Evangelism Teams
The future of evangelism is collaborative…
What does evangelism look like across your city? Does it involve bold, public events? Organic interactions with grocery store clerks and baristas? Or a mix of these and other expressions of Gospel conversations? Our City Gospel Movements team is gathering network leaders in cities across North America who are committed to supporting local churches to prioritize evangelism in ongoing ways.
In February 2022, 40 leaders gathered for the first-ever Learning Lab. Learning Labs are quarterly virtual gatherings hosted by the City Gospel Movements (CGM) team for leaders from cities across North America who are working together to see evangelism elevated in their cities.
Most of the participants are Evangelism Team (E-Team) leaders and members who are deeply rooted in their communities, coordinating initiatives such as interviews with lead pastors on evangelism, digital evangelism campaigns, and curriculum development. They are facilitating Alpha groups, training churches to receive faith seekers, and encouraging ongoing service outreaches to be more intentional about equipping their volunteers to have conversations about faith. Their collective wisdom and commitment to sharing the Gospel in their cities is the highlight of the call.
Evangelism Team (noun)
a group of strategic local leaders (including pastors, non-profit leaders, local evangelists, and other people of influence) that are passionate about evangelism and act as a catalyst to keep evangelism a central part of the Gospel movement in a particular city or region.
A vision for 100 U.S. Cities…
With more than 18 official Evangelism Teams already established across North America, the Learning Labs are filled with diverse experiences and perspectives. Take Israel Gimba’s (Ottawa E-Team leader) response to Cincinnati E-Team leaders on engaging pastors who are not passionate about evangelism: “In my experience, I've seen that leaders and pastors who don't have that desire yet for souls are just one encounter away, one prayer away from experiencing that burning hunger."
Or Eddie Copeland from South Florida, who shared, “We believe the unity of the Church is the strongest apologetic and strategy we can use to see our unbelieving friends, neighbors and co-workers experience the Kingdom of God.”
Our CGM team values creating space for leaders who are actively experimenting with evangelism in their city to connect and learn from one another. And because of our organization’s legacy and mission, we believe the Palau team is uniquely positioned to convene these types of gatherings. For each Learning Lab, we select three Evangelism Team leaders to share an experiment they are trying in their city. They share what they’ve learned and what has or hasn’t worked. Then, leaders and team members from other cities ask questions and dialogue about these experiments.
For this hour, these leaders are not alone. They are part of a brotherhood and sisterhood, a community of like-minded leaders who long for the Gospel to be made known in their cities – and who know they can’t do it alone. If they are to see revival, it must be together.
The Impetus for Evangelism Teams
The Evangelism Team model was developed in 2017 in Portland, Oregon. During a time of reflection, the local Gospel movement pastors and leaders talked about the last decade of collaboration and dreamt of the next decade together. They had rallied prayer, resources, and teamwork around community service but assumed Gospel conversations would take place alongside these efforts in an organic and natural way. This unfortunately did not happen. What they realized was that without a strategic, concerted focus, evangelism efforts waned over the years. From that time of reflection, they committed to keeping evangelism a central part of their collaborative efforts and formed the first E-Team.
The recognition that evangelism will not happen by default has inspired E-Teams across the continent. Like its city, each Evangelism Team is distinct. Yet they share a common purpose – to collaborate, pray, and strategize together how to shape a thriving culture of evangelism in churches across their city. CGM is committed to resourcing city movements in this effort.
The 40 leaders in the Learning Lab represent hundreds more across the continent who are asking hard questions about how to contextualize the Gospel and seeking support in their city-focused evangelistic efforts. Our CGM team is committed to providing excellent digital resources and engaging gatherings for leaders committed to strengthening evangelism in their city, but as one leader shared, “[The] Gospel Movement in our city cannot be manufactured or sustained through anything other than the Spirit of God.”
Are you a leader in your city? We invite you to join us as we rely on the Spirit to see the Gospel go forth in our cities.