Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as personal conversations, preaching, media, and is especially associated with missionary work.
The Jesus Army, also known as the Jesus Fellowship Church and the Bugbrooke Community, was a neocharismatic evangelical Christian movement based in the United Kingdom, part of the British New Church Movement. The name Jesus Army was used specifically for the outreach and street-based evangelism for which they were known. The Jesus Fellowship was founded in 1969, when Noel Stanton (1926–2009), at that time the lay pastor of the Baptist chapel in the village of Bugbrooke near Northampton, East Midlands, was inspired by a charismatic experience which led him to successfully expand the congregation, largely by appealing to a younger generation of worshippers. As the new church grew and became more charismatic in nature, many of the original congregation left to continue worshipping in more traditional churches. The Jesus Fellowship grew considerably and by 2007 there were approximately 3,500 members in around 24 congregations in various cities and towns of the UK. The Jesus Fellowship frequently engaged in evangelism in public places, seeking through outreach to demonstrate the love of Jesus and the moving of the Holy Spirit. The Fellowship used various slogans, in its early days adopting "Love, Power & Sacrifice" and later "Jesus People, Loving People", and the name "Jesus Army". The church announced in May 2019 that it "will cease to exist and the current National Leadership Team will be stepping down from their roles once the winding up of the central Church has been completed". Members had voted on 26 May 2019 to revoke the Church's constitution, after a decline in membership to less than 1,000 following claims against its founder and two other then members of the church of a history of sexual assault during the 1970s. It was planned that the Jesus Centres charity the church created would continue to operate and that individual churches would become independent congregations. Fewer than 200 people were still living in communal households of the Jesus Fellowship. In October 2021, Companies House certified the change of name from Jesus Centres Trust (1165925) to JCT - Joining Communities Together Limited. Since December 2020, the Jesus Fellowship Community Trust has existed as a residuary body with the sole purpose of winding up the administrative affairs of the Jesus Fellowship Church.
The Alliance World Fellowship is an evangelical Christian denomination It includes 6.2 million members throughout 88 countries within 22,000 churches.
Albert Benjamin Simpson, also known as A. B. Simpson, was a Canadian preacher, theologian, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), an evangelical denomination with an emphasis on global evangelism that has been characterized as being Keswickian in theology.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) is a movement within the Catholic Church that is part of the wider charismatic movement across historic Christian churches.
Clark H. Pinnock was a Canadian theologian, apologist, and author. He was Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at McMaster Divinity College.
In Christianity, worship is the act of attributing reverent honour and homage to God. In the New Testament, various words are used to refer to the term worship. One is proskuneo which means to bow down to God or kings.
The Neo-charismaticmovement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the current availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing. The Neo-charismatic movement is considered to be the "third wave" of the Charismatic Christian tradition which began with Pentecostalism, and was furthered by the Charismatic movement. As a result of the growth of postdenominational and independent charismatic groups, Neo-charismatics are now believed to be more numerous than the first and second wave categories. As of 2002, some 19,000 denominations or groups, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, were identified as Neo-charismatic.
David Christopher Knight Watson was an English Anglican priest, evangelist and author.
The Fountain Trust was an ecumenical agency formed in the UK in 1964 to promote the charismatic renewal. The trust operated on the principle that it was the purpose of the Holy Spirit to "renew the historic churches". D. Eryl Davies, principal of the Evangelical Theological College of Wales, has criticized the trust for "facilitating interdenominational fellowship and bonding more on the basis of the charismata and a distinctive 'spirituality' rather than on the unique truths of the biblical gospel" and because "a theological looseness as well as ambiguity developed with regard to the gospel itself." However, no such "theological looseness" was ever apparent to those who had the joy and privilege of working at the Fountain Trust, nor to the many thousands whose lives were touched by God through its ministry.
Alan Kreider was an American Mennonite historian. He was the American Professor Emeritus of Church History and Mission at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. His main interests were mission, worship, peace, and ecclesiastical history. Kreider continued to speak, write and publish in these areas of interest until his death in May 2017.
The British New Church Movement (BNCM) is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian movement. Its origin is associated with the Charismatic Movement of the 1960s, although it both predates it and has an agenda that goes beyond it. It was originally known as the "house church movement", although this name is no longer relevant as few congregations meet in houses. Gerald Coates, one of the early leaders, coined the name New Churches as an alternative. It is also restorationist in character, seeking to restore the church to its 1st century equivalent. While the Charismatic Movement focused on the transformation of individuals, the BNCM focused also on the nature of the church. For the BNCM since 1970, this has focused on the renewal of the fivefold ministries, particularly apostles, which for others might resemble a charismatically ordained and functioning episcopate.
Graham Kendrick is a British Christian singer, songwriter and worship leader.
Ichthus Christian Fellowship is a neocharismatic Christian church movement and Apostolic network based in London, United Kingdom. It is part of the British New Church Movement (BNCM) and has links with other BNCM leaders and movements, especially Gerald Coates of Pioneer Network.
Gerald Coates was an author, speaker, broadcaster and the founder of Pioneer, a neocharismatic evangelical Christian network of churches and forums, established to "develop new churches across the UK and engage in mission globally." A safeguarding review was initiated by Pioneer Trust in response to a complaint raised in July 2023 via social media regarding Coates who had been their late founder and former national leader. As a result, a comprehensive safeguarding investigation was carried out by Christian Safeguarding Services which examined and upheld “deeply concerning” behaviour by Coates involving young adult men and children. However, these are merely allegations and many profess to have been helped by his work particularly amongst younger christian men - such as a notable example Samuel Freed - whose testimony is available on YouTube.
Integral mission or holistic mission describes an understanding of Christian mission that embraces both evangelism and social responsibility. With origins in Latin American, integral mission has influenced a significant number of Protestants around the world through the Lausanne Movement.
Nigel Goring Wright is a British Baptist theologian.
Michael F. Bird is an Australian New Testament scholar, theologian and Anglican priest.
Evangelical theology is the teaching and doctrine that relates to spiritual matters in evangelical Christianity and a Christian theology. The main points concern the place of the Bible, the Trinity, worship, salvation, sanctification, charity, evangelism and the end of time.
Protestant liturgy or Evangelical liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Protestant congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Liturgy is especially important in the Historical Protestant churches, both mainline and evangelical, while Baptist, Pentecostal, and nondenominational churches tend to be very flexible and in some cases have no liturgy at all. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday.
