Unbinding the Gospel

Alban Institute Recommends Unbinding

2007-10-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

"What shall I read?"

Wondering what books would most inspire and inform you—and other leaders—as you and your congregation engage in new opportunities to learn, grow, and serve? Congregational Resource Guide staff put together its Fall 2007 top pics. Among them, Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism.

Defining evangelism as "anything you do to help another person move closer to a relationship with God, or into Christian community," Martha Grace Reese shares the results of her four-year evangelism research project funded by Lilly Endowment. She discusses evangelism in mainline churches today, presents stories of churches that are effectively sharing their faith, and helps readers tap into their own evangelistic spirit. Accessible information is presented in short chapters that combine scriptural references, tools, and exercises. Effective evangelism is based on strong and life-giving relationships with God, the congregation, and those outside the congregation. This book helps readers identify and act on those relationships.

The Alban Institute and the Indianapolis Center for Congregations wish you and yours a vital and transformational season.

Source: http://www.congregationalresources.org/Fall2007ReadingRecommendations.asp

Author Presents Unbinding Workshop in Greenwood

2007-10-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

From Hoosier United Methodists Together, September 2007

Author Reese to lead workshop on evangelism in Indy Nov. 15

The Indianapolis Center for Congregations will be hosting Martha Grace Reese, author of Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism in a workshop by the same name on Nov. 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Greenwood United Methodist Church near Indianapolis. Reese's book is one of the books in the Bishop's Bundle of books promoted at both North Indiana and South Indiana annual conferences last month.

Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism is a workshop for pastors and laypeople who want the truth about the state of our churches. It presents a clear-spoken, hopeful vision for a future of sharing our faith in Christ. All sorts of Christians were interviewed and arrive at a central theme. Sharing our faith is about relationships with others and authentically living out our beliefs.

This workshop is based on a four-year, Lilly Endowment funded research project on superb evangelism and the resulting book Unbinding the Gospel. Reese, a former Indianapolis resident, she interviewed more than 1,200 people in some of the most successful evangelistic congregations in the country.

All registrants will be sent a copy of Unbinding the Gospel (Chalice Press, 2007) upon registration. Reading the book prior to the workshop is a pre-requisite. Do the exercises! Discuss the questions with others in your congregation. This book and workshop are most effective when done in a group.

The cost is $30 a person ($25 a person for teams of three or more). The fee includes lunch and materials. More registration information will come. In the meantime, visit the center's Web site for other resources and workshops at http://www.centerforcongregations.org/ or contact the Center at 317-237-7799.

Together review in October 2007

2007-10-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

Indiana Area United Methodist Church Communications Director Dan Gangler's review of Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism by Martha Grace Reese will appear in the October issue of Hoosier United Methodists Together.

It will be posted here upon publication or you can log onto http://www.inareaumc.org/ and click on the Hoosier United Methodists Together logo to access current and past issues.

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