http://developingoutreach.blogspot.com/
Addison Roberts
CRL 233 Developing Outreach and Discipleship Programs
Instructor Gerry Stoltzfoos
1/24/2009
Interviewee profile
Name: Joe
Occupation: Military
Lifestyle: Working father with two children and a stay at home wife who is attending school
Joey helped me to see how most people who don't attend church feel about the church in general. I think that maybe we have become too good at not worrying about what people think of us. We quickly dismiss people who just don't like the way we do things and say that they are just hard hearted or stubborn. Maybe, but we would do better to examine what we can do better to change the image we put out.
For example, Joey feels that the greatest need in his area is love and good will. This is such a good point. I think almost any area has a desperate need of love in general. I personally wonder how many of my interviewees will repeat this answer. The church needs to respond to this need by meeting temporal needs in the name of Jesus and just being nice. What if it became known that the church as a whole loves helping and caring for people? I understand that we do this already but maybe doing it more regularly would make us known as a body of people who loves helping and caring for people. This might break down the walls around peoples hearts and allow them to hear the gospel.
Another thing that Joey helped me to realize was that the church still needs to work on being an accepting group. He pointed out that open-mindedness and accessibility is incredibly key to reaching out to people. We as a church need to focus like crazy on making sure people feel loved and accepted just as they are.
It seems the old stigmas of how people view the church are not dead. We still at times come off like an aloof and arrogant people that is not meeting real needs. We need to continue to work on redefining our image so that it will not be a stumbling block to future generations.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Chaplain Will Olsen
http://developingoutreach.blogspot.com/
Addison Roberts
CRL 233 Developing Outreach and Discipleship Programs
Instructor Gerry Stoltzfoos
1/24/2009
Chaplain Will Olsen serves the religious needs of the prisoners in the Adams County Correctional Facility. He spoke with us about his ministry on the 22nd and it brought about some interesting discussion and an excellent learning experience. On the negative side, I do not feel that Olsen has done enough in presenting the fruit of his ministry. On the positive side, I feel that Olsen has done an excellent job modeling perseverance.
Olsen has not done an affective job advertising the fruit of his ministry. The only medium he has utilizes is word of mouth. I would suggest perhaps a video or a book that documents these amazing testimonies. I feel that he would have a much easier time raising support if he was presenting the fruit of this wonderful ministry in an effective manner.
Olsen has done a very affective job modeling perseverance. Regardless of how fruitless his work may seem at times, he perseveres. Despite the fact that many would say that prisoners are hopelessly lost, he holds firm to the calling God has given him. We would all do well to learn this concept in ministry. Despite how things may look at times, hold tight to what you know your calling is. Let God handle the rest.
Addison Roberts
CRL 233 Developing Outreach and Discipleship Programs
Instructor Gerry Stoltzfoos
1/24/2009
Chaplain Will Olsen serves the religious needs of the prisoners in the Adams County Correctional Facility. He spoke with us about his ministry on the 22nd and it brought about some interesting discussion and an excellent learning experience. On the negative side, I do not feel that Olsen has done enough in presenting the fruit of his ministry. On the positive side, I feel that Olsen has done an excellent job modeling perseverance.
Olsen has not done an affective job advertising the fruit of his ministry. The only medium he has utilizes is word of mouth. I would suggest perhaps a video or a book that documents these amazing testimonies. I feel that he would have a much easier time raising support if he was presenting the fruit of this wonderful ministry in an effective manner.
Olsen has done a very affective job modeling perseverance. Regardless of how fruitless his work may seem at times, he perseveres. Despite the fact that many would say that prisoners are hopelessly lost, he holds firm to the calling God has given him. We would all do well to learn this concept in ministry. Despite how things may look at times, hold tight to what you know your calling is. Let God handle the rest.
Monday, January 19, 2009
John Wega
Addison Roberts
CRL 233 Developing Outreach and Discipleship Programs
Instructor Gerry Stoltzfoos
1/18/2009
This week’s guest speaker was John Wega. John is the founder and head officer of the United States Christian Commission, an organization which provided medical care and met temporal needs of soldiers who fought in America’s Wars. John’s specific area of interest with the USCC was their work in the Civil War. He realized that there were untold stories of men of the USCC that had given the services mentioned above during the Civil War. He researched the history and revived the USCC as an organization that tells their story and is evangelical in nature. He tells tourist of a Christian organization in which volunteers gave of themselves and relates it to a story of a Savior who gave of himself. It really is a great ministry.
The most interesting thing about the ministry was that it was mostly history based. Jesus adds the perfect salt to these HISTORICAL stories. Wega has done a tremendous job at meeting people with the Gospel in their element and not forcing non-believers to come into his. My only concern was the shortness of leaders behind this man’s tremendous vision.
CRL 233 Developing Outreach and Discipleship Programs
Instructor Gerry Stoltzfoos
1/18/2009
This week’s guest speaker was John Wega. John is the founder and head officer of the United States Christian Commission, an organization which provided medical care and met temporal needs of soldiers who fought in America’s Wars. John’s specific area of interest with the USCC was their work in the Civil War. He realized that there were untold stories of men of the USCC that had given the services mentioned above during the Civil War. He researched the history and revived the USCC as an organization that tells their story and is evangelical in nature. He tells tourist of a Christian organization in which volunteers gave of themselves and relates it to a story of a Savior who gave of himself. It really is a great ministry.
The most interesting thing about the ministry was that it was mostly history based. Jesus adds the perfect salt to these HISTORICAL stories. Wega has done a tremendous job at meeting people with the Gospel in their element and not forcing non-believers to come into his. My only concern was the shortness of leaders behind this man’s tremendous vision.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)