Mission to the cities” describes a call to proclaim the everlasting gospel to more than 650 cities worldwide.1 Along with this call, though, is the question, “How do we do this?” Many of us have heard this beautiful quote: “The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good . . . then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’”2
However, how can we take these wonderful words and turn them into practical instructions for urban evangelism that will yield fruit for the harvest?
This challenge drove our small church planting core group in Melbourne, Australia, to its knees. Through the process of prayer and seeking God’s wisdom, we created our first vision statement. Our initial focus was to “create a focal point in the city” to proclaim the three angels’ messages and train young people to witness for Jesus Christ. At that point, the specifics on how to achieve this vision statement started to become apparent. We felt directed to a blueprint that consisted of 16 ingredients for urban evangelism.
In this article, we will look at the 16 ingredients for urban evangelism at Gateway, an urban-based outreach center that started in 2003. Since applying these ingredients, Gateway has seen a total of three urban churches planted, more than 130 baptisms (with most of them from non-Adventist backgrounds), and close to 90 percent retention rate of its baptized members.
The blueprint
In Testimonies for the Church, volume 9, Ellen White provided a blueprint for this outreach. In Section 3, “The Work in the Cities,” 16 ingredients for establishing a successful urban ministry are outlined.3 They are summarized below:
• United in prayer
• Proclaim message in public evangelism
• Clear and distinct message
• Not entertainment-focused
• Reaching churched and unchurched people
• More consecrated members’ lives
• Pre-evangelism house-to-house work/personal work
• Bible work/1-to-1 studies
• Health message linked to the third angel’s message—run professionally
• Reach people in authority, with wealth and responsibilities
• Create a center of influence for Bible truth
• Involvement of “the army”—use gifts, talents, and provide training
• Leadership—plan, plan, plan
• Train and up-build other churches—“transplant trees”
• Call youth to be pastors
It would be daunting to apply all 16 ingredients in a local church immediately. At Gateway, we focused on four or five in a given year. In the initial years of urban outreach, we focused on (1) united in prayer; (2) center of influence for Bible truth; (3) pre-evangelism house-to-house work; (4) preaching clear and distinct
messages; and (5) non-entertainment outreach. In subsequent years, as led by the Spirit, we applied other ingredients, such as the health message.
United in prayer
We can learn from the book of Acts that the entire early church ministry was bathed in prayer. Thus, for 8–12 months before our work in Melbourne started, we prayed as a core group each Sabbath morning from 8:30–9:30 a.m. There were also regular monthly prayer meetings as well as a yearly Week of Prayer.
In the first chapter of Acts, 120 people were united in prayer in the upper room. We knew that we would not want to plant a church without having at least as many prayer partners. We actively looked for 120 prayer partners to pray each month for the ministry. The overflowing response of encouraging emails and phone calls were a blessing.
We also adopted the 777 prayer,4 and members came to any one of the three church plant sites around the city to pray Sunday mornings at 7:00 a.m. Because Gateway is a church-based CARE group,5 we also held our regular weekly CARE group core members Skype prayer meetings.
Centers of influence for bible truth
CARE groups are at the heart of Gateway. Our research found that the churches experiencing the fastest growth were those that founded their ministry on small groups. Every other method of interfacing with the community through felt-need areas—health and wellness, personal relationships, and finance based on the Bible—simply feed back into our network of evangelistically focused CARE groups. CARE groups are a place where we can open up our houses to create an environment of belonging for seekers (nonmembers) such that, by witnessing the changed lives of church members who have a living experience with Jesus, they can become open to Jesus Christ.
For example, a young atheistworking-professional from China was depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend. In a time of despair, a church friend invited him to a CARE group. He could not help but notice on this particular Friday night the environment was far different from the clubbing and drinking lifestyle that he knew. What he observed was a group of people who enjoyed life: they were having a healthy fellowship meal, singing songs of praise, studying the Word, and sharing time in prayer. That experience of finding acceptance and belonging led to spiritual questions, Bible studies, and then baptism. Today, this young man has left a promising career in order to become a pastor.
Pre-evangelism house-to-house work
An important element of pre-evangelism house-to-house work, linked closely with CARE groups, involves visitations to the homes of seekers. When the desire for truth is aroused, we find it important to have Bible workers on-hand as well as trained church members to make visitations to the homes or to meet up with seekers at cafés or on university campuses. We have employed young people as campus missionaries in three secular universities in the city. These people spend quality time with seekers at their homes and develop friendships with them.
Public evangelism
Too often we are afraid to stand out in the crowd. We want to blend in with the way the world speaks, dresses, worships, and behaves. However, in a busy city where there is much noise and confusion, if no clear and distinct voice can be heard, our unique message will be lost in the myriad of secular attractions vying for our attention.
In addition to secular attractions, a myriad of churches in the city seek to reach the urban masses just as we do. To reach the urban youth, some offer entertainment-based worship programs; others offer “felt needs” classes. While we value the ministry of these other groups, we are clear that what we as Seventh-day Adventists offer differs from other denominations.
We offer the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels’ messages, and we do it in ways that cover the whole person: physical, social, mental, and spiritual. In our public evangelism, often held in neutral venues, we share Jesus’ teachings in the context of the third angel’s message. We have to make that central or else we can wind up teaching nothing different than anyone else.
Not entertainment-based
In some church planting/growth literature, a strong focus is placed on entertaining worship services as the means to attract individuals to God. Such models assume a wellchoreographed worship program with a fully functional music and worship team. This would likely mean a team of 10 to 15 people often rehearsing for hours each week. In our experience, we would rather have two people planning worship and sending the others to go visiting house-to-house during the
week. The hours spent at rehearsing seem better spent at visitation and personal work.
As we are a church-based CARE group, we often have seekers coming first to CARE groups and then to church on Sabbath morning. In Gateway’s model, worship is seen as merely a combined gathering of all CARE groups. For seekers who come for the first time, we have a special visitors’ class. In this introductory Bible study group, an opportunity exists for friendship, learning, and interaction.
On any given Sabbath morning, 30 percent of our attendees are seekers. Everything we do must be geared for them. Even our announcements and church bulletin must be reviewed to make sure that all we do is seeker friendly.
Our annual Bible lectures (public evangelistic series) are not merely to entertain but to present life-transforming truth. Nothing at the program should be frivolous or flippant but done professionally and respectably. City dwellers who are young professionals expect high standards; thus, we must meet that standard.
Health message
Urban populations are increasingly health conscious. What makes an Adventist vegetarian restaurant any different from other vegan/vegetarian restaurants in the city? Any health seminars, such as cooking demonstrations or nutrition talks, must be linked to the third angel’s message—calling for a people to be prepared physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually for the soon return of Jesus.
Recently Gateway ran a two-weekend public lecture seminar entitled “Better Life, Better Future.” In the first weekend, a medical doctor shared the secrets of longevity from a health and wellness perspective. However, a pertinent question was asked at the end: If the world was heading down the pathway to destruction, what purpose did living a long life really serve? That is where the second part of the message becomes important, for here we talk about the Bible and the soon return of Jesus.
We have discovered that health ministry in an urban context cannot be a sporadic event but needs to be consistent and comprehensive. Our recent innovation includes having a Better Life Café where members can invite their friends on a weeknight to our center to enjoy a healthy meal and meet others interested in health and wellness. An Adventist health professional shares a 15-minute health talk in a casual and relaxed environment. We also encourage seekers to join our CARE groups, especially those that focus on health. We call one of our health CARE groups, “The Daniel Challenge,”6 where, in applying the NEWSTART principles, they would see their lives transformed physically, mentally, and spiritually over time. A young Buddhist student who has an interest in weight loss joined the group and today she is a baptized Christian actively promoting the health message.
Conclusion
When our small core group was to commence soul winning in the city, we did not know where to begin. We were pointed to books, DVDs, and Web sites
on church planting and church growth. We could have fumbled along and gone with a “trial and error” approach recommended in the many books, DVDs, or Web sites.
However, we chose to adopt the blueprint that Ellen White gave us, and we rejoice because it is working. We praise God for what He is doing with our community at Gateway. Over the years, we have been able to share our practical training with hundreds of churches worldwide, as well as via our online training school, www.rightlytrained.com.
“We are standing on the very borders of the eternal world. We have no time to lose. There should be a well-organized plan for the employment of workers to go into all our churches, large and small, to instruct the members how to labor for the upbuilding of the church and also for unbelievers. Those who labor in visiting the churches should give the brethren and sisters instruction in practical methods of doing missionary work.”7
We need “instruction in practical methods” of doing missionary work. By turning the inspired blueprint to proven practical methods, we have seen the Lord’s blessings. Our humble desire focuses on the gospel to be carried to the world and especially to the large urban cities around the world.
