By Mark on Friday, 26 November 2010
Category: Uncategorized

HELP

This page has a number of links to resources and programmes which are not directly organised by Vision4Life or the URC, but which the URC may have input and connections or which local URCs have successfully used in their evangelistic activities.

Tell me the stories of Jesus - A sequel to Word of Mouth by Janet Lees.

The purpose of the gospel is to change things and the change it offers is from death to life. Many people will be familiar with the gospel in written form but not everyone uses written versions of the gospel all of the time. Alongside the written Bible, ordinary people often use oral or remembered versions. This book is about the why, how, when, where and what of remembering the gospel. Altogether it presents a companion to remembering the One – Jesus, the Life Giver – whose gospel it is.

Tell Me the Stories of Jesus is based on work done with many groups of different sizes and ages and cultures. The examples are set out here to encourage other groups to ‘just go for it’: remember and by remembering share life and build community. This companion to the remembered gospel aims to encourage and support those who want to work with this process with ordinary people in any place.

Janet Lees, a speech therapist and an ordained minister of the United Reformed Church, has been developing the remembered Bible method for over 15 years, with ordinary people of all ages
and abilities in Yorkshire and around the UK.

This is an ideal resource for ideas and activities based around sharing the remembered/oral versions of gospel stories - the sort of resource that could be really useful for Evangelism Year.
More information can be found here

Want to help your church get to grips with the whole Bible?
Want to tackle some of the Bible’s hot potato issues?
To get a grip on the Bible’s slipperiest stories and trickiest texts, Biblefresh is holding a series of events with inspiring teaching, expert input, panel Q&A and workshops.Each event takes a head, hands and heart approach, helping you intellectually, practically and spiritually with the Bible.Venues are Glasgow, Durham, Cardiff and London.
Gateways into Evangelism

 

In this Vision4Life year of evangelism you may want to consider going a little deeper into the theory and practise of evangelism by doing the TLS gateways into evangelism course.  This can be done as a standalone one year course or as a follow on from the TLS foundation course.  Starting in September you will be led into exploring biblical and theological insights into evangelism in the context of practical experience and contemporary culture with the aim of equipping people for an evangelistic life-style and ministry. For more details please have a look at the TLS website on www.tlsonline.co.uk or contact the Andrew Willett the course manager on revwillett@gmail.com.  If you are interested please contact us ASAP as the closing date for applications is the end of May 2011.
Evangelism and Renewal Advocates

Evangelism Help AvailableThrough the generosity of GEAR members there are three Evangelism and Renewal Advocates who are available to come to your church to help you in  this year of evangelism.Our ERAs aim to help churches and individuals grow in their understanding and experience of spiritual renewal and effective evangelism. They do this through our personal involvement and by involving others who are willing to invest time and effort to equip, enthuse, pray and participate in this ministry.What's on offer?Anything from a small gathering to large event, for instance...
  • Church Weekends Away
  • Vision 4 Life workshops
  • Ignite events
  • Elders' Days or Ministers' Fraternals
They are available to help with any topics that deal with evangelism and renewal, customised to suit each local context. This may include introductory discussions about mission and the Holy Spirit, aspects of prayer, consideration of spiritual gifts or evangelistic strategies.  Especially for this year we have ‘confidence in the gospel’, a day of learning inspired by the Biblical story of Philip.

We invite you to get in touch so we can talk, pray, dream some dreams and explore possibilities together.

Go to the GEAR website at https://www.gear.org.uk/ERAs
Or contact them directly:
Rev Sally Willett - 01925 487 851 - sally.era @ gear.org.uk
Rev Andrew Willett - 01925 487 851 - andrew.era @ gear.org.uk
Rev Paul Stokes - 01752 401 294 - paul.era @ gear.org.uk 

 TELL.SHOW.BE. TELL.SHOW.BE. is an invitation to rethink evangelism, to dispel the myths that hinder many and to challenge our understanding of what it means to pass on the good news.
It’s designed to be accessible, multilingual and free, inspiring us to tell somebody, show somebody and be somebody.
TELL.SHOW.BE. is a Methodist Church initiative.

The "not ashamed" initiative was launched on Dec 1st by Christian Concern for the benefit of the Church and the nation. Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, has written a special leaflet entitled 'I'm Not Ashamed' for use in the run-up to Christmas. We hope that many churches and individuals will distribute copies to friends, neighbours, colleagues and homes in the local area.

HOPE together website is worth having a look at: www.hopetogether.org.ukThey are promoting events to do at Easter 2011 and a booklet of ideas has been published, priced at £4.99.
Take a look here.Andrew Willett has produced a background paper about HOPE together.
Download HOPE together.pdf

Back to Church Sunday is now the largest single local church invitational initiative in the world. You can find out more via the document on the DO page.

A local version of Just 10 series on the 10 Commandments is now available (Cost £120 inc’ the DVD’s - plus full scripts to work from or adapt). Brian Harley (Shanklin URC) writes: "The material looks great and we plan to use it over Sunday mornings and house groups in the New Year – many churches are starting it now.This includes a 6 week training course on personal evangelism called Breaking News and this looks most helpful. I hope some of our groups may use it this term to prepare for inviting friends along. The small booklet 'Making the Connection' is a good new resource for handing out to those wanting to connect with God – based on a mobile phone theme.

Especially for the Vision4Life evangelism year, GEAR has given every Synod copies of the booklet for anyone to make use of. You can obtain your own copy via the GEAR Website  https://www.gear.org.uk/Publications


Internet Evangelism Day exists to help Christians understand the huge and growing potential to share the good news of Jesus through digital media. We offer two complementary concepts:

  • an annual focus day on the last Sunday of April each year
  • a year-round resource guide, with ideas and strategies for all types of digital evangelism
The link on the left will take you to an American site with helps to design your own website or you can browse the rest of the site for loads of resources


Talking of God is a new faith sharing course. It will help individuals and congregations to talk about their faith journey.Written by a group of evangelism and mission experts from across the country, the course will give people more confidence when it comes to sharing the stories of their faith in everyday life. It does this by encouraging conversations about conversations, and rooting it all in the Gospels.“We have so many opportunities to talk about how Jesus continues to transform our lives,” said Evangelism in Contemporary Culture Officer Joanne Cox. “This resource is an exciting development in helping each of us to talk of God wherever we are.”Talking of God is made up of four sessions:• Starting the Conversation - each of us has a story to share• Conversation Stoppers – conversations can be hard• Conversations in Context – how our world can frame our conversations

• Living the Conversation – conversations are more than just words

These sessions (plus a preamble and concluding worship) can be held over consecutive weeks or even the course of a weekend or day. Each session includes opening and closing prayers, Bible study, discussion topics and practical ideas for getting conversations started.

All the material you need is free to download at https://www.methodist.org.uk/talkingofgod
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