EVANGELISTIC EVENTS

 
In need of a fresh delivery of the gospel for your church events? Looking for some to share the good news message that helps people discover Christ?

  elim.org.uk/evangelismevents

It’s vital to have a variety of events in place that are aimed at different stages of people's journey to faith. We encourage and help facilitate this with the wide range of events we have on offer.

Most of these events can be utilised at any stage, though we give suggestions for how we might best develop this rhythm. We have a "Big Yes, Little Yes, Healthy Maybe" approach to events. The idea is to try and establish a rhythm of one of these events in each academic term.

Big Yes events give a more direct presentation of the gospel. Look Closer Sundays, seasonal events such as at Christmas and our faith hope and love weekend are great opportunities for this. Baptisms, marrying vow renewal as well good old guest services proved a great way to do this.

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Look Closer Sundays

It’s a Sunday morning and you have a mixture of Christians and non-Christians within your congregation. Can we speak to both? Most definitely! Look Closer Sundays do just that. These events can run as a series of evangelistic Sundays that inspire Christians as well as giving clear opportunities for those who aren’t believers to respond.

Our talks are aimed at all people. In other words, they apply to people wherever they are on their faith journeys. They contain something for the established Christian, the new Christian and the not-yet Christian.

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Celebrate Sundays

There are many fantastic opportunities to hold family-friendly evangelistic services throughout the year. It’s a real shame when we let the years roll by without any proper celebration. Using the rhythm of the year, our Celebrate events use seasonal festivals to present the gospel through a family-friendly event. The service is fast-moving (lasting a maximum of an hour) and easy to organise. If your budget will stretch, why not have some themed refreshments afterwards?

While these events usually take place on Sundays, they can be adapted for midweek events if that is more convenient. Mark is happy to host any of these seasonal celebrations as a one-off event, but it may be worth booking several each year so that they link together, providing continuity and keeping the momentum going. These events are great for building better connections with your community through schools, kids groups, Messy Church, mums and toddlers groups, Alpha groups and so on.

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A Christmas Carol Service

Churches work hard year after year to come up with creative themes for their traditional carol services. Mark’s take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol provides a suitable theme, while preserving the traditional carol service feel. In the original story, Scrooge is haunted by ghosts of the past, present and future, but he is also given the chance to change. Combining carols with Christmas readings from the Bible, Mark uses four clips from The Muppet Christmas Carol to weave in his talk throughout the evening, presenting it as three mini talks. Mark provides a basic template to fit around the talks, there is plenty of space to add your own items, such as dramas, readings and carols.

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Little Yes events are great at helping people dig around and investigate the Christian faith. Often, though not essential, they take a course or series approach. Our own Reason to believe and the Life series deal with this really well. Used in conjunction with Alpha they can inform the whole conversion process. You can use these as the backbone of your year.

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Reason to Believe

Our Reason to Believe event discusses the most frequently asked questions, demonstrating to participants that it is reasonable to be a Christian. Engaging people in a way that causes them to examine the process by which they arrive at conclusions and beliefs means they will be more willing to hear the answers Mark offers as he relates how he arrived at what he believes. Engaging people in their minds and hearts is important, as not all questions people ask are red herrings. They can be genuine hindrances to believing.

During these evening sessions, Mark asks:

  • Is it reasonable to believe the Bible?
  • Is it reasonable to believe in a God you can’t see?
  • Is it reasonable to believe in a God of love in a world of suffering?
  • Is it reasonable to believe that I can just do whatever feels right to me?
  • Is it reasonable to believe that Christianity is right?

Experience gained through personal evangelism has given Mark the ability to cover the questions he knows many people are asking. As a result, his answers deal with the broader issues linked with these subjects.

While Reason to Believe is totally evangelistic, the very nature of an apologetics-based course means that it will benefit new Christians, established Christians and those who have yet to decide. Reason to believe was designed to be done with a meal and small groups but some churches do it as a straight forward presentation on Sunday mornings either for five consecutive weeks or once a month for five months.

Enquire about Reasons to Believe  
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The Life series

Many people find themselves asking, “Who am I?”, “What am I here for?”, “What happens when I die?” and “How do I make the most of my life?” Set in a relaxed environment, the Life Series helps those who are exploring the meaning of life to realise that there really is purpose to their lives.

Through humour, music, multimedia, interview, discussion and chat (with coffee and cakes), Mark takes guests on a journey through life. Week one presents the idea that we are born for a purpose. Week two presents the concept that we can live like people of purpose, and week three presents the notion that even in death there is purpose. We end the series by presenting the fact that God wants to unlock his purpose in us.

The evenings are called:

  • Life...before it
  • Life...during it
  • Life...after it
  • Life...unlock it

While the Life Series was created for midweek evenings in churches, it works just as well on Sunday mornings or evenings, and also lends itself well to a Costa or Starbucks type venue. Churches often run the Life Series before or after Reason to Believe, as it gives guests another opportunity to find out more about the Christian faith.

Enquire about the Life Series  

These events are to help the open minded stay open minded as well as for those who need to have their perceptions of the Christian faith changed i.e to become more open minded. They typically would have more of an “entertainment” dynamic to them such as comedy, food and singers etc. We have a number of these events for the whole year.

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Comedy at Christmas

Using his experience in stand-up comedy and his observations about Christmas, Mark presents a 50-minute show that will make audience members laugh and cry while hearing very clearly what Christmas and Christianity is really about. Mark has an amazing bunch of talented singers he can bring along if you would like to include that in the package. You can use it with food, singers or just a good old Carol service (bring the Salvation Army in). It’s a great event to kick off your festive activities often being held in theatres, sport centres, restaurants and community halls, as well as in church buildings.

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Comedy and Christianity

We live in a world in which there is a great deal of pressure, yet at the same time life can be full of ‘funny stuff’. In Comedy and Christianity, Mark will help you laugh at life as well as making you think as he uses humour to unpack God’s slant on life.

The evening is set in a relaxed atmosphere with refreshments. Mark delivers approximately 50 minutes of stand-up comedy with the gospel sprinkled throughout the last 25 minutes. He weaves a clear, cringe-free presentation of the gospel into his set.

Comedy and Christianity is a great perception-changing event, so it’s perfect for those who have never been to an event at your church before. Some churches have booked it as an Alpha warm-up event. If this is the case we adapt it to be part of the evening as opposed to the whole evening.

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Curry, Comedy and Christianity

There's nothing quite like going out for a curry with friends.

Why not make it an evangelistic event that is suitable for anyone with an interest in the Christian faith? At the Curry, Comedy and Christianity event, Mark chats about his ‘curry pilgrimage’ and the things he has experienced, using these stories to explain why he is a Christian. The evenings are simple in format, involving food and conversation followed by a talk from Mark. The message of Christianity is presented within a very relaxed environment. You could even tie in your event with National Curry Week, which usually falls in October.

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Making a meal of it

A church spends between three and five days having lots of meals in as many venues as possible, using as many themes and formats as possible. We literally make a meal of the church week! Each event ends with a talk delivered by Mark, who uses his humour and thought-provoking chat to unpack the life-changing message of Christianity. Making a Meal of It works well as a reaping event as well as a sowing event (the aim is decided beforehand with church leaders).

Many churches run Mark’s Comedy at Christmas event as a follow-on, although in this case the event is called Making a Meal of Christmas. It can also run in conjunction with Mark’s Celebrate events, such as Making a Meal of Harvest or Making a Meal of Pancake Day. Again, these events work well with single churches or with many churches.

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