My freshman year of college, I felt a call to missions, but until this class I was not sure exactly what that “call” fully entailed. I have searched for answers, and prayed like crazy for confirmation in why I was being called to missions and exactly what I was supposed to do with this call. This semester, I was able to learn about religions that I have never taken the time to fully understand. Ultimately, I was able to grasp a better understanding of what other religions believe and this allowed me to evaluate what I believe and why I believe it. Although, I found that my attitude towards people who have been pushed away from the church grew astronomically in a way that I began to feel deeply for these people. Secondly, I found that the …show more content…
Through this, I have almost formed a complete different view on how to share the gospel. I believe that in many contexts, rather than verbally telling individuals about Jesus it is more beneficial to show Jesus through our actions. I think too often it is on our agenda to bring people to know Jesus, now don 't get me wrong this is so important, but I believe that first we must get to know a person and understand what they believe. I have seen that being able to understand and relate to what an individual believes can show them just how much you what to know them. Throughout this course, I have learned that understanding what people believe is imperative to building relationship in order to love them deeply, just as Jesus would. I believe that knowing what certain religions believe also provides a bridge to the Gospel, and better prepares an individual to know how to share the Gospel in a way that person will better understand. Relationship provides a firm foundation for ministering in so many ways, and I believe that without this foundation there is no way to gain respect in order to minister to people of other
In a survey conducted in 2012, LifeWay.com inquired about the importance of evangelism among members of the Christian faith. The results of the survey showed that 80 percent of people who claimed to follow Jesus Christ and had openly devoted themselves to the teaching of Christianity, felt that they had a “personal responsibility to share their religious views and beliefs about Jesus Christ with non-christians” (Wilke, LifeWay.com). Surveys such as this reflect the Christian doctrine of evangelism and the weight it holds within the Christian faith. As can be seen back in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ commanded His followers “to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).” However, Jesus never told His followers how doing this.
This course has opened my eyes to faults that I did not know that I was making when it involved evangelism. This has delivered a conviction that has incited my soul and desire to do and be a better witness for my God. When I was
Our goal as a church was to go into another community and share the gospel with them but we did it in a unique way, through community service. Together we volunteered in a trailer park to clean up trash, fix gardens, redo roofing, paint and clean trailers. While doing this I meet an old woman who appreciated what we were doing for her and her home and wanted to know why. This gave my small group and I an opportunity to help guide her to Christ and when we left not only did we give her a better and beautiful community and trailer to live in, but we left her with a bible and a thirst to learn more about our God. This experience was important to me because it showed how one can truly make a difference in people’s lives just through serving
Although, I had the completely wrong view. I learned that a person is a person regardless of a person's social status or by what they do or don't have. I also realized that even though a mission trip is meant to help those in need, I needed missionaries myself. I realize that even though we help the kids at the Ruidoso orphanage, I feel like they helped me shape who I am as a person in a dramatic way. Whether it was by feeding us lunch to playing a game of soccer with us, they positively affected my life in a huge mental way.
I grew up in a home with a family that attend church weekly and was active in the church family. I knew about God and about His son but I never remember the story of salvation and the personal need for a savoir. As a teenager I walked away from the religion that I thought did not offer my anything. In my thirties, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and I immediately started my negotiations with God. Little did I know that He was not a negotiator but it was during this time in my life that I needed God more than He needed me. Since accepting the gift of God’s love, the salvation of a Savoir, and the renovation of my heart, I look to God for the path of my life. I share Gods truth through my career change to a Christian nob-profit that’s vision is to share God’s love to the community through the platform of pregnancy care and family services. Personally I have fulfilled God’s call to help the less fortunate by adopting a sibling group and participating and supporting mission trips to third world countries to support his children and missions there. My final piece of God’s plan I feel lead to complete is to volunteer my professional expertise and finances to work with a mission group that provides laboratory services to third world mission hospitals. I have done one trip for them and am currently planning a trip to Honduras in the new year. My day to
In Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew records Jesus’ last words to His disciples these verses have become known as “The Great Commission.”Since, the giving of the Great Commission followers of Christ has left their own culture in order to engage another with the saving message of the Gospel. Numerous books, articles and blogs have been written on the subject of World Evangelization or Missions. One such book on missions is called, “The Changing Face of World Missions: Engaging Contemporary Issues and Trends” this book was written by Michael Pocock, Gailyn Van Rheenen, and Douglas McConnell. All three men are experts in the field of missions; the writers have served overseas and are now currently engaged in equipping the next generation through teaching at Dallas and Fuller Theological Seminary. The authors bring a wealth of personal and academic excellence to their particular chapters as well as a passion to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The balance between academia and real world application make “The Changing Face of World Missions”, an informative and exciting read.
For those who have heard the gospel previously and believe that the Bible is a credible historical and moral reference, this method can be very effective in bringing someone to Christ. This step-by-step explanation walks a seeking person through each point of their need, God’s provision for their need, and how to receive salvation. It is effective in quickly giving the Gospel in a short amount of time especially in busy city neighborhoods where people are always on the go. It also helps a Christian learn and teach the core doctrine of the Gospel by using one book of the Bible rather than going through the entire Bible given the short amount of time to present to unbelievers (Kaufmann). It is a good tool to be used by new and experienced Christians.
Scholars have been trying to come up with a well-founded, acceptable and universal definition of religion for years; however, none of these definitions so far are a perfect fit for all religions of the world. There are many things in our life that are well defined and well understood but, unfortunately, religion is not one of them. There is no common ground and understanding of what religion really means. Religion is what we make of it, so no one can truly define religion in a way that is meaningful across all borders as it is outside of the realm of reason and rationale and the definitions we give could be either too exclusive or inclusive.
I’d like to state the most obvious observation that I’ve made about spiritual formation; that is that I will always need to be seeking for ways to nurture my personal spirituality throughout my life. I know that to most people this may sound like a “duh” statement, but for me it has truly become a reality and one that I must admit I have been struggling to embrace. I was brought up in a church that, like most traditional churches, stayed happy living in the “comfort zone” of their Christianity. They took everything that the Bible said at face value without digging in to find out why they believed what they believed. I had never been challenged to look deeper into the text. In the past few years I have felt the need to tunnel out of this cave of what I feel is best labeled “Christian ignorance”. In the process though, I have had to come to terms with letting go of the things that brought me comfort and provided me with what I thought it took to have a close relationship with God. Some of those things were tangible. Most were not. The things that were the least tangible actually ended up being the hardest to let go of.
I began this course thinking my worldview was that of a Christian Theist, as I had come to discover, as the course progressed, my worldview was a mixed bag of beliefs outside the elementary belief of Christian Theism. I was not disheartened by this finding, but surprised. The realization then set in that I was uneducated or did not know God like I thought. In fact my beliefs appeared to be more influenced by society than the deity of God. Fortunately, this is a learning experience intended to bring me closer to the truths of Christianity and an understanding of the beliefs of others.
Religion plays an enormous role in the history of mankind. Wars have been fought over it, lives have been surrounded by it, and it has directly or indirectly shaped the lives of many individuals. Culture and religion play a large role in developing each other. People’s religion is decided by their culture. The prominence or the lack of religion will develop someone’s religious identity have play a core role in determining what that person believes.
The religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are alike in many ways but they also share many differences. Judaism and Christianity use the bible in their holy scriptures, while Islam does not. Jesus Christ is a part of all three religions as Christianity and Islam developed from Judaism. Many believe that the three religions worship, pray to, and focus on the same god. They believe this as many of the prophets are they share much in common as they share many beliefs. However, the followers of the three religions pray differently and in different places. the religions believe that their god created the world and everything in the world. The three Abrahamic religions have different histories, yet they share many similarities and difference.
I was afraid, but I continued to pray and asked God for directions. Fay states, “God has called each of us to share our faith, in obedience. He has called each of us to evangelize. If one of your excuses for not sharing your faith is, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism,” then you need to examine Scripture. You find the command of the Great Commission to evangelize, to encourage evangelism, and to urge evangelism.” I really enjoyed spreading the gospel because it gives me joy. I am willing to meet the needs of people when given the opportunity. I love God and I love people. I am willing to go where God wants me to
My definition of religion has mostly stayed the same, but my perception of it has changed. At the beginning of the class, I assumed religion was something you believed based on your moral principles. I now believe that those moral principles are based on the religion that you believe in. Your religion changes your perception of the world and how to go about in it. Your religion tells you what is right and wrong in the world and answers all of the big questions one asks. Religion according to our book is, “A pattern of beliefs and practices that expresses and enacts what a community regards as sacred and/or ultimate about life” (Van Voorst 6). That definition was one thing that really got me thinking about my own personal idea of what religion
Growing up I was raised in a religious household, so, of course, I’m a big believer in God and my faith. To me, God is the creator of all and I believe Judgment Day is going to come very soon.The definition of faith is the belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion. My faith and the reason for my faith goes hand in hand because it makes me know the truth and opens my eyes to this world. Also, I get clarity of why I’m in this world which is to make it a better place. But seeing the world as faith with reason or reason with faith has a few challenges and can make things a little bit difficult. Same goes for science and religion which butt heads a lot. Some may feel that the Big Bang Theory created