Trellis & Vine Evangelism

Evangelism is always where I get stuck.

Every workshop that I’ve led with a church or a group of church leaders, we end up spending more time that I plan on the second “E” of our 4-E’s of ministry: Evangelism.

No matter the size or location or setting of the workshop, the conversation about how to turn up the evangelistic temperature in a church culture and among the Christians therein, is always a challenge.

What’s the problem? The answer is tricky. So I’m going to take two emails to get there. Hang on with me!

The workshops I mentioned are put on through Vinegrowers, the training arm of Matthias Media. They aim at holistic disciple-making for all people, whether Christian or not. So, of course, discussing evangelism is an essential part of what we call 4-E ministry: Engage, Evangelize, Establish and Equip. (for a brief summary you can download this booklet; for an in-depth look see The Vine Project)

The “problem” of getting stuck in discussing evangelism is a good problem because it shows a love for the lost and the desire to speak the gospel and grow the kingdom. But addressing evangelism involves more than addressing evangelism. It is about an entire culture of disciple-making pulsing throughout the church.

And in that way, evangelism is just like all other ministries we do. It is centered on the Word, Prayerfully spoken by People, over Time. 

We explored this topic at length and in depth at our Evangelize24 conference. In particular, Tony Payne described with his usual incisive clarity how W+P+P+T drives all discipleship.

Ministry - whether to non-Christians or Christians - has the same essential ingredients.

So, in one sense, we shouldn’t get stuck on evangelism because we use the same God-given means (Word, People, Prayer and Time) to evangelize the lost as we do to disciple and train believers. But if it were that simple, we wouldn’t get stuck.

So how else can we help each other be better evangelists?

This challenge (and opportunity!) is why we ran Evangelize24. To help churches to think holistically and still specifically about the all-important topic of proclaiming our risen Lord. It was in this context that Tony Payne gave his talk I mentioned above about how the means of Word, Prayer, People and Time that we use for all discipleship are the same means we use for evangelism.

If you haven’t listened yet, it is well worth your time to consider how the evangelistic temperature can be raised one degree at a time in your own life and in the life of your community of faith. Tony helps us think about evangelism in a way that keeps it from feeling far from us, and well within our grasp. 

I wish I could make Tony’s talk a prerequisite for using an evangelistic course, because, back to my opening story, evangelistic fruitfulness comes from something much more than running a course.

Yes, we need to clearly articulate with crystal clarity the gospel to non-Christians. But where will those non-Christians come from? How do we best meet them where they are at but yet still challenge with what could be considered an offensive gospel? Even more, what if they want to take some time to count the cost of being a Christians and need a trusted space (physically and relationally) to keep peppering thoughtful Christians with questions. Where and how does that happen? 

These challenges, and more, contribute to why we have added a new evangelistic course to our available resources, written by another speaker at the conference, Dave Jensen.

This course helps you get ‘unstuck’ in the area of evangelism with a tool based firmly in the belief that making disciples involves speaking the Word, through People, Prayerfully, over Time. It’s shaped by Dave’s extensive wisdom and years of experience in sharing the gospel.

You can hear Dave share more of his wisdom and enthusiasm from the conference HERE and we’re excited to hear how you’re able to implement this resource in your context and community.