A desire for a greater focus on evangelism in the lead-up to Easter resulted in a mega collaboration between parishes in the Macarthur region and Evangelism & New Churches. There was a desire to work smarter, not harder, with collaboration the key to reaching their area with the gospel.
Joining forces isn’t a new idea but when the Rev Joshua Johnston, rector of Minto, saw potential for an all-in approach to Easter evangelism, he suggested it to his fellow Macarthur parishes.
“There seems to be a desire amongst all of us to raise the temperature of evangelism,” he says. “I thought, why don’t we tap into the enthusiasm that’s already there and focus around Easter?”
Preparing the congregations
Evangelism & New Churches (ENC) was asked to run evangelism workshops across the region. Four evenings were hosted by different churches in the Campbelltown local government area, equipping people to share the gospel with friends, family and neighbours.
Sarah Seabrook, trainer and evangelist with ENC, ran two of the workshops, focusing on welcoming and the effective follow-up of visitors.
“[They] have put evangelism on the agenda, front and centre,” Mrs Seabrook says. “You clearly and up front say: ‘This is God’s work and we want to be involved. We think it’s so important that we’re going to gather all together in our Mission Area and with the people up the road from us. We’re better together’.”
Enthusiasm for the training was greater than expected. “I printed 80 flyers thinking that would cut it and we ran out at the first event at Oran Park!” laughs the Rev Jim Douglass, senior minister at Narellan. “I’d say we had 200 people at each event for evangelism training... People loved that we were doing something together.”
Prayer for each other
The Macarthur-wide mission used material adapted from the UK, with churches opting in with regard to their level of involvement.
In addition to ENC training, letterbox dropping and the distribution of resources and materials, there was a combined effort to pray for one another.
“People were very positive about praying for each other’s churches.” Mr Johnston says .
“I don’t think that’s something we do very often, but after the first week I got a bunch of comments [from my congregation] saying it was so refreshing and helpful to pray for another church’s efforts. We’re concerned about the whole area and praying for the saints of Narellan, Ingleburn, Campbelltown, etc.
“God has brought us into partnership with one another. We might meet separately, but there’s a real unity in Christ.
“We wanted to see it as kingdom growth, whatever growth comes. If people ended up at Menangle or Minto or Leppington, we didn’t care. We cared about people hearing about Jesus and coming to faith.”
For Mr Johnston, success was seeing people excited about sharing the gospel.
“If we can get more people excited to share Jesus across our churches, that’s a win,” he says. “Let’s start planting the seed that the mission field is vast, Jesus is coming back, now is the time of amnesty. Let’s get out there with boldness and share the gospel. Wouldn’t it be a win if the legacy we left our churches with was making our churches more evangelistic?”
The enthusiasm for evangelism also delights Mrs Seabrook.
“We want to partner with churches who think it’s important,” she says. “If ENC is set aside in the Diocese to work in evangelism and equip evangelists, then please use us! We are here for the churches... Getting us involved is the most obvious next step, because evangelism and keeping evangelism on the agenda is our bread and butter.”
PRAYER
- Give thanks for all the parishes that were involved in the Macarthur Easter mission and prayed for one another
- Pray for the follow-up efforts in these parishes as members connect with people who visited Easter services. Pray that those who visited will put their trust in Jesus.
- Pray for the work of Evangelism & New Churches as it partners with local churches to equip and raise the temperature of evangelism across the Diocese.
