The Institute of Evangelism

Every Church an Evangelizing Community!

Good Idea is our online magazine where you’ll find inspiration, tips, ideas, and stories of how God is working in other churches. Every month we offer one good idea to help churches grow in sharing the faith.

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Real to Reel: Jesus at the Movies

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No theme has come in for such frequent treatment in the movies as the life of Jesus. More than twenty titles over a hundred years interpret his words and deeds. One diocese recently held a workshop on this topic, providing fresh ideas for both teaching and outreach.

The School of Lay Ministry in the Diocese of Ontario recently sponsored a workshop on Jesus and the movies, led by New Testament scholar, Richard Ascough. The day offered participants the chance to examine excerpts from film versions of Jesus’ story in light of contemporary biblical scholarship. Richard was an excellent facilitator whose love for both the scriptures and film shone through.

What they said about “Real to Reel”

Early in the day, Richard challenged his audience to consider which events in the life of Jesus they would include if they were doing a movie about Jesus’ life, and why. One participant commented that this exercise “encouraged me to think about whether my choices revealed more about Jesus or about me.”

Participants said that they valued learning “how to view films with a more critical eye” and looking for the “underlying meaning in what the film is trying to portray.” Those with a biblical background found the films gave them a fresh perspective. “Interesting!” wrote one: “I felt my eyes being opened to another kind of looking at the story of Jesus.” Another valued the workshop for “sensitizing me to the way I will read the Gospels and look at the movies.” In addition, participants affirmed “the ability of film to present the Gospel in spite of the shortcomings of the medium” and recognized “the value of film in presenting Jesus’ teaching, especially to those who were never exposed to traditional Bible teaching.” 

Response to both the topic and Richard’s teaching style was so positive that we plan to offer the program again in the fall. By then, judging from participants’ responses, video stores in our region should be showing a noticeable increase in the number of Jesus films on loan!

Internet resources

Those interested in using film in teaching and evangelism will be interested in the website http//www.textweek.com/, which Richard highlighted Not only does it have links to sermons and commentaries on the lectionary readings, it also has two databases which allow you to search for movie titles and descriptions by theme, and for artworks by topic. This feature is great for people who would like to choose movies on spiritually significant themes either for personal viewing or for a parish event. It is also a gold mine for preachers who would like to find a film clip or perhaps an artistic image to illustrate a preaching point.

Happy viewing!

Using Movies in Teaching and Preaching

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How can the average priest or pastor use movies in ministry? This article offers some practical pointers.

Previous generations might have used a flannelgraph to illustrate a sermon for children. Any generation in any culture can teach by telling a story, as long as it is appropriate for the culture. But for our postmodern, postliterate age, movies are one of the most helpful resources for teaching and preaching.

There are three ways in particular that I use movies in my own teaching and evangelism:

1. Analogy

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven is like . . .” and told a story. So for us, we may say, Sin is like this, or, The coming of Jesus into the world is like that.

In an internet poll, The Shawshank Redemption was voted the best movie of all time. Although there is a lot of violence in the movie, there are some wonderful scenes too. In one of these, Tim Robbins, playing an unjustly imprisoned banker, has been trying for years to persuade his congressman to donate some used books to the prison. Finally, the congressman responds, and, among the books, Robbins finds some records, including a set of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He is in the warden’s office at the time, so on impulse he locks the door, puts the record on the turntable (remember those?), and then switches on the prison PA system so that every prisoner can hear the music. As the prisoners stop whatever they are doing and listen spellbound, Morgan Freeman, the movie’s narrator, says, “For one brief moment, every man in Shawshank felt free.”

The coming of Christ into our world was a bit like that. He too had done no wrong, but he came and shared our conditions. He too brought a song of freedom that drew everyone to him. And he too was shut down by the authorities who understood the implications of the song. It’s not a perfect analogy, of course. There are none. But it does illustrate a couple of important points about who Jesus is. And that’s a good beginning.

2. Stating a problem

Robin Williams’ movie, Patch Adams, begins with the se haunting words:

“All of life is a coming home. Salesmen, secretaries, coal-miners, sword-swallowers, all of us. All the restless hearts of the world, all trying to find a way home.” 

This theme of home and homelessness is never picked up again in the course of the film, so we are left to speculate whether by the end of the movie Patch Adams has in fact found a place he can call “home.” Maybe we are meant to conclude that it is the hospital he founds where his principles of medicine can be practised. We don’t know for sure.

Yet this theme of home, homelessness, and longing for home, is one that speaks to our culture very deeply. Does the Gospel have anything to say to it? Of course, supremely in the story of the prodigal son. Thus while the movie may not answer its own question, it is very helpful in raising the issue in such a clear and compelling way.

3. An allegory

Some films, because they adopt a story line that sets up a problem then resolves it, bear some resemblance to the shape of the Christian story, with its motifs of creation, fall and redemption.

The Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show, did this very effectively. Truman is the star of a 24-hour a day soap opera based on his life, except that he doesn’t know it. But in the opening scenes of the movie, he increasingly gets the sense that something is not quite right with his world (the same sense that Neo has in The Matrix). Into his artificial world comes a young woman, Lauren, who tries to convince him that his life is only make-believe, and that there is another, bigger, more real world “outside” the one he knows. The powers-that-be, of course, do not want Truman to know this, and Lauren is forcibly whisked from the scene. Truman’s curiosity, however, has been aroused, and he sets off to discover Lauren and the possibility of a bigger world than the one he has know.

The shape of The Truman Show is thus (a) something is wrong with the world (b) an Outsider comes to tell us the truth about the world and what is wrong with it, but is removed by those in power and (c) the main character sets out on a pilgrimage to find truth and the Outsider who told him about it.

A most helpful resource for using film in this kind of way in teaching and preaching is Videos That Teach: Teachable Movie Moments from 75 Modern Film Classics. It is by Doug Field and Eddie James (Zondervan 1999). The book is primarily intended for use in youth groups, but its applications are far wider. Each two-page section offers (a) a theme, such as anger, making a difference, consequences, justice or prayer (b) a summary of the relevant movie (c) precise instructions for locating the pertinent section (d) several relevant Bible passages and (e) half a dozen helpful questions to get discussion going. I have to confess, the book is a kind of Coles Notes to spiritual themes in the movies. But my guess is we’ve all known times when Coles Notes are the best place to start.

“What does he know about love that I don’t?” – A priest’s reflection on the ministry of L’Arche

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In L’Arche communities around the world, Gospel message and Gospel action are woven seamlessly together. Wendy Lywood describes how as an Anglican priest she met Jesus in a new way at L’Arche , and how she now witnesses others having the same experience.

I first got involved in L’Arche because I was feeling burned out in parish ministry. I really longed to find a place where I could live in an intentional Christian community. I started by visiting the L’Arche community in Calgary because it was one of the most visible options for Christian community in Canada.

I arrived for supper on a Tuesday evening. I was seated across the table from a man named Darryl, and I have to say that my initial reaction to Darryl was one of complete repulsion. I just wanted to get up and run away. He didn’t have any teeth, so his food was all pureed, but as he ate, food dripped down from his mouth. Then at one point during the meal, Darryl gave a big smile to Dave, the helper who was sitting next to him. His hands dropped into his food, and he turned to this fellow and gave him a big hug, and, as he did so, his hands touched the man’s hair and shirt. I just thought, “Ugh. Now I know this is not for me.” At the same time, what got to me was that Dave simply received the hug for what it was. I thought, “What is this? What does he know about love that I don’t?” I had never seen that kind of love in action and it’s really what hooked me.

After that we went for Eucharist, and found I was deeply moved by the prayer of the core members. It just came directly from their hearts. Again I thought, “What is this place?” I was profoundly touched by something, and I felt it was the presence of God. I wanted to know more. 

I find that this is often people’s experience when they come to L’Arche. There is a quality in our life together that makes it easy for people to access the presence of the Spirit of God. We have people come for a meal and, though I may think the food is terrible, people go away saying, “Oh, that was so wonderful.” This has happened enough now that I have come to trust that God really is with us. And when people are searching, they discover that.

We have a lot of young people who are attracted to L’Arche because of the social justice aspect of the ministry, and who have often rejected their own faith tradition. One of the things we say to them is, “You’re welcome to come and experience our life. But you need to know we are a community of faith. And you need to know that we are a community that is really rooted in the Beatitudes.” Evangelism happens through the liturgies, through the teaching, and through individual conversations.

Everybody who visits is given a “spiritual accompanier.” We ask visitors where they are at spiritually, and what their desires are. We are pretty direct about those things, even though it may be a long time before people are able to make that more concrete for themselves. So in all those ways, we present people with the Gospel message.

Journey into a Faithful Future

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Can evangelism happen in areas where the very existence of the Anglican Church is threatened by claims of residential school abuse? One priest argues that there has to be significant healing first if the message is to have credibility.

The Diocese of Qu’Appelle, of which I am a member, is going through a major time of crisis. It faces more claims against it associated with residential school abuse than does any other diocese. But, really, our diocese was in crisis before litigation. Litigation has only sped up the process. We were already facing problems of falling numbers, rural de‑population and the ability of parishes to support full‑time paid ministry.

“Crisis” is defined in the dictionary as a “turning point”. I find that more a more positive description than the usual view of crisis as a potentially destructive time. I think we could even conceive of times of crisis as opportunities for evangelism. Our parishes and diocese are at a “turning point”: the choices we make now will determine our future.

I know there are many wonderful programs that are intended to help churches reach out and grow. I think that for us, however, evangelism has to take an even more basic form. Our journey into a faithful future has begun with people talking to each other and listening to one another.

One way our diocese has responded to the “crisis” is by developing a new ministry aimed at healing and reconciliation, to address the real issues of abuse and build more significant community among aboriginal and non‑aboriginal peoples. I work in this ministry with Dale Gillman, a native woman priest, originally from Gordon’s Reserve. We go together to speak with people in parishes, deaneries, educational institutions, reserves or anywhere we are invited. We tell the story of the residential schools and respond directly to concerns raised by the process of litigation. We gather in circles, begin and end with prayer, hear the story from a non‑aboriginal perspective and then in an aboriginal voice, and we respond directly to questions and concerns. It is a ” face to face” ministry that models partnership and common ground. “Common ground” does not mean we are all in the same place or think and believe the same things. It does indicate our mutual respect for all who gather and how important each person’s voice is. It is an experience that can help us be a “better church”.

I am convicted that when God calls the church into the world, we need to know our story well enough to tell it to the world. The crisis in our diocese has pushed us to the part of our story that is about relationships and what it means to be a community that bears the name of Christ. At this point in our story as a diocese, the greatest illumination for our journey will be the truth of covenant. It matters how we agree to walk with God and with all the people we share this world with. Residential school abuse, litigation, and rural de‑population are not just issues our diocese has to consider, but represent the human face of another sister and brother.

The journey through crisis is not without challenges. But there is also abundance and inspiration in dioceses which are facing their “turning point”. As the stories are shared and as this journey continues, the whole of our communion has an opportunity to grow and thrive. By faithfully healing the relationships of our past and nurturing greater mutuality for our future, the Anglican Church will be a better church. And that is the healthiest context for evangelism.

A Marriage Made in Heaven – Evangelism and Social Action: a Bible Study

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In one of the Sherlock Holmes stories, a police detective has been asking Holmes for his help in investigating a crime scene. “Is there any other point to which you wish to draw my attention?” he asks. Holmes replies, “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.” “The dog did nothing in the night time,” replies the baffled detective. “That was the curious incident,” replies Holmes. The significance of the dog’s silence, it turns out, is that the burglary was committed by someone whom the dog recognised. Silence is always significant, especially when one might have expected something different.

While the Synoptic Gospels use words relating to evangelism up to twenty times each, John’s Gospel has just such a significant silence on the topic of evangelism. Why might this be? In John, the absence of any reference to evangelism seems to be made up for by his interest in the idea of sending. Whereas Mark uses the word “send” roughly ten times, Matthew twenty times, and Luke thirty times, John refers to “sending” no less than sixty times. The plot thickens!

 Most of the uses of the word “sent” (forty out of the sixty) are in phrases like “the Father who sent me.” For John, it appears that Jesus can hardly think of the Father without thinking of his mission. He is deeply aware that he comes to this world as a missionary from the Father.

Father -> Son

What then is the “primal missionary”, as Martin Hengel calls him, “sent” to do? Classic theology would say “to die for our sins,” or “to show us a truly human life.” John’s answer, however, embraces all such answers: “I have come to do the will of him who sent me” (6:38), says Jesus.

Father -> Son -> Will of God

And what then, we may well ask, is this will of the Father? In a phrase, it is simply to give life, that “eternal life” which is defined later as knowing both Father and Son (17:3). “This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of the Father, that all who see the Son may believe in him and have eternal life” (6:39-40).

Father -> Son -> Will of God -> Life

But how is it that Jesus brings life? The answer seems to be two-fold. He does it by speaking the words of the Father, and by doing the will of the Father. “Whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say,” he tells the disciples. (12:49). And as he is about to heal the man born blind, he explains, “We must do the works of his who sent me.” (9:4).

 

-> Words of God

Father -> Son -> Will of God -> Life

-> Works of God

 

As Jesus does the Father’s will by speaking the Father’s words and doing the Father’s works, an amazing thing happens: God is visible in him. “Whoever sees me sees him who sent me” (12:45). A human being without sin, fully in the image and likeness of God, fully obeying the Father’s will, makes the character of God visible to the world.

-> Words of God

Father -> Son -> Will of God -> Life -> God visible

->Works of God

 

So far, so good. But then, at the end of the Gospel, Jesus turns around and says to the disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (20:21). The content of “as . . . so” is clear from what has gone before. The disciples are sent under precisely the same conditions as Jesus. They too are sent to do the will of the Father by words and works. And, as they do so, God will be visible in them too. John Robinson once called Jesus ” a window into God at work.” Now Jesus commissions us to become a million windows into God at work.

-> Words of God

Father -> Son -> DISCIPLES -> Will of God -> Life -> God visible

->Works of God

 

Is this possible? We are not left to struggle with this intimidating calling alone. Jesus provides the resources to make it possible. There is one more indispensable step in the sending: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything” (14:25); “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father . . . he will testify on my behalf.”

 

 

-> Words of God

Father -> Son -> SPIRIT -> DISCIPLES -> Will of God -> Life -> God visible

->Works of God

 

 

Almost a century ago, a split emerged in the church between those who emphasised the priority of the ministry of evangelism but had no time for social concern; and those who had a low opinion of evangelism and majored on social action as the most authentic expression of their faith. In the ministry of Jesus, those two aspects went together hand in hand, the actions lending credibility to the words, the words interpreting the significance of the actions. The church that follows Jesus today will find ways to imitate his example. This edition of good idea! offers three ways in which Christians are seeking to follow their Lord.

Faith Acting Through Love

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A Church Army (now called Threshold Ministries) evangelist tells how he learned the hard way that real love is the only way to earn the right to tell the Gospel. 

One day at the start of my efforts as a street chaplain, as I walked along an alleyway I saw a young girl sobbing. Mascara was running down her cheeks, marring her heavy punk makeup. I was stirred and my heart went out to her. But another part of me was thrilled-here was a chance to prove my mettle as an evangelist and novice outreach worker!

At first she didn’t want company from a stranger, but after seeing my card and my sympathetic manner, she began to open up. I drew upon my Church Army counseling training and two years’ experience as a jail chaplain, and soon she began to share how, at fifteen years old, she had returned home one day to find her room emptied and that she was no longer welcome there.

Just then two more evangelists from another organization approached, ready to share the gospel. They initiated a conversation with the girl about her eternal destiny. I could not restrain myself, and joined in with the visiting evangelists. The three of us reasoned for over an hour with the girl. She was unconvinced, but we hoped that by the end at least she was better informed!

I saw the girl the next day, and the next day and the next. In fact I saw her regularly for years, but she never again trusted me. It must have been two years before she would even exchange greetings. I had learned a painful and lasting lesson.

The Lord had already impressed on me that I should speak little and listen a lot. I did not understand, however, and I did not trust I was hearing him correctly until I met that girl. For years after that, I struggled to remain quiet and to speak only “in season.” As I did, I was increasingly able to put aside my own need to be “successful” as an evangelist. Instead I have learned to focus on discovering and responding to the needs of the people whom I am trying to love.

Some people’s needs are obvious-food, shelter, safety, friendship. God’s love in us should compel us to respond to these without question. I have found that as I respond to a person’s obvious needs, I begin to make a new friend. Then, in the context of a true relationship, I can express my concern that my friend to be fulfilled in every way. And as a trusted friend I can witness credibly to the gentleness and love of Jesus Christ.

“I can’t see Christians because of the Bible in front of their face,” a young man told me. Yet as I helped to keep him fed and sheltered, he engaged me in long discussions about his troubled life and about Christianity. Eventually he did become a church-going believer.

I don’t see many troubled youth turn around like that. They are on the run from everyone who might take harmful control over them. Loving them draws them nearer to the well that never runs dry.

I do not agree with people who minister to people according to their temporal needs with no regard for their eternal relationship with God. How could I fulfill my call as an evangelist and assuage my concern for youngsters’ souls without explaining the gospel?

Yet without social ministry there could be no understandable communication of the gospel to these youth. I’m convinced that evangelism without social ministry is just empty words. What matters is “faith acting through love“ (Galatians 5:6).

This article first appeared in good idea! in January 2001.

CD Review: All That You Can’t Leave Behind by U2

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October 31st 2000 was a beautiful day for U2 fans. After three years of waiting they got to hear “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” (ATYCLB), the landmark tenth studio album of the Irish super group. With more than twenty years of performing around the world, they are no stranger to travel, a fact which comes through loud and clear in the imagery of this new recording. On the cover stands the four members of U2, Bono (Paul Hewson), Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and The Edge (Dave Evans), in the concourse of Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport. With bags at their sides and passports in hand, they are ready for a journey. Where to? The music within gives some good clues.

This CD is a continuation of U2’s venture into the territory of faith in a way that few “secular” or contemporary Christian artists dare or are permitted. Bono once described himself as having a form of Tourette’s syndrome where he would always mention God in places where it was taboo. As if to confirm that, Bono recently confessed in Rolling Stone Magazine that the J33-3 on the cover of the album is a scripture reference. The verse is Jeremiah 33:3 and says “Call to me and I will answer you.” “It’s known as God’s phone number” says Bono. U2 have always seen it as a challenge to try and live “wide awake” to two realities, that of a broken, damaged world and that of a God who is known as Love incarnate. Their music often represents the creative working out of living in those two seemingly distant realities and on ATYCLB it is the latter that shines through.

The band was looking for an “invocation” to open the CD, and “Beautiful Day” is just that. Quiet lyrics with a somewhat eighties new wave beat, unlike anything U2 ever released in that decade, pull the listener in. Only when the wallop of a chorus hits with full guitar, drums and vocals does one discover U2. The space shuttle icon found beside the lyrics in the CD booklet is appropriate for U2 begin their journey here with a real lift-off. All the passion and spirit one might recall from the eighties U2 are found afresh. This is no repeat of an earlier sound or ideal though. “We advance towards simplicity” said Bono on the U2 fansite Interference.com. What they have been reaching for is the stripped down sound of just the four band members jamming in a room, a sound lead singer Bono has dubbed “titanium soul”.

If “titanium soul” seems too obscure then try the Psalms. U2’s early days saw them close their concerts with a song called “40” inspired by the Psalm of the same name. Bono once called the Psalms an “early form of the blues” and recently even wrote an introduction to Scottish publisher Canongate’s pocket KJV edition of them. This inspiration comes through strongly in ATYCLB, as the album runs through with the familiar pattern of a Psalm. After the exultation of “Beautiful Day”, “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” closes in on the low place one finds oneself in, and ends like a blessing or a prayer. “Elevation”, with its whooping and joyful chorus, continues the rocket boost of passion, calling for Love to lift “me out of these blues”. From there, like King David on a rough day, there are songs expressing frustration and deep questions about the state of the world. As with the ending of a Psalm though, renewal seems to come with the closing song. It all bears taking a closer look through.

Moved by the state of the world, Bono has spent 1999 and 2000 extremely active in promoting Jubilee 2000’s campaign to forgive Third World debts. Similar convictions have seen U2 promote Amnesty International’s work on global human rights issues. It comes as no surprise then that Amnesty’s logo is found beside the lyrics to “Walk On”. Dedicated to Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the song is the cornerstone of the album. Ripe with travel imagery and rich in soul, it tells the listener “You’re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been. A place that has to be believed to be seen.” Pressing on with faith is key here. The song’s closing lyrics tell the listener to leave behind “all that you make, all that you build”, a clear echo of Pink Floyd’s song “Eclipse”from their album “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Instead of the futility and alienation felt in Pink Floyd’s music, “Walk On” delivers a sense of release and freedom from letting go and clinging to “The only thing that you can bring…all that you can’t leave behind.” This “only thing” is something which “they can’t steal”, “sell” or “buy”. U2 are “locked on” to the soul and going deeper.

Where is deeper in the soul? “Kite” reveals that for U2 it is a vulnerable place, where one is very aware of how frail life is. Bono sings “Who’s to say where the wind will take you? Who’s to say what it is will break you?” Like Psalm 39:4, “Kite” reveals a consciousness of how life is fleeting and its days numbered. “In A Little While” taps deeper into this awareness with lyrics that are drenched with longing for release to life’s pain. The lyrics promise that soon “this hurt will hurt no more” and that something sweeter will come. “Wild Honey” seems to confirm this. Sounding like a Beatles chart-topper, it is a playful love song that resonates with something eternal. Bono asks his lover “Did I know you, Did I know you even then? Before the clocks kept time. Before the world was made.”

Until now the songs are soaring with passion and faith. “Peace On Earth” brings sharp a descent back to earth, and the realities of a world filled with pain. Written the day after the 1998 Omagh bombing that killed 29 people and left 370 injured, it echoes the Psalms’ familiar frustration at life’s ongoing trials. Bono is “sick of sorrow..of pain…of hearing…that there’s gonna be Peace on Earth”. In the midst of his despair though he reaches out, singing “Jesus could you take the time, to throw a drowning man a line”. Somehow there may be still be hope, but at this point he just can’t see it here on earth.

“When I Look At The World” continues the descent with deeper questioning. Bono asks someone “What is it that you see?” when they look at the world. It isn’t clear who is being addressed though. Do the lines “Can’t see for the smoke, I think of you and your holy book, while the rest of us choke” refer to the listener, God, the Pope even, or perhaps the church in general? Or maybe the song is meant to connect on all of those levels. “New York” completes the trilogy of songs of descent with a touchdown in a city “hot as a hairdryer in your face”. In the midst of this harsh place though, there is a voice to be heard “a-whispering, Come away child”. It seems that there is still somewhere to go from here.

What is incredible is how deeply U2 imbue a sense of Spirit and faith in these songs with only minimal mention of God. While “Pop” contained more such references than any prior U2 CD, ATYCLB has only a single mention of Jesus in one song’s chorus. Despite this, most songs carry a joyful, passionate spirit of trust. If Bono was longing for his cup to be filled, as he sang in “Achtung Baby’s” “Acrobat”, here it is running over. The deepest longing and toughest questions are still present, but they are well directed, and like a familiar Psalm faith is renewed. When Bono sings in “Beautiful Day” of lending a hand “in return for grace” he is offering you his. When he cries out “Touch me. Take me to that other place” you might just go with him. With an awareness of your own frailty, you just might sing along to the chorus of “Peace On Earth” like it was your own: “Jesus can you take the time, to throw a drowning man a line.”

While U2 made touchdown in New York, it is the album’s final number that sees them finding their home. The icon of a dove descending, the classic image of the Holy Spirit, is especially appropriate placed beside these lyrics, for “Grace” gives wonderful expression to a profoundly Christian concept. If you took Bono’s hand, this is where you would be led, to the “thought that changed the world”, a person who “covers the stain, removes the shame” and “carries a pearl in perfect condition.” Like Psalm 23:5, “Grace” is U2’s “table” in the presence of a dark and damaged world. They aren’t afraid to sing about it, and even seem to invite you to it. If you do go, just be prepared. Have “the only thing that you can bring” safely packed. For this is one journey you will not want to miss.

A New Day for Youth Evangelism

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Youth ministry in this diocese is set up to promote spiritual and social growth so that our young people will grow up to be both Christians and Anglicans who can fit into their society-not to conform with that society, of course, but in order to transform it into Christ-likeness. 

My approach is to mentor the youth leaders, who are themselves lay young people between the ages of 18 and 24. In my first few months in this job, I have been amazed at what God can do. In February, for example, we went for a hike in the mountains, to get to know each other and to set the new tone for the youth department. A total of 235 came, both leaders and youth, a staggering number.

Overall, I am responsible for 41 parishes and 80 churches in and around Nairobi. I am grateful for the presence of youth in all those churches, and that each of the 80 has a youth worker. I realize I cannot mentor all 80, however, so one of the things I have done is to create an inner circle of about twelve people. Between us, we have divided the diocese into divisions, one leader responsible for each. We meet in the inner circle, and those twelve take ideas from there back to the grass roots.

I also make sure that I am in touch with every single youth leader of every single church in the diocese. We organize team-building and mentoring sessions where they get to ask questions, air their struggles, and pour out their hearts. We can then help not only address their needs but also move them on in their maturity. Our job is not only to sweep out the trash, but also the to furnish the house!

For some years now, evangelism in Kenya has been 80% based on the crusade preaching model, and I can safely say that it has been over-used. It used to be the case, for example, that people were allowed to preach on public transport vehicles, but it has now been banned because after every sermon the preachers would ask everybody on the bus for money!

I would like to see our evangelism more people-focused, more love-focused. The Gospel tells us that Jesus was moved with compassion. I keep talking about social evangelism. For Africa, the best way to evangelize is to combat poverty. I am intrigued by the fact that the Bible says that the early church had favour with all the people even as the evangelism was going on. I would not say that of the Church in Kenya at the moment! There needs to be a two or three pronged approach to evangelism, where there is also doing good and being practical alongside our verbal communication, so that people can relate to the church and we can bridge the gap between the pulpit and the person in the pew.

In my view, there needs to be a coming together of all the ministries that are involved in evangelism to take stock of what has happened and to reassess our strategy. Then I hope for a new, united effort of all the churches based on the principles that Jesus held dear.

I still love to be involved in direct youth ministry. I take a pastoral class in a high school where I am allowed to teach the Gospel. Most of the youth there are from the affluent community, most of whom don’t go to church. So for me this is a splendid opportunity to minister to unchurched people. So far, about seven of them have made a decision for the Lord Jesus. They asked a lot of questions, and we had a lot of sessions outside of class. I didn’t push any of them. We would meet once or twice a week, and sometimes we would meet to play football or do something totally unconnected with church. For them, seeing me in a collar on Wednesday and seeing me in shorts on the football field on other days totally threw them off! So it was really a combination of very many things that drew them to Christ.

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