Evangelism Australia | Resources, Articles, Ministries. Evangelize Evangelists

Evangelism Australia | Resources, Articles, Ministries. Evangelize Evangelists

Hollywood’s Faith-Based Film Industry

June 17th, 2013

Evangelism Australia

Director, Aaron Kamp on the set of Never Too Late. 2013
photo by David Biesse.

West Australian filmmaker, Aaron Kamp has written, directed and produced a compelling short film about a young man who struggles to find the courage to change when he starts to learn that there might be more to life than he thinks. The story is based on the theme of Atonement and the Bible verse, Exodus 32:31. Watch the 1-minute trailer for Aaron’s short film, Never Too Late. >

Film is a powerful medium and that is how Hollywood has been influencing society and our culture for decades. Our senses have been dulled and coerced into often having a less than biblical perspective on a number of issues such as relationships, promiscuity, violence, homosexuality and adultery.

It is a breath of fresh air when we can see Christian, faith-based films also making an impact but for all the right reasons. Read more »

Awkward Halloween Moments

October 31st, 2012

Evangelism Australia

Awkward…
I was out washing my car the other day when a neighbour from a few doors down came over with one of her children and asked if we celebrate Halloween and would like to bring our kids over for chocolates on October the 31st. I reflex-responded with, “No we don’t like Halloween because we are Christians and it has some very evil origins”. This took my neighbour by surprise and she was clearly shocked by my response. I gulped and tried to word my next comments with a little more tact and evangelistic empathy, “Thanks, we would love to come over any other time, for any other occasion, it is just one event that as Christians we are opposed to”. So we agreed to catch up another time for chocolate and my wife came out and had a very friendly, warm hearted chat with her. I went back to washing my car feeling like a nasty, fun-spoiling Christian.

Halloween and Australia
Compared to the United States, Halloween has never really been a big event in Australia. I notice every year though, that it seems to be gaining momentum as more and more parents encourage their children to have some “harmless fun” dressing up and getting some free treats from their neighbors. Is it really just harmless fun or something more dangerous? Some argue that it is no more evil than Christmas (See John Dickson’s Halloween article here) and others slam it as outright pagan wickedness. Read more »

YOUR Truth or MY Truth?

July 20th, 2012

Evangelism Australia

The above “What is Truth” video by Mark Spence of Living Waters, is a snippet from the full recording which outlines the problems that occur in society when there are no moral absolutes.

A couple of weeks ago, I was down on the streets of Freemantle in Western Australia.
I approached a group of about 5 teenagers who were all sitting in a semi-circle on the lawns of a park. I walked up to them with a big, friendly smile and handed them each a Gospel credit card tract. While they were studying the tracts, I explained that they were pre-paid credit cards and that on the back it explained how Jesus pre-paid our fine before we did the crime. They liked the tracts and we started to have a discussion about faith, God and Jesus. I expected that at least a couple of them would have had a religious background or a Christian upbringing, but they all denied having so. They were quite open to having a discussion and didn’t seem in a hurry for me to move on, so I asked a few questions. Read more »

Evangelism objections from Christians

July 1st, 2012

Evangelism Australia

No one will tip COLD WATER over your enthusiasm to share the Gospel like a well-meaning Christian brother.

Evangelism: You have heard the criticisms, “They are doing more damage than good”; “Ah, I hate street preachers”; “Evangelists just want money”; “Tracts go straight in the bin”; “and they don’t even disciple them”; “They just want another notch on their belt”; “maybe Jesus doesn’t love them”; “it’s so judgmental”; “They are giving the rest of us a bad name”; “They are doing it out of guilt”; “They are doing works”; “If Jesus wants to save them, He will without their ranting”; “and that’s what Bible-bashing is!”; “They are ruining it for the Christians who are quietly building relationships with them”; “That is so unnecessary! Just live a good life and people will want what we have”…

Many Christians have sadly been turned-off evangelism by evangelists that aggressively condemn and speak without love. We find it uncomfortable sometimes seeing evangelism operating outside of the methods that we ourselves believe to be effective or appropriate. We don’t like confrontation and we don’t like to see a small number of Christians giving the rest of us a bad name.

The famous 16th Century evangelist, D.L Moody was criticized by a woman who said, “Mr. Moody, I don’t like the way you do evangelism!”
“Well, ma’am, let me ask you, how do you do it?” Moody asked. She replied, “I don’t!”. Moody’s response was, “Well, I like my way of DOING it better than your way of NOT doing it!”

Read more »

Evangelism that Works

June 2nd, 2012

Evangelism Australia

by Joe Murphy, Melbourne Australia.

I’ve worked as a shelf stacker in a grocery store for over twenty years now. For the last 13 years I have been working at night. Shift workers in my line of work mostly consist of those just finishing school or those at university. It is something young adults do for extra money while studying or something they do before getting their ‘real job’. For the older folks who work at night it is something they do between jobs, in general. But regardless of this, the answer I give when an acquaintance asks what I do for a crust seems to be returned by a reaction that what I do for a living is a dead-end job. Its up there (or down there) with cleaning offices and collecting garbage.

But I actually love my job. It’s not my dream job but that’s not why I love it. I love it because I bloom where I am planted. It’s not about the type of job, it’s about the work ethic one has no matter what the actual job is.

I didn’t always think this way though. I started working for a supermarket when I was fifteen but back then I wasn’t the best worker. In fact I was down right lazy. My idea of work was to get away with doing the least amount while still getting paid the same amount. I didn’t like to work, it got in the way of living my life. If there was a way out I would have taken it. The lotto numbers never worked for me and my illustrious rock star career didn’t pan out either so I remained at the supermarket and took lots of sickies instead. Read more »

Evangelism via YOUR Testimony

May 5th, 2012

Evangelism Australia

A lecture on theology will rarely be received with open ears, but a true story or testimony laden with theological truths and biblical principles will often speak to people’s hearts and minds.

Most followers of Jesus Christ have some kind of a desire to promote the gospel, but the majority don’t feel confident or comfortable in doing so. As a result, many are sitting on their hands, frustrated, not knowing how to go about sharing their faith. Some of the biggest fears include being unable to answer questions, being rejected, despised or having uncomfortable confrontations with non-Christians. It can be discouraging when you deliberately try to introduce Bible verses in conversation and yet the wisdom falls on rocky ground or polished concrete.

Many Christians don’t know how to share the Gospel, so instead, they resort to being friendly and helpful. They offer hospitality, generosity and random acts of kindness. They are hoping to “shine the light” without being so bold as to reveal the source of their kindness. They are doing “good works” which is a good thing and they can still be effective in many ways but the Gospel must be communicated with words. It is good to give a homeless person money and food, but it is better to also give them the Good News of Jesus.

There are those who are good debaters, and apologists. An apologist is someone who has the ability to influence people with the Gospel through skillful but friendly debate or verbal jousting. It is a skill and requires great knowledge and study. It requires a sound knowledge of our Christian worldview, other world views and the ability to think on your feet and respond to objections and intellectual arguments. Some of the world’s great apologists (ie: Ravi Zacharias) know well that it is the Holy Spirit that convicts and convinces of sin and converts the soul, but God can and does use apologists as tools to do the convincing. Every Christian Apologist and evangelist must always be careful to act in love, with love and use godly discernment, wisdom and empathy. Read more »

Promote YOUR Evangelism Event Here

April 13th, 2012

Evangelism Australia

You can promote your Australian Evangelism events here for free.

Tired of seeing poor attendance at your evangelism events?

Are you frustrated by the lack of people that attend the evangelism training courses and events that you or your church sets up? Well we will help promote your event right here for free – It’s like a public notice board for all evangelism events in Australia.

Simply go to the “Contact Us” link and send us the details of your event. It can be a training course, a guest evangelist event, an evangelism course or bible study, a rally, crusade or any event that is in Australia that has to do with evangelism. We will even help to promote your event via twitter and facebook and some of our other networks.

social networking and evangelism - should I witness on facebook?

Should I Evangelise on Facebook?

March 16th, 2012

Evangelism Australia

Almost everyone has a Facebook page these days. Online social networking has become a way of life.

I don’t want to explore the general pros and cons of social networking (there are already enough of those articles around), but I do want to discuss the role of EVANGELISM in social networking.

I often wrestle with the question of how and how often to directly witness on facebook and twitter.

I have numerous facebook accounts and pages for different purposes. Some are for my evangelism websites, while others are for my business and my personal use. There is a lot of over-lap but most of my networking profiles have different circles of friends and acquaintances. Only about one third of my Facebook friends are Christians and while I am mindful to not hide my light under a bowl, I do think that some discretion is needed. I guess it is my desire to always remain seeker sensitive. When I say sensitive, I don’t mean that we need to be scared of offending them with the truth (we know that the Gospel IS offensive to those that are unsaved – see John 1), but I just mean we need to be aware that they are potentially reading everything that we write and will look at our Facebook comments through the eyes of an unbeliever.

I do post some links to articles and videos that present the Gospel in the hope that some of my unsaved friends might be challenged or encouraged, but at the same time I don’t want to make every status update about theology or the “blood of Jesus”. When we speak to strangers or friends in person (real life), it is always good to season our spiritual witnessing efforts with some discussions on the natural as well. If I can connect on the natural with a person, it is more likely that they will be less hostile when I try connecting with them on the spiritual.

We should NEVER discourage anyone from using their online social networking opportunities to share the Gospel!

I know that God’s Word does not return void and even posting a simple Bible verse could be used by God to point someone to the light. I do sometimes doubt though, that we should be discussing “in house” theology or having public, online arguments about Church, Doctrines, Church Leadership Character Judgements etc…

The following are a few controversial topics that I believe will not do our cause any good to discuss on public, mainstream boards like Facebook.

Read more »

Are you chasing success or leaving a legacy?

February 25th, 2012

Evangelism Australia

Most of us have a desire to pursue meaning, purpose and significance and sometimes being successful in our careers doesn’t fill all of the slots. We are left feeling empty, unfulfilled and frustrated. Even the Church can sometimes leave the business leaders in it’s congregations feeling frustrated, out of place and sometimes feeling like they are only useful because of their financial gifts.

It is not uncommon for successful business people to get to a point in their lives and career where they ask “What more is there to life? I have been successful, but so what!?” Read more »

Ray Comfort Interview

February 18th, 2012

Evangelism Australia

Ray of Light. The New Zealand, 60 minutes interview with Ray Comfort.

This interview shows some great insights into The Way of The Master ministry and the life and ministry of Ray Comfort. Ray is a humble man who has influenced so many of us with his teachings and unique style of preaching and evangelism. Ray’s lifestyle is pretty amazing. Despite having written 70 books, founding a huge international ministry that even has a TV show and a full-time radio program, he only takes a small wage and doesn’t even own a car. If this impresses you, wait till you listen to his life-changing, flag-ship message called Hell’s Best Kept Secret.

A Forum for Evangelism

February 13th, 2012

Evangelism Australia

Evangelism Forum – A Christian Community of people who are FIRED UP! www.evangelismforum.org

Iron sharpens iron and if you hang-out with luke-warm Christians, a bit of you might rub-off on them, but a bit of them will rub-off on you too.

There are a lot of great Christian Forums out there and there are some interesting characters that you can meet and have discussions with. A lot of the Christian Forum sites have huge communities of Christians from all different walks, belief backgrounds and man who are there looking for theological debates. Read more »

Take Courage Evangelist

January 17th, 2012

Evangelism Australia

When it comes to sharing the Gospel and witnessing to unsaved people, it is easy to get discouraged.
There are so many causes for discouragement when we look at the people around us, the responses, the ridicule, the mockery and the apathy (And then there are those outside of the Church)!

Take courage Evangelist!
Are you feeling discouraged because you are looking at yourself and the people around you? Talking to people about Jesus will not make you very popular here on earth, so don’t expect it. Remember that your confidence, your encouragement and your reward comes from your God and your Saviour.

Satan, will try to take your confidence away.
The enemy will use your circumstances, the people around you; your own insecurities, weaknesses and self-doubt to discourage you. He will point and accuse and condemn you for the purpose of destroying your testimony and your witness. After all, if you cannot be confident in who you are in Christ, how will you have the confidence to be an ambassador for Christ? I have prepared an A4 print-out in the format of a PDF that you can download, print and tape to the back of the door in the smallest room of your house. God’s Word contains some amazing verses that will fill you with confidence in who you and what you can achieve BECAUSE OF JESUS. Be encouraged because THIS is who you are and WHY you are here.

Download the A4 Print-out Wall Chart (267kb PDF)