In Samaria Witnessing In Western Society

In SamariaWitnessing In Western Society The Work Of Our Church In The West

Evangelism In The West • Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded the church to evangelize, when He said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). • The Church has a mission toward every person in the whole world. • The People can be classified into: - Believers - Non Believers www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • The believers are classified into: • Inside the Church - Outside the Church • So any person in the world is either: • Believer inside the church • Believer outside the church • Non Believer • The Church has responsibility toward these three groups. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • The ministry of the church toward the believers inside the church is called “Spiritual Care” • The ministry of the Church toward the believers outside the Church is called “Ministry of the Lost Sheep” • The Ministry of the Church toward the non believers is called “Evangelism” www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • Spiritual Care: • Preventive Ministry “to protect them from going astray” • Pastoral Care “to promote their spiritual growth” • Lost Sheep: • Searching and seeking after the lost sheep • Healing and recovery ministry • Evangelism • Giving away your faith • Planting and grafting ministry. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • The holy book of Revelation records that there will be people from every part of the world before the throne of God • “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands” (Rev 7:9). www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • We need to ask an important question for our churches in the West: • Is our church in the West a church of emigrants or a church of citizens? • The growth of our churches in the West is mainly because immigration and not because evangelism. • This means if the movement of immigration stops, the growth of our churches will stop too. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • There is a real spiritual thirst for the Truth and there are good fields waiting for our evangelism. • The Church Canons teaches us that any bishop is ordained for every person in the diocese and not for the Christians only. • So what do we need to Evangelize in the Western Countries? www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • The priests cannot do these three ministries by themselves. • There is a need for full-time devoted servants. • Or at least we need to encourage youth to devote one year after graduation to serve in evangelism. • We need to prepare our churches for the evangelism. • Should the Coptic Church in the West become an Egyptian church or a western church or a church that integrates both cultures). www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • We need to encourage our congregations to welcome the converts and give them the feeling of belonging and show them love and care (establish special committees to welcome them). • Promote an integrated culture of readiness to receive converts through: • English announcements • Cleanness • Discipline, organization, and order. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • Quietness in our churches. • Why don’t we restore the role of the sub-deacons? • Also it is very important to observe the good performance in singing of hymns; and prepare papers for the hymns (for example, prepare papers for the hymns of the Holy Pascha and the Lectionary). • Be on time. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • Using English language is very essential. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability (Acts 2:4). • The priests and servants can improve our command of the language by taking courses. • if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me (1Cor 14:11). www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • Those who left their churches are already suffering from foreignness. • Using their language will help in overcoming this problem. • Start strong Bible study meetings that explain the Orthodoxy based on the teaching of the Holy Bible. • Priests and servants need to put efforts in preparing the sermons and Bible Studies. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • Prepare packets to give to the converts to include: • Salvation in the Orthodox Concept by H.H. Pope Shenouda • Comparative Theology by H.H. Pope Shenouda • How to benefit from the Divine Liturgy by Bishop Metaous • Introduction to the Orthodox Church by Fr. Tadros Malaty • Agpyea and Liturgy Book • An English Divine Liturgy on CD or tapes. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • Classes for preparations of evangelists (evangelism servants). • Prepare a curriculum for these classes that aims at implanting the love of evangelism in their hearts. • Train them in the different services of evangelism: Greeting Ministry, visitations, and invitations. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • Prepare brochures about the Orthodox Church to distribute to the visitors. • Hold evangelism conferences that install the awareness of evangelism among adults and youth of our church. • Translate all ritual books of the church and produce them in high quality printing. • Translate the important books, such as the books of H. H. Pope Shenouda. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • Let the new converts share and participate in the services and activities of the church (the Board of Deacon, Sunday School, …etc). • Use the Internet in the evangelism ministry. • The Internet evangelizes the church to the entire world so we should update it regularly and watch carefully the materials that are posted since the whole world will make its impression about the church from what we present on the Internet. www.suscopts.org

Evangelism In The West • We need to study about evangelism in the early church and the thoughts of the early church fathers regarding this ministry since they were able to spread Christianity into the whole world in short time and with few resources. • Teaching a course about missions in all theological institutes. • The importance of visitations to the catechumens and the converts. • Using the media more effectively in the field of Evangelism. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Let us follow the example of the Lord especially in His meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar. • Contact others socially: • We must have social contact with others first (the Samaritan woman, the Samaritans, Levi, Zacchaeus). • Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (Luka 5:31) www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Establish common ground: • We must take the time to establish common ground as a bridge for communication. • The Lord’s request for a drink demolished social, religious, and racial-political barriers. • As a man He spoke to her, a woman. • As a Rabbi He spoke to her, an immoral woman. • As a Jew He spoke to her, a Samaritan. • For her, His request was a treasured compliment. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • We need to build bridges with others first • The Lord did all this by means of questions (the lawyer, rich man). • Use questions to express genuine interest in people and to learn more about them. • You need to listen long enough to be sensitive to where they were in their spiritual journey. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Arouse interest: • The Lord aroused her interest by speaking about the living water. • In the same way we can turn small events in our relationships to a conversation about spiritual things. • We will discover there are people who are interested in spiritual reality; we don’t have to force ourselves on those who are not interested. • In our witnessing we ought to be relaxed in our tone of voice and demeanor. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Get the ball rolling: • The Lord kept the ball rolling by making a statement that precipitated a question from her. • The statement related to her primary needs and at the same time suggested His ability and willingness to meet these needs (John 4:10-11). • You can ask questions like (by the way, are you interested in spiritual things? What do you think a real Christian is? www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • You need to explain that the real Christian relate to God as a living person. This relation satisfy all their needs of joy, happiness, and peace. • Another means of getting the ball rolling is to be alert for opportunities to share bible verses and some lived spiritual experiences from the life of the saints or others (keep the confidentiality). • Be careful in sharing your own experience (St. Paul). www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • There are passages in people’s lives that draw their attention to religion and give us wide open opportunities to get the ball rolling and bring up the need for God. • For students, academic failure, concern about career choices, or disappointment in love. • For young couples, the birth of a first child. • As families grow, teen age problems, physical problems, emotional turmoil, and financial reverses. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • In a discussion about day’s headlines, the latest world crisis or some other current event, you may ask “what do you think is wrong with the world?” • Then you may point out the Lord’s diagnosis of alienated human nature in Mark 7:21-23 “21for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” • Then speak about the new man. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Books and booklets on provocative subjects (e.g. rearing children, anger) provide another possibility for conversation on spiritual matters. • You can invite them to a small group Bible study in church. • The atmosphere in this group studies should not make the beginners feel either like targets or children who know nothing. • Also you need to have a definite plan for the subject matter to be studied including specific time frame. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Any tendency to be apologetic about our faith is easily detected. • When we assume people lack interest, we tend to defeat ourselves before we start. • If we assume interest we are more likely to get a positive response. • As we gain in quiet confidence, the H.S. will lead us to interested people. • Each successful encounter will lead us to greater faith and confidence for the next one. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Don’t go too far: • Give people only as much of the message as they are ready for without condemning them (John 4:13-19). • In your explanation of the Christian faith, start by finding out what basic things you can agree on (do they believe in God, Jesus, the Bible?). • Jew – greater than Jacob – prophet – the Messiah. • Go slowly while praying to be guided by the H.S. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Don’t condemn: • The Lord did not condemn her, her sin itself condemned her. • The Lord didn’t bypass the question about her husbands, but He did no finger-pointing in judgment. • Our message is never that we are good and moral and we want everyone else to be good like us. • Our message is we need others to experience the same forgiveness that we are experiencing. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Stick with the main issue: • Our Lord did not allow any secondary questions to sidetrack him from the main issue. • When she asked where to worship, He shifted the answer from where to how. • Usually you will be asked about how many hypocrites in the church, contradictions in the Bible, who will go to heaven and who will go to hell…etc. Don’t be deceived by these questions. www.suscopts.org

How To Witness In The West • Confront the person directly: • The Lord said to her “I Who speak to you am He” • We need finally to bring others into a direct confrontation with the Lord so that they realize their personal responsibility to decide for or against Him. • You may ask the person about his relationship with the Lord and the Church (His body) and how real it is? www.suscopts.org

Conclusion • There are eight principles: • Meet and know others personally. • Establish a mutual interest in conversation. • Arouse a person’s interest by life and word. • get the ball rolling • Gear explanations to people’s receptiveness and readiness for more. • Accept and don’t condemn. • Stay on track • Persevere to the destination www.suscopts.org

In Samaria Witnessing In Western Society