Austin's Blog Equipping the Saints
Are you equipped to share the hope within you? When confronted, are you ready to tell others about why you believe what you believe?
Equipping the Saints ™ is my latest project, a new digital media experience to equip Christians with the tools they need to share their faith in Jesus Christ. We are commanded in 2 Timothy 4:2 to “preach the word… in season and out of season; to reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction.” (New American Standard Version, 1995). So, the big question is “How can we be equipped?” I believe that the answer, being ready to reprove, rebuke and exhort, requires a patient understanding of the people we relate with.
That leads me to the subject of relational evangelism. Literally, this is the sharing of your faith with someone you’ve taken the time to get to know WELL. That relationship might take a few days, or in some cases it can take years. But once you take the time to know someone WELL, to walk in their shoes and to understand them, then you earn the right to be heard. Understanding someone similar to you isn’t too hard, but if you’re like most Christians (my primary audience) then you’re intimidated when you try to relate to, much less understand, a Muslim. For most of us, Islam is the great unknown, emblematic of terror, violence, and thorny Middle East political problems.
This year’s Equipping the Saints ™ is targeted at that intimidation problem. Understanding Islam ©, my first course under the Equipping the Saints ™ banner, will help you to learn more about Islam and understand the Muslim people you meet and work with. There are more than six million Muslim men and women in the United States, and more are immigrating, or converting, every day. Will you take the time to understand them and their faith so that you can share the true word of God with them? I hope so. As the renowned Seven Habits author Steven Covey says, we must seek to understand before we are understood. I want to equip you to understand, and then share the word of God, in and out of season.
Surf over to our Equipping the Saints ™ page and learn more about this new material. You can follow the Sunday school class that I teach each week, with audio downloads and my class notes, all cached for you to consult when you have some free time. Please remember that this material is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without permission of the author (me).
Post a comment about a class, critique the Equipping the Saints ™ concept, or share some questions about my work. I want hear what you have to say. I’ll check in frequently with comments about updates to my class as well as some snippets about my upcoming novels.
Best wishes,
Austin Boyd
Austin,
So sorry we missed last weeks class, but just finished reviewing it on your website today (8/23). Thank you for your preparation and presentation as well. Witnessing to the Muslims is such a challenge to all Christians.
We look forward to returning to your class on 30 August.
Best Regards,
Bill & Dot Barnes
I agree with what Austin had to say about “A Thorny Question.” Allah and God are not the same being. I feel a lot of people think that eveyone is going to heaven, but that is not true. I also feel that a lot of people believe what they hear in the media, and a lot of the time the information is distorted. We need to continually search for the truth.