In the lead-up to World Youth Day in Sydney, many churches realized the importance of addressing some of the fundamental differences between Roman Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism - not only so that their congregations could understand more about what was going on, wand why they could not be involved, but also (and more importantly) so that they could take the opportunity to clarify Christian thinking about eh gospel. Anecdotal evidence suggest that many evangelical Christians are fuzzy on the difference, and if they are aware of them, many remain unsure of why they matter. I suspect that this is partly due to a lack of understanding of Roman Catholicisim, and partly due to shallow understanding of the gospel.

With this in mind, let me draw your attention to a handy DVD resource that aims to clarify: Ideas that changed the world, featuring talks by Dominic Steele from Christians in the Media.

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“It was better than I had thought. I hadn’t expected it to be so thorough and practical.” says Jane Kabanoff who attended the course.

We find many people think that they already know how to welcome at their church. However many churches can initially welcome people well, but fail to follow through in the following months.

Should a mission be focused primarily on sharing the gospel with the surrounding community, or training church members to do their own evangelism?

Youth mission expert Jodie McNeill says mission teams should pray with the church, help the church to lead scripture in schools, work alongside the church to raise its profile in the community, and give the church helpful feedback as ‘outsiders’.

Above all, he says missions should focus on training churches to do their own evangelism, as the effects will be more lasting.

by Mandy Curley

Last night was the introductory talk of Introducing God hosted by ECOM. It was a great night as we listened to Dominic Steele and enjoyed a great Italian meal.

It was very encouraging to see one guy who came because he had been handed one of the mission brochures earlier that day!

My family and I didn't have a relationship with God until the day I met an enthusiastic team of Christians in the Media, heard the gospel preached clearly and responded in prayer.

It was by the invitation of a friend that I started taking my two youngest children to Children’s Church at the Forster-Tuncurry Presbyterian Church. After a few weeks they had settled in enough that I could leave them with their friends and go into church and listen to a talk.

"Ideas that Changed the World" Review by Stuart Boddington

Winsome materials that bear witness concerning the gospel of the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ to friends in the Church of Roman are (sadly) few and far between.

But Ideas that changed the world sets a new standard in regards to helpful and clear evangelistic material that challenge absolutely the view salvation is in any way based on our human works.

Dear Andre and Dominic,
 
Over a number of weeks I have been talking with a Catholic friend about what the message of the Bible really is, and she has been coming to grips (very emotionally) with the whole concept of grace as opposed to works (church-made hoops to jump through), when I received your DVD.

St Paul’s Castle Hill recently completed a sermon series exploring the four truths of the reformation: “Grace Alone”, “Faith Alone”, “Bible Alone” and “Christ Alone”. Small groups reinforced Sunday’s sermon using study material written by Dominic Steele entitled Ideas that changed the world.

This four part series comprises a DVD with short interviews of people who have moved out of Roman Catholicism and a sermon given by the author, and a booklet with sermon outlines, short historical notes on reformers, testimonies and a bible study for each reformation idea.

A new course explaining the Protestant Reformation. For more information and to watch a sample of the Grace Alone video click here.