27.06.2023

How does good evangelism work?

The ECPs develop concepts designed specifically for their respective contexts, here the workshop in the Asia Region. Photo by: GKE

"We have developed short YouTube devotions. Once a week such a devotion is recorded by young pastors or vicars and then shared on YouTube. There are 400-500 views per video and we get a lot of positive feedback." Tom Chandra introduces his project: He is Evangelism Contact Person of the GKE church*, abbreviated ECP.

At the moment, ECPs meet with the department heads of evangelism from their respective churches during UEM workshops. There is exchange between the hierarchical levels and the leaders develop programmes for their churches together with the young ECPs. The leaders learn to appreciate the competence of the ECPs and the young ECPs build good working relationships with their church leaders.

The United Evangelical Mission is running the ECP programme since 2017 to engage in conversation with its member churches about what evangelism can look like in different contexts. 23 people are part of the current second group, which will work until 2025. The ECPs are permanent employees of their churches who are sent into the UEM programme.

Claudia Währisch-Oblau, Team Leader Evangelism at UEM, says: "The group equally consists of women and men. This is rather unusual in the field of evangelism, but it is a principle in the ECP programme."

For Tom Chandra, the work has just begun: He and the other ECPs in the Asia region are planning a total of 47 projects for this year, from youth camps to training evangelists to creating modules for religious education. For the ECPs in the Africa region, the meeting with the department heads is still pending - and there, too, some new projects will certainly emerge.

*GKE = Gereja Kalimantan Evangelis (Evangelical Church of Kalimantan)