Evangelism

Diocesan Evangelism Unit  |   Flying Angel Club (Mission to Seafarers)
Diocesan Evangelism Unit 


REACHING UP! REACHING OUT!
Report

The Evangelism Unit of the Diocese of New Westminster presented its 2010 Event at Holy Trinity, Church in Vancouver on Saturday, November 13th, 2010.
The event was titled, Reaching UP! Reaching OUT! This conference on evangelism and worship took place from 9:30am until 3:30pm and was attended by about 40 participants.
The EU’s guest presenter was the Rev. Judy Paulsen pastor of Christ Memorial Church in Oshawa, Ontario and a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Wycliffe College, Institute of Evangelism.

The day began with a lively worship service presided over by the Rev. Dr. John Oakes and then into Judy’s first plenary presentation - “Worship and Evangelism: Biblical Connections”
Through examples from scripture Judy painted a vivid picture of Evangelism and Worship from a Biblical perspective. The scriptural passages used pointed out that Evangelism and Worship are deeply connected and Judy supported the biblical references with examples of how people worship all over the world and why we stand, kneel, gather and sing and how that relates to descriptions of worship in the Old and New Testaments.

The second presentation bore the title, “Worship and Evangelism: New Directions”
Judy linked new ways that people are invited to worship by highlighting biblical examples of early worship in the Hebrew faith and how we already have a template for those “new directions.”
Judy remarked “when we turn evangelism into programs, when we turn it into a recipe we almost always get it wrong, the whole life of the Church is the key to evangelism.”

After the second session the group enjoyed a delicious quiche and salad lunch and the plenary remained in the Holy Trinity Parish Hall where the meal was served for the afternoon session.

The afternoon consisted of one plenary presentation, "Worship and Evangelism: Reaching Out without Dumbing Down" and that session was followed by a panel discussion.
The guest panelists joining Judy were: the Reverend Dr. Richard Leggett, recently retired Professor of Liturgical Studies at Vancouver School of Theology, the Rev’d Mark Greenaway-Robbins, Incumbent of St. James’ Vancouver, a community that worships in the Anglo-Catholic tradition and the Rev. Dr. John Oakes, Chair of the Evangelism Unit and Incumbent of Holy Trinity, Vancouver.
In her final plenary presentation, Judy established that there are two key words for worship; Authentic and Accessible. It is not necessary to “dumb down” our worship in order to make it accessible, because God is the object and the subject of worship. Worshippers have an audience of one and that is God. Our worship is for God and therefore is directed to God. We do place ourselves as the audience, but that is cultural. People crave worship that is:

Core-revealing
Rooted
Authentic
Vibrant
Enjoining

The goal of worship is also to engage the Holy Spirit. That is achieved through:

Preaching
Music
Sacrament
Prayer
Arts and Culture (Visual Arts)
Healing and Wholeness.

The panel discussion that followed the third presentation was lively and interesting.
The day closed with prayers and a hymn.
Although the attendance was a bit soft (publicity for the event had been slow in circulating due to a number of unforeseen factors) everyone thoroughly enjoyed Judy Paulsen’s excellent presentations, the opportunity for some in-depth Bible study in exploration of worship and the chance to be together.
The next Evangelism Unit event is being planned for the Fall of 2011.
More details will be available by Spring of 2011.
Check back soon.

Image Below - Judy Paulsen, Richard Leggatt, Mark Greenaway-Robbins
































Diocesan Evangelism Unit

 

In its most basic sense, to evangelize is simply to make known by words and actions the love of God in Christ for each one of us. It is a marvelous mission and ministry that we all share as Christians.

Right now there is clear evidence of a renewed interest in spirituality and of a deeper search for meaning throughout Canadian society. Every day we are given fresh opportunities to show and tell how the gospel has enriched our lives.

 
The Diocesan Evangelism Unit, established in 1988 as a response to the Anglican Decade of Evangelism, seeks to offer parishes creative opportunities to enable Anglicans to become bolder and more effective in sharing the good news of Christ for the 21st Century.
Our basic mission is “to support and encourage parishes in the doing of evangelism.” Over the years, we have organized and promoted conferences, workshops, missions, advertising campaigns and other initiatives.
 
Our major current programme is the “Good News for the 21st Century” parish workshop series, which was launched at Synod 2008. Copies of the brochure for this series can be downloaded here.



The Missional Church - Moving from Maintenance to Mission, January 16th, 2009 at Holy Trinity, Vancouver.


Over a hundred people participated in the first event in the new diocesan Road to 2018 conference and visioning series.
The event took place at Holy Trinity, Vancouver, was co-sponsored with the diocesan Evangelism Unit and featured a day of: Bible study, lectures and sharing of information facilitated by two Baptist pastors, Cam Roxburgh and Anthony Brown on the topic of what it means to be "missional" in the 21st century.
By using biblical examples, personal experiences and the skills they have developed with their organization, Forge, Cam and Anthony gave illustrations and examples of how churches can move from being "attractional" to "incarnational" and congregations can change from being "consumers of church" to "missionaries for God's Kingdom." The new Road to 2018 webpage on this website is under construction but should be ready soon and then there will be a good deal more information to share regarding what was learned at this conference and what those attending that day found most useful.
(The image above is Cam Roxburgh speaking to the conference participants January 16, 2010 at the first Road to 2018 event The Missional Church - From Maintenance to Mission)




Recent Diocesan Evangelism Unit events include:

 

§         The “Evangelism 2000” training programme.

§         The “Celebration 2000” mission with Canon Harold Percy at the Vogue Theatre.

§         “Good News for the Poor” conference and mission on evangelism and social justice with Dr. Tony Campolo in 2001.

§         “A Heart for the World” on world missions with Linda Tripp of World Vision in 2002.

§         “A Time to Heal” on evangelism and healing with Dr. Bob Roxburgh of Southside Community Church in 2003.

§         The “Word Up!” youth weekend in November 2004.

§         Working with diocesan youth leaders to establish the WAYNet network and other initiatives.

§         The “Faith @ Work” conference with Dr. Paul Stevens, co-sponsored by City in Focus, in 2006.

§         “Parish Alive!” with Canon Harold Percy in 2006.

§         “All God’s Children” with Carolyn Burge in October 2007.
 

§        The Missional Church - Moving  from Maintenance to Mission with Anthony Brown and Cam Roxburgh in January 2010 

 

Further Information on the Evangelism Unit and its parish workshops and events is available from the Rev. Dr. John Oakes at (604) 731-3221/evangelismunit@hotmail.com.

John Oakes, chair, Diocesan Evangelism Unit

For more information about the Evangelism Unit call 604 731-3221 or email evangelismunit@hotmail.com.

Page 1 of 2  | Flying Angel Club (Mission to Seafarers)

Mission

As Anglicans, we want to become more open and confident about inviting family, friends and neighbours into a relationship with Jesus Christ. We want to be increasingly intentional about nurturing those who come to explore a faith commitment within our Anglican congregations.
 

News

The Evangelism Unit is planning an all day worskshop and conference called Reaching Up/Reaching Out to look at worship styles that will engage the community outside the four walls of our churches. The scheduled date is Saturday, November 13th, 2010.
Location: TBA
Stay tuned