“The old way doesn’t cut it anymore. One-off events are not enough. We are living in the age of the overflow effect...”
I was sat at the front of the room about to get up to open the Fusion Equipping Day with a talk on how sharing Jesus (“evangelism”) is an overflow effect. That is, those who know Jesus are so full up with the love of God that they cannot help but overflow and share Him, in every area of their lives, in all ways. As I’m sitting there about to be introduced, I realise I’m actually bubbling up with excitement and passion for what I’m about to say. By time I got up to speak my hands were shaking, it was like my body couldn’t contain the message any longer, and before I knew it, off I went overflowing with the stories of how student mission culture is in a radically new place that I believe will change the future of the church.
I did not share anything that I can claim is “original Miriam insight” and try and copyright it. For starters, the Bible beat me to it. All I did was get up and feedback to the eighty student workers, students and youth workers, what was already happening on the ground with them, and how this is trending all over the nation. You see, across the board, churches are starting to click that channelling all their resources, time and energy into organising a one-off event where strangers can be invited in cold-contact and get covertly served a gospel talk, is not the way to go. Instead, I am meeting student after student up and down the country who just share Jesus in their every day lives as they live and study beside their mates yet to know him. God can’t be contained, his Holy Spirit within us doesn’t get confined to church gatherings. The good news about Jesus is breaking out of this generation of followers and breaking-in to their friends' lives.
So I’m writing this blog for those of you who didn’t make it yesterday, because I want you to stay up to speed. I’m writing this blog for any leader of students who felt they were the only one thinking events should take second-place to lifestyle evangelism. I’m writing this blog to tell every student that you are not alone in wanting to drop the diary of “stuff” in order to dedicate more time to actually doing life together with your mates yet to meet Jesus.
