‘Churches That Don’t Evangelise Will Die’ – Nicky Gumbel

March 15, 2023203 views0

‘Churches That Don’t Evangelise Will Die’ – Nicky Gumbel

2023-03-15T10:31:06+01:00

By Church News

Nicholas Glyn Paul Gumbel, known as Nicky Gumbel, an English Anglican priest and author in the evangelical and charismatic traditions has said, “If a church is not involved in evangelism, eventually it will die.”Gumbel, who pioneered the hugely successful Alpha course, emphasised the importance of church unity for successful evangelism at the 2023 Ekklesia Conference.“If you don’t have unity, the world will not believe. If you put evangelism first you have to be renewed, you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit,” he said.Nicky Gumbel went on to warn pastors against altering the Gospel message.“It’s the most powerful message in the world. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who has faith. The world is seeking spirituality without cost. There is a cost to following Jesus,” he said.He continued: “I think the most loving thing you could do for anyone is introduce someone to Jesus. There are so many injustices in the world – poverty, disease, racial injustice – but the greatest injustice is never to have had the opportunity to hear about Jesus.”Peter Lynas, UK Director of the Evangelical Alliance, told the gathering that belief today has been “relegated” to an “option”.“We live in an age where spiritual possibility, transcendence and the presence of God seems almost implausible to people … The minute you try to influence anyone that’s where the problem comes,” he said.He continued: “We are living in a world that worships idols, worships parodies of the truth. If being human is fundamentally about being made in the image of God, and we deny a God whose image we are made in, what’s left? To deny God is to dehumanise by its very definition.”Also present at the conference was Jo Frost, Director of Communications and Engagement at the Evangelical Alliance, who said that some people do not find the Gospel message “compelling” because it has been “shrunk to become weak and ineffectual”.ALSO READ: Nicky Gumbel Gears Up For A Ten-Year Strategy In Evangelisation