Five Sydney Anglican churches are road-testing a revamped version of the worldwide outreach tool, Evangelism Explosion (EE).
The Rev Richard Harvey of St Matthew's Manly is looking forward to trialling "xee', which has been updated specifically to reach Generation X (those born between 1960 and 1980).
"That's a large percentage of our demographic here in Manly," he says.
"We're excited about being able to tap into that age group with a fresh approach."
St Matthew's has used Evangelism Explosion for over 10 years.
"EE is different in that it trains people how to be evangelists, and it can dovetail with other programs, like Christianity Explored."
Mr Harvey believes the new program will help St Matthew's to reach the local community, which has a high Generation X demographic.
"It will reach that generation because it's a very relational way of presenting the gospel to people."
Figtree Anglican Church has already started the trial, and Castle Hill, Eagle Vale, Manly and Minto parishes will start in May.
EE's Director for Global Ministries, Rod Story says the program has been revamped to reach the "missing generation" of churchgoers " people in their 20s and 30s.
"Our analysis showed us that it was pastors between the ages of 25 and 40 who were not using our training," he says.
"We recognised that, in the postmodern world, our existing training methodologies and gospel connecting points weren't relevant enough to a contemporary context."
Ideally, the video and web-driven training will be used by "Generation X-ers' and it is being also being field tested in English in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa.
The program has always emphasised the so-called "take off" and "landing" before and after the gospel is presented, with new launching questions that focus on fulfilment in life, rather then the previous topic of life after death.
The training is combined with "real-life' conversations with people who are "seekers'.
"One of the significant methodologies of ‘xee’ is that there's a strong emphasis on training people how to relationally connect, which is a significant change from where we were before," he says.
"There's a strong focus on actively engaging in witnessing and not just talking about it.”
The program is the result of two years of research, which found that Generation X had grown up in an era of change and lack of security, and is therefore reluctant to commit or give loyalty.
Mr Story says he hopes the new version will contribute to the Diocesan Mission.
"One of the goals for "xee' is that we want to facilitate the Archbishop's vision for reaching 10 per cent of the population."
Evangelism Explosion is expecting to launch ‘xee’ in January 2008.
Email rstory@eeinternational.org for more information about xee.
