in many churches that I've attended) has become more about "reaching out to people with God's love" with practical help so that they join our community in the hope that they might know God's love. There - as far as I'm aware - has never been any direct proclamation of the need to be born again in our church.
About six years ago I felt a call to return to church and as my wife's church had closed down we went to our local Church of Scotland. This was a disaster as we realised we had joined a liberal same sex supporting church. We recently moved to another Church of Scotland fifteen miles away and we now enjoy teaching, fellowship, training and sound gospel preaching every week. We travel around one hundred miles each week to attend church.
A couple of respondents reflected theologically about their own views of salvation and mission or their personal gifting.
For myself, it's about not wanting to put people off, and feeling hindered by a culture that makes it unacceptable to say that Jesus is The Way. On deeper reflection, the issue is: do I really believe that people will go to hell if they don't believe in Jesus? I find it hard to think that God would condemn people who are loving and follow another faith or none at all, after all he loved the world so much he gave his only son...so there is a tussle in my mind between what I think I ought to believe and what I feel is the wideness of God's love.
We also need to think carefully about our missiology - what place of Chaplains (like me) who are not to proselytize...how do we square this with the mission heart of God? Is God's mission purely about conversion? Or might he also care for justice, peace, care for the environment? Is it specific or general grace?
I was put off doing evangelism by my experiences as a student when I was effectively told I had to do it, and failed miserably in my attempts. I left my previous church because the new senior pastor was interested only in evangelism - I was not interested in being less than half a Christian. I would like to be as much of a Christian as I can be by God's help and grace - and that means being the person God wants me to be, using the gifts He has given me for His purposes, and not trying, and failing, to be what He has not made me to be for Him.
I recall from somewhere that typically 1 in 10 have the gift of evangelism. We are all witnesses, but not all of us are evangelists. The church has failed to make the distinction clear, and the results are either poor evangelism and/or being made to feel guilty because you don't or can't evangelise with obvious results.
A few felt that the church was weak and ineffective because it lacked miraculous power and/or prayer.
Not enough of the New Testament pattern of demonstrating the power of the gospel by healing and dealing with evil spirits.
Churches need to move in the power of The Holy Spirit more; Jesus shared the Kingdom of God using words, but also acts of power demonstrating what He was preaching (for instance, forgiving the paralysed man's sins, then demonstrating His authority to do that with a physical healing). If The Church was more powerful, and demonstrated the kindness of God in this and many other ways, we'd see an increase in people coming to Jesus. The churches that are doing so are testimony of this.
The local church in general has no confidence to heal the sick, or to teach on it. So believers have to plough their own furrow as I had to do. No teaching means no faith to see healing in congregations or on the street amongst unbelievers.. This is tragic, considering Jesus commissioned the 12 and the 70 to "preach the gospel and heal the sick". The gospel is "show and tell", but we neuter it when we make it a "tell" gospel only.
The church doesn't pray enough. Our church has a 1 hour prayer meeting once a month. When I invite people to join me in praying from 10pm to 2am in a church that is open as outreach for clubbers, too many of them refuse. (But a growing group join me!).
Members of the church have made themselves vulnerable by inviting people to events despite their fear of rejection and or embarrassment but the difficult thing to do is to get people to commit to prayer. I feel if we had the prayer life of the church more active these other aspects would be more transparent and successful.
Referring to …. revival, it is not the quantity of prayer that matters but that we do not pray earnestly or believingly enough. (1 John 5:15)
Others felt they and other Christians lacked conviction and confidence in the Gospel or enthusiasm to share it..
I think some atheists express themselves a lot better than many Christians do- possibly through lack of confidence or conviction on our part.
Individual Christians are just a bit too shy and reserved to talk about our faith as much as we could, even when the people we're talking to would not be hostile or would be actively interested.
One key concern is I think Christians have lost confidence in sharing the gospel.
I am a passionate evangelist. I'm not sure there are many others in my church, and I don't really feel supported in the role. My denomination offers no training or route to take evangelism except for urban/social action routes. I think there is definitely a reluctance for Christians to tell people about Jesus.
I generally find talking about church and the social activities associated with it, and about "religion" much easier than about Jesus / God / the Holy Spirit and my personal relationship / encounters with them.
While I definitely describe myself and my faith as Evangelical Christian, I lack confidence to witness to that faith outside of the church environment. This is particularly true at work where the atmosphere and ethos is not receptive to issues of faith.
Christians need to urgently re-discover their voices and start talking to people about Jesus in everyday conversation.
Amongst evangelical Christians there seems to be a comfort culture where they are content to go to church on Sunday and maybe a midweek but otherwise have no real involvement in sharing their faith or in active outreach work
I do think evangelism is hugely important but I'm too scared or lazy to do anything about it. The closest I get is that I do take opportunities to let people at work know I'm a Christian
My husband and I move in academic circles and we think people are more spiritually open now than they were 20 years ago. Dawkins is not that much of a threat. I think people are more open than many Christians realise, but we have lost confidence and expectancy and have stopped taking risks. As a minister in training I feel people need to recover their passion for Jesus and their confidence in his ability to transform their lives and the lives of others.
I have confidence in speaking about my faith in public, but less confidence in talking to non Christian friends or family about faith - they don't seem interested and I fear alienating them all together by being too direct. I believe I need a greater sense of urgency, and a bigger understanding of God's love, to motivate me to share my faith more boldly.
The church I now attend is a rather dead rural church. Sadly I think our Vicar is rather burned out after many years of Parish ministry and many of our regular members are terrified of the concept of evangelism - not an uncommon situation in a rural parish!
I would love to do more evangelism/stuff that would make Christianity more accessible but others at church seem to think it's all about maintaining the building & fund raising etc. There is no ethos of evangelism or encouragement from the leadership. We do support financially a Trust which employs youth workers to go in the local schools
We need a Gospel revival. And whilst we're there, boldness too.
Maybe we are more evangelical than overtly evangelistic!
A few comments affirmed social action but usually felt it needed to be carried out alongside verbal witness and proclamation.
I think you can never place too much focus on social action, the church is there to change the world it lives in with Jesus love, giving hope, love and safety to those who have non. We should prepared to serve the communities we live in and make "God's Kingdom come" now in the world we live in and actively change our world and make it a better place.
Social action with the gospel is powerful and scriptural - the essence of the gospel, but without the gospel, it is merely helping people on earth who will then go to a lost eternity.
Social action demonstrates the truth of what we preach and touches lives.
I worry quite a lot that Christians feel browbeaten and reluctant to share their faith, or if they do, are terribly apologetic. Some are losing confidence in the Gospel I feel, and although I run a social action ministry, being 'nice' is not enough. Preaching in some form is still needed. There is also still a real issue in getting Christians to meet non-believers despite the proliferation of social action ministries..
I think the most important aspect to evangelism is that our lives match up to our words and that we demonstrate this through unconditional love. I admit that I struggle to articulate this in words at times, but serving our local community (not necessarily geographical) is a great way to share our faith.
Evangelism and Social Action are too often separated when they are like the actions of a wave - the wave moves in and out, but it is its overall action which creates the landscape.
In contrast there were a roughly equal number of comments discussing the factors external to the church. Some respondents felt there was a hostile environment in many workplaces which prevented Christians from sharing their faith with colleagues or "customers".
The perception of restrictions on sharing the Gospel make people uneasy and nervous about bearing witness, offering to pray etc, combined with employers (misplaced) belief that to share the Gospel is inappropriate in the workplace.
I work within the NHS and I feel very concerned about witnessing at work to colleagues and patients because I'm afraid I will offend someone and lose my job. I don't think there is freedom of speech any more.
I feel strongly that the "state" does not promote the Christian faith and in the case of young people positively discriminates against it as per the example given. What gives the state, this example is social services, the right to remove a child from their chosen faith when taken into the care system, they are allowed to do this to a Christian but would they be allowed to do it if it was a Muslim Child ?
My public sector employer has banned the public witness of faith - a stricture which I routinely break. The main enemies of the gospel are public sector managers and the media.
My work is in a further education college so I'm not allowed to openly evangelize however I do talk openly to my colleagues and students. I've found that they are all respectful and in the last couple of years have offered to pray for different situations that people have talked to me about and I've even been asked to pray for others.
However in contrast is this comment
I work for a mental health charity with colleagues from any faiths so we are able to have open and positive discussions about faith. I have recently taken 2 colleagues to our Alpha course and one has recently come to faith. a couple of service users have also attended church and come on an occasional basis
A couple mentioned the idea that secularisation has relegated religion to the private sphere rendering faith as little more than a preferred weekend hobby.
The sacred/ secular divide causes people people to doubt they can be effective in the places where they work or have social contacts
I believe many non-Christians see Christianity as an optional extra in their lives therefore as it's not necessary they have better things to do.
We too often use Greek ways of though segregating all areas of our faith into neat little boxes. This is not the holistic Hebraic way of thinking. Let there be no more boxes. Let us be missional in every aspect of our lives.
Unbelievers' perceptions of Christians, popularised by the mass media was also mentioned as a hindrance.
Some non-Christians seem to believe that Christians are all hypocrites
Many of the problems seem to be about the voice of Christians themselves being misrepresented in the media (as they are). However this is not new (there were all sorts of strange rumours about early Christians and the church still grew). It might be more about a lack of thirst for Jesus amongst us western Christians ourselves, not wanting our comfort to be too disturbed, and compromising with a watered-down Christianity.
Another powerful factor is the world-view or climate created by the TV, the press, entertainers and education.
I rail at the TV when it gives a false portrayal of Christianity but never know what I can do about it without turning into a half-crazed evangelical lobbyist (other than live out my life as a natural counterpoint)!
Finally there were a set of comments which suggested that "worldly" people were either poorly informed, uninterested, seduced by materialism or had rejected the truth.
Many people just don't know enough about God, the Bible and Jesus to be able to make a meaningful decision.
I work with young people and there is no longer a default knowledge of Christian truth. We need to communicate the Christian story a a much more basic level than in the past. We also need to to teach wise use of scripture i.e. Genesis 1 as poetry not claim scientific truth hidden in ancient writing.
Most non-Christians simply do not feel the need to be forgiven. The lack of old fashioned Religious Education in schools in recent decades has resulted in widespread ignorance of the Bible making it more difficult to find a starting point to talk about God.
I'm happy to talk to any body who will listen to my beliefs in Jesus, I just find that most people 'glaze over' when he is mentioned, or they change the subject.
Materialist society means people feel they don't need God
The UK culture is one that says 'you can have it all - if you have enough money' - this is often seen as a more attractive option,
People resist anything which might dictate the way they live their lives - freedom of choice has become a god above most others - people don't want to be 'told' what to do with their time, money or anything else.
We have a lot of bridge building activities but when we try and take things to the next step people do not seem interested. Committed to anything, let alone Jesus, seems to be lacking in our society today.
As a retired person, I don't have as many contacts as I once had. Contacts with neighbours are good but they tend to keep clear of 'religion' as a topic because I have talked with them in the past about being a Christian. Any time the opportunity arises they have listened and we remain friends.
Cultural rejection of idea of truth means people aren't even asking whether Jesus is truly God any more - they don't think it's possible to know the truth about God, so they're not interested in a group of people who say that they know the only true way to Him. Postmodernism in action.
I think people are becoming less willing, or think they are too busy, to listen to the Christian message. Between 1984 and 1989 I invited six non-Christian friends to attend evangelistic events; all said yes. In the 23 years since then I have invited five non-Christian friends to similar events; all have said no. I am perhaps unfairly comparing my student days and my time back then in a small, community-minded northern town with a modern city further south, and its busier lifestyles.
We are fighting on other people's terms too often e.g. the new atheists agenda, which leads us to irrelevant battles. I am not a Christian because I can't explain the world without some reference to a deity; I am a Christian because God revealed Himself to me in Jesus.
And the opposite
People like Richard Dawkins have a disproportionate effect.
We need to show people the questions to ask of the New atheists
Evangelism and the Local Church
Church leaders evangelism survey
There is further data on evangelism in a Evangelical Alliance survey of some 400 church leaders carried out in January 2016. The Table below suggests that there is a lot of talk and prayer about evangelism, some encouragement and training but only marginal success.
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Response Count |
| In our teaching as a church we regularly talk about the need to evangelise | 26% | 51% | 15% | 7% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church often prays together for people to come to faith | 25% | 43% | 15% | 14% | 3% | 100% |
| When you look at the activities our church is involved in, evangelism is clearly one of our priorities | 19% | 48% | 17% | 12% | 3% | 100% |
| Our congregation expects to see people coming to faith and joining the church | 19% | 47% | 22% | 9% | 2% | 100% |
| Evangelism has definitely become a higher priority for our church in the last few years | 17% | 37% | 29% | 15% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church values people with the gift of evangelism and seeks to use and develop their gifts | 15% | 48% | 27% | 9% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church regularly gives people practical tips and suggestions of how to share their faith | 9% | 44% | 27% | 16% | 3% | 100% |
| We often share testimonies in our church of people coming to faith or encountering God for the first time | 7% | 29% | 26% | 30% | 7% | 100% |
| Our church has seen many people come to faith over the last few years | 5% | 23% | 29% | 35% | 9% | 100% |
| We often have non-Christians dropping in to ask for prayer/about issues related to faith | 4% | 25% | 31% | 31% | 8% | 100% |
| Our church focuses on individual evangelism rather than doing evangelistic activities together | 4% | 30% | 38% | 24% | 4% | 100% |
| Our evangelism as a church is done through occasional events rather than anything regular | 4% | 32% | 22% | 35% | 7% | 100% |
| We don't do any evangelism together as a church | 4% | 10% | 11% | 45% | 30% | 100% |
| A new convert has come to our church, but we haven't known how to nurture and retain them successfully | 1% | 13% | 17% | 50% | 19% | 100% |
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| |||||
| answered question | 404 | |||||
| skipped question | 23 | |||||
The table below suggests many church leaders perceive that their congregations (and sometimes themselves) are often hesitant to communicate their faith to unbelievers in words. 60% agree that members seem more happy to volunteer for social action than direct evangelism.
| How far do you agree... ? | ||||||
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Response Count |
| I personally find I am comfortable talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 19% | 52% | 19% | 9% | 1% | 100% |
| I personally have many non-Christian friends | 14% | 27% | 27% | 27% | 5% | 100% |
| People in our church are much more likely to volunteer for social action projects rather than evangelism | 13% | 47% | 32% | 8% | 1% | 100% |
| People in our church seem happy to show God's love in actions, but hesitant or unsure how to speak to people directly about Jesus | 12% | 50% | 25% | 12% | 1% | 100% |
| I suspect people in my church are afraid of causing offence when talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 6% | 46% | 27% | 17% | 4% | 100% |
| People in our church don't seem to have many non-Christian friends | 2% | 21% | 37% | 34% | 6% | 100% |
| People in our church are confident to share their faith story with others | 2% | 32% | 40% | 21% | 4% | 100% |
| I personally am sometimes afraid of causing offence when talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 2% | 30% | 21% | 35% | 13% | 100% |
| I think people in my church are comfortable talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 2% | 30% | 43% | 21% | 4% | 100% |
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| |||||
| answered question | 393 | |||||
| skipped question | 34 | |||||
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The table below suggests church leaders express encouragement but that much of this is rationalised as planting seeds and building community relationships rather than reaping a gospel harvest.
| ||
| How would you describe your church's approach to evangelism at the current time?Please tick all that apply | ||
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Response Percent | Response Count |
| We are encouraged to continue in our efforts | 68.3% | 248 |
| We are able to build relationships with people in our community, but we find that it's hard to take the next step and share our faith with them | 51.2% | 186 |
| We've been really encouraged as we've seen people come to faith | 43.8% | 159 |
| Although we've not seen anyone come to faith, we are encouraged that we've planted seeds | 43.5% | 158 |
| Lots of people in the church are involved | 36.4% | 132 |
| We've been discouraged that no one seemed to come to faith | 12.4% | 45 |
| We've been discouraged and considered giving up | 2.5% | 9 |
| answered question | 363 | |
| skipped question | 64 | |
CHURCH PROGRAMMES FOR EVANGELISM
Drawing from hundreds of extended comments from the two surveys about programmes and activities in the respondents churches the section below illustrates what is currently happening in churches attended by evangelicals in the UK
By far the largest number of comments talked about outreach activities aimed at local communities, the large majority of which could be described as Christian social action, though in some cases putting this into practice or gaining an evangelism dividend appeared to be a struggle.
As a church we are very involved in the local community, mainly through youth work, but struggle to get people to engage beyond the service they are using.
the church needs to get out and serve the community and cater for their needs! sadly our church apart from employing me to serve the youth and children in the village which has been a privilege and blessing, doesn't really do community events! partly to do with the church building and lack of space!
I am now retired and work with my wife in our church - we have found that we are a small church with specific social needs and God wants us to get alongside people with those needs and help them to experience Jesus carry them through their problems, to sope with them and deal with them and heal them. Our work is very practical - street cleaning, providing meals, tea and toast for youngsters on the streets in winter. Our ministry is more 'work-based' than 'word-based' and God has been good to us. But we are learning that we need to be humble and accept that He has called us to do small things well rather than try to do big things which may be appropriate in bigger churches.
I attend a church with many different races and cultures, with frequently first generation immigrants. A large number work long hours in poorly paid jobs, or have young children to care for, making church activities difficult to attend. Evangelism is not centred on the building, but via friendships, Street Pastors, Food Bank, and community involvement. The building is a converted factory (rented from a Muslim) in a predominantly ethnic semi-commercial area, there are two Muslim places of worship, and two other Christian churches within 150 yards – challenging!
I attend a large church. An opportunity to respond to the Gospel is given at the end of every service and people frequently respond. There is an expectation that people will extend a warm welcome to anyone that comes to the church and there is an ongoing programme of outreach to the local community. In addition I prayer walk in my neighbourhood, I'm a school governor, I run a prayer group at work, I organise community events (eg street parties) and these are all out of a desire to build relationships and change the spiritual climate with a view to sharing the Gospel.
I think it would be good for believers to live and go to church in 1 community rather than commuting to church elsewhere. This way the church can be involved in the community and non believers can see the witness of believers in their everyday lives. (I'm not doing this yet but it's my plan to move to a more multi-ethnic community to witness to people from other cultures/religions.
Most evangelicals have deserted inner city areas like ours so the church is weak and the traditional church presence is not attractive or effective to most local residents, who are reluctant or lack capacity to commit to any organisation. Most of them however do believe in God though with little understanding of Christian faith... We need to develop long term presence and engagement and fresh expressions of church life and discipling.. The Eden Network approach seems very promising... though a long hard slog ... Nonetheless there are signs that God is at work.
My church works hard on community engagement, social action and building relationships; Sunday morning services are just a fraction of what we do over the week/year. Personally involved in leading a youth club (mainly unchurched young people) and planning/executing community events (fun days, social action, etc.).
Our church is very much geared to social justice and we see lots of conversions from working with the poor, refugees, CAP, prisoners, prostitutes. We also seem to have a number of doctors and young families! But in terms of middle class evangelism to those outside that I'm not sure we that good at it!
Our church is very out-going. We are very active in our community, having Street Pastors, Healing On The Streets and have just completed a week's youth activity in our local park, where we had in excess of 150 children per day.
Our church runs social action programmes - food bank etc coffee shop. As yet we have not reaped great results but we are getting more known in the community. We are starting small to do things well
Run many regular activities for non-church members eg coffee shop, Mum's and tots group, young people's groups, winter warmth, bowls for older people
Social action: believe this is vitally important for the church to share Jesus, but feel we are sometimes so focussed on the action that we can forget to share the reason for the action! Also, so many non Christian organisations doing social action stuff out there- how are we different?
There are activities on offer for all ages throughout the week as well as at the weekend. Our Director of Mission regularly holds large outreach events such as a Family Fun Day, Meal and Cabaret Nights and also we hold Cafe Church in Costa every month. There are many children's and young people's activities too which bring children and youth from outside the church too. Our Sunday services are geared to be 'user friendly' for everyone too. A great place to be part of!
We are actively encouraged to build friendship evangelism, rather than through events, although we do a lot of social events e.g. harvest suppers, watch Football etc., to invite people to.
We are in a town of 8500. Three main churches get on really well together and we share in events. eg. The Passion (play) attracted 3000 to the market Square to see the Easter events enacted in modern style with modern music. great press and radio coverage. also joint Holiday Clubs, Open air witness at local festival
We run a food-bank which has proved a fantastic way of showing people the love of God and brought several to faith because they wanted to find out why our volunteers loved Jesus and them so much.
we run many outreach activities: toddler group, children's club, two youth clubs, free lunch club, holiday club (just finished) for over 120 kids etc.
We're running a night shelter for destitute immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers here at our church over the summer whilst the usual facility in the city is closed. I was privileged to listen to two volunteers sharing their faith with a client a couple of nights ago. Neither of them for one moment would consider themselves to be an evangelist, but that was REAL evangelism and I know that God will bless it although ….they were mandated to do it (at the human, relational level) by the consistent service that they have given to that individual and his fellows since we started
There were several examples of outreach activities aimed at particular sections, or age groups of the community such as families (where Messy Church is popular), children, youth or older people..
I take services twice monthly at our local old people's and dementia homes. With a team we have held a "Holiday at Home" for the elderly.
we've recently started a monthly cafe church at Costas for 18-35year olds - attracting approx 60 people approx half are guests and not likely to be Christians. Our recently started quarterly Saturday 'Messy Church' attracts 200 - mainly parents from our mums and tots group who are currently not church attenders - many are of Hindu background.
The church I attend has a vibrant youth work and has recently appointed a Seniors Pastor which fits in with our vision to reach the older members of the local community.
We hold a weekly children's after school group and a weekly youth group - most of the children and young people who come are NOT from Christian homes;
Very active youth work, run Messy Church regularly and seek to reach parents / carers of the young people
There is a team in our Deanery who do puppet assemblies in schools
Much of our church evangelism is done through the children's work and music groups.
The ALPHA course programme was mentioned about 20 times, mostly favourably.
The most effective evangelism in the last decade has been the Alpha course
We do run an Alpha Course once a year, and this is bringing in a steady stream of new members.
We aim to run Alphas (usually small home based ones now) regularly and to put on larger whole church (sowing 1-type) events every term to give opportunity for folk to invite their friends to a quality non cringy event to help them get to know other Christians. We're not so strong on the 'reaping' end yet!...but have effectively discipled the ones and twos who've been coming through.
Our Church runs the START and Alpha courses once a year, and co-runs friendship events for our Muslim neighbours.
Our village church is firmly rooted in the community so evangelism takes place all the time by individuals and especially through Alpha and relationships with non Christian friends .
Alpha and Youth Alpha have been very successful and our minister 'sticks to his guns' by insisting that a person has to do the Alpha Course if they want to marry or be baptised in the church.
A minority of churches have developed healing ministry as a form of outreach or evangelism.
I've been involved in Healing Rooms and Light and Life for two and a half years. These are by far the most effective form of evangelism that I have encountered.
Our Church does Healing on The Streets,
We went out on Streets of Glasgow for two hours a week to engage with the public and share the gospel/ pray with them/invite them to church, I have also worked with Abused women, in Destiny Lifeline, most of whom are unsaved when they come to the group, and the poor/immigrants in Destiny Angels Drop-in, where we have a monthly healing meeting where between 3 - 6 respond to invitation to salvation monthly.
Only a few people mentioned specific current evangelistic campaigns or missions
We are about to hold a week of mission with local Anglican churches
Mostly involved with evangelism via a mission organisation, approx one week a year
Some responses attended particular forms of church, from Cathedrals to new expressions of church, where evangelism was important but took appropriate local forms.
I worship at a cathedral. I make sure there are gospels, Christian literature for visitors to take away, and always an exhibition which might inspire people towards God, on display. We get lots of responsive comments from one off tourists.
As I'm attending a cathedral, the remit of our body of believers is some what different to any other c of e church I've previous attended. The public pour into the Minster to see it and we have teams on hand every day to pray with any visitor who wants and needs it. How many people come to Christ through this I don't know.
We are very aware that during any one morning service up to 10% could be visitors. We look for opportunities all the time to move along side those seeking.
Our church has formed three church plants in the last 5 years and the total attendance in about 250 people. People want to worship near where they live
we are in a small plant out church , The bigger church in the city has alpha courses and more organised outreach activities which we sometimes join in with.
We are a new church plant (20-25 people), experimenting with 'missional communities' seeking to develop relationships with different local, ethnic or interest groups. We see mission as integral to our daily and community life, not as a separate programme or event. We have contacts with a range of non-believers from differing cultures but it is early days....
We are a new expression of church which had been in operation for only 4 years and works out of a school. We began having brunches once a month and still have ten twice a month as we see these as our entry point. We are very community orientated and have seen many come to faith and seen lives significantly changed
There is an ethos of accepting people whatever background or spiritual understanding they may have/not. People are allowed to develop their spiritual journey at their own pace without pressure. From their first visit, people are invited to be involved in serving teams and in small groups where they get to build relationships.
The greater community has no particular need for Jesus. But they do want to be married, baptise their children and have funerals in the Church.
We are relocating in the next few years and will be in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the city - in advance of the move we have a weekly drop in centre where every week a handful of people pop in for a coffee and chat. Several have now started coming to the church
We have a building project - our new church should be open in October. It will seat 1100. I think it will be full.
A large number of comments articulated disappointment or struggle in churches to develop effective strategies and programmes for evangelism. In some cases this was put down to leadership that was unenthusiastic or overburdened.
At one time we had 'lay witness' weekends which were attended by people on the periphery of the church and also assisted in joint outreach events e.g. Festival Manchester and Message 2000, but under our new minister we have become a 'sit and listen' congregation. There is no encouragement to attend home groups or Bible studies or to reach out to the local community.
I believe Christians lack confidence in their ability to talk about their faith to others. This is a combination of lack of real commitment to love people enough to put our own interests after theirs and a lack of commitment to serious evangelism in Churches. but I do believe that we are seeing this change as God moves in our Churches - there is a renewed interest in outreach.
I believe in NI we do not as yet have a 'culture' of evangelism amongst Christian people in our churches, with many seemingly having no concern for 'the lost', plus the fact that many are reluctant or unsure of how to share their own personal faith, and how God has been at work in their lives. There appears to be more emphasis on personal growth as a Christian and going to Church groups/conferences etc. than on getting 'out there' and having an impact in the local community !
I go to a very conservative church in which evangelism is thought to be both expensive and unprofitable by the current leadership which is happy to continue without conversions.
In a small rural church, mainly elderly parishioners. Church is in interregnum. Church wardens concerned with building issues, not building the Kingdom. People come typically out of habit.
My church is a small 12th century village Anglican church. We use 4 churches in the local community throughout the month. The majority of the congregation are elderly and don't like too much change.
Our church evangelistic activities are sporadic and inconsistent, and follow up is poor. However we have strong biblical teaching each week, and the gospel is frequently explained. Unfortunately there are few non-Christians who come to hear it!
We are a fairly traditional church, with some members who would be eager to get involved in evangelism and others who would not. I keep working at it!
As I said earlier, evangelism is something I find very difficult. The non-Christians with whom I work are engineers and I don't feel that most are open to Christian faith - and I'm fearful of exposing myself.
Many do not see Evangelism as their business and at this point in their journey it will take the Holy Spirit to change their opinions on that.
As a leadership group I would say that we are plain worn out just doing life at the moment. The two elders [my husband being one of them] who work alongside our part-time pastor, are both in very high pressured jobs that over the past 3 or 4years have become extremely stressful. I see high stress levels in the leadership of all the churches here which usually rears it's ugly head in the form of serious health issues.
Our Church, like many I suspect, is keen, eager and able to reap but not so good at sowing and keeping. Most people are so busy with their 'working' lives that to devote time and energy to church matters (as volunteers) takes more commitment and dedication than people are prepared to give. With the economic situation as is, people are just trying to keep their employment going and do not have the stamina to give more time and energy to the Church. The attitude is that the ministers/vicars/priests, who are paid, should be 'doing all that' and that their congregation will help and support where they can! The congregation /membership are then surprised when the minister/vicar/priest 'burns out'! In my view, volunteers cannot be depended on, more 'employed' and trained people would improve the situation. Evangelism, if done badly, can be more detrimental than not doing anything. Training and identifying those with a gift for evangelism will prove more effective than what has been happening recently.
Mission beyond evangelism
Bebbington's category of evangelical activism has never been limited to evangelism and the spreading of the Word by words. From Wesley's preaching of social holiness, with it's impact on the abolitionist and factory reform movements, to the high Victorian epidemic of charitable enterprises evangelicals have generally been socially and politically active. After a few decades of socially conservative relative quietism in the middle decades of the 20th Century – a response to the liberal Christianity that was labelled "social gospel" and rarely preached repentance and conversion – the pendulum has swung back towards more holistic approaches to mission. Our surveys suggest that in the UK at least evangelical Christians are far more active than the average citizen in political and voluntary action to serve the wider community.
According to the 2010 Baseline survey 99% of evangelical Christians do some type of volunteering each year.
The following tables from our panel surveys confirm that evangelicals are deeply involved in in neighbourly activity and community action in their localities.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Are you as an individual involved actively where you live in any of the following? Please tick all that apply. | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Praying regularly with others for your local community (not just in church services) | 44.8% | 515 |
| Regularly supporting a neighbour who is lonely, frail or otherwise in need | 34.6% | 397 |
| Looking out for new people moving in and making sure they are welcomed to the area | 32.8% | 377 |
| A local club or group based around a hobby or shared interest | 21.5% | 247 |
| Managing or supporting a local school | 20.9% | 240 |
| A local residents association, neighbourhood group or community forum | 20.0% | 230 |
| A neighbourhood watch or other police and community group | 15.9% | 183 |
| A local sports club | 12.2% | 140 |
| Socialising at the local pub | 10.6% | 122 |
| A local youth or children's club or organisation (other than your church's ministries) | 9.7% | 112 |
| Managing or supporting a local hospital, hospice or health/disability charity | 9.3% | 107 |
| A local branch of a national (or regional) issue-based campaign | 6.2% | 71 |
| A local environmental project or campaign | 5.7% | 66 |
| Helping to run a charity shop | 4.2% | 48 |
| As an elected member of a local council | 1.2% | 14 |
| Other (please specify or give further details) | 24.0% | 276 |
| answered question | 1149 | |
| skipped question | 348 | |
A very high proportion of the involvement is through local church projects rather than through generic or secular voluntary organisations.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||||
| Are you involved locally, through your church or another organisation, in any activities or projects in the following fields? Please tick any boxes that apply | ||||
| Answer Options | I am involved in a church project | I am involved in a secular community project | There is a local church(es) project, but I am not very involved | Response Count |
| Development or missions overseas | 62% | 3% | 37% | 100% |
| Elderly or lonely people | 41% | 8% | 54% | 100% |
| Foodbank | 40% | 3% | 57% | 100% |
| Families in poverty or with other support needs | 38% | 6% | 57% | 100% |
| Multi-use community centre | 37% | 8% | 56% | 100% |
| Unemployed people | 29% | 7% | 65% | 100% |
| Homeless people | 29% | 5% | 68% | 100% |
| Youth work with unchurched kids | 28% | 5% | 69% | 100% |
| Cleaning up or improving the neighbourhood environment | 26% | 15% | 60% | 100% |
| People with disabilities or learning difficulties | 26% | 17% | 59% | 100% |
| Refugees and asylum seekers | 24% | 9% | 67% | 100% |
| Prisoners or ex-offenders | 23% | 6% | 71% | 100% |
| Street Pastors or similar schemes | 19% | 1% | 80% | 100% |
| Money advice or debt counselling | 19% | 3% | 78% | 100% |
| Tackling addictions | 17% | 7% | 77% | 100% |
| IT training or provision | 17% | 12% | 72% | 100% |
| Broad-based community organisations such as London Citizens or Citizens UK | 12% | 16% | 74% | 100% |
| Hospice provision | 7% | 14% | 80% | 100% |
| Other (please specify) | 94 | |||
| answered question | 1264 | |||
| skipped question | 233 | |||
Evangelical churches seem to have a preference for working within the network of Christian organisations though a substantial (and growing) proportion do engage with wider partnerships.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Is your church involved in any projects or activities where it is working in partnership with any of the following? Tick all that apply | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Other local churches | 82.1% | 1079 |
| Churches or missions overseas | 75.3% | 990 |
| Christian charities or para-church organisations | 58.7% | 772 |
| Secular voluntary organisations or charities | 34.2% | 450 |
| The local council | 30.0% | 394 |
| The police | 19.8% | 261 |
| A church in a less affluent neighbourhood in your city or region | 14.7% | 193 |
| Local umbrella bodies such as a Council for Voluntary Service or community network/forum | 13.4% | 176 |
| Other public sector bodies (eg NHS or Job Centre Plus) | 8.9% | 117 |
| People from minority faith communities | 8.0% | 105 |
| A church in a more affluent neighbourhood in your city or region | 5.2% | 68 |
| I don't know | 2.9% | 38 |
| None of these | 2.4% | 31 |
| Please give some details | 177 | |
| answered question | 1315 | |
| skipped question | 182 | |
From Who is my neighbour? February 2014
When asked to reflect on What does it mean to be a good neighbour? In an open ended question the 1500 or so respondents produced a total of over 30,000 words. The selection below give a flavour of this discourse which arguably represents the values, aspirations and even habitus of Evangelicals in the UK today.
To be salt and light where God has placed you, at home, work, school or leisure.
To respond to those in need both near and far, as you have availability, time, gifting and contacts.
To love and serve unconditionally - showing the love of God by acts of kindness and neighbourliness, 'preaching the gospel without words'
Making yourself available to help others in need regardless of their circumstances
For me, as a born again believer literally everyone is my neighbour and I must respond to spiritual and financial needs as God leads me be this within my immediate community or further afield
.
To be a friend not just a neighbour, taking time to listen and to pray and to be thoughtful as to what you can do to bless that person. To talk openly about your faith.
To be active in the local community. To engage with neighbours and be friendly and helpful where opportunities allow. To be Christ to all you meet. To see the world through Jesus' eyes and work for a more just world. Effect change by changing the little bit of the world I can. Work with others to see more global change. Awareness of my actions upon others (esp the developing world)
To share Jesus' love with all we meet, not to judge, to be aware of other people's needs and help them if at all possible, to go the extra mile.
Good neighbour:- To want for others what you would want for yourself.
To be a good Samaritan is to identify the problem, be brave against the possible odds, seek and deliver a solution whilst still caring for my neighbour.
To reach out to people in the community. To be someone the local community looks to for help.
to be caring and loving
Something which is very difficult - I find it easier to love Jesus who is perfection as opposed to human beings who so often **** me off. I struggle with John's words that if you don't love your brother then the love of God is not in you.
It may be offering to pray for someone or even simply clearing snow from their front path before they get up or deicing their car whilst you do your own.
To live a life that reflects Christ's teaching.
Whatever I have or can give I will. Whilst I want to see people find Christ I don't want the to think that I will only be their friend if they come to church . Jesus loves unconditionally I want to known as a genuine friend.
Challenged by how much of our 'Christian service' is locked into church activities when there is so much opportunity outside of that arena for Christians to be a positive presence. Prejudice is so deeply rooted in us and is so destructive. It would be great if Christians were smattered all over the place serving those who need help, speaking for those who have no voice, and preferring the marginalised above ourselves. We are very far from this.
Social action and Evangelism are two blades of the same action - each requires the other to be effective as with scissors. But everything must be done in faith as the fruit of the Spirits indwelling
I believe it refers to a worldview that contrasts an insular, 'me first' approach prevalent in society, wherein you view yourself and the resources at your disposal (your time, your gifts, your money) as opportunities to make a positive impact on the lives of those you come into contact with.
To love everyone in the world, unconditionally. To show love in practical ways such as fighting poverty, injustice and corruption.
We need to be the 'Face of Jesus' to those hurting through unemployment, fuel/food poverty, depression, anxiety, loneliness etc.
It is no good, whatsoever, to 'hang out' with people just like us as in some sort of righteous social club, we need to get our hands and feet dirty and our hearts must break for what breaks God's heart.
All people are made in the image of God so a every individual is important. I believe that loving others (in spite of our initial feelings) is fundamental as a Christian. However, I admit that it can be VERY difficult at times. God loves us and therefore we must choose to love other (our neighbours)
Being prepared to be interrupted. Being willing to help where needed. Having a servant heart.
INTERNATIONAL INVOLVEMENT
Neighbourly social action is not confined to the neighbourhood or the country.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Are you involved personally in any of the following international activities? Please tick all that apply. | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Supporting ethical consumerism by the way you buy goods or invest money | 65% | 821 |
| Praying regularly with others for international situations or ministries (not just in church services) | 55% | 690 |
| Sponsoring a child in a less developed country | 52% | 647 |
| Taking an active part in campaigning activities on an international justice issue (eg trafficking, international debt relief, fair trade, peace and disarmament) | 38% | 474 |
| Taking an active part in campaigning and support activities for prisoners of conscience or the persecuted Church | 29% | 363 |
| Organising fundraising or educational activities for an aid agency or development charity | 24% | 306 |
| Organising fundraising or educational activities for an international mission group | 23% | 293 |
| Other (please specify) | 13.4% | 168 |
| answered question | 1257 | |
| skipped question | 240 | |
More than a quarter were planning an overseas mission trip.
| 21st Century Evangelicals February 2012 - Links with the Global Church | ||
| Are you planning in the next few years to get involved in Christian mission or aid and development activities overseas? | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| I am planning a short visit in the next couple of years | 25.7% | 259 |
| I am planning a gap year or equivalent | 0.9% | 9 |
| I am considering offering for medium or long-term Christian service overseas | 4.0% | 40 |
| None of these | 69.4% | 698 |
| Where do you hope to go? | 240 | |
| answered question | 1006 | |
| skipped question | 29 | |
Political Involvement
Evangelicals in our panel are very much engaged in politics, far more likely to vote or campaign than the average member of the public, though as our Faith in Politics report https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/faith-in-politics.cfm showed covering a wide spectrum of party preferences and concern in a wide range of social justice and personal morality issues.
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | ||
| How likely are you to vote in the next UK general election? | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Certain | 79.8% | 1557 |
| Likely | 13.8% | 270 |
| Not sure | 3.1% | 61 |
| Unlikely | 1.2% | 23 |
| Certain not to | 0.7% | 13 |
| Not eligible | 1.4% | 28 |
| answered question | 1952 | |
| skipped question | 68 | |
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | |||||
| Do you know the names of your elected representatives? | |||||
| Answer Options | Definitely | I think so | No | Not applicable | Response Count |
| MP | 83% | 8% | 8% | 0% | 100% |
| Directly elected mayor | 18% | 8% | 27% | 48% | 100% |
| Local councillor(s) | 36% | 32% | 32% | 0% | 100% |
| MSP / AM / MLA | 10% | 5% | 41% | 44% | 100% |
| MEP(s) | 13% | 17% | 70% | 1% | 100% |
| answered question | 1864 | ||||
| skipped question | 156 | ||||
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | ||
| In the last 12 months have you done any of the following to influence decisions, laws or policies? Please tick all that apply | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Voted in an election | 80.4% | 1482 |
| Created or signed an e-petition | 77.9% | 1437 |
| Contacted a local councillor or MP/MSP/Welsh Assembly Member | 56.7% | 1045 |
| Created or signed a paper petition | 39.5% | 728 |
| Boycotted certain products for political, ethical or environmental reasons | 38.9% | 717 |
| Contributed to a discussion or campaign online or on social media | 33.5% | 618 |
| Taken part in a public consultation | 29.6% | 545 |
| Taken an active part in a campaign | 27.9% | 515 |
| Donated money or paid a membership fee to a campaigning organisation | 27.2% | 502 |
| Spoken or written about a political issue within your church context | 23.0% | 425 |
| Contacted the media | 14.9% | 274 |
| Attended political meetings | 12.4% | 228 |
| Donated money or paid a membership fee to a political party | 9.1% | 167 |
| Taken part in a demonstration, picket or march | 5.8% | 107 |
| Taken part in TV or radio broadcast | 5.2% | 96 |
| None of the above | 3.5% | 65 |
| answered question | 1844 | |
| skipped question | 176 | |
| Easter Survey 2011 | ||||
|
| ||||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Unsure or Don't Know | Response Count |
| Do you plan on voting (or have your voted) in the elections and referendum on 5 May? | 91% | 5% | 5% | 100% |
| How do you plan to vote (or how did you vote) in the referendum on changing the voting system to Alternative Vote? (yes = in favour of AV) | 38% | 39% | 23% | 100% |
| answered question | 1129 | |||
| skipped question | 24 | |||
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||||
| Are the following statements true? | ||||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Not sure or don't know | Response Count |
| I always or almost always vote in elections for local councillors | 91% | 7% | 2% | 100% |
| I know the names of our local councillors | 56% | 31% | 13% | 100% |
| I think our local council on the whole does a very good job for our community | 58% | 15% | 27% | 100% |
| Our local council has a good, helpful relationship with the Christian churches in the area | 44% | 13% | 43% | 100% |
| In the last year I have contacted a local councillor or council department about a local issue | 38% | 57% | 5% | 100% |
| answered question | 1374 | |||
| skipped question | 123 | |||
Evangelicals in our panel were far more likely than average to engage in civic life in various sectors and roles... (see page 11 of the "Does Belief Touch Society Report)
https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/does-belief-touch-society.cfm
|
Easter Survey 2011 | |||
| Do you hold any of the following positions? | |||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Response Count |
| Trustee of a charity | 28% | 72% | 100% |
| Trade Union Membership | 22% | 78% | 100% |
| School governor | 10% | 90% | 100% |
| Member of a political party | 5% | 95% | 100% |
| Councillor | 1% | 99% | 100% |
| Magistrate | 1% | 99% | 100% |
| Other elected political post | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| MP | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| If "yes" to any of the above please give some details | 377 | ||
| answered question | 1070 | ||
| skipped question | 83 | ||
Evangelism - Activism
The final corner of Bebbington's four poster is activism, the expression of the gospel in effort. It can be seen as the working out of a believer's salvation via activism in mission, most commonly through personal evangelism. In the nineteenth century heyday of the movement this element was expressed in outdoor preaching and distribution of tracts, in a rash of construction of churches, chapels and mission halls, in the foundation of hundreds or even thousands of mission societies and charities and in movements for political and social reform led by evangelical celebrities such as William Wilberforce, Lord Shaftesbury, General Booth and Dr. Barnardo. Our survey data suggests that even if reduced in scale, the same spirit is alive and well in UK evangelicalism today. Evangelicals still take seriously the great commission of Matthew 28 and the second great commandment to "love your neighbour", alongside passages such as Matt 25, Galatians "remember the poor" and the manifesto of Luke 5 quoting Isaiah to bring good news to the poor.
Anna Strhan has studied ethnographically the life-worlds of conservative evangelicals in London and in this quote from
The Metropolis and Evangelical Life: coherence and fragmentation in the 'lost city of London' Religion vol. 43, no. 3., 2013 (special issue on Urban Christianities)Anna Strhan You can download it here
suggests a lack of confidence in talking about faith and a tension between verbal proclamation and the much quoted advice, (often attributed to St Francis of Assisi) "Share the Gospel -use words if you have to".
The nature of mission has however become an area of disagreement within contemporary British evangelicalism. Within the history of the evangelical movement, forms of missionary engagement with non-Christians have often extended beyond preaching the gospel to modes of philanthropy and activism on issues of social justice and humanitarianism (Bebbington 1989: 12). Although some conservative evangelicals may be involved in such activism today, there is a particular emphasis placed within contemporary British conservative evangelicalism on an understanding of mission in terms of verbal evangelism, in contrast with contemporary charismatic evangelical emphasis on both the 're-evangelisation of the nations and the trans- formation of society'.5
This was expressed in many sermons at St John's, for example, a sermon focusing on a chapter from Luke's Gospel, in which David stated that 'Christian mission is only Christian mission if it has to it verbal content.' He differentiated this from approaches other Christian groups might take: 'It's a wonderful, godly thing to care for your neighbour, to love others. But it is not Christian mission unless the gospel is being proclaimed verbally.'
Members of the group I observed talked about how they often felt embarrassed or awkward trying to talk about their faith with non Christian friends, family and colleagues. This, together with the fact the leadership of St John's felt it necessary to devise a course specifically teaching people how to speak of their faith, appears to demonstrate that despite the leadership's aim to encourage members of the church to speak about their faith outside the church, many have internalised the sense that speaking publicly about their faith is a cultural taboo.
In this paper I will draw on our survey date from the Evamgelical Alliance 21st Century Evangelicals research programme to explore these issues.
In the Baseline survey of 2011 9 out of 10 evangelicals agreed that all Christians should be actively involved in evangelism. 7 out of 10 believe this strongly.
They affirm the desire to preach the gospel to the whole of humankind. In the Religions and beliefs survey in 2016 92%. agreed or strongly agreed that Christians should invite people from other faith communities to visit their churches and 99% that Christians should share the gospel with those of other faiths.
In The world on our doorstep? - February 2012 71% strongly agreed and 27% agree that God still wants the Church in the UK to be active in world evangelisation and 62% strongly agreed and 34% agreed that there is still a lot to be done before the Great Commission is fulfilled and the gospel is proclaimed to all the nations.
In What is Evangelicalism? - Spring 2016 39% said they were completely and another 48% to some extent actively committed to spreading the gospel among you friends, colleagues, neighbours and local community. However, as the table shows there were more people completely committed to some less direct styles of sharing and promoting their faith, such as prayer, practical care for others, social action ministry and particularly in passing on faith to the next generation.
| 1846 and All That - What is Evangelicalism? - Spring 2016 | |||||
| How far would you say you are actively committed to | |||||
| Answer Options | completely | to some extent | only a little | not at all | Response Count |
| passing on the Christian faith to the next generation | 63% | 30% | 6% | 1% | 100% |
| praying and working for the growth of the Church throughout the world | 56% | 37% | 6% | 0% | 100% |
| helping other people when you see they have a practical or emotional need | 55% | 42% | 4% | 0% | 100% |
| being involved in at least one social action or social justice project | 44% | 37% | 14% | 5% | 100% |
| spreading the gospel among you friends, colleagues, neighbours and local community | 39% | 48% | 12% | 1% | 100% |
| working to achieve political change in line with Christian beliefs and values | 21% | 43% | 27% | 9% | 100% |
| answered question | 1420 | ||||
| skipped question | 64 | ||||
The table below suggests that most evangelicals take opportunities to care for non-Christians they know by listening or practical acts of kindness, that many socialise with them from time to time. However smaller numbers report they have often engaged verbally with unbelievers about faith issues, shared a testimony or invited people to outreach events or church services.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||||
| Thinking about people with whom you are in frequent face to face contact who YOU KNOW are NOT yet committed Christians - When did you last do any of the following with one (or more) of them? | ||||||
| Answer Options | Within the last week | In the period since last Easter | Less recently | Never | Don't know or can't recall | Response Count |
| Listen to someone's worries or concerns. | 57% | 34% | 7% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| Do a practical act of service or kindness for them which you hoped was a witness to Christ's love. | 43% | 42% | 11% | 1% | 2% | 100% |
| Take part in a social or cultural activity with them. | 29% | 46% | 17% | 5% | 3% | 100% |
| Become involved in a conversation about some aspect of Christian belief. | 28% | 47% | 20% | 2% | 2% | 100% |
| Feel you missed a chance to speak to them about God. | 21% | 41% | 25% | 3% | 10% | 100% |
| Recognise that God was already doing something in their life. | 18% | 36% | 28% | 7% | 11% | 100% |
| Try to answer a question about faith which they asked you. | 17% | 44% | 30% | 5% | 5% | 100% |
| Feel it was appropriate to offer to pray with or for them. | 17% | 35% | 32% | 13% | 4% | 100% |
| Share something of your testimony or explain what your faith means to you personally. | 17% | 43% | 31% | 5% | 4% | 100% |
| Use the Web, Facebook or email to share or discuss something about Christian faith with them. | 13% | 20% | 23% | 37% | 8% | 100% |
| Invite them to an event or activity (other than a church service) which was clearly a form of Christian outreach. | 9% | 31% | 42% | 14% | 5% | 100% |
| Invite them to come to a service at your church. | 7% | 30% | 43% | 16% | 3% | 100% |
| Please use this space to tell us about any recent experiences of sharing your faith with non Christians. | 264 | |||||
| answered question | 1052 | |||||
| skipped question | 61 | |||||
The next table suggests that in church life most evangelicals are keen to make visitors welcome, and to take part in regular programmes which have an element of outreach, but that specific evangelistic events or activities are relatively infrequent, or the specialist ministry of a few.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||||
| When did you last play an active part (that could be anything from leading or organising to stewarding or distributing publicity) in any of the following evangelistic outreach activities - either on behalf of your own church or organised by other Christian organisations? | ||||||
| Answer Options | Within the last month | In the period since last Christmas | Less recently | Never | Don't Know or can't recall | Response Count |
| Talking to or befriending a 'new' visitor to a Sunday service at your church. | 48% | 31% | 16% | 3% | 1% | 100% |
| An outreach event or club aimed mainly at unchurched children or young people. | 25% | 18% | 40% | 13% | 4% | 100% |
| An activity, event or meeting (other than a regular weekly worship service) aimed at attracting seekers or 'fringe' people. | 20% | 29% | 37% | 10% | 4% | 100% |
| You preached or spoke in public with an evangelistic intent. | 18% | 16% | 29% | 33% | 4% | 100% |
| Producing or distributing printed Christian literature. | 12% | 17% | 38% | 28% | 4% | 100% |
| A small group for people to explore Christian faith. | 9% | 21% | 54% | 14% | 2% | 100% |
| A broadcast or media ministry (radio, TV, internet). | 6% | 4% | 18% | 67% | 5% | 100% |
| A door to door visitation programme. | 3% | 4% | 52% | 36% | 4% | 100% |
| Other (please specify) | 72 | |||||
| answered question | 1011 | |||||
| skipped question | 102 | |||||
The next table suggests that the current culture of evangelicalism favours outreach through relationship building, youth work and social action rather than the formerly popular methods of open air preaching, mass meetings and mission campaigns.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | |||||
| Which of the following approaches are effective ways of sharing the Christian gospel today? | |||||
| Answer Options | I've seen it work effectively in the last couple of years. | I think it might be effective these days. | I don't think it is very effective these days. | Don't know or not sure. | Response Count |
| Building friendship. | 81% | 18% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| Small group work - with sharing food - as in the Alpha or Christianity Explored courses. | 76% | 23% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| Youth clubs, cafes, camps etc. | 64% | 34% | 1% | 1% | 100% |
| Faithful biblical preaching in church. | 60% | 33% | 7% | 1% | 100% |
| Social action and community involvement (such as food banks and drop ins for homeless people.) | 54% | 43% | 2% | 1% | 100% |
| Work in schools. | 48% | 47% | 3% | 3% | 100% |
| Street Pastor teams. | 46% | 46% | 3% | 5% | 100% |
| Church run events at Christian festivals such as Christmas and Easter. | 46% | 46% | 6% | 1% | 100% |
| Healings, miracles, signs and wonders. | 42% | 44% | 8% | 6% | 100% |
| Services for baptisms, weddings, funerals etc. | 36% | 47% | 14% | 4% | 100% |
| CAP Money Courses and Debt advice work. | 34% | 53% | 3% | 10% | 100% |
| Messy Church sessions. | 29% | 46% | 6% | 20% | 100% |
| Local church-based mission weeks. | 27% | 49% | 18% | 6% | 100% |
| TV, radio and the mass media. | 18% | 57% | 16% | 9% | 100% |
| Mass meeting evangelism. | 18% | 41% | 35% | 6% | 100% |
| Taking part in current public debates about religion, different faiths, and atheism. | 17% | 57% | 17% | 9% | 100% |
| Social networking via the internet. | 16% | 58% | 6% | 20% | 100% |
| Open air preaching. | 9% | 29% | 56% | 7% | 100% |
| Please write in your comments about this section if you wish. | 90 | ||||
| answered question | 1003 | ||||
| skipped question | 110 | ||||
The Table below suggests the main hindrances to personal evangelism are seen as apathy to the gospel among non-christians (stony ground to use Christ's own metaphor), and a lack of confidence to speak or in knowing what to say or how to say it.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||
| To what extent do each of the following factors hinder you personally from talking about your faith with non Christians? | ||||
| Answer Options | To a great extent | To some extent | Not at all | Response Count |
| None of my non Christian contacts seem interested in talking about spiritual things. | 13% | 60% | 26% | 100% |
| I feel I can share the gospel well enough without needing to use words. | 5% | 51% | 44% | 100% |
| The devil always seems to prevent me from sharing the gospel. | 2% | 47% | 52% | 100% |
| I am just too scared to talk about my faith with non Christians. | 6% | 41% | 53% | 100% |
| I don't feel very well equipped or trained to share my faith, so don't know what to say. | 5% | 36% | 59% | 100% |
| I'm not really very motivated to share my faith. | 3% | 35% | 62% | 100% |
| I don't come into contact with many non Christians. | 9% | 34% | 57% | 100% |
| I feel evangelism is a special gift which God has given to some people but not to me. | 3% | 32% | 65% | 100% |
| My church doesn't support or encourage me to evangelise. | 3% | 17% | 80% | 100% |
| answered question | 1006 | |||
| skipped question | 107 | |||
We also asked Has your church in the last two years put on a training course or session to help people gain confidence and skill in communicating the gospel? 23% replied Yes - and I attended, 17% Yes - but I didn't take part, 50% No and 10% Don't Know.
The next table relates to perceptions of cultural factors which may hinder evangelism. They include a wide range of church internal as well as external factors which are thought to play apart by the majority of respondents. The one suggested factor which was largely dismissed was that there is too much emphasis on social action.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | |
| What do you think are factors in British culture today that hinder people responding to the gospel? |
|
| A very important factor | A significant factor | Not really an important factor | It is not the case | VI + Sig |
| With all the leisure (and work) alternatives on offer, most people don't want to be in church on a Sunday. | 37% | 52% | 10% | 1% | 89% |
| Christians don't pray enough for revival. | 28% | 61% | 8% | 4% | 88% |
| The unattractive public image of the church and its leaders. | 32% | 54% | 12% | 1% | 86% |
| The multi-faith environment means that people are uneasy about saying that Jesus is the only way. | 28% | 57% | 12% | 3% | 86% |
| Most Christians in Britain lack confidence in talking about their personal testimony. | 33% | 45% | 15% | 7% | 78% |
| Some of the ways preachers and evangelists talk about Jesus make people cringe. | 24% | 53% | 21% | 2% | 77% |
| It is very hard for a church with a middle class ethos to communicate the gospel effectively to working class and less affluent people. | 19% | 54% | 22% | 5% | 73% |
| It's becoming more difficult for Christians to speak freely about what they believe. | 14% | 54% | 27% | 5% | 68% |
| People don't want to join formal organisations such as churches. | 18% | 44% | 30% | 8% | 62% |
| People reject Jesus because the church has such narrow condemnatory views on sex. | 12% | 49% | 32% | 8% | 61% |
| Christians aren't able to give easy answers to the problem of suffering. | 11% | 49% | 34% | 6% | 60% |
| It is hard to convince people about Christianity because of what they have learned about science. | 8% | 52% | 34% | 6% | 60% |
| The attacks of atheists like Richard Dawkins. | 8% | 43% | 44% | 6% | 50% |
| Many churches and organisations are placing too much emphasis on social action. | 4% | 20% | 48% | 28% | 24% |
| Please feel free to write in any other factors you think are important | 125 | ||||
| answered question | 995 | ||||
| skipped question | 118 | ||||
Of the hundreds of comments on this question a large number focussed on the failings and weaknesses of the church. Some perceive the church as indistinct from "worldly" society, as divided, inward looking and apparently hypocritical.
We do not appear to be very different from non-Christians - they don't see Jesus working in the lives of Christians in significant ways.
The church is often too distinctive in culture and language and not distinctive enough in living differently - people in church are likely to be nice to each other but not likely to look like a radically different community sharing what they have, loving each other powerfully, and free from the anxieties and delusions of the society around them.
It is the attitudes and behaviour that put people off Christianity more than anything else. However successful evangelism strategy is, if Christians are perceived to be unloving, judgemental and quarrelsome it will not be effective. Conversely Christlike behaviour even in the absence of direct evangelism will always attract people to the faith.
The biggest challenge facing those in the Methodist church we have recently joined based in prior experience of being in a free evangelical church is that people use church as a social club and whole life Christian Living is not taught or lived out.
Jesus is a stumbling block and many eyes are blinded to His beauty. It's God's job to remove the scales but we could help by not fighting so much amongst ourselves. Although I agree completely on the sanctity of marriage and heterosexuality I was heartbroken to see Christians on main-time television reviling each other. I also think that people no longer believe that sin is wrong or any sort of problem; so why do we need a Saviour if we're perfectly good in ourselves? Conversely because the view that you have to be 'good' to get to heaven non-Christians see us as being smug and self-righteous unless they bother to listen to and engage with the truth.
The emphasis in many churches that I have been in seems to be on looking after the sheep that are here, rather than equipping them to be witnesses - in other words the church is still inclined to be too inward looking.
I agree with Gandhi - your Christ I like - your Christians I do not like!
Others were conscious that the Church often comes across as narrow and judgemental, especially on issues of sexuality and gender, and has been tainted by association with American right wing fundamentalists.
I think the point about people rejecting Jesus because the church has such narrow condemnatory views on sex is true. I think for too long the church has been predominantly known for what it is against rather than what it is for and I think this is a huge problem and not representative of a Jesus who dined with sinners and those deemed unacceptable by society.
...the church appears to them to have such narrow condemnatory views on sex'. The church has to stand where its stands on sexual issues, but the 1960s counter-culture was so successful in changing public attitudes that this is a gospel handicap for us. And sex is such a powerful factor that the cost of becoming and staying a Christian is much too high for many.
We have become side-tracked by issues of women in leadership and homosexuality, which are not pressing issues for non-Christians.
My environmentalist friends hate the American Right and think they are representative of all Christians. I also believe that the vocal adherence of some Christians to Creationism (which is not central to faith) puts a lot of people off.
I frequently talk with people who have found it hard to follow Jesus because the "bar" for conversion is set unreasonably high: e.g. their Christian friends imply that to follow Jesus it is essential that they accept the infallibility of Scripture, 6 day creation, other faiths going to hell, penal substitution, the virgin conception of Jesus. While things are (largely!) good and helpful, hesitation over them should not - in my view - be an obstacle to real faith.
I am passionate about evangelism but often find evangelists are very white male, often misogynist and without compassion (one of the driving forces of Jesus' ministry...so the
Bible tells us!). Many older people have no idea about the world inhabited by the "missing generation".
I get fed up when I meet someone who does not yet follow Christ that the last believer they met built a wall instead of a bridge by demonstrating bigotry, prejudice etc.
I believe evangelism starts at home, it needs community and relationships. I do not believe bible bashing is the way to go and it gives Christianity a bad reputation and name because people don't like being told what to believe.
Several respondents suggested that they or the church is very much out of touch with the culture and life worlds of ordinary un-churched people. In some cases this was because they spent the vast majority of their time in Christian networks so that they had few contacts among non-Christians.
The majority of people in the church - and particularly the ministers are out of touch with people in the "real world" today. They are stuck in the mindset of getting people into church rather than going out into the world to meet people where they are. Those of us in the church who want to get out there feel discouraged and unsupported by the hierarchy so it doesn't happen.
I work for a Christian organisation, moved to a new place for the job, and find work, family and childcare take up all my time, so I know very few non-Christians these days when I used to know lots.
I work in a Christian school and have few non-Christian work colleagues. I am also so busy with work, family and church that I don't find time to interact with non-Christians in a social setting. I hope to correct his when my family have grown and I am less busy with work.
I have work for a Christian organisation for the last 5 years, so have been a group leader in both Alpha and Christianity Explored in order to meet non-Christians. However, the way it turned out, there were no non-Christians in the groups I led, although I did have conversations with some of the non-Christians in other groups, but more getting-to-know-you than evangelistic..
I see my main area of service as the workplace where I have regular contact with 200 unsaved. My church doesn't compute that in it's thinking.
I like the idea of evangelism, but apart from work colleagues, I have little or no contact with non-Christians. My work colleagues know I am a Christian, and out of a staff of, say, 30, 3 of them are regular church attenders with a further 2 or 3 who would say they are Christians. The majority see 'religion' or 'church' as irrelevant to their lives. Opportunities sometimes arise for a discussion on spiritual subjects, but time for these is limited at work.
Many churches are irrelevant to people. They often use language people do not understand and since more and more people are not being brought up to go to church it simply is not something which matters to them.
The current styles of worship in many churches do not attract people. On Sundays, people in church can be so busy talking to each other that newcomers get overlooked. Fresh expressions of church, which form a deeper part of the community seem more likely to have an impact.
I feel I have a strong personal relationship with Jesus and I am very happy to talk about my faith. I have difficulty, though, with the thought of inviting anybody to attend church. It doesn't often do anything for me! I am closer to him at home and in my everyday life.
Most of us from Africa find it challenging to introduce Jesus to the white community the way it will matter to them.
I'm a firm believer in a Mother Teresa approach of "A life not lived for others is not a life." So I think it is unlikely that churches are placing too much emphasis on social action. Obviously there needs to be a balance of other important factors such as prayer, worship, teaching, discipleship etc...However I think a greater problem could be churches placing too much emphasis on teaching, preaching, "evangelism"....many can talk the talk, but can we walk the walk and that means loving Jesus and loving our neighbour with every bit of us
In contrast there were comments which suggested that the church was unclear and woolly rather than robustly presenting Gospel truth or even concerned about evangelism
In many churches, the Gospel message isn't preached clearly. I spent 12 years in the church, mostly Anglican, without understanding that Jesus died to pay for my sins and without being taught about needing to repent and to be born again.
As an evangelical, my wife and I are out on a limb in our church apart from our Minister who is as committed as we are to evangelism.
… I have been struck by how much my church talks about, funds and sends people to remote missions (regionally and internationally), but how most of what we do locally is social outreach or socialising, with little or no direct communication of the Gospel.
The church needs to read and believe the Holy Bible and not to be ashamed of what the Gospel and the Old Testament say about the character of God, faith and salvation
… we are very sad for our Church of Scotland here. We have attended for seven years, and prayed for a revival of faith, but most of the influential people do not seem to be willing or wanting it at the moment. We are the last people under 50, and we are leaving in a month when we move away and begin attending the evangelical church. Please pray for the Church of Scotland.
English culture is very non-confrontational, there's a great emphasis on being nice and polite and tactful, and challenging people doesn't come naturally to people here. (I'm not English, I just live here.)
The confused messages coming from organisations such as the Anglican church and the Archbishop of Canterbury that leave people with completely the wrong idea about Christianity.
Many are confused as to what the gospel is, in the context of evangelism, so false gospels grow in popularity. "Jesus loves you" is not the gospel, and we are afraid to mention sin and repentance, in case we offend people.
We had a Vicar for 29 years. I'm not sure he had a bible. The church has an attendance of mostly over 60's who regard formal church attendance as their way to Heaven. We have a new younger Vicar who is evangelical in belief but has taken on the formal high church style and we are praying that he will see that this will not result in younger attendance or conversions.
I think one thing that is causing significant growth in US churches is neo-calvinism (or reformed theology). This is forcing the explicit message of the Gospel to be preached and believed. Whether we agree with that line of theology - we have to agree that explicit proclamation of the Gospel message, whether on a stage or in a kitchen, is a vital ingredient of our witness. Without this our evangelism has no power - our efforts lose their sting.
My church is in the centre of a city and lead by pastors no older than 35. It is a young congregation of about 200 with a big emphasis on the Kingdom of God and over the past few years a number of Alpha courses have been run and seen a significant number of people come to faith. However, their is a large divide in doctrinal beliefs. A large percentage of "believers" do not believe in Hell, struggle to read the Bible and frankly are no different to what have been called "universalists" in centuries gone by. Modern evangelicalism, in my view, has been significantly effected by this doctrine. Hence, often outreach (in many churches that I've attended) has become more about "reaching out to people with God's love" with practical help so that they join our community in the hope that they might know God's love. There - as far as I'm aware - has never been any direct proclamation of the need to be born again in our church.
About six years ago I felt a call to return to church and as my wife's church had closed down we went to our local Church of Scotland. This was a disaster as we realised we had joined a liberal same sex supporting church. We recently moved to another Church of Scotland fifteen miles away and we now enjoy teaching, fellowship, training and sound gospel preaching every week. We travel around one hundred miles each week to attend church.
A couple of respondents reflected theologically about their own views of salvation and mission or their personal gifting.
For myself, it's about not wanting to put people off, and feeling hindered by a culture that makes it unacceptable to say that Jesus is The Way. On deeper reflection, the issue is: do I really believe that people will go to hell if they don't believe in Jesus? I find it hard to think that God would condemn people who are loving and follow another faith or none at all, after all he loved the world so much he gave his only son...so there is a tussle in my mind between what I think I ought to believe and what I feel is the wideness of God's love.
We also need to think carefully about our missiology - what place of Chaplains (like me) who are not to proselytize...how do we square this with the mission heart of God? Is God's mission purely about conversion? Or might he also care for justice, peace, care for the environment? Is it specific or general grace?
I was put off doing evangelism by my experiences as a student when I was effectively told I had to do it, and failed miserably in my attempts. I left my previous church because the new senior pastor was interested only in evangelism - I was not interested in being less than half a Christian. I would like to be as much of a Christian as I can be by God's help and grace - and that means being the person God wants me to be, using the gifts He has given me for His purposes, and not trying, and failing, to be what He has not made me to be for Him.
I recall from somewhere that typically 1 in 10 have the gift of evangelism. We are all witnesses, but not all of us are evangelists. The church has failed to make the distinction clear, and the results are either poor evangelism and/or being made to feel guilty because you don't or can't evangelise with obvious results.
A few felt that the church was weak and ineffective because it lacked miraculous power and/or prayer.
Not enough of the New Testament pattern of demonstrating the power of the gospel by healing and dealing with evil spirits.
Churches need to move in the power of The Holy Spirit more; Jesus shared the Kingdom of God using words, but also acts of power demonstrating what He was preaching (for instance, forgiving the paralysed man's sins, then demonstrating His authority to do that with a physical healing). If The Church was more powerful, and demonstrated the kindness of God in this and many other ways, we'd see an increase in people coming to Jesus. The churches that are doing so are testimony of this.
The local church in general has no confidence to heal the sick, or to teach on it. So believers have to plough their own furrow as I had to do. No teaching means no faith to see healing in congregations or on the street amongst unbelievers.. This is tragic, considering Jesus commissioned the 12 and the 70 to "preach the gospel and heal the sick". The gospel is "show and tell", but we neuter it when we make it a "tell" gospel only.
The church doesn't pray enough. Our church has a 1 hour prayer meeting once a month. When I invite people to join me in praying from 10pm to 2am in a church that is open as outreach for clubbers, too many of them refuse. (But a growing group join me!).
Members of the church have made themselves vulnerable by inviting people to events despite their fear of rejection and or embarrassment but the difficult thing to do is to get people to commit to prayer. I feel if we had the prayer life of the church more active these other aspects would be more transparent and successful.
Referring to …. revival, it is not the quantity of prayer that matters but that we do not pray earnestly or believingly enough. (1 John 5:15)
Others felt they and other Christians lacked conviction and confidence in the Gospel or enthusiasm to share it..
I think some atheists express themselves a lot better than many Christians do- possibly through lack of confidence or conviction on our part.
Individual Christians are just a bit too shy and reserved to talk about our faith as much as we could, even when the people we're talking to would not be hostile or would be actively interested.
One key concern is I think Christians have lost confidence in sharing the gospel.
I am a passionate evangelist. I'm not sure there are many others in my church, and I don't really feel supported in the role. My denomination offers no training or route to take evangelism except for urban/social action routes. I think there is definitely a reluctance for Christians to tell people about Jesus.
I generally find talking about church and the social activities associated with it, and about "religion" much easier than about Jesus / God / the Holy Spirit and my personal relationship / encounters with them.
While I definitely describe myself and my faith as Evangelical Christian, I lack confidence to witness to that faith outside of the church environment. This is particularly true at work where the atmosphere and ethos is not receptive to issues of faith.
Christians need to urgently re-discover their voices and start talking to people about Jesus in everyday conversation.
Amongst evangelical Christians there seems to be a comfort culture where they are content to go to church on Sunday and maybe a midweek but otherwise have no real involvement in sharing their faith or in active outreach work
I do think evangelism is hugely important but I'm too scared or lazy to do anything about it. The closest I get is that I do take opportunities to let people at work know I'm a Christian
My husband and I move in academic circles and we think people are more spiritually open now than they were 20 years ago. Dawkins is not that much of a threat. I think people are more open than many Christians realise, but we have lost confidence and expectancy and have stopped taking risks. As a minister in training I feel people need to recover their passion for Jesus and their confidence in his ability to transform their lives and the lives of others.
I have confidence in speaking about my faith in public, but less confidence in talking to non Christian friends or family about faith - they don't seem interested and I fear alienating them all together by being too direct. I believe I need a greater sense of urgency, and a bigger understanding of God's love, to motivate me to share my faith more boldly.
The church I now attend is a rather dead rural church. Sadly I think our Vicar is rather burned out after many years of Parish ministry and many of our regular members are terrified of the concept of evangelism - not an uncommon situation in a rural parish!
I would love to do more evangelism/stuff that would make Christianity more accessible but others at church seem to think it's all about maintaining the building & fund raising etc. There is no ethos of evangelism or encouragement from the leadership. We do support financially a Trust which employs youth workers to go in the local schools
We need a Gospel revival. And whilst we're there, boldness too.
Maybe we are more evangelical than overtly evangelistic!
A few comments affirmed social action but usually felt it needed to be carried out alongside verbal witness and proclamation.
I think you can never place too much focus on social action, the church is there to change the world it lives in with Jesus love, giving hope, love and safety to those who have non. We should prepared to serve the communities we live in and make "God's Kingdom come" now in the world we live in and actively change our world and make it a better place.
Social action with the gospel is powerful and scriptural - the essence of the gospel, but without the gospel, it is merely helping people on earth who will then go to a lost eternity.
Social action demonstrates the truth of what we preach and touches lives.
I worry quite a lot that Christians feel browbeaten and reluctant to share their faith, or if they do, are terribly apologetic. Some are losing confidence in the Gospel I feel, and although I run a social action ministry, being 'nice' is not enough. Preaching in some form is still needed. There is also still a real issue in getting Christians to meet non-believers despite the proliferation of social action ministries..
I think the most important aspect to evangelism is that our lives match up to our words and that we demonstrate this through unconditional love. I admit that I struggle to articulate this in words at times, but serving our local community (not necessarily geographical) is a great way to share our faith.
Evangelism and Social Action are too often separated when they are like the actions of a wave - the wave moves in and out, but it is its overall action which creates the landscape.
In contrast there were a roughly equal number of comments discussing the factors external to the church. Some respondents felt there was a hostile environment in many workplaces which prevented Christians from sharing their faith with colleagues or "customers".
The perception of restrictions on sharing the Gospel make people uneasy and nervous about bearing witness, offering to pray etc, combined with employers (misplaced) belief that to share the Gospel is inappropriate in the workplace.
I work within the NHS and I feel very concerned about witnessing at work to colleagues and patients because I'm afraid I will offend someone and lose my job. I don't think there is freedom of speech any more.
I feel strongly that the "state" does not promote the Christian faith and in the case of young people positively discriminates against it as per the example given. What gives the state, this example is social services, the right to remove a child from their chosen faith when taken into the care system, they are allowed to do this to a Christian but would they be allowed to do it if it was a Muslim Child ?
My public sector employer has banned the public witness of faith - a stricture which I routinely break. The main enemies of the gospel are public sector managers and the media.
My work is in a further education college so I'm not allowed to openly evangelize however I do talk openly to my colleagues and students. I've found that they are all respectful and in the last couple of years have offered to pray for different situations that people have talked to me about and I've even been asked to pray for others.
However in contrast is this comment
I work for a mental health charity with colleagues from any faiths so we are able to have open and positive discussions about faith. I have recently taken 2 colleagues to our Alpha course and one has recently come to faith. a couple of service users have also attended church and come on an occasional basis
A couple mentioned the idea that secularisation has relegated religion to the private sphere rendering faith as little more than a preferred weekend hobby.
The sacred/ secular divide causes people people to doubt they can be effective in the places where they work or have social contacts
I believe many non-Christians see Christianity as an optional extra in their lives therefore as it's not necessary they have better things to do.
We too often use Greek ways of though segregating all areas of our faith into neat little boxes. This is not the holistic Hebraic way of thinking. Let there be no more boxes. Let us be missional in every aspect of our lives.
Unbelievers' perceptions of Christians, popularised by the mass media was also mentioned as a hindrance.
Some non-Christians seem to believe that Christians are all hypocrites
Many of the problems seem to be about the voice of Christians themselves being misrepresented in the media (as they are). However this is not new (there were all sorts of strange rumours about early Christians and the church still grew). It might be more about a lack of thirst for Jesus amongst us western Christians ourselves, not wanting our comfort to be too disturbed, and compromising with a watered-down Christianity.
Another powerful factor is the world-view or climate created by the TV, the press, entertainers and education.
I rail at the TV when it gives a false portrayal of Christianity but never know what I can do about it without turning into a half-crazed evangelical lobbyist (other than live out my life as a natural counterpoint)!
Finally there were a set of comments which suggested that "worldly" people were either poorly informed, uninterested, seduced by materialism or had rejected the truth.
Many people just don't know enough about God, the Bible and Jesus to be able to make a meaningful decision.
I work with young people and there is no longer a default knowledge of Christian truth. We need to communicate the Christian story a a much more basic level than in the past. We also need to to teach wise use of scripture i.e. Genesis 1 as poetry not claim scientific truth hidden in ancient writing.
Most non-Christians simply do not feel the need to be forgiven. The lack of old fashioned Religious Education in schools in recent decades has resulted in widespread ignorance of the Bible making it more difficult to find a starting point to talk about God.
I'm happy to talk to any body who will listen to my beliefs in Jesus, I just find that most people 'glaze over' when he is mentioned, or they change the subject.
Materialist society means people feel they don't need God
The UK culture is one that says 'you can have it all - if you have enough money' - this is often seen as a more attractive option,
People resist anything which might dictate the way they live their lives - freedom of choice has become a god above most others - people don't want to be 'told' what to do with their time, money or anything else.
We have a lot of bridge building activities but when we try and take things to the next step people do not seem interested. Committed to anything, let alone Jesus, seems to be lacking in our society today.
As a retired person, I don't have as many contacts as I once had. Contacts with neighbours are good but they tend to keep clear of 'religion' as a topic because I have talked with them in the past about being a Christian. Any time the opportunity arises they have listened and we remain friends.
Cultural rejection of idea of truth means people aren't even asking whether Jesus is truly God any more - they don't think it's possible to know the truth about God, so they're not interested in a group of people who say that they know the only true way to Him. Postmodernism in action.
I think people are becoming less willing, or think they are too busy, to listen to the Christian message. Between 1984 and 1989 I invited six non-Christian friends to attend evangelistic events; all said yes. In the 23 years since then I have invited five non-Christian friends to similar events; all have said no. I am perhaps unfairly comparing my student days and my time back then in a small, community-minded northern town with a modern city further south, and its busier lifestyles.
We are fighting on other people's terms too often e.g. the new atheists agenda, which leads us to irrelevant battles. I am not a Christian because I can't explain the world without some reference to a deity; I am a Christian because God revealed Himself to me in Jesus.
And the opposite
People like Richard Dawkins have a disproportionate effect.
We need to show people the questions to ask of the New atheists
Evangelism and the Local Church
Church leaders evangelism survey
There is further data on evangelism in a Evangelical Alliance survey of some 400 church leaders carried out in January 2016. The Table below suggests that there is a lot of talk and prayer about evangelism, some encouragement and training but only marginal success.
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Response Count |
| In our teaching as a church we regularly talk about the need to evangelise | 26% | 51% | 15% | 7% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church often prays together for people to come to faith | 25% | 43% | 15% | 14% | 3% | 100% |
| When you look at the activities our church is involved in, evangelism is clearly one of our priorities | 19% | 48% | 17% | 12% | 3% | 100% |
| Our congregation expects to see people coming to faith and joining the church | 19% | 47% | 22% | 9% | 2% | 100% |
| Evangelism has definitely become a higher priority for our church in the last few years | 17% | 37% | 29% | 15% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church values people with the gift of evangelism and seeks to use and develop their gifts | 15% | 48% | 27% | 9% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church regularly gives people practical tips and suggestions of how to share their faith | 9% | 44% | 27% | 16% | 3% | 100% |
| We often share testimonies in our church of people coming to faith or encountering God for the first time | 7% | 29% | 26% | 30% | 7% | 100% |
| Our church has seen many people come to faith over the last few years | 5% | 23% | 29% | 35% | 9% | 100% |
| We often have non-Christians dropping in to ask for prayer/about issues related to faith | 4% | 25% | 31% | 31% | 8% | 100% |
| Our church focuses on individual evangelism rather than doing evangelistic activities together | 4% | 30% | 38% | 24% | 4% | 100% |
| Our evangelism as a church is done through occasional events rather than anything regular | 4% | 32% | 22% | 35% | 7% | 100% |
| We don't do any evangelism together as a church | 4% | 10% | 11% | 45% | 30% | 100% |
| A new convert has come to our church, but we haven't known how to nurture and retain them successfully | 1% | 13% | 17% | 50% | 19% | 100% |
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| answered question | 404 | |||||
| skipped question | 23 | |||||
The table below suggests many church leaders perceive that their congregations (and sometimes themselves) are often hesitant to communicate their faith to unbelievers in words. 60% agree that members seem more happy to volunteer for social action than direct evangelism.
| How far do you agree... ? | ||||||
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Response Count |
| I personally find I am comfortable talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 19% | 52% | 19% | 9% | 1% | 100% |
| I personally have many non-Christian friends | 14% | 27% | 27% | 27% | 5% | 100% |
| People in our church are much more likely to volunteer for social action projects rather than evangelism | 13% | 47% | 32% | 8% | 1% | 100% |
| People in our church seem happy to show God's love in actions, but hesitant or unsure how to speak to people directly about Jesus | 12% | 50% | 25% | 12% | 1% | 100% |
| I suspect people in my church are afraid of causing offence when talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 6% | 46% | 27% | 17% | 4% | 100% |
| People in our church don't seem to have many non-Christian friends | 2% | 21% | 37% | 34% | 6% | 100% |
| People in our church are confident to share their faith story with others | 2% | 32% | 40% | 21% | 4% | 100% |
| I personally am sometimes afraid of causing offence when talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 2% | 30% | 21% | 35% | 13% | 100% |
| I think people in my church are comfortable talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 2% | 30% | 43% | 21% | 4% | 100% |
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| answered question | 393 | |||||
| skipped question | 34 | |||||
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The table below suggests church leaders express encouragement but that much of this is rationalised as planting seeds and building community relationships rather than reaping a gospel harvest.
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| How would you describe your church's approach to evangelism at the current time?Please tick all that apply | ||
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Response Percent | Response Count |
| We are encouraged to continue in our efforts | 68.3% | 248 |
| We are able to build relationships with people in our community, but we find that it's hard to take the next step and share our faith with them | 51.2% | 186 |
| We've been really encouraged as we've seen people come to faith | 43.8% | 159 |
| Although we've not seen anyone come to faith, we are encouraged that we've planted seeds | 43.5% | 158 |
| Lots of people in the church are involved | 36.4% | 132 |
| We've been discouraged that no one seemed to come to faith | 12.4% | 45 |
| We've been discouraged and considered giving up | 2.5% | 9 |
| answered question | 363 | |
| skipped question | 64 | |
CHURCH PROGRAMMES FOR EVANGELISM
Drawing from hundreds of extended comments from the two surveys about programmes and activities in the respondents churches the section below illustrates what is currently happening in churches attended by evangelicals in the UK
By far the largest number of comments talked about outreach activities aimed at local communities, the large majority of which could be described as Christian social action, though in some cases putting this into practice or gaining an evangelism dividend appeared to be a struggle.
As a church we are very involved in the local community, mainly through youth work, but struggle to get people to engage beyond the service they are using.
the church needs to get out and serve the community and cater for their needs! sadly our church apart from employing me to serve the youth and children in the village which has been a privilege and blessing, doesn't really do community events! partly to do with the church building and lack of space!
I am now retired and work with my wife in our church - we have found that we are a small church with specific social needs and God wants us to get alongside people with those needs and help them to experience Jesus carry them through their problems, to sope with them and deal with them and heal them. Our work is very practical - street cleaning, providing meals, tea and toast for youngsters on the streets in winter. Our ministry is more 'work-based' than 'word-based' and God has been good to us. But we are learning that we need to be humble and accept that He has called us to do small things well rather than try to do big things which may be appropriate in bigger churches.
I attend a church with many different races and cultures, with frequently first generation immigrants. A large number work long hours in poorly paid jobs, or have young children to care for, making church activities difficult to attend. Evangelism is not centred on the building, but via friendships, Street Pastors, Food Bank, and community involvement. The building is a converted factory (rented from a Muslim) in a predominantly ethnic semi-commercial area, there are two Muslim places of worship, and two other Christian churches within 150 yards – challenging!
I attend a large church. An opportunity to respond to the Gospel is given at the end of every service and people frequently respond. There is an expectation that people will extend a warm welcome to anyone that comes to the church and there is an ongoing programme of outreach to the local community. In addition I prayer walk in my neighbourhood, I'm a school governor, I run a prayer group at work, I organise community events (eg street parties) and these are all out of a desire to build relationships and change the spiritual climate with a view to sharing the Gospel.
I think it would be good for believers to live and go to church in 1 community rather than commuting to church elsewhere. This way the church can be involved in the community and non believers can see the witness of believers in their everyday lives. (I'm not doing this yet but it's my plan to move to a more multi-ethnic community to witness to people from other cultures/religions.
Most evangelicals have deserted inner city areas like ours so the church is weak and the traditional church presence is not attractive or effective to most local residents, who are reluctant or lack capacity to commit to any organisation. Most of them however do believe in God though with little understanding of Christian faith... We need to develop long term presence and engagement and fresh expressions of church life and discipling.. The Eden Network approach seems very promising... though a long hard slog ... Nonetheless there are signs that God is at work.
My church works hard on community engagement, social action and building relationships; Sunday morning services are just a fraction of what we do over the week/year. Personally involved in leading a youth club (mainly unchurched young people) and planning/executing community events (fun days, social action, etc.).
Our church is very much geared to social justice and we see lots of conversions from working with the poor, refugees, CAP, prisoners, prostitutes. We also seem to have a number of doctors and young families! But in terms of middle class evangelism to those outside that I'm not sure we that good at it!
Our church is very out-going. We are very active in our community, having Street Pastors, Healing On The Streets and have just completed a week's youth activity in our local park, where we had in excess of 150 children per day.
Our church runs social action programmes - food bank etc coffee shop. As yet we have not reaped great results but we are getting more known in the community. We are starting small to do things well
Run many regular activities for non-church members eg coffee shop, Mum's and tots group, young people's groups, winter warmth, bowls for older people
Social action: believe this is vitally important for the church to share Jesus, but feel we are sometimes so focussed on the action that we can forget to share the reason for the action! Also, so many non Christian organisations doing social action stuff out there- how are we different?
There are activities on offer for all ages throughout the week as well as at the weekend. Our Director of Mission regularly holds large outreach events such as a Family Fun Day, Meal and Cabaret Nights and also we hold Cafe Church in Costa every month. There are many children's and young people's activities too which bring children and youth from outside the church too. Our Sunday services are geared to be 'user friendly' for everyone too. A great place to be part of!
We are actively encouraged to build friendship evangelism, rather than through events, although we do a lot of social events e.g. harvest suppers, watch Football etc., to invite people to.
We are in a town of 8500. Three main churches get on really well together and we share in events. eg. The Passion (play) attracted 3000 to the market Square to see the Easter events enacted in modern style with modern music. great press and radio coverage. also joint Holiday Clubs, Open air witness at local festival
We run a food-bank which has proved a fantastic way of showing people the love of God and brought several to faith because they wanted to find out why our volunteers loved Jesus and them so much.
we run many outreach activities: toddler group, children's club, two youth clubs, free lunch club, holiday club (just finished) for over 120 kids etc.
We're running a night shelter for destitute immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers here at our church over the summer whilst the usual facility in the city is closed. I was privileged to listen to two volunteers sharing their faith with a client a couple of nights ago. Neither of them for one moment would consider themselves to be an evangelist, but that was REAL evangelism and I know that God will bless it although ….they were mandated to do it (at the human, relational level) by the consistent service that they have given to that individual and his fellows since we started
There were several examples of outreach activities aimed at particular sections, or age groups of the community such as families (where Messy Church is popular), children, youth or older people..
I take services twice monthly at our local old people's and dementia homes. With a team we have held a "Holiday at Home" for the elderly.
we've recently started a monthly cafe church at Costas for 18-35year olds - attracting approx 60 people approx half are guests and not likely to be Christians. Our recently started quarterly Saturday 'Messy Church' attracts 200 - mainly parents from our mums and tots group who are currently not church attenders - many are of Hindu background.
The church I attend has a vibrant youth work and has recently appointed a Seniors Pastor which fits in with our vision to reach the older members of the local community.
We hold a weekly children's after school group and a weekly youth group - most of the children and young people who come are NOT from Christian homes;
Very active youth work, run Messy Church regularly and seek to reach parents / carers of the young people
There is a team in our Deanery who do puppet assemblies in schools
Much of our church evangelism is done through the children's work and music groups.
The ALPHA course programme was mentioned about 20 times, mostly favourably.
The most effective evangelism in the last decade has been the Alpha course
We do run an Alpha Course once a year, and this is bringing in a steady stream of new members.
We aim to run Alphas (usually small home based ones now) regularly and to put on larger whole church (sowing 1-type) events every term to give opportunity for folk to invite their friends to a quality non cringy event to help them get to know other Christians. We're not so strong on the 'reaping' end yet!...but have effectively discipled the ones and twos who've been coming through.
Our Church runs the START and Alpha courses once a year, and co-runs friendship events for our Muslim neighbours.
Our village church is firmly rooted in the community so evangelism takes place all the time by individuals and especially through Alpha and relationships with non Christian friends .
Alpha and Youth Alpha have been very successful and our minister 'sticks to his guns' by insisting that a person has to do the Alpha Course if they want to marry or be baptised in the church.
A minority of churches have developed healing ministry as a form of outreach or evangelism.
I've been involved in Healing Rooms and Light and Life for two and a half years. These are by far the most effective form of evangelism that I have encountered.
Our Church does Healing on The Streets,
We went out on Streets of Glasgow for two hours a week to engage with the public and share the gospel/ pray with them/invite them to church, I have also worked with Abused women, in Destiny Lifeline, most of whom are unsaved when they come to the group, and the poor/immigrants in Destiny Angels Drop-in, where we have a monthly healing meeting where between 3 - 6 respond to invitation to salvation monthly.
Only a few people mentioned specific current evangelistic campaigns or missions
We are about to hold a week of mission with local Anglican churches
Mostly involved with evangelism via a mission organisation, approx one week a year
Some responses attended particular forms of church, from Cathedrals to new expressions of church, where evangelism was important but took appropriate local forms.
I worship at a cathedral. I make sure there are gospels, Christian literature for visitors to take away, and always an exhibition which might inspire people towards God, on display. We get lots of responsive comments from one off tourists.
As I'm attending a cathedral, the remit of our body of believers is some what different to any other c of e church I've previous attended. The public pour into the Minster to see it and we have teams on hand every day to pray with any visitor who wants and needs it. How many people come to Christ through this I don't know.
We are very aware that during any one morning service up to 10% could be visitors. We look for opportunities all the time to move along side those seeking.
Our church has formed three church plants in the last 5 years and the total attendance in about 250 people. People want to worship near where they live
we are in a small plant out church , The bigger church in the city has alpha courses and more organised outreach activities which we sometimes join in with.
We are a new church plant (20-25 people), experimenting with 'missional communities' seeking to develop relationships with different local, ethnic or interest groups. We see mission as integral to our daily and community life, not as a separate programme or event. We have contacts with a range of non-believers from differing cultures but it is early days....
We are a new expression of church which had been in operation for only 4 years and works out of a school. We began having brunches once a month and still have ten twice a month as we see these as our entry point. We are very community orientated and have seen many come to faith and seen lives significantly changed
There is an ethos of accepting people whatever background or spiritual understanding they may have/not. People are allowed to develop their spiritual journey at their own pace without pressure. From their first visit, people are invited to be involved in serving teams and in small groups where they get to build relationships.
The greater community has no particular need for Jesus. But they do want to be married, baptise their children and have funerals in the Church.
We are relocating in the next few years and will be in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the city - in advance of the move we have a weekly drop in centre where every week a handful of people pop in for a coffee and chat. Several have now started coming to the church
We have a building project - our new church should be open in October. It will seat 1100. I think it will be full.
A large number of comments articulated disappointment or struggle in churches to develop effective strategies and programmes for evangelism. In some cases this was put down to leadership that was unenthusiastic or overburdened.
At one time we had 'lay witness' weekends which were attended by people on the periphery of the church and also assisted in joint outreach events e.g. Festival Manchester and Message 2000, but under our new minister we have become a 'sit and listen' congregation. There is no encouragement to attend home groups or Bible studies or to reach out to the local community.
I believe Christians lack confidence in their ability to talk about their faith to others. This is a combination of lack of real commitment to love people enough to put our own interests after theirs and a lack of commitment to serious evangelism in Churches. but I do believe that we are seeing this change as God moves in our Churches - there is a renewed interest in outreach.
I believe in NI we do not as yet have a 'culture' of evangelism amongst Christian people in our churches, with many seemingly having no concern for 'the lost', plus the fact that many are reluctant or unsure of how to share their own personal faith, and how God has been at work in their lives. There appears to be more emphasis on personal growth as a Christian and going to Church groups/conferences etc. than on getting 'out there' and having an impact in the local community !
I go to a very conservative church in which evangelism is thought to be both expensive and unprofitable by the current leadership which is happy to continue without conversions.
In a small rural church, mainly elderly parishioners. Church is in interregnum. Church wardens concerned with building issues, not building the Kingdom. People come typically out of habit.
My church is a small 12th century village Anglican church. We use 4 churches in the local community throughout the month. The majority of the congregation are elderly and don't like too much change.
Our church evangelistic activities are sporadic and inconsistent, and follow up is poor. However we have strong biblical teaching each week, and the gospel is frequently explained. Unfortunately there are few non-Christians who come to hear it!
We are a fairly traditional church, with some members who would be eager to get involved in evangelism and others who would not. I keep working at it!
As I said earlier, evangelism is something I find very difficult. The non-Christians with whom I work are engineers and I don't feel that most are open to Christian faith - and I'm fearful of exposing myself.
Many do not see Evangelism as their business and at this point in their journey it will take the Holy Spirit to change their opinions on that.
As a leadership group I would say that we are plain worn out just doing life at the moment. The two elders [my husband being one of them] who work alongside our part-time pastor, are both in very high pressured jobs that over the past 3 or 4years have become extremely stressful. I see high stress levels in the leadership of all the churches here which usually rears it's ugly head in the form of serious health issues.
Our Church, like many I suspect, is keen, eager and able to reap but not so good at sowing and keeping. Most people are so busy with their 'working' lives that to devote time and energy to church matters (as volunteers) takes more commitment and dedication than people are prepared to give. With the economic situation as is, people are just trying to keep their employment going and do not have the stamina to give more time and energy to the Church. The attitude is that the ministers/vicars/priests, who are paid, should be 'doing all that' and that their congregation will help and support where they can! The congregation /membership are then surprised when the minister/vicar/priest 'burns out'! In my view, volunteers cannot be depended on, more 'employed' and trained people would improve the situation. Evangelism, if done badly, can be more detrimental than not doing anything. Training and identifying those with a gift for evangelism will prove more effective than what has been happening recently.
Mission beyond evangelism
Bebbington's category of evangelical activism has never been limited to evangelism and the spreading of the Word by words. From Wesley's preaching of social holiness, with it's impact on the abolitionist and factory reform movements, to the high Victorian epidemic of charitable enterprises evangelicals have generally been socially and politically active. After a few decades of socially conservative relative quietism in the middle decades of the 20th Century – a response to the liberal Christianity that was labelled "social gospel" and rarely preached repentance and conversion – the pendulum has swung back towards more holistic approaches to mission. Our surveys suggest that in the UK at least evangelical Christians are far more active than the average citizen in political and voluntary action to serve the wider community.
According to the 2010 Baseline survey 99% of evangelical Christians do some type of volunteering each year.
The following tables from our panel surveys confirm that evangelicals are deeply involved in in neighbourly activity and community action in their localities.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Are you as an individual involved actively where you live in any of the following? Please tick all that apply. | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Praying regularly with others for your local community (not just in church services) | 44.8% | 515 |
| Regularly supporting a neighbour who is lonely, frail or otherwise in need | 34.6% | 397 |
| Looking out for new people moving in and making sure they are welcomed to the area | 32.8% | 377 |
| A local club or group based around a hobby or shared interest | 21.5% | 247 |
| Managing or supporting a local school | 20.9% | 240 |
| A local residents association, neighbourhood group or community forum | 20.0% | 230 |
| A neighbourhood watch or other police and community group | 15.9% | 183 |
| A local sports club | 12.2% | 140 |
| Socialising at the local pub | 10.6% | 122 |
| A local youth or children's club or organisation (other than your church's ministries) | 9.7% | 112 |
| Managing or supporting a local hospital, hospice or health/disability charity | 9.3% | 107 |
| A local branch of a national (or regional) issue-based campaign | 6.2% | 71 |
| A local environmental project or campaign | 5.7% | 66 |
| Helping to run a charity shop | 4.2% | 48 |
| As an elected member of a local council | 1.2% | 14 |
| Other (please specify or give further details) | 24.0% | 276 |
| answered question | 1149 | |
| skipped question | 348 | |
A very high proportion of the involvement is through local church projects rather than through generic or secular voluntary organisations.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||||
| Are you involved locally, through your church or another organisation, in any activities or projects in the following fields? Please tick any boxes that apply | ||||
| Answer Options | I am involved in a church project | I am involved in a secular community project | There is a local church(es) project, but I am not very involved | Response Count |
| Development or missions overseas | 62% | 3% | 37% | 100% |
| Elderly or lonely people | 41% | 8% | 54% | 100% |
| Foodbank | 40% | 3% | 57% | 100% |
| Families in poverty or with other support needs | 38% | 6% | 57% | 100% |
| Multi-use community centre | 37% | 8% | 56% | 100% |
| Unemployed people | 29% | 7% | 65% | 100% |
| Homeless people | 29% | 5% | 68% | 100% |
| Youth work with unchurched kids | 28% | 5% | 69% | 100% |
| Cleaning up or improving the neighbourhood environment | 26% | 15% | 60% | 100% |
| People with disabilities or learning difficulties | 26% | 17% | 59% | 100% |
| Refugees and asylum seekers | 24% | 9% | 67% | 100% |
| Prisoners or ex-offenders | 23% | 6% | 71% | 100% |
| Street Pastors or similar schemes | 19% | 1% | 80% | 100% |
| Money advice or debt counselling | 19% | 3% | 78% | 100% |
| Tackling addictions | 17% | 7% | 77% | 100% |
| IT training or provision | 17% | 12% | 72% | 100% |
| Broad-based community organisations such as London Citizens or Citizens UK | 12% | 16% | 74% | 100% |
| Hospice provision | 7% | 14% | 80% | 100% |
| Other (please specify) | 94 | |||
| answered question | 1264 | |||
| skipped question | 233 | |||
Evangelical churches seem to have a preference for working within the network of Christian organisations though a substantial (and growing) proportion do engage with wider partnerships.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Is your church involved in any projects or activities where it is working in partnership with any of the following? Tick all that apply | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Other local churches | 82.1% | 1079 |
| Churches or missions overseas | 75.3% | 990 |
| Christian charities or para-church organisations | 58.7% | 772 |
| Secular voluntary organisations or charities | 34.2% | 450 |
| The local council | 30.0% | 394 |
| The police | 19.8% | 261 |
| A church in a less affluent neighbourhood in your city or region | 14.7% | 193 |
| Local umbrella bodies such as a Council for Voluntary Service or community network/forum | 13.4% | 176 |
| Other public sector bodies (eg NHS or Job Centre Plus) | 8.9% | 117 |
| People from minority faith communities | 8.0% | 105 |
| A church in a more affluent neighbourhood in your city or region | 5.2% | 68 |
| I don't know | 2.9% | 38 |
| None of these | 2.4% | 31 |
| Please give some details | 177 | |
| answered question | 1315 | |
| skipped question | 182 | |
From Who is my neighbour? February 2014
When asked to reflect on What does it mean to be a good neighbour? In an open ended question the 1500 or so respondents produced a total of over 30,000 words. The selection below give a flavour of this discourse which arguably represents the values, aspirations and even habitus of Evangelicals in the UK today.
To be salt and light where God has placed you, at home, work, school or leisure.
To respond to those in need both near and far, as you have availability, time, gifting and contacts.
To love and serve unconditionally - showing the love of God by acts of kindness and neighbourliness, 'preaching the gospel without words'
Making yourself available to help others in need regardless of their circumstances
For me, as a born again believer literally everyone is my neighbour and I must respond to spiritual and financial needs as God leads me be this within my immediate community or further afield
.
To be a friend not just a neighbour, taking time to listen and to pray and to be thoughtful as to what you can do to bless that person. To talk openly about your faith.
To be active in the local community. To engage with neighbours and be friendly and helpful where opportunities allow. To be Christ to all you meet. To see the world through Jesus' eyes and work for a more just world. Effect change by changing the little bit of the world I can. Work with others to see more global change. Awareness of my actions upon others (esp the developing world)
To share Jesus' love with all we meet, not to judge, to be aware of other people's needs and help them if at all possible, to go the extra mile.
Good neighbour:- To want for others what you would want for yourself.
To be a good Samaritan is to identify the problem, be brave against the possible odds, seek and deliver a solution whilst still caring for my neighbour.
To reach out to people in the community. To be someone the local community looks to for help.
to be caring and loving
Something which is very difficult - I find it easier to love Jesus who is perfection as opposed to human beings who so often **** me off. I struggle with John's words that if you don't love your brother then the love of God is not in you.
It may be offering to pray for someone or even simply clearing snow from their front path before they get up or deicing their car whilst you do your own.
To live a life that reflects Christ's teaching.
Whatever I have or can give I will. Whilst I want to see people find Christ I don't want the to think that I will only be their friend if they come to church . Jesus loves unconditionally I want to known as a genuine friend.
Challenged by how much of our 'Christian service' is locked into church activities when there is so much opportunity outside of that arena for Christians to be a positive presence. Prejudice is so deeply rooted in us and is so destructive. It would be great if Christians were smattered all over the place serving those who need help, speaking for those who have no voice, and preferring the marginalised above ourselves. We are very far from this.
Social action and Evangelism are two blades of the same action - each requires the other to be effective as with scissors. But everything must be done in faith as the fruit of the Spirits indwelling
I believe it refers to a worldview that contrasts an insular, 'me first' approach prevalent in society, wherein you view yourself and the resources at your disposal (your time, your gifts, your money) as opportunities to make a positive impact on the lives of those you come into contact with.
To love everyone in the world, unconditionally. To show love in practical ways such as fighting poverty, injustice and corruption.
We need to be the 'Face of Jesus' to those hurting through unemployment, fuel/food poverty, depression, anxiety, loneliness etc.
It is no good, whatsoever, to 'hang out' with people just like us as in some sort of righteous social club, we need to get our hands and feet dirty and our hearts must break for what breaks God's heart.
All people are made in the image of God so a every individual is important. I believe that loving others (in spite of our initial feelings) is fundamental as a Christian. However, I admit that it can be VERY difficult at times. God loves us and therefore we must choose to love other (our neighbours)
Being prepared to be interrupted. Being willing to help where needed. Having a servant heart.
INTERNATIONAL INVOLVEMENT
Neighbourly social action is not confined to the neighbourhood or the country.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Are you involved personally in any of the following international activities? Please tick all that apply. | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Supporting ethical consumerism by the way you buy goods or invest money | 65% | 821 |
| Praying regularly with others for international situations or ministries (not just in church services) | 55% | 690 |
| Sponsoring a child in a less developed country | 52% | 647 |
| Taking an active part in campaigning activities on an international justice issue (eg trafficking, international debt relief, fair trade, peace and disarmament) | 38% | 474 |
| Taking an active part in campaigning and support activities for prisoners of conscience or the persecuted Church | 29% | 363 |
| Organising fundraising or educational activities for an aid agency or development charity | 24% | 306 |
| Organising fundraising or educational activities for an international mission group | 23% | 293 |
| Other (please specify) | 13.4% | 168 |
| answered question | 1257 | |
| skipped question | 240 | |
More than a quarter were planning an overseas mission trip.
| 21st Century Evangelicals February 2012 - Links with the Global Church | ||
| Are you planning in the next few years to get involved in Christian mission or aid and development activities overseas? | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| I am planning a short visit in the next couple of years | 25.7% | 259 |
| I am planning a gap year or equivalent | 0.9% | 9 |
| I am considering offering for medium or long-term Christian service overseas | 4.0% | 40 |
| None of these | 69.4% | 698 |
| Where do you hope to go? | 240 | |
| answered question | 1006 | |
| skipped question | 29 | |
Political Involvement
Evangelicals in our panel are very much engaged in politics, far more likely to vote or campaign than the average member of the public, though as our Faith in Politics report https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/faith-in-politics.cfm showed covering a wide spectrum of party preferences and concern in a wide range of social justice and personal morality issues.
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | ||
| How likely are you to vote in the next UK general election? | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Certain | 79.8% | 1557 |
| Likely | 13.8% | 270 |
| Not sure | 3.1% | 61 |
| Unlikely | 1.2% | 23 |
| Certain not to | 0.7% | 13 |
| Not eligible | 1.4% | 28 |
| answered question | 1952 | |
| skipped question | 68 | |
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | |||||
| Do you know the names of your elected representatives? | |||||
| Answer Options | Definitely | I think so | No | Not applicable | Response Count |
| MP | 83% | 8% | 8% | 0% | 100% |
| Directly elected mayor | 18% | 8% | 27% | 48% | 100% |
| Local councillor(s) | 36% | 32% | 32% | 0% | 100% |
| MSP / AM / MLA | 10% | 5% | 41% | 44% | 100% |
| MEP(s) | 13% | 17% | 70% | 1% | 100% |
| answered question | 1864 | ||||
| skipped question | 156 | ||||
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | ||
| In the last 12 months have you done any of the following to influence decisions, laws or policies? Please tick all that apply | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Voted in an election | 80.4% | 1482 |
| Created or signed an e-petition | 77.9% | 1437 |
| Contacted a local councillor or MP/MSP/Welsh Assembly Member | 56.7% | 1045 |
| Created or signed a paper petition | 39.5% | 728 |
| Boycotted certain products for political, ethical or environmental reasons | 38.9% | 717 |
| Contributed to a discussion or campaign online or on social media | 33.5% | 618 |
| Taken part in a public consultation | 29.6% | 545 |
| Taken an active part in a campaign | 27.9% | 515 |
| Donated money or paid a membership fee to a campaigning organisation | 27.2% | 502 |
| Spoken or written about a political issue within your church context | 23.0% | 425 |
| Contacted the media | 14.9% | 274 |
| Attended political meetings | 12.4% | 228 |
| Donated money or paid a membership fee to a political party | 9.1% | 167 |
| Taken part in a demonstration, picket or march | 5.8% | 107 |
| Taken part in TV or radio broadcast | 5.2% | 96 |
| None of the above | 3.5% | 65 |
| answered question | 1844 | |
| skipped question | 176 | |
| Easter Survey 2011 | ||||
|
| ||||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Unsure or Don't Know | Response Count |
| Do you plan on voting (or have your voted) in the elections and referendum on 5 May? | 91% | 5% | 5% | 100% |
| How do you plan to vote (or how did you vote) in the referendum on changing the voting system to Alternative Vote? (yes = in favour of AV) | 38% | 39% | 23% | 100% |
| answered question | 1129 | |||
| skipped question | 24 | |||
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||||
| Are the following statements true? | ||||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Not sure or don't know | Response Count |
| I always or almost always vote in elections for local councillors | 91% | 7% | 2% | 100% |
| I know the names of our local councillors | 56% | 31% | 13% | 100% |
| I think our local council on the whole does a very good job for our community | 58% | 15% | 27% | 100% |
| Our local council has a good, helpful relationship with the Christian churches in the area | 44% | 13% | 43% | 100% |
| In the last year I have contacted a local councillor or council department about a local issue | 38% | 57% | 5% | 100% |
| answered question | 1374 | |||
| skipped question | 123 | |||
Evangelicals in our panel were far more likely than average to engage in civic life in various sectors and roles... (see page 11 of the "Does Belief Touch Society Report)
https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/does-belief-touch-society.cfm
|
Easter Survey 2011 | |||
| Do you hold any of the following positions? | |||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Response Count |
| Trustee of a charity | 28% | 72% | 100% |
| Trade Union Membership | 22% | 78% | 100% |
| School governor | 10% | 90% | 100% |
| Member of a political party | 5% | 95% | 100% |
| Councillor | 1% | 99% | 100% |
| Magistrate | 1% | 99% | 100% |
| Other elected political post | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| MP | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| If "yes" to any of the above please give some details | 377 | ||
| answered question | 1070 | ||
| skipped question | 83 | ||
Evangelism - Activism
The final corner of Bebbington's four poster is activism, the expression of the gospel in effort. It can be seen as the working out of a believer's salvation via activism in mission, most commonly through personal evangelism. In the nineteenth century heyday of the movement this element was expressed in outdoor preaching and distribution of tracts, in a rash of construction of churches, chapels and mission halls, in the foundation of hundreds or even thousands of mission societies and charities and in movements for political and social reform led by evangelical celebrities such as William Wilberforce, Lord Shaftesbury, General Booth and Dr. Barnardo. Our survey data suggests that even if reduced in scale, the same spirit is alive and well in UK evangelicalism today. Evangelicals still take seriously the great commission of Matthew 28 and the second great commandment to "love your neighbour", alongside passages such as Matt 25, Galatians "remember the poor" and the manifesto of Luke 5 quoting Isaiah to bring good news to the poor.
Anna Strhan has studied ethnographically the life-worlds of conservative evangelicals in London and in this quote from
The Metropolis and Evangelical Life: coherence and fragmentation in the 'lost city of London' Religion vol. 43, no. 3., 2013 (special issue on Urban Christianities)Anna Strhan You can download it here
suggests a lack of confidence in talking about faith and a tension between verbal proclamation and the much quoted advice, (often attributed to St Francis of Assisi) "Share the Gospel -use words if you have to".
The nature of mission has however become an area of disagreement within contemporary British evangelicalism. Within the history of the evangelical movement, forms of missionary engagement with non-Christians have often extended beyond preaching the gospel to modes of philanthropy and activism on issues of social justice and humanitarianism (Bebbington 1989: 12). Although some conservative evangelicals may be involved in such activism today, there is a particular emphasis placed within contemporary British conservative evangelicalism on an understanding of mission in terms of verbal evangelism, in contrast with contemporary charismatic evangelical emphasis on both the 're-evangelisation of the nations and the trans- formation of society'.5
This was expressed in many sermons at St John's, for example, a sermon focusing on a chapter from Luke's Gospel, in which David stated that 'Christian mission is only Christian mission if it has to it verbal content.' He differentiated this from approaches other Christian groups might take: 'It's a wonderful, godly thing to care for your neighbour, to love others. But it is not Christian mission unless the gospel is being proclaimed verbally.'
Members of the group I observed talked about how they often felt embarrassed or awkward trying to talk about their faith with non Christian friends, family and colleagues. This, together with the fact the leadership of St John's felt it necessary to devise a course specifically teaching people how to speak of their faith, appears to demonstrate that despite the leadership's aim to encourage members of the church to speak about their faith outside the church, many have internalised the sense that speaking publicly about their faith is a cultural taboo.
In this paper I will draw on our survey date from the Evamgelical Alliance 21st Century Evangelicals research programme to explore these issues.
In the Baseline survey of 2011 9 out of 10 evangelicals agreed that all Christians should be actively involved in evangelism. 7 out of 10 believe this strongly.
They affirm the desire to preach the gospel to the whole of humankind. In the Religions and beliefs survey in 2016 92%. agreed or strongly agreed that Christians should invite people from other faith communities to visit their churches and 99% that Christians should share the gospel with those of other faiths.
In The world on our doorstep? - February 2012 71% strongly agreed and 27% agree that God still wants the Church in the UK to be active in world evangelisation and 62% strongly agreed and 34% agreed that there is still a lot to be done before the Great Commission is fulfilled and the gospel is proclaimed to all the nations.
In What is Evangelicalism? - Spring 2016 39% said they were completely and another 48% to some extent actively committed to spreading the gospel among you friends, colleagues, neighbours and local community. However, as the table shows there were more people completely committed to some less direct styles of sharing and promoting their faith, such as prayer, practical care for others, social action ministry and particularly in passing on faith to the next generation.
| 1846 and All That - What is Evangelicalism? - Spring 2016 | |||||
| How far would you say you are actively committed to | |||||
| Answer Options | completely | to some extent | only a little | not at all | Response Count |
| passing on the Christian faith to the next generation | 63% | 30% | 6% | 1% | 100% |
| praying and working for the growth of the Church throughout the world | 56% | 37% | 6% | 0% | 100% |
| helping other people when you see they have a practical or emotional need | 55% | 42% | 4% | 0% | 100% |
| being involved in at least one social action or social justice project | 44% | 37% | 14% | 5% | 100% |
| spreading the gospel among you friends, colleagues, neighbours and local community | 39% | 48% | 12% | 1% | 100% |
| working to achieve political change in line with Christian beliefs and values | 21% | 43% | 27% | 9% | 100% |
| answered question | 1420 | ||||
| skipped question | 64 | ||||
The table below suggests that most evangelicals take opportunities to care for non-Christians they know by listening or practical acts of kindness, that many socialise with them from time to time. However smaller numbers report they have often engaged verbally with unbelievers about faith issues, shared a testimony or invited people to outreach events or church services.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||||
| Thinking about people with whom you are in frequent face to face contact who YOU KNOW are NOT yet committed Christians - When did you last do any of the following with one (or more) of them? | ||||||
| Answer Options | Within the last week | In the period since last Easter | Less recently | Never | Don't know or can't recall | Response Count |
| Listen to someone's worries or concerns. | 57% | 34% | 7% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| Do a practical act of service or kindness for them which you hoped was a witness to Christ's love. | 43% | 42% | 11% | 1% | 2% | 100% |
| Take part in a social or cultural activity with them. | 29% | 46% | 17% | 5% | 3% | 100% |
| Become involved in a conversation about some aspect of Christian belief. | 28% | 47% | 20% | 2% | 2% | 100% |
| Feel you missed a chance to speak to them about God. | 21% | 41% | 25% | 3% | 10% | 100% |
| Recognise that God was already doing something in their life. | 18% | 36% | 28% | 7% | 11% | 100% |
| Try to answer a question about faith which they asked you. | 17% | 44% | 30% | 5% | 5% | 100% |
| Feel it was appropriate to offer to pray with or for them. | 17% | 35% | 32% | 13% | 4% | 100% |
| Share something of your testimony or explain what your faith means to you personally. | 17% | 43% | 31% | 5% | 4% | 100% |
| Use the Web, Facebook or email to share or discuss something about Christian faith with them. | 13% | 20% | 23% | 37% | 8% | 100% |
| Invite them to an event or activity (other than a church service) which was clearly a form of Christian outreach. | 9% | 31% | 42% | 14% | 5% | 100% |
| Invite them to come to a service at your church. | 7% | 30% | 43% | 16% | 3% | 100% |
| Please use this space to tell us about any recent experiences of sharing your faith with non Christians. | 264 | |||||
| answered question | 1052 | |||||
| skipped question | 61 | |||||
The next table suggests that in church life most evangelicals are keen to make visitors welcome, and to take part in regular programmes which have an element of outreach, but that specific evangelistic events or activities are relatively infrequent, or the specialist ministry of a few.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||||
| When did you last play an active part (that could be anything from leading or organising to stewarding or distributing publicity) in any of the following evangelistic outreach activities - either on behalf of your own church or organised by other Christian organisations? | ||||||
| Answer Options | Within the last month | In the period since last Christmas | Less recently | Never | Don't Know or can't recall | Response Count |
| Talking to or befriending a 'new' visitor to a Sunday service at your church. | 48% | 31% | 16% | 3% | 1% | 100% |
| An outreach event or club aimed mainly at unchurched children or young people. | 25% | 18% | 40% | 13% | 4% | 100% |
| An activity, event or meeting (other than a regular weekly worship service) aimed at attracting seekers or 'fringe' people. | 20% | 29% | 37% | 10% | 4% | 100% |
| You preached or spoke in public with an evangelistic intent. | 18% | 16% | 29% | 33% | 4% | 100% |
| Producing or distributing printed Christian literature. | 12% | 17% | 38% | 28% | 4% | 100% |
| A small group for people to explore Christian faith. | 9% | 21% | 54% | 14% | 2% | 100% |
| A broadcast or media ministry (radio, TV, internet). | 6% | 4% | 18% | 67% | 5% | 100% |
| A door to door visitation programme. | 3% | 4% | 52% | 36% | 4% | 100% |
| Other (please specify) | 72 | |||||
| answered question | 1011 | |||||
| skipped question | 102 | |||||
The next table suggests that the current culture of evangelicalism favours outreach through relationship building, youth work and social action rather than the formerly popular methods of open air preaching, mass meetings and mission campaigns.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | |||||
| Which of the following approaches are effective ways of sharing the Christian gospel today? | |||||
| Answer Options | I've seen it work effectively in the last couple of years. | I think it might be effective these days. | I don't think it is very effective these days. | Don't know or not sure. | Response Count |
| Building friendship. | 81% | 18% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| Small group work - with sharing food - as in the Alpha or Christianity Explored courses. | 76% | 23% | 0% | 1% | 100% |
| Youth clubs, cafes, camps etc. | 64% | 34% | 1% | 1% | 100% |
| Faithful biblical preaching in church. | 60% | 33% | 7% | 1% | 100% |
| Social action and community involvement (such as food banks and drop ins for homeless people.) | 54% | 43% | 2% | 1% | 100% |
| Work in schools. | 48% | 47% | 3% | 3% | 100% |
| Street Pastor teams. | 46% | 46% | 3% | 5% | 100% |
| Church run events at Christian festivals such as Christmas and Easter. | 46% | 46% | 6% | 1% | 100% |
| Healings, miracles, signs and wonders. | 42% | 44% | 8% | 6% | 100% |
| Services for baptisms, weddings, funerals etc. | 36% | 47% | 14% | 4% | 100% |
| CAP Money Courses and Debt advice work. | 34% | 53% | 3% | 10% | 100% |
| Messy Church sessions. | 29% | 46% | 6% | 20% | 100% |
| Local church-based mission weeks. | 27% | 49% | 18% | 6% | 100% |
| TV, radio and the mass media. | 18% | 57% | 16% | 9% | 100% |
| Mass meeting evangelism. | 18% | 41% | 35% | 6% | 100% |
| Taking part in current public debates about religion, different faiths, and atheism. | 17% | 57% | 17% | 9% | 100% |
| Social networking via the internet. | 16% | 58% | 6% | 20% | 100% |
| Open air preaching. | 9% | 29% | 56% | 7% | 100% |
| Please write in your comments about this section if you wish. | 90 | ||||
| answered question | 1003 | ||||
| skipped question | 110 | ||||
The Table below suggests the main hindrances to personal evangelism are seen as apathy to the gospel among non-christians (stony ground to use Christ's own metaphor), and a lack of confidence to speak or in knowing what to say or how to say it.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | ||||
| To what extent do each of the following factors hinder you personally from talking about your faith with non Christians? | ||||
| Answer Options | To a great extent | To some extent | Not at all | Response Count |
| None of my non Christian contacts seem interested in talking about spiritual things. | 13% | 60% | 26% | 100% |
| I feel I can share the gospel well enough without needing to use words. | 5% | 51% | 44% | 100% |
| The devil always seems to prevent me from sharing the gospel. | 2% | 47% | 52% | 100% |
| I am just too scared to talk about my faith with non Christians. | 6% | 41% | 53% | 100% |
| I don't feel very well equipped or trained to share my faith, so don't know what to say. | 5% | 36% | 59% | 100% |
| I'm not really very motivated to share my faith. | 3% | 35% | 62% | 100% |
| I don't come into contact with many non Christians. | 9% | 34% | 57% | 100% |
| I feel evangelism is a special gift which God has given to some people but not to me. | 3% | 32% | 65% | 100% |
| My church doesn't support or encourage me to evangelise. | 3% | 17% | 80% | 100% |
| answered question | 1006 | |||
| skipped question | 107 | |||
We also asked Has your church in the last two years put on a training course or session to help people gain confidence and skill in communicating the gospel? 23% replied Yes - and I attended, 17% Yes - but I didn't take part, 50% No and 10% Don't Know.
The next table relates to perceptions of cultural factors which may hinder evangelism. They include a wide range of church internal as well as external factors which are thought to play apart by the majority of respondents. The one suggested factor which was largely dismissed was that there is too much emphasis on social action.
| 21st Century Evangelicals August 2012 - Evangelism | |
| What do you think are factors in British culture today that hinder people responding to the gospel? |
|
| A very important factor | A significant factor | Not really an important factor | It is not the case | VI + Sig |
| With all the leisure (and work) alternatives on offer, most people don't want to be in church on a Sunday. | 37% | 52% | 10% | 1% | 89% |
| Christians don't pray enough for revival. | 28% | 61% | 8% | 4% | 88% |
| The unattractive public image of the church and its leaders. | 32% | 54% | 12% | 1% | 86% |
| The multi-faith environment means that people are uneasy about saying that Jesus is the only way. | 28% | 57% | 12% | 3% | 86% |
| Most Christians in Britain lack confidence in talking about their personal testimony. | 33% | 45% | 15% | 7% | 78% |
| Some of the ways preachers and evangelists talk about Jesus make people cringe. | 24% | 53% | 21% | 2% | 77% |
| It is very hard for a church with a middle class ethos to communicate the gospel effectively to working class and less affluent people. | 19% | 54% | 22% | 5% | 73% |
| It's becoming more difficult for Christians to speak freely about what they believe. | 14% | 54% | 27% | 5% | 68% |
| People don't want to join formal organisations such as churches. | 18% | 44% | 30% | 8% | 62% |
| People reject Jesus because the church has such narrow condemnatory views on sex. | 12% | 49% | 32% | 8% | 61% |
| Christians aren't able to give easy answers to the problem of suffering. | 11% | 49% | 34% | 6% | 60% |
| It is hard to convince people about Christianity because of what they have learned about science. | 8% | 52% | 34% | 6% | 60% |
| The attacks of atheists like Richard Dawkins. | 8% | 43% | 44% | 6% | 50% |
| Many churches and organisations are placing too much emphasis on social action. | 4% | 20% | 48% | 28% | 24% |
| Please feel free to write in any other factors you think are important | 125 | ||||
| answered question | 995 | ||||
| skipped question | 118 | ||||
Of the hundreds of comments on this question a large number focussed on the failings and weaknesses of the church. Some perceive the church as indistinct from "worldly" society, as divided, inward looking and apparently hypocritical.
We do not appear to be very different from non-Christians - they don't see Jesus working in the lives of Christians in significant ways.
The church is often too distinctive in culture and language and not distinctive enough in living differently - people in church are likely to be nice to each other but not likely to look like a radically different community sharing what they have, loving each other powerfully, and free from the anxieties and delusions of the society around them.
It is the attitudes and behaviour that put people off Christianity more than anything else. However successful evangelism strategy is, if Christians are perceived to be unloving, judgemental and quarrelsome it will not be effective. Conversely Christlike behaviour even in the absence of direct evangelism will always attract people to the faith.
The biggest challenge facing those in the Methodist church we have recently joined based in prior experience of being in a free evangelical church is that people use church as a social club and whole life Christian Living is not taught or lived out.
Jesus is a stumbling block and many eyes are blinded to His beauty. It's God's job to remove the scales but we could help by not fighting so much amongst ourselves. Although I agree completely on the sanctity of marriage and heterosexuality I was heartbroken to see Christians on main-time television reviling each other. I also think that people no longer believe that sin is wrong or any sort of problem; so why do we need a Saviour if we're perfectly good in ourselves? Conversely because the view that you have to be 'good' to get to heaven non-Christians see us as being smug and self-righteous unless they bother to listen to and engage with the truth.
The emphasis in many churches that I have been in seems to be on looking after the sheep that are here, rather than equipping them to be witnesses - in other words the church is still inclined to be too inward looking.
I agree with Gandhi - your Christ I like - your Christians I do not like!
Others were conscious that the Church often comes across as narrow and judgemental, especially on issues of sexuality and gender, and has been tainted by association with American right wing fundamentalists.
I think the point about people rejecting Jesus because the church has such narrow condemnatory views on sex is true. I think for too long the church has been predominantly known for what it is against rather than what it is for and I think this is a huge problem and not representative of a Jesus who dined with sinners and those deemed unacceptable by society.
...the church appears to them to have such narrow condemnatory views on sex'. The church has to stand where its stands on sexual issues, but the 1960s counter-culture was so successful in changing public attitudes that this is a gospel handicap for us. And sex is such a powerful factor that the cost of becoming and staying a Christian is much too high for many.
We have become side-tracked by issues of women in leadership and homosexuality, which are not pressing issues for non-Christians.
My environmentalist friends hate the American Right and think they are representative of all Christians. I also believe that the vocal adherence of some Christians to Creationism (which is not central to faith) puts a lot of people off.
I frequently talk with people who have found it hard to follow Jesus because the "bar" for conversion is set unreasonably high: e.g. their Christian friends imply that to follow Jesus it is essential that they accept the infallibility of Scripture, 6 day creation, other faiths going to hell, penal substitution, the virgin conception of Jesus. While things are (largely!) good and helpful, hesitation over them should not - in my view - be an obstacle to real faith.
I am passionate about evangelism but often find evangelists are very white male, often misogynist and without compassion (one of the driving forces of Jesus' ministry...so the
Bible tells us!). Many older people have no idea about the world inhabited by the "missing generation".
I get fed up when I meet someone who does not yet follow Christ that the last believer they met built a wall instead of a bridge by demonstrating bigotry, prejudice etc.
I believe evangelism starts at home, it needs community and relationships. I do not believe bible bashing is the way to go and it gives Christianity a bad reputation and name because people don't like being told what to believe.
Several respondents suggested that they or the church is very much out of touch with the culture and life worlds of ordinary un-churched people. In some cases this was because they spent the vast majority of their time in Christian networks so that they had few contacts among non-Christians.
The majority of people in the church - and particularly the ministers are out of touch with people in the "real world" today. They are stuck in the mindset of getting people into church rather than going out into the world to meet people where they are. Those of us in the church who want to get out there feel discouraged and unsupported by the hierarchy so it doesn't happen.
I work for a Christian organisation, moved to a new place for the job, and find work, family and childcare take up all my time, so I know very few non-Christians these days when I used to know lots.
I work in a Christian school and have few non-Christian work colleagues. I am also so busy with work, family and church that I don't find time to interact with non-Christians in a social setting. I hope to correct his when my family have grown and I am less busy with work.
I have work for a Christian organisation for the last 5 years, so have been a group leader in both Alpha and Christianity Explored in order to meet non-Christians. However, the way it turned out, there were no non-Christians in the groups I led, although I did have conversations with some of the non-Christians in other groups, but more getting-to-know-you than evangelistic..
I see my main area of service as the workplace where I have regular contact with 200 unsaved. My church doesn't compute that in it's thinking.
I like the idea of evangelism, but apart from work colleagues, I have little or no contact with non-Christians. My work colleagues know I am a Christian, and out of a staff of, say, 30, 3 of them are regular church attenders with a further 2 or 3 who would say they are Christians. The majority see 'religion' or 'church' as irrelevant to their lives. Opportunities sometimes arise for a discussion on spiritual subjects, but time for these is limited at work.
Many churches are irrelevant to people. They often use language people do not understand and since more and more people are not being brought up to go to church it simply is not something which matters to them.
The current styles of worship in many churches do not attract people. On Sundays, people in church can be so busy talking to each other that newcomers get overlooked. Fresh expressions of church, which form a deeper part of the community seem more likely to have an impact.
I feel I have a strong personal relationship with Jesus and I am very happy to talk about my faith. I have difficulty, though, with the thought of inviting anybody to attend church. It doesn't often do anything for me! I am closer to him at home and in my everyday life.
Most of us from Africa find it challenging to introduce Jesus to the white community the way it will matter to them.
I'm a firm believer in a Mother Teresa approach of "A life not lived for others is not a life." So I think it is unlikely that churches are placing too much emphasis on social action. Obviously there needs to be a balance of other important factors such as prayer, worship, teaching, discipleship etc...However I think a greater problem could be churches placing too much emphasis on teaching, preaching, "evangelism"....many can talk the talk, but can we walk the walk and that means loving Jesus and loving our neighbour with every bit of us
In contrast there were comments which suggested that the church was unclear and woolly rather than robustly presenting Gospel truth or even concerned about evangelism
In many churches, the Gospel message isn't preached clearly. I spent 12 years in the church, mostly Anglican, without understanding that Jesus died to pay for my sins and without being taught about needing to repent and to be born again.
As an evangelical, my wife and I are out on a limb in our church apart from our Minister who is as committed as we are to evangelism.
… I have been struck by how much my church talks about, funds and sends people to remote missions (regionally and internationally), but how most of what we do locally is social outreach or socialising, with little or no direct communication of the Gospel.
The church needs to read and believe the Holy Bible and not to be ashamed of what the Gospel and the Old Testament say about the character of God, faith and salvation
… we are very sad for our Church of Scotland here. We have attended for seven years, and prayed for a revival of faith, but most of the influential people do not seem to be willing or wanting it at the moment. We are the last people under 50, and we are leaving in a month when we move away and begin attending the evangelical church. Please pray for the Church of Scotland.
English culture is very non-confrontational, there's a great emphasis on being nice and polite and tactful, and challenging people doesn't come naturally to people here. (I'm not English, I just live here.)
The confused messages coming from organisations such as the Anglican church and the Archbishop of Canterbury that leave people with completely the wrong idea about Christianity.
Many are confused as to what the gospel is, in the context of evangelism, so false gospels grow in popularity. "Jesus loves you" is not the gospel, and we are afraid to mention sin and repentance, in case we offend people.
We had a Vicar for 29 years. I'm not sure he had a bible. The church has an attendance of mostly over 60's who regard formal church attendance as their way to Heaven. We have a new younger Vicar who is evangelical in belief but has taken on the formal high church style and we are praying that he will see that this will not result in younger attendance or conversions.
I think one thing that is causing significant growth in US churches is neo-calvinism (or reformed theology). This is forcing the explicit message of the Gospel to be preached and believed. Whether we agree with that line of theology - we have to agree that explicit proclamation of the Gospel message, whether on a stage or in a kitchen, is a vital ingredient of our witness. Without this our evangelism has no power - our efforts lose their sting.
My church is in the centre of a city and lead by pastors no older than 35. It is a young congregation of about 200 with a big emphasis on the Kingdom of God and over the past few years a number of Alpha courses have been run and seen a significant number of people come to faith. However, their is a large divide in doctrinal beliefs. A large percentage of "believers" do not believe in Hell, struggle to read the Bible and frankly are no different to what have been called "universalists" in centuries gone by. Modern evangelicalism, in my view, has been significantly effected by this doctrine. Hence, often outreach (in many churches that I've attended) has become more about "reaching out to people with God's love" with practical help so that they join our community in the hope that they might know God's love. There - as far as I'm aware - has never been any direct proclamation of the need to be born again in our church.
About six years ago I felt a call to return to church and as my wife's church had closed down we went to our local Church of Scotland. This was a disaster as we realised we had joined a liberal same sex supporting church. We recently moved to another Church of Scotland fifteen miles away and we now enjoy teaching, fellowship, training and sound gospel preaching every week. We travel around one hundred miles each week to attend church.
A couple of respondents reflected theologically about their own views of salvation and mission or their personal gifting.
For myself, it's about not wanting to put people off, and feeling hindered by a culture that makes it unacceptable to say that Jesus is The Way. On deeper reflection, the issue is: do I really believe that people will go to hell if they don't believe in Jesus? I find it hard to think that God would condemn people who are loving and follow another faith or none at all, after all he loved the world so much he gave his only son...so there is a tussle in my mind between what I think I ought to believe and what I feel is the wideness of God's love.
We also need to think carefully about our missiology - what place of Chaplains (like me) who are not to proselytize...how do we square this with the mission heart of God? Is God's mission purely about conversion? Or might he also care for justice, peace, care for the environment? Is it specific or general grace?
I was put off doing evangelism by my experiences as a student when I was effectively told I had to do it, and failed miserably in my attempts. I left my previous church because the new senior pastor was interested only in evangelism - I was not interested in being less than half a Christian. I would like to be as much of a Christian as I can be by God's help and grace - and that means being the person God wants me to be, using the gifts He has given me for His purposes, and not trying, and failing, to be what He has not made me to be for Him.
I recall from somewhere that typically 1 in 10 have the gift of evangelism. We are all witnesses, but not all of us are evangelists. The church has failed to make the distinction clear, and the results are either poor evangelism and/or being made to feel guilty because you don't or can't evangelise with obvious results.
A few felt that the church was weak and ineffective because it lacked miraculous power and/or prayer.
Not enough of the New Testament pattern of demonstrating the power of the gospel by healing and dealing with evil spirits.
Churches need to move in the power of The Holy Spirit more; Jesus shared the Kingdom of God using words, but also acts of power demonstrating what He was preaching (for instance, forgiving the paralysed man's sins, then demonstrating His authority to do that with a physical healing). If The Church was more powerful, and demonstrated the kindness of God in this and many other ways, we'd see an increase in people coming to Jesus. The churches that are doing so are testimony of this.
The local church in general has no confidence to heal the sick, or to teach on it. So believers have to plough their own furrow as I had to do. No teaching means no faith to see healing in congregations or on the street amongst unbelievers.. This is tragic, considering Jesus commissioned the 12 and the 70 to "preach the gospel and heal the sick". The gospel is "show and tell", but we neuter it when we make it a "tell" gospel only.
The church doesn't pray enough. Our church has a 1 hour prayer meeting once a month. When I invite people to join me in praying from 10pm to 2am in a church that is open as outreach for clubbers, too many of them refuse. (But a growing group join me!).
Members of the church have made themselves vulnerable by inviting people to events despite their fear of rejection and or embarrassment but the difficult thing to do is to get people to commit to prayer. I feel if we had the prayer life of the church more active these other aspects would be more transparent and successful.
Referring to …. revival, it is not the quantity of prayer that matters but that we do not pray earnestly or believingly enough. (1 John 5:15)
Others felt they and other Christians lacked conviction and confidence in the Gospel or enthusiasm to share it..
I think some atheists express themselves a lot better than many Christians do- possibly through lack of confidence or conviction on our part.
Individual Christians are just a bit too shy and reserved to talk about our faith as much as we could, even when the people we're talking to would not be hostile or would be actively interested.
One key concern is I think Christians have lost confidence in sharing the gospel.
I am a passionate evangelist. I'm not sure there are many others in my church, and I don't really feel supported in the role. My denomination offers no training or route to take evangelism except for urban/social action routes. I think there is definitely a reluctance for Christians to tell people about Jesus.
I generally find talking about church and the social activities associated with it, and about "religion" much easier than about Jesus / God / the Holy Spirit and my personal relationship / encounters with them.
While I definitely describe myself and my faith as Evangelical Christian, I lack confidence to witness to that faith outside of the church environment. This is particularly true at work where the atmosphere and ethos is not receptive to issues of faith.
Christians need to urgently re-discover their voices and start talking to people about Jesus in everyday conversation.
Amongst evangelical Christians there seems to be a comfort culture where they are content to go to church on Sunday and maybe a midweek but otherwise have no real involvement in sharing their faith or in active outreach work
I do think evangelism is hugely important but I'm too scared or lazy to do anything about it. The closest I get is that I do take opportunities to let people at work know I'm a Christian
My husband and I move in academic circles and we think people are more spiritually open now than they were 20 years ago. Dawkins is not that much of a threat. I think people are more open than many Christians realise, but we have lost confidence and expectancy and have stopped taking risks. As a minister in training I feel people need to recover their passion for Jesus and their confidence in his ability to transform their lives and the lives of others.
I have confidence in speaking about my faith in public, but less confidence in talking to non Christian friends or family about faith - they don't seem interested and I fear alienating them all together by being too direct. I believe I need a greater sense of urgency, and a bigger understanding of God's love, to motivate me to share my faith more boldly.
The church I now attend is a rather dead rural church. Sadly I think our Vicar is rather burned out after many years of Parish ministry and many of our regular members are terrified of the concept of evangelism - not an uncommon situation in a rural parish!
I would love to do more evangelism/stuff that would make Christianity more accessible but others at church seem to think it's all about maintaining the building & fund raising etc. There is no ethos of evangelism or encouragement from the leadership. We do support financially a Trust which employs youth workers to go in the local schools
We need a Gospel revival. And whilst we're there, boldness too.
Maybe we are more evangelical than overtly evangelistic!
A few comments affirmed social action but usually felt it needed to be carried out alongside verbal witness and proclamation.
I think you can never place too much focus on social action, the church is there to change the world it lives in with Jesus love, giving hope, love and safety to those who have non. We should prepared to serve the communities we live in and make "God's Kingdom come" now in the world we live in and actively change our world and make it a better place.
Social action with the gospel is powerful and scriptural - the essence of the gospel, but without the gospel, it is merely helping people on earth who will then go to a lost eternity.
Social action demonstrates the truth of what we preach and touches lives.
I worry quite a lot that Christians feel browbeaten and reluctant to share their faith, or if they do, are terribly apologetic. Some are losing confidence in the Gospel I feel, and although I run a social action ministry, being 'nice' is not enough. Preaching in some form is still needed. There is also still a real issue in getting Christians to meet non-believers despite the proliferation of social action ministries..
I think the most important aspect to evangelism is that our lives match up to our words and that we demonstrate this through unconditional love. I admit that I struggle to articulate this in words at times, but serving our local community (not necessarily geographical) is a great way to share our faith.
Evangelism and Social Action are too often separated when they are like the actions of a wave - the wave moves in and out, but it is its overall action which creates the landscape.
In contrast there were a roughly equal number of comments discussing the factors external to the church. Some respondents felt there was a hostile environment in many workplaces which prevented Christians from sharing their faith with colleagues or "customers".
The perception of restrictions on sharing the Gospel make people uneasy and nervous about bearing witness, offering to pray etc, combined with employers (misplaced) belief that to share the Gospel is inappropriate in the workplace.
I work within the NHS and I feel very concerned about witnessing at work to colleagues and patients because I'm afraid I will offend someone and lose my job. I don't think there is freedom of speech any more.
I feel strongly that the "state" does not promote the Christian faith and in the case of young people positively discriminates against it as per the example given. What gives the state, this example is social services, the right to remove a child from their chosen faith when taken into the care system, they are allowed to do this to a Christian but would they be allowed to do it if it was a Muslim Child ?
My public sector employer has banned the public witness of faith - a stricture which I routinely break. The main enemies of the gospel are public sector managers and the media.
My work is in a further education college so I'm not allowed to openly evangelize however I do talk openly to my colleagues and students. I've found that they are all respectful and in the last couple of years have offered to pray for different situations that people have talked to me about and I've even been asked to pray for others.
However in contrast is this comment
I work for a mental health charity with colleagues from any faiths so we are able to have open and positive discussions about faith. I have recently taken 2 colleagues to our Alpha course and one has recently come to faith. a couple of service users have also attended church and come on an occasional basis
A couple mentioned the idea that secularisation has relegated religion to the private sphere rendering faith as little more than a preferred weekend hobby.
The sacred/ secular divide causes people people to doubt they can be effective in the places where they work or have social contacts
I believe many non-Christians see Christianity as an optional extra in their lives therefore as it's not necessary they have better things to do.
We too often use Greek ways of though segregating all areas of our faith into neat little boxes. This is not the holistic Hebraic way of thinking. Let there be no more boxes. Let us be missional in every aspect of our lives.
Unbelievers' perceptions of Christians, popularised by the mass media was also mentioned as a hindrance.
Some non-Christians seem to believe that Christians are all hypocrites
Many of the problems seem to be about the voice of Christians themselves being misrepresented in the media (as they are). However this is not new (there were all sorts of strange rumours about early Christians and the church still grew). It might be more about a lack of thirst for Jesus amongst us western Christians ourselves, not wanting our comfort to be too disturbed, and compromising with a watered-down Christianity.
Another powerful factor is the world-view or climate created by the TV, the press, entertainers and education.
I rail at the TV when it gives a false portrayal of Christianity but never know what I can do about it without turning into a half-crazed evangelical lobbyist (other than live out my life as a natural counterpoint)!
Finally there were a set of comments which suggested that "worldly" people were either poorly informed, uninterested, seduced by materialism or had rejected the truth.
Many people just don't know enough about God, the Bible and Jesus to be able to make a meaningful decision.
I work with young people and there is no longer a default knowledge of Christian truth. We need to communicate the Christian story a a much more basic level than in the past. We also need to to teach wise use of scripture i.e. Genesis 1 as poetry not claim scientific truth hidden in ancient writing.
Most non-Christians simply do not feel the need to be forgiven. The lack of old fashioned Religious Education in schools in recent decades has resulted in widespread ignorance of the Bible making it more difficult to find a starting point to talk about God.
I'm happy to talk to any body who will listen to my beliefs in Jesus, I just find that most people 'glaze over' when he is mentioned, or they change the subject.
Materialist society means people feel they don't need God
The UK culture is one that says 'you can have it all - if you have enough money' - this is often seen as a more attractive option,
People resist anything which might dictate the way they live their lives - freedom of choice has become a god above most others - people don't want to be 'told' what to do with their time, money or anything else.
We have a lot of bridge building activities but when we try and take things to the next step people do not seem interested. Committed to anything, let alone Jesus, seems to be lacking in our society today.
As a retired person, I don't have as many contacts as I once had. Contacts with neighbours are good but they tend to keep clear of 'religion' as a topic because I have talked with them in the past about being a Christian. Any time the opportunity arises they have listened and we remain friends.
Cultural rejection of idea of truth means people aren't even asking whether Jesus is truly God any more - they don't think it's possible to know the truth about God, so they're not interested in a group of people who say that they know the only true way to Him. Postmodernism in action.
I think people are becoming less willing, or think they are too busy, to listen to the Christian message. Between 1984 and 1989 I invited six non-Christian friends to attend evangelistic events; all said yes. In the 23 years since then I have invited five non-Christian friends to similar events; all have said no. I am perhaps unfairly comparing my student days and my time back then in a small, community-minded northern town with a modern city further south, and its busier lifestyles.
We are fighting on other people's terms too often e.g. the new atheists agenda, which leads us to irrelevant battles. I am not a Christian because I can't explain the world without some reference to a deity; I am a Christian because God revealed Himself to me in Jesus.
And the opposite
People like Richard Dawkins have a disproportionate effect.
We need to show people the questions to ask of the New atheists
Evangelism and the Local Church
Church leaders evangelism survey
There is further data on evangelism in a Evangelical Alliance survey of some 400 church leaders carried out in January 2016. The Table below suggests that there is a lot of talk and prayer about evangelism, some encouragement and training but only marginal success.
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Response Count |
| In our teaching as a church we regularly talk about the need to evangelise | 26% | 51% | 15% | 7% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church often prays together for people to come to faith | 25% | 43% | 15% | 14% | 3% | 100% |
| When you look at the activities our church is involved in, evangelism is clearly one of our priorities | 19% | 48% | 17% | 12% | 3% | 100% |
| Our congregation expects to see people coming to faith and joining the church | 19% | 47% | 22% | 9% | 2% | 100% |
| Evangelism has definitely become a higher priority for our church in the last few years | 17% | 37% | 29% | 15% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church values people with the gift of evangelism and seeks to use and develop their gifts | 15% | 48% | 27% | 9% | 2% | 100% |
| Our church regularly gives people practical tips and suggestions of how to share their faith | 9% | 44% | 27% | 16% | 3% | 100% |
| We often share testimonies in our church of people coming to faith or encountering God for the first time | 7% | 29% | 26% | 30% | 7% | 100% |
| Our church has seen many people come to faith over the last few years | 5% | 23% | 29% | 35% | 9% | 100% |
| We often have non-Christians dropping in to ask for prayer/about issues related to faith | 4% | 25% | 31% | 31% | 8% | 100% |
| Our church focuses on individual evangelism rather than doing evangelistic activities together | 4% | 30% | 38% | 24% | 4% | 100% |
| Our evangelism as a church is done through occasional events rather than anything regular | 4% | 32% | 22% | 35% | 7% | 100% |
| We don't do any evangelism together as a church | 4% | 10% | 11% | 45% | 30% | 100% |
| A new convert has come to our church, but we haven't known how to nurture and retain them successfully | 1% | 13% | 17% | 50% | 19% | 100% |
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| |||||
| answered question | 404 | |||||
| skipped question | 23 | |||||
The table below suggests many church leaders perceive that their congregations (and sometimes themselves) are often hesitant to communicate their faith to unbelievers in words. 60% agree that members seem more happy to volunteer for social action than direct evangelism.
| How far do you agree... ? | ||||||
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Response Count |
| I personally find I am comfortable talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 19% | 52% | 19% | 9% | 1% | 100% |
| I personally have many non-Christian friends | 14% | 27% | 27% | 27% | 5% | 100% |
| People in our church are much more likely to volunteer for social action projects rather than evangelism | 13% | 47% | 32% | 8% | 1% | 100% |
| People in our church seem happy to show God's love in actions, but hesitant or unsure how to speak to people directly about Jesus | 12% | 50% | 25% | 12% | 1% | 100% |
| I suspect people in my church are afraid of causing offence when talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 6% | 46% | 27% | 17% | 4% | 100% |
| People in our church don't seem to have many non-Christian friends | 2% | 21% | 37% | 34% | 6% | 100% |
| People in our church are confident to share their faith story with others | 2% | 32% | 40% | 21% | 4% | 100% |
| I personally am sometimes afraid of causing offence when talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 2% | 30% | 21% | 35% | 13% | 100% |
| I think people in my church are comfortable talking with non-Christians about Jesus | 2% | 30% | 43% | 21% | 4% | 100% |
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| |||||
| answered question | 393 | |||||
| skipped question | 34 | |||||
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The table below suggests church leaders express encouragement but that much of this is rationalised as planting seeds and building community relationships rather than reaping a gospel harvest.
| ||
| How would you describe your church's approach to evangelism at the current time?Please tick all that apply | ||
| Church leaders evangelism survey 2016 | Response Percent | Response Count |
| We are encouraged to continue in our efforts | 68.3% | 248 |
| We are able to build relationships with people in our community, but we find that it's hard to take the next step and share our faith with them | 51.2% | 186 |
| We've been really encouraged as we've seen people come to faith | 43.8% | 159 |
| Although we've not seen anyone come to faith, we are encouraged that we've planted seeds | 43.5% | 158 |
| Lots of people in the church are involved | 36.4% | 132 |
| We've been discouraged that no one seemed to come to faith | 12.4% | 45 |
| We've been discouraged and considered giving up | 2.5% | 9 |
| answered question | 363 | |
| skipped question | 64 | |
CHURCH PROGRAMMES FOR EVANGELISM
Drawing from hundreds of extended comments from the two surveys about programmes and activities in the respondents churches the section below illustrates what is currently happening in churches attended by evangelicals in the UK
By far the largest number of comments talked about outreach activities aimed at local communities, the large majority of which could be described as Christian social action, though in some cases putting this into practice or gaining an evangelism dividend appeared to be a struggle.
As a church we are very involved in the local community, mainly through youth work, but struggle to get people to engage beyond the service they are using.
the church needs to get out and serve the community and cater for their needs! sadly our church apart from employing me to serve the youth and children in the village which has been a privilege and blessing, doesn't really do community events! partly to do with the church building and lack of space!
I am now retired and work with my wife in our church - we have found that we are a small church with specific social needs and God wants us to get alongside people with those needs and help them to experience Jesus carry them through their problems, to sope with them and deal with them and heal them. Our work is very practical - street cleaning, providing meals, tea and toast for youngsters on the streets in winter. Our ministry is more 'work-based' than 'word-based' and God has been good to us. But we are learning that we need to be humble and accept that He has called us to do small things well rather than try to do big things which may be appropriate in bigger churches.
I attend a church with many different races and cultures, with frequently first generation immigrants. A large number work long hours in poorly paid jobs, or have young children to care for, making church activities difficult to attend. Evangelism is not centred on the building, but via friendships, Street Pastors, Food Bank, and community involvement. The building is a converted factory (rented from a Muslim) in a predominantly ethnic semi-commercial area, there are two Muslim places of worship, and two other Christian churches within 150 yards – challenging!
I attend a large church. An opportunity to respond to the Gospel is given at the end of every service and people frequently respond. There is an expectation that people will extend a warm welcome to anyone that comes to the church and there is an ongoing programme of outreach to the local community. In addition I prayer walk in my neighbourhood, I'm a school governor, I run a prayer group at work, I organise community events (eg street parties) and these are all out of a desire to build relationships and change the spiritual climate with a view to sharing the Gospel.
I think it would be good for believers to live and go to church in 1 community rather than commuting to church elsewhere. This way the church can be involved in the community and non believers can see the witness of believers in their everyday lives. (I'm not doing this yet but it's my plan to move to a more multi-ethnic community to witness to people from other cultures/religions.
Most evangelicals have deserted inner city areas like ours so the church is weak and the traditional church presence is not attractive or effective to most local residents, who are reluctant or lack capacity to commit to any organisation. Most of them however do believe in God though with little understanding of Christian faith... We need to develop long term presence and engagement and fresh expressions of church life and discipling.. The Eden Network approach seems very promising... though a long hard slog ... Nonetheless there are signs that God is at work.
My church works hard on community engagement, social action and building relationships; Sunday morning services are just a fraction of what we do over the week/year. Personally involved in leading a youth club (mainly unchurched young people) and planning/executing community events (fun days, social action, etc.).
Our church is very much geared to social justice and we see lots of conversions from working with the poor, refugees, CAP, prisoners, prostitutes. We also seem to have a number of doctors and young families! But in terms of middle class evangelism to those outside that I'm not sure we that good at it!
Our church is very out-going. We are very active in our community, having Street Pastors, Healing On The Streets and have just completed a week's youth activity in our local park, where we had in excess of 150 children per day.
Our church runs social action programmes - food bank etc coffee shop. As yet we have not reaped great results but we are getting more known in the community. We are starting small to do things well
Run many regular activities for non-church members eg coffee shop, Mum's and tots group, young people's groups, winter warmth, bowls for older people
Social action: believe this is vitally important for the church to share Jesus, but feel we are sometimes so focussed on the action that we can forget to share the reason for the action! Also, so many non Christian organisations doing social action stuff out there- how are we different?
There are activities on offer for all ages throughout the week as well as at the weekend. Our Director of Mission regularly holds large outreach events such as a Family Fun Day, Meal and Cabaret Nights and also we hold Cafe Church in Costa every month. There are many children's and young people's activities too which bring children and youth from outside the church too. Our Sunday services are geared to be 'user friendly' for everyone too. A great place to be part of!
We are actively encouraged to build friendship evangelism, rather than through events, although we do a lot of social events e.g. harvest suppers, watch Football etc., to invite people to.
We are in a town of 8500. Three main churches get on really well together and we share in events. eg. The Passion (play) attracted 3000 to the market Square to see the Easter events enacted in modern style with modern music. great press and radio coverage. also joint Holiday Clubs, Open air witness at local festival
We run a food-bank which has proved a fantastic way of showing people the love of God and brought several to faith because they wanted to find out why our volunteers loved Jesus and them so much.
we run many outreach activities: toddler group, children's club, two youth clubs, free lunch club, holiday club (just finished) for over 120 kids etc.
We're running a night shelter for destitute immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers here at our church over the summer whilst the usual facility in the city is closed. I was privileged to listen to two volunteers sharing their faith with a client a couple of nights ago. Neither of them for one moment would consider themselves to be an evangelist, but that was REAL evangelism and I know that God will bless it although ….they were mandated to do it (at the human, relational level) by the consistent service that they have given to that individual and his fellows since we started
There were several examples of outreach activities aimed at particular sections, or age groups of the community such as families (where Messy Church is popular), children, youth or older people..
I take services twice monthly at our local old people's and dementia homes. With a team we have held a "Holiday at Home" for the elderly.
we've recently started a monthly cafe church at Costas for 18-35year olds - attracting approx 60 people approx half are guests and not likely to be Christians. Our recently started quarterly Saturday 'Messy Church' attracts 200 - mainly parents from our mums and tots group who are currently not church attenders - many are of Hindu background.
The church I attend has a vibrant youth work and has recently appointed a Seniors Pastor which fits in with our vision to reach the older members of the local community.
We hold a weekly children's after school group and a weekly youth group - most of the children and young people who come are NOT from Christian homes;
Very active youth work, run Messy Church regularly and seek to reach parents / carers of the young people
There is a team in our Deanery who do puppet assemblies in schools
Much of our church evangelism is done through the children's work and music groups.
The ALPHA course programme was mentioned about 20 times, mostly favourably.
The most effective evangelism in the last decade has been the Alpha course
We do run an Alpha Course once a year, and this is bringing in a steady stream of new members.
We aim to run Alphas (usually small home based ones now) regularly and to put on larger whole church (sowing 1-type) events every term to give opportunity for folk to invite their friends to a quality non cringy event to help them get to know other Christians. We're not so strong on the 'reaping' end yet!...but have effectively discipled the ones and twos who've been coming through.
Our Church runs the START and Alpha courses once a year, and co-runs friendship events for our Muslim neighbours.
Our village church is firmly rooted in the community so evangelism takes place all the time by individuals and especially through Alpha and relationships with non Christian friends .
Alpha and Youth Alpha have been very successful and our minister 'sticks to his guns' by insisting that a person has to do the Alpha Course if they want to marry or be baptised in the church.
A minority of churches have developed healing ministry as a form of outreach or evangelism.
I've been involved in Healing Rooms and Light and Life for two and a half years. These are by far the most effective form of evangelism that I have encountered.
Our Church does Healing on The Streets,
We went out on Streets of Glasgow for two hours a week to engage with the public and share the gospel/ pray with them/invite them to church, I have also worked with Abused women, in Destiny Lifeline, most of whom are unsaved when they come to the group, and the poor/immigrants in Destiny Angels Drop-in, where we have a monthly healing meeting where between 3 - 6 respond to invitation to salvation monthly.
Only a few people mentioned specific current evangelistic campaigns or missions
We are about to hold a week of mission with local Anglican churches
Mostly involved with evangelism via a mission organisation, approx one week a year
Some responses attended particular forms of church, from Cathedrals to new expressions of church, where evangelism was important but took appropriate local forms.
I worship at a cathedral. I make sure there are gospels, Christian literature for visitors to take away, and always an exhibition which might inspire people towards God, on display. We get lots of responsive comments from one off tourists.
As I'm attending a cathedral, the remit of our body of believers is some what different to any other c of e church I've previous attended. The public pour into the Minster to see it and we have teams on hand every day to pray with any visitor who wants and needs it. How many people come to Christ through this I don't know.
We are very aware that during any one morning service up to 10% could be visitors. We look for opportunities all the time to move along side those seeking.
Our church has formed three church plants in the last 5 years and the total attendance in about 250 people. People want to worship near where they live
we are in a small plant out church , The bigger church in the city has alpha courses and more organised outreach activities which we sometimes join in with.
We are a new church plant (20-25 people), experimenting with 'missional communities' seeking to develop relationships with different local, ethnic or interest groups. We see mission as integral to our daily and community life, not as a separate programme or event. We have contacts with a range of non-believers from differing cultures but it is early days....
We are a new expression of church which had been in operation for only 4 years and works out of a school. We began having brunches once a month and still have ten twice a month as we see these as our entry point. We are very community orientated and have seen many come to faith and seen lives significantly changed
There is an ethos of accepting people whatever background or spiritual understanding they may have/not. People are allowed to develop their spiritual journey at their own pace without pressure. From their first visit, people are invited to be involved in serving teams and in small groups where they get to build relationships.
The greater community has no particular need for Jesus. But they do want to be married, baptise their children and have funerals in the Church.
We are relocating in the next few years and will be in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the city - in advance of the move we have a weekly drop in centre where every week a handful of people pop in for a coffee and chat. Several have now started coming to the church
We have a building project - our new church should be open in October. It will seat 1100. I think it will be full.
A large number of comments articulated disappointment or struggle in churches to develop effective strategies and programmes for evangelism. In some cases this was put down to leadership that was unenthusiastic or overburdened.
At one time we had 'lay witness' weekends which were attended by people on the periphery of the church and also assisted in joint outreach events e.g. Festival Manchester and Message 2000, but under our new minister we have become a 'sit and listen' congregation. There is no encouragement to attend home groups or Bible studies or to reach out to the local community.
I believe Christians lack confidence in their ability to talk about their faith to others. This is a combination of lack of real commitment to love people enough to put our own interests after theirs and a lack of commitment to serious evangelism in Churches. but I do believe that we are seeing this change as God moves in our Churches - there is a renewed interest in outreach.
I believe in NI we do not as yet have a 'culture' of evangelism amongst Christian people in our churches, with many seemingly having no concern for 'the lost', plus the fact that many are reluctant or unsure of how to share their own personal faith, and how God has been at work in their lives. There appears to be more emphasis on personal growth as a Christian and going to Church groups/conferences etc. than on getting 'out there' and having an impact in the local community !
I go to a very conservative church in which evangelism is thought to be both expensive and unprofitable by the current leadership which is happy to continue without conversions.
In a small rural church, mainly elderly parishioners. Church is in interregnum. Church wardens concerned with building issues, not building the Kingdom. People come typically out of habit.
My church is a small 12th century village Anglican church. We use 4 churches in the local community throughout the month. The majority of the congregation are elderly and don't like too much change.
Our church evangelistic activities are sporadic and inconsistent, and follow up is poor. However we have strong biblical teaching each week, and the gospel is frequently explained. Unfortunately there are few non-Christians who come to hear it!
We are a fairly traditional church, with some members who would be eager to get involved in evangelism and others who would not. I keep working at it!
As I said earlier, evangelism is something I find very difficult. The non-Christians with whom I work are engineers and I don't feel that most are open to Christian faith - and I'm fearful of exposing myself.
Many do not see Evangelism as their business and at this point in their journey it will take the Holy Spirit to change their opinions on that.
As a leadership group I would say that we are plain worn out just doing life at the moment. The two elders [my husband being one of them] who work alongside our part-time pastor, are both in very high pressured jobs that over the past 3 or 4years have become extremely stressful. I see high stress levels in the leadership of all the churches here which usually rears it's ugly head in the form of serious health issues.
Our Church, like many I suspect, is keen, eager and able to reap but not so good at sowing and keeping. Most people are so busy with their 'working' lives that to devote time and energy to church matters (as volunteers) takes more commitment and dedication than people are prepared to give. With the economic situation as is, people are just trying to keep their employment going and do not have the stamina to give more time and energy to the Church. The attitude is that the ministers/vicars/priests, who are paid, should be 'doing all that' and that their congregation will help and support where they can! The congregation /membership are then surprised when the minister/vicar/priest 'burns out'! In my view, volunteers cannot be depended on, more 'employed' and trained people would improve the situation. Evangelism, if done badly, can be more detrimental than not doing anything. Training and identifying those with a gift for evangelism will prove more effective than what has been happening recently.
Mission beyond evangelism
Bebbington's category of evangelical activism has never been limited to evangelism and the spreading of the Word by words. From Wesley's preaching of social holiness, with it's impact on the abolitionist and factory reform movements, to the high Victorian epidemic of charitable enterprises evangelicals have generally been socially and politically active. After a few decades of socially conservative relative quietism in the middle decades of the 20th Century – a response to the liberal Christianity that was labelled "social gospel" and rarely preached repentance and conversion – the pendulum has swung back towards more holistic approaches to mission. Our surveys suggest that in the UK at least evangelical Christians are far more active than the average citizen in political and voluntary action to serve the wider community.
According to the 2010 Baseline survey 99% of evangelical Christians do some type of volunteering each year.
The following tables from our panel surveys confirm that evangelicals are deeply involved in in neighbourly activity and community action in their localities.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Are you as an individual involved actively where you live in any of the following? Please tick all that apply. | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Praying regularly with others for your local community (not just in church services) | 44.8% | 515 |
| Regularly supporting a neighbour who is lonely, frail or otherwise in need | 34.6% | 397 |
| Looking out for new people moving in and making sure they are welcomed to the area | 32.8% | 377 |
| A local club or group based around a hobby or shared interest | 21.5% | 247 |
| Managing or supporting a local school | 20.9% | 240 |
| A local residents association, neighbourhood group or community forum | 20.0% | 230 |
| A neighbourhood watch or other police and community group | 15.9% | 183 |
| A local sports club | 12.2% | 140 |
| Socialising at the local pub | 10.6% | 122 |
| A local youth or children's club or organisation (other than your church's ministries) | 9.7% | 112 |
| Managing or supporting a local hospital, hospice or health/disability charity | 9.3% | 107 |
| A local branch of a national (or regional) issue-based campaign | 6.2% | 71 |
| A local environmental project or campaign | 5.7% | 66 |
| Helping to run a charity shop | 4.2% | 48 |
| As an elected member of a local council | 1.2% | 14 |
| Other (please specify or give further details) | 24.0% | 276 |
| answered question | 1149 | |
| skipped question | 348 | |
A very high proportion of the involvement is through local church projects rather than through generic or secular voluntary organisations.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||||
| Are you involved locally, through your church or another organisation, in any activities or projects in the following fields? Please tick any boxes that apply | ||||
| Answer Options | I am involved in a church project | I am involved in a secular community project | There is a local church(es) project, but I am not very involved | Response Count |
| Development or missions overseas | 62% | 3% | 37% | 100% |
| Elderly or lonely people | 41% | 8% | 54% | 100% |
| Foodbank | 40% | 3% | 57% | 100% |
| Families in poverty or with other support needs | 38% | 6% | 57% | 100% |
| Multi-use community centre | 37% | 8% | 56% | 100% |
| Unemployed people | 29% | 7% | 65% | 100% |
| Homeless people | 29% | 5% | 68% | 100% |
| Youth work with unchurched kids | 28% | 5% | 69% | 100% |
| Cleaning up or improving the neighbourhood environment | 26% | 15% | 60% | 100% |
| People with disabilities or learning difficulties | 26% | 17% | 59% | 100% |
| Refugees and asylum seekers | 24% | 9% | 67% | 100% |
| Prisoners or ex-offenders | 23% | 6% | 71% | 100% |
| Street Pastors or similar schemes | 19% | 1% | 80% | 100% |
| Money advice or debt counselling | 19% | 3% | 78% | 100% |
| Tackling addictions | 17% | 7% | 77% | 100% |
| IT training or provision | 17% | 12% | 72% | 100% |
| Broad-based community organisations such as London Citizens or Citizens UK | 12% | 16% | 74% | 100% |
| Hospice provision | 7% | 14% | 80% | 100% |
| Other (please specify) | 94 | |||
| answered question | 1264 | |||
| skipped question | 233 | |||
Evangelical churches seem to have a preference for working within the network of Christian organisations though a substantial (and growing) proportion do engage with wider partnerships.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Is your church involved in any projects or activities where it is working in partnership with any of the following? Tick all that apply | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Other local churches | 82.1% | 1079 |
| Churches or missions overseas | 75.3% | 990 |
| Christian charities or para-church organisations | 58.7% | 772 |
| Secular voluntary organisations or charities | 34.2% | 450 |
| The local council | 30.0% | 394 |
| The police | 19.8% | 261 |
| A church in a less affluent neighbourhood in your city or region | 14.7% | 193 |
| Local umbrella bodies such as a Council for Voluntary Service or community network/forum | 13.4% | 176 |
| Other public sector bodies (eg NHS or Job Centre Plus) | 8.9% | 117 |
| People from minority faith communities | 8.0% | 105 |
| A church in a more affluent neighbourhood in your city or region | 5.2% | 68 |
| I don't know | 2.9% | 38 |
| None of these | 2.4% | 31 |
| Please give some details | 177 | |
| answered question | 1315 | |
| skipped question | 182 | |
From Who is my neighbour? February 2014
When asked to reflect on What does it mean to be a good neighbour? In an open ended question the 1500 or so respondents produced a total of over 30,000 words. The selection below give a flavour of this discourse which arguably represents the values, aspirations and even habitus of Evangelicals in the UK today.
To be salt and light where God has placed you, at home, work, school or leisure.
To respond to those in need both near and far, as you have availability, time, gifting and contacts.
To love and serve unconditionally - showing the love of God by acts of kindness and neighbourliness, 'preaching the gospel without words'
Making yourself available to help others in need regardless of their circumstances
For me, as a born again believer literally everyone is my neighbour and I must respond to spiritual and financial needs as God leads me be this within my immediate community or further afield
.
To be a friend not just a neighbour, taking time to listen and to pray and to be thoughtful as to what you can do to bless that person. To talk openly about your faith.
To be active in the local community. To engage with neighbours and be friendly and helpful where opportunities allow. To be Christ to all you meet. To see the world through Jesus' eyes and work for a more just world. Effect change by changing the little bit of the world I can. Work with others to see more global change. Awareness of my actions upon others (esp the developing world)
To share Jesus' love with all we meet, not to judge, to be aware of other people's needs and help them if at all possible, to go the extra mile.
Good neighbour:- To want for others what you would want for yourself.
To be a good Samaritan is to identify the problem, be brave against the possible odds, seek and deliver a solution whilst still caring for my neighbour.
To reach out to people in the community. To be someone the local community looks to for help.
to be caring and loving
Something which is very difficult - I find it easier to love Jesus who is perfection as opposed to human beings who so often **** me off. I struggle with John's words that if you don't love your brother then the love of God is not in you.
It may be offering to pray for someone or even simply clearing snow from their front path before they get up or deicing their car whilst you do your own.
To live a life that reflects Christ's teaching.
Whatever I have or can give I will. Whilst I want to see people find Christ I don't want the to think that I will only be their friend if they come to church . Jesus loves unconditionally I want to known as a genuine friend.
Challenged by how much of our 'Christian service' is locked into church activities when there is so much opportunity outside of that arena for Christians to be a positive presence. Prejudice is so deeply rooted in us and is so destructive. It would be great if Christians were smattered all over the place serving those who need help, speaking for those who have no voice, and preferring the marginalised above ourselves. We are very far from this.
Social action and Evangelism are two blades of the same action - each requires the other to be effective as with scissors. But everything must be done in faith as the fruit of the Spirits indwelling
I believe it refers to a worldview that contrasts an insular, 'me first' approach prevalent in society, wherein you view yourself and the resources at your disposal (your time, your gifts, your money) as opportunities to make a positive impact on the lives of those you come into contact with.
To love everyone in the world, unconditionally. To show love in practical ways such as fighting poverty, injustice and corruption.
We need to be the 'Face of Jesus' to those hurting through unemployment, fuel/food poverty, depression, anxiety, loneliness etc.
It is no good, whatsoever, to 'hang out' with people just like us as in some sort of righteous social club, we need to get our hands and feet dirty and our hearts must break for what breaks God's heart.
All people are made in the image of God so a every individual is important. I believe that loving others (in spite of our initial feelings) is fundamental as a Christian. However, I admit that it can be VERY difficult at times. God loves us and therefore we must choose to love other (our neighbours)
Being prepared to be interrupted. Being willing to help where needed. Having a servant heart.
INTERNATIONAL INVOLVEMENT
Neighbourly social action is not confined to the neighbourhood or the country.
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||
| Are you involved personally in any of the following international activities? Please tick all that apply. | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Supporting ethical consumerism by the way you buy goods or invest money | 65% | 821 |
| Praying regularly with others for international situations or ministries (not just in church services) | 55% | 690 |
| Sponsoring a child in a less developed country | 52% | 647 |
| Taking an active part in campaigning activities on an international justice issue (eg trafficking, international debt relief, fair trade, peace and disarmament) | 38% | 474 |
| Taking an active part in campaigning and support activities for prisoners of conscience or the persecuted Church | 29% | 363 |
| Organising fundraising or educational activities for an aid agency or development charity | 24% | 306 |
| Organising fundraising or educational activities for an international mission group | 23% | 293 |
| Other (please specify) | 13.4% | 168 |
| answered question | 1257 | |
| skipped question | 240 | |
More than a quarter were planning an overseas mission trip.
| 21st Century Evangelicals February 2012 - Links with the Global Church | ||
| Are you planning in the next few years to get involved in Christian mission or aid and development activities overseas? | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| I am planning a short visit in the next couple of years | 25.7% | 259 |
| I am planning a gap year or equivalent | 0.9% | 9 |
| I am considering offering for medium or long-term Christian service overseas | 4.0% | 40 |
| None of these | 69.4% | 698 |
| Where do you hope to go? | 240 | |
| answered question | 1006 | |
| skipped question | 29 | |
Political Involvement
Evangelicals in our panel are very much engaged in politics, far more likely to vote or campaign than the average member of the public, though as our Faith in Politics report https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/faith-in-politics.cfm showed covering a wide spectrum of party preferences and concern in a wide range of social justice and personal morality issues.
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | ||
| How likely are you to vote in the next UK general election? | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Certain | 79.8% | 1557 |
| Likely | 13.8% | 270 |
| Not sure | 3.1% | 61 |
| Unlikely | 1.2% | 23 |
| Certain not to | 0.7% | 13 |
| Not eligible | 1.4% | 28 |
| answered question | 1952 | |
| skipped question | 68 | |
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | |||||
| Do you know the names of your elected representatives? | |||||
| Answer Options | Definitely | I think so | No | Not applicable | Response Count |
| MP | 83% | 8% | 8% | 0% | 100% |
| Directly elected mayor | 18% | 8% | 27% | 48% | 100% |
| Local councillor(s) | 36% | 32% | 32% | 0% | 100% |
| MSP / AM / MLA | 10% | 5% | 41% | 44% | 100% |
| MEP(s) | 13% | 17% | 70% | 1% | 100% |
| answered question | 1864 | ||||
| skipped question | 156 | ||||
| Politics survey – August/September 2014 | ||
| In the last 12 months have you done any of the following to influence decisions, laws or policies? Please tick all that apply | ||
| Answer Options | Response Percent | Response Count |
| Voted in an election | 80.4% | 1482 |
| Created or signed an e-petition | 77.9% | 1437 |
| Contacted a local councillor or MP/MSP/Welsh Assembly Member | 56.7% | 1045 |
| Created or signed a paper petition | 39.5% | 728 |
| Boycotted certain products for political, ethical or environmental reasons | 38.9% | 717 |
| Contributed to a discussion or campaign online or on social media | 33.5% | 618 |
| Taken part in a public consultation | 29.6% | 545 |
| Taken an active part in a campaign | 27.9% | 515 |
| Donated money or paid a membership fee to a campaigning organisation | 27.2% | 502 |
| Spoken or written about a political issue within your church context | 23.0% | 425 |
| Contacted the media | 14.9% | 274 |
| Attended political meetings | 12.4% | 228 |
| Donated money or paid a membership fee to a political party | 9.1% | 167 |
| Taken part in a demonstration, picket or march | 5.8% | 107 |
| Taken part in TV or radio broadcast | 5.2% | 96 |
| None of the above | 3.5% | 65 |
| answered question | 1844 | |
| skipped question | 176 | |
| Easter Survey 2011 | ||||
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| ||||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Unsure or Don't Know | Response Count |
| Do you plan on voting (or have your voted) in the elections and referendum on 5 May? | 91% | 5% | 5% | 100% |
| How do you plan to vote (or how did you vote) in the referendum on changing the voting system to Alternative Vote? (yes = in favour of AV) | 38% | 39% | 23% | 100% |
| answered question | 1129 | |||
| skipped question | 24 | |||
| Who is my neighbour? February 2014 | ||||
| Are the following statements true? | ||||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Not sure or don't know | Response Count |
| I always or almost always vote in elections for local councillors | 91% | 7% | 2% | 100% |
| I know the names of our local councillors | 56% | 31% | 13% | 100% |
| I think our local council on the whole does a very good job for our community | 58% | 15% | 27% | 100% |
| Our local council has a good, helpful relationship with the Christian churches in the area | 44% | 13% | 43% | 100% |
| In the last year I have contacted a local councillor or council department about a local issue | 38% | 57% | 5% | 100% |
| answered question | 1374 | |||
| skipped question | 123 | |||
Evangelicals in our panel were far more likely than average to engage in civic life in various sectors and roles... (see page 11 of the "Does Belief Touch Society Report)
https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/does-belief-touch-society.cfm
|
Easter Survey 2011 | |||
| Do you hold any of the following positions? | |||
| Answer Options | Yes | No | Response Count |
| Trustee of a charity | 28% | 72% | 100% |
| Trade Union Membership | 22% | 78% | 100% |
| School governor | 10% | 90% | 100% |
| Member of a political party | 5% | 95% | 100% |
| Councillor | 1% | 99% | 100% |
| Magistrate | 1% | 99% | 100% |
| Other elected political post | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| MP | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| If "yes" to any of the above please give some details | 377 | ||
| answered question | 1070 | ||
| skipped question | 83 | ||
