Real Lasting Life
About this blog
Ray Jones is the Coordinator for Evangelism for the Presbyterian Church (USA). He has served the church as a pastor for twenty-five years. He has a heart for helping people grow in the love of God in Jesus Christ. This growth always includes our words and deeds. He is married and has two grown daughters. He has experienced training and education at Furman University, Columbia Theological Seminary, the church, and through living in the world.
Recent posts
- Witnessing Communities
- The Ministry of Making Disciples
- A New Creation
- Three Main Things
- Sharing What You Have
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Witnessing Communities
As I continue to do my work in evangelism, I keep going back to Jesus' words in Acts 1:1-8. He does not tell his followers to go and start churches. He does not tell them how to worship, serve, or study scripture; he tells them they will be witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon them (Acts 1:8).
We bear witness to the power of God's forgiving love in Jesus that has changed our lives. We bear witness to the reign of God through Jesus. As our lives change, we become the agents of change in our communities. As we expereince reconciliation, we become God's instruments of reconciliation in the world.
In a world of people searching for love and peace, our call is to bear witness to that love and peace in Jesus. Michael Frost gives us a picture of a witnessing community. He writes:
- Congregations will become smaller not bigger, but there will be more of them, many more, all teeming with life and joy and fresh hope;
- Congregations will be more racially and economically diverse;
- These congregations will be known for their servanthood in their neighborhoods by practicing hospitality, and welcoming strangers into their homes;
- Christians will evangelistically invite strangers to the gospel;
- Congregations will openly and graciously share life's joys and sufferings with each other and the sharing of meals will be the central part of their life together;
- Congregations will value children and emphasize the importance of raising children in the faith as an intrinsic part of the whole congregation;
- These congregations will be led by humble men and women who will listen attentively and suffer alongside their members;
- Congregations will develop a form of liturgy that strengthens and shapes disciples;
- Congregations will model what true community looks like for our age;
- There will be the renewal of monastic practices--confession, repentance, Bible reading, prayer--as these practices will strengthen the capacity and resolve for genuinely missional engagement. (The Road to Missional, p. 79)
What if we helped one another truly live into this calling of being witnesses? Would we live more fully into the mission to which we've been called as Christ's body?
May 11, 2012
The Ministry of Making Disciples
We are called to make disciples. Seems like a simple thing. It's the ministry of the church. But we end up in countless meetings, planning programs, and struggling over denominational decline. We want to start new churches and transform our existing churches. And there is no easy plan for this ministry. But I'm becoming more convinced that if we are about making disciples, our churches will be transformed and we will start new communities of faith.
One of the things we must get right is that we must be the church for the world. We must be Jesus ...
April 25, 2012
A New Creation
Imagine what could change if the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was allowed to shape and inform all areas of our lives. The Apostle Paul writes that we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old life no longer defines us. We are set free from all that holds us captive and for God's mission of healing the world.
April 17, 2012
Three Main Things
As I continue to grow as a follower of Jesus, I rethink much of the way in which I was trained for ministry. I’ve experienced training in sharing faith. But if I’m not in relationships with people outside the church, I have no context in which to share. I’ve learned the importance of casting a compelling vision, but I did not learn so much about developing a community in which the life we live in Jesus is the essence of our attraction. I learned the significance of a ministry bathed in justice and mercy, but that mission was not connected to a close walk with Jesus.
July 25, 2011
Sharing What You Have
Can you actually share something you don't have? Now, you're probably thinking that's a stupid question! But so often when we are dealing with evangelism, we find ourselves training people to share something they don't have or believe they don't have.
If we are simply training people to share what they don't believe thay have, the ministry of evangelism is awkward and inauthentic. When people get tools to share what they don't believe they have inside of them, the sharing is often hesitant and reluctant. What usually happens is that people come up ...
June 29, 2011
A Way of Life
Len Sweet has written a thoughtful and important new book on evangelism. I am only halfway through the book, but I am already captivated by the way in which he is presenting evangelism as a natural part of a growing Christian's faith journey. He writes in Nudge, "Evangelism as we know it hasn't worked. Either evangelism is so aggressive you want to get a restraining order, or else evangelism is so restrained you want to call it to order. Our strategies have been spectacularly useless at best, counterproductive at worst" (P. 35).
Sweet contends that evanglism is all ...
June 14, 2011
Making Disciples
The church is called to make disciples. Growing disciples of Jesus Christ share faith and serve others in ways that the Holy Spirit uses to rescue and reconcile a broken world. Discipleship begins with Jesus. "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for" (Ephesians 1:11 The Message).
What if all our church activity started with Jesus? If our worship, time with Scripture, fellowship, and prayer took us more deeply into following Jesus, would we be more of a "sent" people? As long as we continue to try to fix and ...
March 16, 2011
The Narrow Gate
Lent is a great time to explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In his latest book, Tim Keller writes about the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He writes, "...The whole story of...
January 12, 2011
Back to Basics
At the start of another new year, I've been thinking about my work in evangelism. When evangelism works, our communities change, more people experience real and lasting life, our churches become vibrant communites of faith, and creation is renewed. All...
November 11, 2010
WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
For two thousand years, this question that Jesus once asked his followers has been debated passionately. It has been answered in many different ways by many different people. It’s interesting that people outside the church often have a negative view...