Jim Petersen - Living Proof: Sharing the Gospel Naturally

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1989 by Jim Petersen

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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-63874

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ISBN 978-0-89109-561-3

(Originally published as Evangelism as a Lifestyle 1980 by Jim Petersen, and as Evangelism for Our Generation 1985 by Jim Petersen.)

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations in this publication are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Other versions used are the Revised Standard Version (RSV), copyright 1946, 1952, 1971, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, used by permission, all rights reserved; and The New Testament in Modern English (PH), J.B. Phillips Translator, J.B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972, used by permission of Macmillian Publishing Company.

Printed in the United States of America

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Evangelism Bound by Tradition

A World of Unprecedented Change

Creatures in Rebellion

Jesus Was the Message

The Issue of His Identity

Overcoming the Barrier of Mutual Fear

Dynamics of the Process

Biblical, Essential, and Effective

The Often Missing Factor

The Essence of Light

Modeling Gods Grace

Truth Eclipsed by Tradition

Making the Other Person Comfortable

Supplementing Each Others Abilities

Life, Body, and Verbal Witness

Balance of Gifts Within the Body

Conversion Occurs a Step at a Time

Discovering Bridges of Common Interest

Total Reliance on the Scriptures

Conscious Submission to God Through His Word

The Christian, the Holy Spirit, and the Scriptures

Questions Are Our Most Valuable Tool

Patiently Aware of the Process

Capitalizing on New Relationships

Jim Petersen is currently part of a four-man executive team that leads the international work of The Navigators.

Jim grew up in a Christian home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota. He also studied at Northwestern Bible College and Bethel College.

When Jim was twenty-one God became the most important influence in his life ahd Jim began a consuming search for a better personal knowledge of Him. The following year he approached Ed Reis, a Navigator representative, for more personal help. Jim attributes acquiring the vision and the skills needed to match his personal desire to be used by God to Eds influence in his life.

Jim served as an area representative in Minneapolis-St. Paul from 1958 to 1961. Following a brief assignment at the Navigator international headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jim and his wife, Marge, moved to Brazil in 1963 to open the Navigator ministry there. Jim became the Latin American Navigators Divisional Director in 1972, and served in that position until 1985 when the Petersons moved to Colorado Springs, where The Navigators international headquarters is located. In 1988 Jim began leading an international leadership development project, the Scriptural Roots of Ministry (SRM).

The material in Living Proof is also available as a video training course. Jim has also written Church Without Walls (NavPress, 1992) and Lifestyle Discipleship (NavPress, 1993).

He and his wife have four children, Michelle, Todd, Raquel, and Rochelle.

Living Proof is really two books, Evangelism as a Lifestyle and Evangelism for Our Generation, revised and combined into one. I think I owe an explanation to you, reader, as to how this came about. Well start at the beginning.

In the mid-70s we returned to the United States for a two-year assignment after ten years in Brazil. When you step back into a familiar place after being away for a time, the changes leap out at you. We were struck by changes in attitudes and values, especially among the unchurched in our society. America was more secular. For example, the idea that there might be absolutes that would govern a society or ones personal behavior was unthinkable for many. Relativism had become a common basic assumption.

Since we had spent those ten years working fruitfully among Brazilian university students and young professionals, who had largely abandoned their religious tradition to embrace secular philosophies, we believed that such people could also be reached in the United States. I was also aware of the radical cooling of the spiritual climate that was taking place in Europe. The same forces that were propelling that climate change were evident in the United States. This too concerned me. Prompted by these factors, I decided that during the two years we were scheduled to be in the country, I would focus my public speaking on this issue. I talked about it everywhere I went. My message was simple: almost half of our society is unchurched, and we Christians are not communicating with them; the people in that half will not come to us or to our programs, but they are reachable; we need to learn to bring Christ to them on their turf.

Well, I thought it was simple. But often the response was blank stares. I felt as though I was trying to describe an invisible world as I talked.

When after two years we returned to Brazil, my concern had grown. By then I felt I had verified my first impressions of a shift in spiritual climate, and I had managed enough personal involvement with unchurched people to be convinced of their openness to Christ. But I knew I had not managed to communicate what I was seeing and feeling. That was when I decided to write Evangelism as a Lifestyle. I thought that if I could lay the whole thing out in a book, I might get my message across. I wrote the book, committed it to God and to the publisher, and went on to other things. I thought I had said what I had to say about evangelism.

Then letters started coming. Apparently I had transmitted my basic message to the readers, but I had not provided enough practical guidance for anyone to be able to do anything about it. I was glad we were living 7,000 miles away! Then I received a many-paged letter from a Navigator in California, Peter Gerhard. I had never met him. His letter consisted of one how-to question after another. As I read it I thought,