Click to join Topeka Unified Evangelism
The Church in Topeka crossed the frontier two weeks ago. The war is on. We are the advance unit for the rest of the country. Others may still be preparing for war; we are in it. Satan thought he had killed the Church in Topeka more than 100 years ago. He was not expecting an attack here. The Holy Spirit took him by surprise.
To keep our momentum here, we need rather urgently to build two interlocking networks. One is a network of prophets (and of people who operate in a prophetic function, speaking from God, applying His Word to particular situations, in churches that do not believe there are still "prophets") from many churches in this area, including, if possible, black and Hispanic churches and congregations with established First Nations participation (maybe reservation congregations?). The second is a network of people God has given to various local churches (once again, as ethnically and denominationally diverse as practicable) as evangelists. Particularly, we want people who understand that an "evangelist" is not generally someone who is called to a full-time itinerant ministry preaching "evangelistic services," but a person who is called to train and equip other church members to effectively reach the lost. In forming these networks, and in obtaining the agreement of churches of various doctrinal flavors to their formation, it will be most helpful to use pragmatic, functional of the offices named in Ephesians 4:11-12, as people Christ has given to the Church to perform certain equipping functions, rather than focusing on their titles, authority or formal role in particular churches. A usable classification depending on actual functions is discussed in the web page on the unnecessary limitation of the New Testament offices.
The first network (the prophets) will serve as the eyes and ears for the second network (the evangelists), keeping the work in proper order and directing it to the most fruitful fields. The prophet network will also coordinate prayer for the evangelist network and train others to participate in its work (as all of the fivefold ministries are supposed to do; see Ephesians 4:12). The evangelist network, with the help of the prophets, will plan for ongoing training of Christians from around Topeka (members of participating churches and others) in doing the work of evangelism, and in planning of evangelistic outreaches. Successful evangelists who have proven track records in other cities may also be invited here to conduct training from time to time. The concept behind this is that, as the churches work together in visible unity to reach the community under the direction of the Holy Spirit, many will be saved and added to one or another of the churches involved in the effort. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Discipling is necessary, and effective discipling should be included in the evangelistic plan. But we should not be so concerned about channeling new believers to our own local churches that we refuse to work together. Discipling comes after salvation, and its regulation something that can be worked out—probably by merely recognizing the new believer’s right to choose his own ongoing fellowship under the direction of the Holy Spirit. A teacher network will come later, but is not a part of the initial work. The seed of a network of pastors is already in place, and will be expanded by the pastors themselves. A cooperative approach to "musical church"—that is, a coherent approach to making sure that believers who drift from church to church to avoid dealing with offenses are not allowed to do so as easily as in the past—should also come later, but is also not a part of the initial work. Those who provide structure and organization in and between local churches ("apostles," under whatever other titles they may be called) will also need to be coordinated with each other.
Ultimately, our goal is effective evangelistic outreach in the Topeka area. Three possible, and not by any means mutually exclusive, methods that have already been proposed for this, are small home Bible study groups, direct outreach to the poor and poor areas of town, and the operation of the evangelism training network discussed above. Small, flexible Bible study groups should be meeting in homes around the city at various times of day, every day of the week. These groups will emphasize the needs—the real, identified needs, not what a sponsoring church thinks "should" be the needs—of the unbelievers who are invited to them. Not everyone is even able, let alone willing, to conform to the standard church meeting schedule, and, in reaching out to the lost, we should not make any assumptions. Flexibility is to be emphasized. These groups should not be tightly bound to any fixed curriculum, and should not be merely elements of the program of any one church.
So our very next step is making contacts with people in other churches, seeking people who already function, to some significant degree, as prophets or evangelists, sharing our vision with them, and asking them to join our network. We should give particular attention, at first, to churches (whether Pentecostal or not) that seem to be doing evangelism, or outreaches to the poor in their own areas (which has been identified for us as a crucial element of evangelism) particularly effectively. We can start by asking our pastor for contacts, by asking the Topeka Storm organizers to make contacts, by contacting the leaders of the existing pastoral networks and other Christian community resources, and by contacting people we know in our own church and other churches.
All of this needs to get started quite soon.
If you are interested in joining with us in what we are doing, and, particularly, if you are one of the people we have described above, please contact us at:
E-mail: ianjbox-topeka@yahoo.com
.Or, better yet, join our permanent public Yahoo group at:
Message about joy and intercessory prayer given to and through Erna Fabert, March 23, 2006, a balancing message calling for prayer, and a very specific prayer meeting, before action.
One possible model for evangelistic small Bible study groups, presented on an unaffiliated web site. Presented for consideration and comment.
Understanding oneness, between believers and groups of believers.
Have the New Testament offices been unnecessarily limited?, a functional approach to the Ephesians 4 offices.
Have the traditional limitations on the gifts of the Holy Spirit limited evangelism?
You can't exorcise an attitude, why prayer and symbolic spiritual warfare without consistent action doesn't work.
The web site Spiritual Mapping, Prayer Emphasis and Evangelism Planning for Topeka, Kansas (click here) that used to exist at this address is still found, in its entirety, on this site. We have just moved the original index page to a new address to reflect the change in the emphasis of our work. Spiritual mapping, though still useful, is now on the back burner. The time for action has come.
Coming soon to this web site are public calendars of events, announcements and other information to help keep the various groups that will arise out of this effort coordinated.
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