Evangelism and Service is a core commitment of GFM. During the 2016-17 academic year, we are taking extended time and energy to further advance and grow in our evangelism efforts, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
To that end, here are a few stories for us all to celebrate together and to also offer suggestions of possible opportunities to increase evangelism efforts within your ministry on campus.
A Great Light Show
From Ginny Teeter, team leader at University of New Hampshire
The New England and BSAP GFM fall conference kicked off, literally, with a light and sound show. Students from all over New England were ushered into Toah Nipi Conference Center during the most intense thunderstorm anyone had seen in a long time. Students walked in drenched with crazy stories of roads covered in water and virtually zero visibility. It was quite amazing that most showed up on-time. Little did we know, this was only the precursor to the night.
Dr. Alice Brown-Collins was our main speaker that evening. She spoke strong words of challenge and encouragement from the beatitudes in Matthew 5. Her message emphasized “You are the LIGHT of the world… In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
As she concluded she gave a clear call to faith—and you know what happened? Two graduate students responded by placing their faith in Jesus for the first time! And many others rededicated their lives to Christ. This was so exciting and encouraging!! The Holy Spirit was clearly at work.
Partying with a Purpose
From Chelsea Whitfield, staff at Columbia University
Global InterVarsity, the ISM chapter at Columbia University, holds a “family dinner” each month as a way of inviting those on the periphery of the chapter (usually non-believers) to experience a witnessing community. We think of these gatherings as “Parties with a Purpose.”
While not all dinners revolve around holidays, the celebratory special events tend to be great times to gather people, show hospitality, and share the gospel. International students are usually eager to attend holiday celebrations, especially if they view it as an opportunity to learn more about American culture.
We had over 30 graduate international students and a few alumni at our recent 2016 Christmas party, most of which were nonbelievers. After some good Vietnamese food, silly games, and a white elephant gift exchange, one of our recent alumni shared the Christmas story from scripture and communicated the gospel. For some students in the room, it was their first time hearing this story.
As we do each month, we extended an invitation to explore the claims of Jesus further in a weekly GIG (Groups Investigating God). We find that after building trust with students at these dinners, they are often receptive to invitations to study the Bible with us.
This year, we’ve had 3 Chinese international students come to faith. Praise God! While it is often a slow process, after faithfully planting seeds for some time, we’re grateful for how God has brought these three students into relationship with him. We believe the harvest is plentiful and it is just a matter of time before other seeds take root and begin to bear fruit as well.
Christmas Celebration and New Believers
From David Suryk, senior staff at University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Graduate Christian Fellowship took advantage of the 2016 Christmas season by holding our first proclamation event that involved two calls to faith. We put together a Christmas Celebration of food, readings, and carols (a condensed version of the traditional Lessons and Carols) and a presentation of the gospel.
Our speaker was Dr. Razkumar Boaz Johnson, professor of biblical and theological studies at North Park University. We asked Dr. Johnson to speak on the quest of The Magi: Then and Now. These wise men were influenced by the Hebrew Scriptures as brought into their Assyrian and Babylonian cultures by way of the deportations of the Jews into exile. The magi came to Jerusalem seeking the newborn king of the Jews. We thought this message of seeking King Jesus would lead to calls for Christians and non-Christians alike to seek the Lord.
We had a worship bulletin that contained a call to faith for non-Christians and followed the Five Thresholds of Conversion. Dr. Johnson did a wonderful job helping us to understand the dark world into which Jesus and the message of Jewish hope that the magi had heard filtered through their literature. When it came time for the calls to faith, Dr. Johnson decided at the last moment to improvise from the content of his talk. He didn’t follow what I had intended for the two calls to faith, but he did address each of the two audiences and invited those who wanted to talk with him or myself after the talk.
The evening ended with many good conversations, but I wasn’t aware of anyone accepting Christ. A week later, Dr. Johnson emailed thanking me for inviting him and mentioned that a couple of people told him that they committed their lives to Jesus. Unfortunately, he didn’t get their names. I tried asking students who brought non-Christian friends and several hadn’t heard their friends mention any of this.
We are celebrating new believers that have accepted Christ—God knows who they are. We also learned a valuable lesson to have a more recognizable way of identifying those who make first-time commitments or rededicate their lives to Jesus. Everyone who came and who invited friends found it to be a wonderful evening and we plan to make Christmas and Easter regular opportunities for evangelistic outreach.
Advancing Evangelism through E-Calls
GFM Evangelism Calls are monthly video conferences designed to provide training, questions and interactions, and a time to pray for more faculty and grad students to take steps towards Jesus and entering his Kingdom through our ministry.
Join the Next Call
March 23, 2017—Incarnational Influence in Academic Departments
Join Call on Zoom
Listen to recent e-calls and learn about upcoming topics.
