So the United Church of Canada is trying to figure out it’s future. There’s a lot of discussions and feedback opportunities to help define and shape the church of the future (and/or present).

Today there was a discussion on evangelism between to friends of mine through Cruxifusion, Orville and Evan, who are passionate about this topic and about Jesus.

Unfortunately the embed function to the video does not work well, so you’ll have to click here to watch it.

Go ahead, I’ll wait the 45 minutes.

Back? Ok. We can continue.

What a refreshing discussion this was. What a relief it is to see Jesus being discussed openly and favourably at the national level of our denomination. Now to get our grassroots churches, the true heart of our denomination, to have these same discussions.

And there’s the challenge.

For a generation, or two, or three, depending on where you are, we have been hesitant to do this. We’ve lost our ability to share in the Great Story of our faith. I live in Cape Breton, there is no shortage of storytellers, but we’ve lost our confidence, our joy, our passion for sharing this story of Jesus Christ active in our lives.

And we’ve since become spiritually dry.

Our churches are wonderful communities of people loving one another. They care about each other. They enjoy being together. They eat well together. They take care of each other. But so do community groups and social clubs.

We are missing the joy of experiencing Jesus Christ in our midst on a daily basis.

We need to start sharing these stories again. We need to realize who is at the centre of our community and let Him guide us, form us, and fill us.

And we can start small. Start with talking to just one person, a close, trusted friend. Someone we are comfortable with. Someone who will help us grow in confidence. Someone who will not judge us, but encourage us. So that when we go to the next person, we are more confident in our story and in our faith.

A community that loves God together and is committed to following Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is a community which is a comforting place for people to gather and learn and grow in faith and helps others feel the same way.

Are we ready? Are we willing? Are we able?

God is!

Of this I’m sure.