Category - Faith

What should we do if we don’t like what people in our community are doing? RETREAT!!

If you haven’t had a look at the Christian Exodus website you might like to take a few moments to have a peek.

They want 50 000 Americans to move to one state and then secede. This would be a lot funnier if they weren’t for real.

ChristianExodus.org offers the opportunity to try a strategy not yet employed by Bible-believing Christians. Rather than spend resources in continued efforts to redirect the entire nation, we will redeem States one at a time. Millions of Christian conservatives exist, but we are geographically spread out and diluted at the national level. Therefore, we must concentrate our numbers in a geographical region with a sovereign government we can control through the electoral process.

Why do some Christians spend so much time and effort trying to make things better for themselves rather than reaching out to those who need the love of Jesus?

Rather than trying to make governments bend to follow a Biblical lifestyle, we should be out making disciples as the scriptures call us to do. When the heart of a nation changes, so will its laws.

What use is a society that looks moral on the outside if it is rotten at the core? Surely it would be better to change the heart of the nation.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Looking for Paradise on Earth? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Under the heading Toddlers taught to evangelise, news.com.au is running a story about young children being taught evangelism skills.

CHILDREN as young as 3 are being taught how to convert people to Christianity using an aggressive American evangelisation method.

Kids’ Evangelism Explosion, which has been criticised by some Christian churches as “confrontational evangelism”, is being used in up to 36 parishes around the country.

An expanded program that targets older children and adults is used in more than 300 parishes nationwide, most of them Protestant and Charismatic.

Used mostly in Sunday school, the interdenominational Kids’ EE program also forms part of some preschool and playgroup activities.

You can read the full story here.

Our kids are 5 and 7 and I find that they quite naturally share about the Christian faith based on what they know. They don’t need any prompting.

Knowing the media’s tendency to report things from their own point of view (don’t we all) I’m not sure what this programme is really all about.

What are your thoughts about teaching evangelism strategies to children?

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Mini Evangelists? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

I saw the John Butler Trio on Rove last week and quite enjoyed their music.

I then saw an ad on TV for their latest album. I noticed a poster in the background stating, “The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.”

What a strange statement. I agree that we have responsibilities to look after our planet and to be good stewards but we certainly don’t belong to the earth. The earth belongs to God. We belong to God. God is letting us live on the earth and to this point we haven’t done a marvellous job of looking after it.

Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Slaves to the Earth?? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Our pastor is currently preaching a series called No More Lonely Night – Befriending People for God.

Today we looked at being a part of groups outside the church and getting to know people who need Christ. We talked about sporting, hobby and other groups that put us in touch with non-churched people.

The following is part of an article I found which seemed to fit in well with the theme. I added it to our church newsletter today.

Casting the NET

Some people think: “Oh no! I’m not sure I could ever learn to share my story effectively, much less lead someone to Jesus.” While feelings of inadequacy are common, allowing them to keep us silent is not biblical. Of course it is true that we cannot save anyone through our own wisdom or efforts. However, Jesus can and will do it through us.

Sharing Jesus is a natural expression of walking with Him. Our evangelistic lifestyle flows out of our daily and life-changing relationship with Him.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians already possess everything we need to effectively share with someone how they too can personally experience the life-changing power of God-our story.

Your story has authority. A personal story is difficult to refute. The experience has happened to you. You are a specialist on your own story. The antagonistic Pharisees had no defense for the simple, forthright testimony of the blind man who had been healed.

Your story communicates. People enjoy hearing other people’s stories. A concise and well-thought-out description of your own journey to faith can have a powerful effect on your listeners.

Your story relates. The people with whom you are sharing may be experiencing the same feelings, struggles and temptations you have, without the benefit of Jesus in their lives. They will be able to relate to your life experiences, especially the difficulties and challenges of your quest for true meaning and joy in life.

Your story is powerful. It enables the presentation of the gospel to be both unique and personal. Jesus told stories, and we have stories to tell too. The whole Bible is a story of how God has loved and sought the love of His human creation. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus deserves to be retold over and over. And we have our stories to tell about how God has reshaped who we are.

Sharing the truth of Jesus Christ with others doesn’t have to be the difficult task we’ve been fooled into believing it is.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Befriending People for God? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Have you ever despaired for not being able to match up to the saints of old? Do you wish you could be as strong in your faith as men and women used to be?

While we obviously need to be ever drawing closer to God, we need to remember that those that have gone before us were not perfect.

A new biography has been written about John Wesley and Ship of Fools has published this brief summary of details you probably didn’t know about him.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading They don’t make them like that any more … (and probably never did.)? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.