{"id":591,"date":"2009-02-03T15:33:35","date_gmt":"2009-02-03T20:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=591"},"modified":"2017-06-20T13:44:05","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T20:44:05","slug":"evangelism-is-gospelism-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/evangelism-is-gospelism-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gospelism Story to help you understand what it is"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"evangelismBelow is a story I read on Alan Knox’s blog<\/a>. I think it is a good example of one possible way to “gospelize.” (You will also like the blog series about Being the Church<\/a> or the one about Loving your Neighbor<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

In November I heard Dino Rizzo speak in a workshop at the National Outreach Convention in San Diego. Dino talked about ways to serve the community. He said that if he were new in a city he would buy some garbage bags and volunteer at a community event to help do cleanup. If there was no community event, he said he would just go up and down the streets in his neighborhood and pick up trash.<\/p>\n

I told this story to our little group that is trying to learn how to serve an inner city neighborhood in our city. We decided that we should try it the following Sunday morning, the second Sunday in December, and then do it every other Sunday morning. Our first Sunday out was a cold, windy day, but we met, prayed and then picked up trash in the neighborhood for about eighty to ninety minutes.<\/p>\n

We skipped the fourth Sunday in December, since everyone in the group was out of town or occupied with visiting relatives. However, we resumed our trash pickup last Sunday, the second Sunday of January.<\/p>\n

We met, prayed and started picking up trash. About two minutes after I started a car pulled up near me.<\/p>\n

(Him) \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

(Me) \u201cWe\u2019re picking up trash to make the neighborhood look nice\u201d.<\/p>\n

(Him) \u201cWho are you people?\u201d<\/p>\n

(Me, while pointing to the yellow shirts we all wore that has our group\u2019s name printed on it) \u201cWe\u2019re a little group of Christians just trying to help out the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Him) \u201cWhat church are you with?\u201d<\/p>\n

(Me) \u201cWe\u2019re just a small group that meets here in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Him) \u201cI mean, where\u2019s your church? The building?\u201d<\/p>\n

(Me) \u201cWe meet in cafes or the park. We don\u2019t use a church building. We try to be out around people.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Him) \u201cBut are you part of some church, like the Catholic church, or something like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

(Me) \u201cNo. We\u2019re just followers of Jesus, and every other Sunday morning this is how we do church. We go out in the neighborhood and pick up trash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly I was his good friend.<\/p>\n

(Him) \u201cMy name is xxxxxxxx. I\u2019m on the planning commission here, and I\u2019ve never seen anything like this. I\u2019m church way back, but I don\u2019t go any more. (He gave me some reasons. He doesn\u2019t think much of \u201creligious people\u201d.) Now this is real religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told me about the dislike the churches in the neighborhood and the people in the neighborhood have for each other, a story that I have heard several times from the neighborhood. (Most of the churches in the area are attended by people who drive into the neighborhood. The churches and their neighbors regularly complain to the city, the police and whomever will listen about each other.)<\/p>\n

As we continued picking up trash, people watched. When cars drove by, I looked up. Several people smiled and waved. Some people came out of their houses and thanked us, after watching us from their windows. When we reached the end of our time, and turned around to go back to our cars, picking up a few bits of trash that we had missed on the first pass, more people came out of their houses and thanked us.<\/p>\n

Several weeks earlier I walked these same streets trying to see what I could see, and prayed for the neighborhood. No one stopped to talk to me. No one smiled and waved as they drove by. No one came out of their house to talk to me. A couple of gang members asked me for money. That was it.<\/p>\n

Oh yes, we do not hand out tracts or invite people to church. We\u2019re just getting to know them and they\u2019re getting to know us. They\u2019re trying to figure out who we are. When they\u2019ve got that figured out, perhaps, just perhaps, they\u2019ll invite us into the spaces of their lives. That is where we will be allowed to hear each others stories. But for now, they\u2019re just smiling, waving, coming out of their spaces to say hello or thank you or to ask who we are and what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

After writing this, I thought about a group that is trying to start a new church. Twice they have walked through our neighborhood, hanging invitations to the new church on people\u2019s doors. I watched them. No one smiled and waved at them as they drove by, no one stopped to talk to them, and no one came out of their house to talk to them. After the group had passed, I did see people open their doors to get the flyers, look at them a second or two and toss them in the trash. Hmmm!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m going to close out this series on gospelism with a post that might ruffle a few feathers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

See more on this gospelism series:<\/h2>\n

Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 1)<\/a>
\nEvangelism is Gospelism (Part 2)<\/a>
\nEvangelism is Gospelism (Part 3)<\/a>
\nEvangelism is Gospelism (Part 4)<\/a>
\nEvangelism is Gospelism (Part 5)<\/a>
\nEvangelism is Gospelism (Part 6)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Want to learn more about the gospel?<\/strong> Take my new course, \"The Gospel According to Scripture.\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com<\/a>. I can't wait to see you inside the course!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want to gospelize, it takes more than just words on a page or handing out gospel tracts. Go love, serve, and help. This too is part of the gospel. Here is a story which illustrates this quite clearly. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2234,2231],"tags":[1666,19,1249,2568,1242,2533],"class_list":{"0":"post-591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-redeeming-church","8":"category-redeeming-theology","9":"tag-alan-knox","10":"tag-discipleship","11":"tag-evangelism","12":"tag-good-news","13":"tag-gospel","14":"tag-gospelism","15":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nA Gospelism Story to help you understand what it is<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here is a story I read on the blog of Alan Knox. 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