ing discussion, then the presentation of the content from the Gospel of Mark (either by Rico via a well-done video or we provide scripts and outlines so you can give the talk yourself with your own illustrations), and then follow-up discussion. We want to create an atmosphere where people sense the freedom to ask questions, but where leaders help them discover the answers for them- selves in Mark’s Gospel. We encourage leaders to be available for participants to ask one-to-one questions afterwards. Then the participant’s handbook provides a reading guide for participants to read through the Gospel of Mark for themselves at home over the course of the seven weeks. Each time a church runs a Christianity Explored course, three things happen simultaneously: • Non-believers hear the gospel. • Believers hear the gospel again and fall more deeply in love with Jesus.


   modeled for them in the course. They also learn how to use Mark’s Gospel as a primary evangelism tool in any setting as they learn how this Gospel can be understood through three words: identity, mission, and call.


Here is what Sinclair Ferguson says about Christianity Explored. “I wish ev-


ery church, every Sunday school class, and every small group would use Chris- tianity Explored at least once each year.” Then Ferguson gives the reasons, “I personally value Christianity Explored as a tool for evangelism for a wide variety of reasons: because of Rico Tice’s  uses the Gospel of Mark – and not just a few isolated texts – to tell the Gospel  to use their gifts together to show others, as well as tell them about, the good  already Christians through the Gospel and strengthens both their understand-  come to faith in Christ through its ministry.” After beginning in one church, All Souls Church in London, Christianity


Explored has now spread to more than 110 countries and has been translated into more than 50 languages. Prison Fellowship has made it the centerpiece of their new in-prison evangelism ministry called The Prisoner’s Journey. They have introduced it so far in 39 countries, in some of the roughest prisons in the world. They plan to introduce it in another 10 countries over the next year. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has made Christianity Explored a mentored, online follow-up course in their internet evangelism division. Peo- 


How do you get started? Purchase a Christianity Explored Leader’s Kit (https://tinyurl.com/CE-leader-kit)


from the ARP Bookstore. This will cost


only $45 and has everything you need to begin. Then we recommend that you register on our website: www.christianityexplored.us/register. A few days after registering, you will get log-in information so you can access the Leader’s Area on our website. There is lots of helpful information in the Leader’s Area, including training modules to train your table leaders/discussion leaders in run- ning the course. You can also contact me with any questions about getting started: alan.avera@christianityexplored.org.


I


also have some availability to schedule half-day training ses- sions for churches. Each year, Christianity Explored USA holds a one-day


November/December 2019 5


evangelism training conference. The location rotates to different cities in the US. Next year, the conference will be in Greenville, SC, on April 25, 2020. The theme is Building Bridges to the Gospel. Main speakers are Rico Tice and Randy Newman (author of Ques- tioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did). Break- out sessions will include: Building -  - ing Bridges through Pre-evangelism and Apologetics.


Find out more at:


explored.live/2020Conference. The Christianity Explored course is available in versions for all ages: Epic      CY for middle school, and Soul for old- er teens. A new course, Life Explored, uses the power of story and the con- cept of Idolatry over seven weeks to engage millennials and more artistic people, and Discipleship Explored is an eight-week follow-on course.


Alan has been Executive Director of Christianity Explored USA since July 2013. Prior to that, he served nine years as Executive Director of Outreach North America for the ARP Synod.


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