Items related to Becoming a Contagious Christian: Communicating Your...
Helping Christians Communicate Their Faith in a Style that Fits Them Imagine everyone in your church . . . · Confidently discussing matters of faith with friends · Talking about Jesus in a style that's personal and natural · Living each day with a vision and passion to reach others It can happen! Over one million people have experienced the groundbreaking evangelism training course, Becoming a Contagious Christian—a proven resource designed to equip believers for relational evangelism. Now revised and updated to train entire churches, it avoids stereotyped approaches that feel intimidating to many Christians—and to their friends! Instead, it shows ordinary believers how they can share the gospel in natural and effective ways while being the person God made them to be. Participants learn how to: · Build spiritually significant relationships · Direct conversations toward matters of faith · Explain biblical truth in everyday language · Tell their own story of coming to faith · Use easy-to-remember gospel illustrations · Pray with someone to receive Christ, and more! Exciting features of the revised edition include: · All-new DVD vignettes, including dramas, testimonies, person-on-the-street segments, and a vision-casting segment for leaders · Two teaching options: teach the course yourself (ideal for large group seminars); or use the teaching DVDs and let Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel teach it for you (a great option for small groups and Sunday school classes) New CD-ROM that includes PowerPoint presentations and resources for a Contagious Campaign. Includes an Implementation Guide that details how to run a four- to six-week church-wide event—complete with promotional materials, sermon transcripts, and course materials for use in small groups or Sunday school classes. Becoming a Contagious Christian works with any size gathering, from small groups of two to fourteen, to Sunday school classes and other large groups of fifteen to 1,500 or more. It can be presented successfully in any of the following formats: · Six sessions of 50 minutes each in small groups or Sunday school classes · Three sessions of two-and-a-half hours each · One- or two-day seminars or retreats · Or adapt it to fit the needs of your church! Kit includes: · Leader's Guide · Participant's Guide · Two 180-minute DVDs featuring dramas, interview segments and complete course teaching by Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel · CD-ROM with PowerPoint presentations, sermon transcripts, and reproducible promotional materials · Becoming a Contagious Christian book by Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Bill Hybels, founder and pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, is the author of several books, including ‘Honest to God?’ and ‘Too Busy Not to Pray’.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
CHAPTER ONE
People Matter To God
Not long after Tom stepped onto the sailboat, it became clear that he was a first-class sailor, a fierce competitor, and someone who thrived on living at the edge of adventure.
Beyond that, this latest member of our racing crew had an infectious personality. He wanted the music turned up loud, lots of friends around, and plenty of excitement after the race. He wanted to win, but he wanted to have a good time doing it.
I hardly knew Tom when I asked him to join us. As our friendship developed, I found out that he was an all-or-nothing kind of individual. When he believed in something and was excited about it, there was no stopping him. But if he wasn’t interested, there was almost no way to get him started.
And therein was the challenge. You see, Tom had little time for spiritual matters of any kind.
Then one night Tom showed up for our regatta with his arm in a sling. When I asked him what had happened, he explained that he had been out racing go-carts the night before, had imbibed too much alcohol, had gotten a bit out of control, and ended up getting into a fight.
By this time he knew I was a minister, so he half-kiddingly asked if I could help him out by praying over him.
"Maybe sometime," I replied, "but right now I have a Scripture verse for you."
"All right," he said, "what is it?"
I said, "The Bible says in Galatians 6:7 that ‘a man reaps what he sows.’"
To my surprise, Tom seemed stunned. "It doesn’t really say that, does it?" he asked.
"It absolutely does," I told him. "It says that if you want to sow the kind of seed you were sowing last night, you’re going to reap the kind of sling you’re wearing today."
"You’re putting me on!" he shot back.
"I’m not kidding you," I assured him, "and I think maybe you ought to commit that verse to memory!"
Over the next few days, I’d chide him a little by asking if he’d learned it yet. Before long, he’d just look me in the eye and quote it.
In fact, that whole incident became somewhat of a standing joke between us that summer, and it opened up the door to some conversations about spiritual matters. The following season Tom showed a few more signs that he was willing to take it a bit further.
One night when we were having dinner in a restaurant he asked me, "How does a person go about getting a Bible? I’ve thought about trying to read one, but I didn’t know if regular stores sell them."
"Well, I could probably fix you up with one," I told him, trying to be nonchalant about the fact that finally, after two years of prayer and relationship-building, he was starting to display some genuine interest.
Later that fall, Tom actually drove a couple of hundred miles from Michigan to Chicago in order to visit our church and to spend some time hanging out at my house and talking together.
After he got back home, he called me and said, "I feel different on the inside. It seems like I’m starting to fit some puzzle pieces together. I don’t know how it’s all going to turn out, but I really like what’s happening to me, even if I don’t completely understand it."
One evening after a two-hour talk about what it means to be a Christian, I told him, "Tommy, you’re going to make a great Christian someday. You’re honest to the core, flat-out dedicated to whatever you commit yourself to, and more concerned about what’s true than about what other people think."
He conceded that I might be right. But he wasn’t ready. He was in the process and moving in the right direction, but he wasn’t about to sign on any dotted lines. Not yet.
I’ll never forget those talks with Tom. They were unpredictable, they were risky, they were exhilarating, they were give-and-take, they were up-and-down. And they reminded me of something I’d known for a long time: There’s nothing in life that’s as exciting as befriending, loving, and leading wayward people toward faith in Christ. Nothing.
People Matter To God
Not long after Tom stepped onto the sailboat, it became clear that he was a first-class sailor, a fierce competitor, and someone who thrived on living at the edge of adventure.
Beyond that, this latest member of our racing crew had an infectious personality. He wanted the music turned up loud, lots of friends around, and plenty of excitement after the race. He wanted to win, but he wanted to have a good time doing it.
I hardly knew Tom when I asked him to join us. As our friendship developed, I found out that he was an all-or-nothing kind of individual. When he believed in something and was excited about it, there was no stopping him. But if he wasn’t interested, there was almost no way to get him started.
And therein was the challenge. You see, Tom had little time for spiritual matters of any kind.
Then one night Tom showed up for our regatta with his arm in a sling. When I asked him what had happened, he explained that he had been out racing go-carts the night before, had imbibed too much alcohol, had gotten a bit out of control, and ended up getting into a fight.
By this time he knew I was a minister, so he half-kiddingly asked if I could help him out by praying over him.
"Maybe sometime," I replied, "but right now I have a Scripture verse for you."
"All right," he said, "what is it?"
I said, "The Bible says in Galatians 6:7 that ‘a man reaps what he sows.’"
To my surprise, Tom seemed stunned. "It doesn’t really say that, does it?" he asked.
"It absolutely does," I told him. "It says that if you want to sow the kind of seed you were sowing last night, you’re going to reap the kind of sling you’re wearing today."
"You’re putting me on!" he shot back.
"I’m not kidding you," I assured him, "and I think maybe you ought to commit that verse to memory!"
Over the next few days, I’d chide him a little by asking if he’d learned it yet. Before long, he’d just look me in the eye and quote it.
In fact, that whole incident became somewhat of a standing joke between us that summer, and it opened up the door to some conversations about spiritual matters. The following season Tom showed a few more signs that he was willing to take it a bit further.
One night when we were having dinner in a restaurant he asked me, "How does a person go about getting a Bible? I’ve thought about trying to read one, but I didn’t know if regular stores sell them."
"Well, I could probably fix you up with one," I told him, trying to be nonchalant about the fact that finally, after two years of prayer and relationship-building, he was starting to display some genuine interest.
Later that fall, Tom actually drove a couple of hundred miles from Michigan to Chicago in order to visit our church and to spend some time hanging out at my house and talking together.
After he got back home, he called me and said, "I feel different on the inside. It seems like I’m starting to fit some puzzle pieces together. I don’t know how it’s all going to turn out, but I really like what’s happening to me, even if I don’t completely understand it."
One evening after a two-hour talk about what it means to be a Christian, I told him, "Tommy, you’re going to make a great Christian someday. You’re honest to the core, flat-out dedicated to whatever you commit yourself to, and more concerned about what’s true than about what other people think."
He conceded that I might be right. But he wasn’t ready. He was in the process and moving in the right direction, but he wasn’t about to sign on any dotted lines. Not yet.
I’ll never forget those talks with Tom. They were unpredictable, they were risky, they were exhilarating, they were give-and-take, they were up-and-down. And they reminded me of something I’d known for a long time: There’s nothing in life that’s as exciting as befriending, loving, and leading wayward people toward faith in Christ. Nothing.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherZondervan
- Publication date2007
- ISBN 10 0310257859
- ISBN 13 9780310257851
- BindingPaperback
- Rating
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