Comments on: OA’s In Asbury, UK

By: Doable Evangelism » Asbury Update

Doable Evangelism » Asbury Update — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 19:13:52 +0000

[...] Our new friends from Brazil who are presently in Asbury, UK have sent us a short video update that gives us a look at their growing community. For the whole story, click here. [...]

By: Helen

Helen — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:28:59 +0000

Thanks Rene - great video!

(edited to add: I see that Randy has posted your video here)

By: Rene

Rene — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 12:35:40 +0000

Dear all,

For the ones who’d like to see some of the things we’ve done in Asbury recently, please access the link bellow. I’ve just added a videoclip on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md18jZztdj8

Love,

Rene

By: Rene

Rene — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:56:18 +0000

Thank you all for your reply, comments and encouragement. I really appreciate them!

Kind Regards,

Rene

By: gabrielle

gabrielle — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:26:48 +0000

Hi Rene and everyone,
I just would like to say that due to this blog, Josh and I have been thinking, praying and chewing on all of what is going on and I think things are clarifying slowly.
What we know for sure is that we want to learn how love truly and not to convert people.
One thing we do realize is that we do miss being around brothers and sisters deeply, but that we do not want to relate to others so that they become brothers and siters for our own little plesure. We want to relate sincerely and truly and if they become brothers or sisters… Uhuuuu! And if not, we want to keep on loving them the way we are loved by God.
In the end it is all about learning how to truly LOVE.
And the missing part… well I guess we do have to live with it while we are here, in this world!! And praise the Lord everytime we can taste Heaven by being around brothers and sisters!
Love,
Gabi.

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:57:07 +0000

…sorry, Rene, my above comment didn’t really address what you said - I missed the point of what you were saying.

The part I got right is, your story is very much the kind we like - because as you say, your intention is not to push people into becoming Christians. You’re showing people Jesus’ love and they can respond to that as they choose.

If your friends say “Why are you on an evangelism website? Are you going to try to make us Christians?” you can explain that you don’t like pushy evangelism and nor do we.

By: Randy

Randy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:37:27 +0000

Rene,

I sure appreciate your viewpoint on all this. Some of it is language, and it’s important to acknowledge that these words (evangelist, missionary) are “loaded” words, particularly outside the US. Thanks for the reminder.

We who are followers of Jesus generally would love for our friends and neighbors to know and follow Him, too. Doable Evangelism allows us to be helpful in that connection process rather than hurtful. It releases the outcome to God, while allowing us to be intentional about loving and caring for people who are all around us in the name of Christ. This is a new paradigm for evangelism which is far removed from the sales pitch version we’re all quite tired of. It requires a much larger view of God and a higher degree of trust in Him, but it also relieves us of guilt and shame and removes us from the sales rep model.

Thanks again for your story. May God grant you peace and joy as you love people in His name.

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:07:41 +0000

Rene, our site is specially for ordinary Christians, not ‘evangelizers or missionaries’. We like to share stories of what ordinary Christians are doing. That’s why we like your story so much!

It’s more helpful if we share stories of what ordinary people are doing. Then other people who read don’t think “yes but I can’t do that because I’m not a missionary or evangelist”. Instead they think “Maybe I can do that too because I am like Rene!”

By: Rene

Rene — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:47:28 +0000

I’m very happy that our history here in Asbury has encouraged people in places I never imagined. I do believe the world can be a better place when people start living in compassion and love with their neighbors. I see this happening here in Asbury and in other places like Casa da Videira in Brazil. However I’m very concerned about people start looking at me or my wife as evangelizers or missionaries. Although historically these words were not restricted to Christian domains, common sense usually understands that evangelizers or missionaries are the ones who are trying to make other people Christians. To be honest I was wondering what people think when they read a history like ours in “Doable Evangelism”. I hope they don’t think that this is a new Christian strategy to make believers or something like that. It’s not! Indeed, I wouldn’t like that any of my friends in Asbury or elsewhere think that what we are doing has the intention of making people change their religious believes or become Christians. For sure what I and Vanessa are doing, I mean, the way we are trying to live, is rooted and referenced in Jesus. Nevertheless it’s far from the intention of making people believe in Jesus or become Christians.

Love,

Rene

By: Randy

Randy — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:59:59 +0000

Beautiful…