The E Word

1Thessalonians 1:6-8 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.

We call it evangelism and people turn us off so fast the screen is dark before we blink our eyes. I started using Alpha way back at All Saints Whitman in about 1995. Ask Jack Foster he would know for sure, I don’t keep those things in my head but Jack would for sure. In the Alpha talks, Nicky Gumbel  talks about good news traveling fast. He tells of the day his first son was born. He was given a roll of coins with the instructions to call the people on his list with the news of the birth after it had happened. He first called Pippa’s (his wife’s) mother and told her the good news. He then tried to call the rest but each other person on the list had already heard the news before he called, because apparently Pippa’s mother and the rest in the chain were faster to spread the good news than he was in completing the list. He related he did not have to place an onerous responsibility on those people to share the news, rather you could not have stopped or slowed down the pace of their communication. These early believers were similarly enthused about sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh but that we could only be infected with such enthusiasm. Evangelism would cease to be such a disastrous word.