Proclaiming the Gospel with Evidence (Part 2)
By Dr. Don Bierle
The mission of FaithSearch International is to
"proclaim the Gospel with evidence"—the "what"
and the "why" of the Christian faith.
In our last newsletter,
I gave three reasons we do this:
- Obedience to Scripture (1 Peter 3:15)
- Establishing credibility for the Bible, thus for Jesus
Christ, so unbelievers may embrace Him for salvation
- Preventing attrition of faith, especially assisting youth
to resist or recover from academically-induced skepticis
Part two completes the picture.
Christianity has spread quite rapidly in many countries of
the world, resulting in a Church with many believers who are
"babes" in the faith. They are vulnerable to discouragement,
persecution, and false teaching. They have a "just barely"
spiritual life. Many in our U.S. churches exhibit the same shallowness.
Jesus, however, said He came to give us abundant life
through His Word. Therefore, we proclaim the Gospel with evidence
for a fourth reason:
- To strengthen and mature the faith of believers,
so they can experience the abundant life Jesus promised (John
10:10)
Attendees at our events often discover this, as indicated by
written responses: "The evidence you presented was profound.
I've never heard [these] facts. As a practicing engineer, this
knowledge means more than I can say" (M.B., Oro Valley,
AZ); "Excellent! Such good and necessary info for a Christian
to have… It really cements my faith in Jesus Christ!" (L.A.,
Elk River, MN).
All four preceding reasons motivate me to continue our mission
of proclaiming the Gospel with evidence. However, the final
reason gives me the greatest joy:
- To help believers be bolder and more capable of
sharing Jesus with others
One of the most frequent written responses to our teaching
is that the attendee has a new confidence to tell others about
Jesus: "It is my desire to use the tools you have taught
…to evangelize all who will listen" (C.C., Elk River, MN);
"I come from an unchurched family. You have equipped me
to lovingly educate my family. Thank you!" (S.M., Zimmerman,
MN).
How wonderful it is that the ministry of Gospel proclamation
is multiplying through the thousands we teach each year!
In summary, the FaithSearch proclamation of the
Gospel with evidence is actually a continuation of the substance
and pattern of preaching salvation which was modeled by the
Apostles. I have expanded on this in an essay entitled, "The
Message of the Apostles: A Model for Proclamation." It
is posted on our Web
site (PDF). It provides an even greater appreciation of
our mission to proclaim the Gospel with evidence to all peoples
everywhere.
