By Dirk Wiese, Pastor, Redeemer Church,
Earlier this month we had the opportunity to continue equipping our students and community members who invest in the campus with practical tools for evangelism and discernment. Our tools for evangelism came from Beau Crosetto’s book, Beyond Awkward. This has been an excellent resource that has made evangelism very accessible. Our students often feel the desire to do it, but feel the lack of practical steps.
As we went through the content we unpacked the difference between someone having an awakening moment (experiencing God’s presence and power) and a believing moment (seeing Christ’s sacrifice for you and the goodness of Him calling the shots in your life). This helped provide discernment for our students as they often encounter other students who have experienced the movement of God in their lives but aren’t really walking with Him.
We then understood the two main approaches to evangelism. Crosetto states that logic-based evangelism is still needed, but it was more helpful in previous decades. He posits that many college students relate more with the experience of someone who has been transformed by Christ. Scripture is still used as the foundation, but the life of the person sharing needs to be shared with Jesus as the hero.
Finally, we went over which practical questions to use and not use. With the growing popularity of New Age and postmodern spirituality we know that many students have some sort of belief in the supernatural. Knowing this we taught students to simply ask people what their spiritual background was and what their experience of Jesus or Christianity has been. This helps us to better gauge where they’re at spiritually instead of asking if they went to church growing up. This helps us detach them from their parent’s faith, a false sense that tradition equals salvation and any pain from their home church.
There were many other points discussed, but overall the students and community members felt better equipped to share the gospel, interact with people different than them, and have the vision for the campus to be saturated with the Kingdom.
As students start a new school year at the University of Northern Iowa they are heading into a season that the students and leaders in The Good Life College Ministry have been praying about for months. We desire to see the Kingdom of God move throughout the campus and hearts of students. One of the main ways we do this is through our Fall Kickoff that happens during the first week of classes. This event involves times of worship through song, preaching, and opportunities to connect. This also requires plenty of hours of vision, preparation, set up, and serving from our students. This year we had more students serve and play key roles than any previous year! As we headed into the night we prayed for all who were planning to attend as well as those on the fence or those who had spiritual barriers to coming.
The night began as we welcomed new faces into the space that we set up in the Union. These were people who we met through previous events the past week and those who had simply seen the event promoted in the dining centers and on social media. Things ran smoothly through the night and we had the opportunity afterward to continue connecting with new people and inviting them deeper into community.
Looking back on the night we saw some really good things that God did, but we did feel disappointment with the overall turnout. I think good for us to feel that, but not stay in it. Our mission is fight for joy so it only makes sense to see Christ working in that night and know that His grace is sufficient for us at all times! Our hope should never be in the number of people attending a kickoff, churches planted, or even people saved. It can only be in the risen Christ who has set us free and given us an inheritance that is imperishable, unfading, and undefiled.
We now continue to look forward to a full school year with a God who goes before us. We are committed to laboring for the gospel, prayerfully connect with others, and serve out of the love that Christ has shown us.
