Communicating Your Faith in a Secular World

Mark Mittelberg

As we try to share our faith in the modern-day world, we can face many barriers. But there are beliefs and values we must hold in order to continue to strive forward in this area and see success in helping others come to know Christ. Mittelberg shares eight of those beliefs in this presentation, outlining that people matter to God and are lost. They need Christ, the need answers, they need community, they need relevancy to their lives, and they need time to soften toward the Gospel. The Church as a whole must move toward these people and help bridge the cultural chasm that exists, rather than waiting for people to come to the Church.

Communicating the Gospel without Compromise

Mark Mittelberg

In our culture today, it can be easy to diminish the gospel when sharing our faith, not wanting to offend others or point out flaws in their belief. But there is an urgent need to help others understand the real gospel in order for people to receive Christ's forgiveness. Some people are relativistic and believe whatever feels right, others just hold their faith because they grew up with it, and others believe because an authoritative figure has placed a pressure on them to believe. We can help people see the need to look at evidence for their faith. Through evidence and refusal to compromise, we can help those around us come to a real, sincere faith in the God of the Bible.

Lessons From the Past: The Social Gospel

Scott Arnold

James 1:27

In recent history, the evangelical church has done a poor job of being involved in meeting the needs of the poor. This only further adds to the view of evangelicals as hypocritical and judgmental. Caring for the poor is a Biblical command, however, and we must be willing to meet not just the spiritual needs of people but the physical needs as well.

Evaluating a Complex Movement

D.A. Carson

James 1:27

D.A. Carson presents an analysis of the emergent church. This complex movement, born in the 20th century and following us today, arose out of an attempt to relate to the current culture. There are many difficulties with the emergent church, because as people focus more on winning people in their culture, they may lose the focus on winning people to the Lord, who is unchanging and above culture. Carson describes new changes in this movement, what this movement is, and implications of some emergent theology. Finally, he makes it clear that the center of Christianity is and should always be the plain gospel with nothing extra added and nothing taken away from its truth.

Reaching College and High School Students in an Age of Cynicism

Scott Risley

Conrad Hilario

2 Corinthians 5:11

The percentage of student involvement in a church is decreasing at a staggering rate. Today's youth are growing up in an age of extreme cynicism toward everything from people and institutions to knowing truth. In order to effectively reach high school and college students, it's essential to look at the culture they were raised in and be able to both critique what the world has taught them about significance and replace that with God's perspective.

Are we Getting the Job Done? Is the Church Still Relevant?

Dennis McCallum

2 Timothy 4:1-2

The Church's mission is to reconcile the world to Christ, both bringing people to know to know the Lord and then to grow with him. Unfortunately, the American church is failing at this mission. Transfer growth has caused the appearance of perhaps doing well in areas, but this is not our mission. Across the country, it seems our culture is harder to reach than it was before, but we need to be careful to avoid the faults of the emergent church and other responses. The answer to this problem is not to dilute the gospel and avoid the hard truths, nor is it not to create a fortress around us, walling believers off from the world of temptation. We must stay relevant with our culture without changing the gospel, and we must make sure we are faithfully and boldly preaching God's Word.

The Second Missionary Journey

Ryan Lowery

Acts 15:36-16:40

In Paul's second missionary journey, five principles about ministry can be observed: 1) Christians are immediately qualified to share their faith with those around them; 2) ministry should include mentoring; 3) ministry must be led by the Holy Spirit; 4) ministry is war with a sophisticated enemy; and 5) successful ministry requires the right attitude.

The First Missionary Journey

Ryan Lowery

Acts 13:1-40

The history of missions is split between the harmful and the helpful, but if the claims of the Bible are true then missionaries are essential. Luke's historical account of Paul's first missionary journey shows what missions look like when done correctly. All of us should seek to be missionaries in our own culture or another.

A Model Church

Gary DeLashmutt

John 14:6

Jesus reveals in his words that he is the only way to God. The church in Philadelphia understood this truth. They were faithful to His Word and shared the gospel to the people in their city. We too can look to the opportunities that God gives us to share the gospel in our city. We can share with boldness and without fear, knowing that God gives us everything that matters.