Vitality: August 2024 Newsletter

I am inspired by Matthew 9:35–38. Jesus is on the move — “teaching in their synagogues,” “proclaiming the good news,” and “healing every disease and sickness.” This is a beautiful, stirring portrayal of God’s reign and purpose. Immediately following this account of the ministry of Jesus, we encounter him calling and equipping the disciples for the same ministry: teaching, proclaiming the good news, and healing every disease and sickness. In other words, this is the purpose of the church; this is our work!

Ray Jones

As wonderful as the church can be, I believe we have lost our way. We do not look with the compassion of Jesus when seeing the people around us; the church has been sidetracked from its original purpose by pursuing the world’s power and engaging in activities that primarily support the church. Instead of teaching, proclaiming and healing, we have been consumed with membership loss and techniques to attract more people inside our doors. We have centered our attention on a person’s soul and have neglected people’s physical needs. We have been content to function as a club of people caring mostly for the needs of our own club members. And I am convinced that God is calling the church to change by reclaiming the way of Jesus. Therefore, I’m excited to invite you to this year’s Evangelism Conference, Oct. 3–5, held in person in Louisville and online via Zoom. We’ll explore our theme, “A Lifestyle That Exudes Justice,” through dynamic and thoughtful worship and plenary sessions and learn from gifted workshop leaders focusing on five areas of Jesus’ ministry presented in Matthew 9:35–38. I am praying that this time together will inspire and help equip us to shift from operating in survival mode to truly experiencing and sharing renewal through gospel ministry. I hope you will join us as we seek to recover what it means to be a follower of Jesus!

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Evangelism Conference -- Join Us! In Louisville or Online

Join us for this journey into a more expansive and authentic understanding and practice of evangelism. For too long, the focus of evangelism has been to grow our churches or convert people to a certain way of believing in God. This expression of evangelism has hurt many people and promoted injustice. Come explore how we are called to embody the good news of God’s healing and compassion through A Lifestyle That Exudes Justice! In Person ($175): Presbyterian Center,  Louisville Virtual ($75): Join online to watch live Worship and Plenary Sessions In Person and Virtual registrants will receive access to recordings of all sessions and workshops following the conference. Simultaneous interpretation in Spanish and Korean will be available if requested in your online application.

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Resources for Evangelism Sunday … and the rest of the year, too!

Evangelism Sunday is Sept. 15! These free downloadable PDFs offer a host of ideas to use with all ages and in a wide range of contexts, from personal devotion to community engagement to small groups or Sunday morning worship. Some of these resources directly address evangelism through the Matthew 25 vision focusing on racism, poverty and congregational vitality, and some resources are centered around other gospel texts.

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