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August 2006
God opened the door for my wife, Leann, and I to begin an evangelism Sunday School class at James River Assembly church (JRA). JRA is a mega-church - thousands of people attend each week.
JRA had what they call, "Adult Bible Fellowship" (ABF) classes on Sunday mornings (basically a Sunday School class). I spoke with church leadership several times to tell of my desire to teach other Christians how to share their faith, primarily using the Way of the Master evangelism principles, but using other evangelism training materials as well. I have done this previously at different churches. Click Here for one of them. Click Here for another.
After meeting with leadership, it was decided they would pair me up with another gentleman, named Jeff, who has been a member of JRA for a while, to teach the class. He has a desire and passion to reach the lost. He was the Director of the class, I was the primary teacher. They wanted him there for a couple of reasons.
- More people might attend the class if they recognized a name of someone who attended the church for a long time. I was relatively new to the church and no one knew me.
- Since I was relatively new to the church, they wanted someone the church leadership could trust to keep an eye on me to make sure I was being biblically sound. I agree with this decision.
I ended up teaching this class on Sunday mornings for 9 months.
Both Jeff and I had a desire to do everything within our power to ensure the class was as effective as possible in teaching others how to share the gospel. We placed a bulletin insert into the JRA bulletin on Sunday morning.
In addition to having a couple of logos created, I thought it would be good to create Outward in Evangelism letterhead. When someone was new to the class, we sent them a Welcome Letter. When someone missed a class, we would always try to send them a We Missed You letter.
I also created a website, www.OutwardinEvangelism.com. On the website was various links, as well as a link to each lesson we taught, so that they can watch the missed lesson and a document they can open and see the questions and answers. This way, they will be caught up and ready for the next lesson.
NOTE: The website is no longer active, as I took it down after the class.
We primarily taught the Way of the Master principles. During the class, we went to various public places to share the gospel, as well as going out street witnessing in downtown areas (Click here for one of them). The class members also used this training to witness to those in their everyday lives with friends, family and coworkers.
However, in addition to teaching the Way of the Master, we taught Greg Koukl's Tactics in Defending the Faith. It is a very solid way to defend the faith, primarily by asking questions. You are able to get your point across by asking questions, which disarms the person who is disagreeing with you. This is a good way to witness while at work if you are not technically "allowed" to witness at work.
The JRA Outward in Evangelism class had this description:
Are there days you feel there has to be more to being a Christian than just working, making money and getting caught up in the busyness of everyday life? We do need to work and earn a living, but God has a purpose for our lives. Jesus said to “follow me and I will make you fishers of MEN”, and “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” God wants to use us to reach men and women and be a mouthpiece for him. This class is for the average, everyday person who would like to learn how to share their faith in Christ with others. Many don’t realize that 150,000 people walk off into eternity every day, to spend it forever in heaven or hell. Does that thought concern you? Only 2% of professing Christians in America regularly share their faith with others. Do you know of an unsaved friend, loved one, neighbor, relative or co-worker? What are you doing today that will affect where people will be spending eternity? We will take you by the hand and lead you through the scary waters of personal evangelism. We will start out with baby steps, and before you know it, you will know how to share your faith…simply, effectively and biblically – with confidence and boldness. Your life will be changed and you will learn how to be a witness and how to witness.
I am going back later and writing this newletter about teaching this class. I'm not 100% sure it began in August, but it is either August 2006 or a month on either side of it. We did teach it for 9 months.
I thank God for opening this door to Leann and I to teach this class.
In Christ,
Brad St. Clair