Evangelism

We live in a world where many people are growing up knowing little or nothing about the Christian faith and having little or no contact with the Christian church. Yet we know that the good news of Jesus Christ is hope for every person and for the whole world and is the only medicine that can bring healing to the ailments of the human heart. Throughout my ministry I have tried to share this good news with others. In my new role as Archbishop of York I long to do this personally, but also help others – both individual Christians and Christian communities – to do it as well.

In this ministry, I know that I will be following in the footsteps of my predecessor and I hope very much to be involved in all sorts of evangelistic initiatives myself, and to enable the church to live and share the gospel more joyfully and more effectively. However, as with prayer, by using the phrase in just evangelism I am not only emphasising the priority and importance of this ministry, I am linking it with God’s vision for how the world should be. One of the best ways to evangelise is to share a compelling vision of what humanity is supposed to look like as we see it in Jesus Christ, and what the world is supposed to look like when we follow God’s agenda.

Therefore, those issues of how we inhabit the world in a sustainable way, and how we seek justice for the exploited and the excluded, and how we work with God’s bias for the poor is very much at the heart of our sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

Missional Youth Church Network

I have been following the development of Missional Youth Church Network since its inception. I know Andy Milne CA, who leads this innovative and inspirational work from Bishopthorpe, particularly his previous ministry with the Church Army in Bradford, where he planted ‘Sorted’ – a youth church reaching unchurched young people in a deprived part of the city. This has prepared him well to inspire and resource the MYCN network of leaders planting and nurturing new communities of young disciples. This work has great potential.

I want to say a huge thank you to all of those involved in the vision and development of this initiative and I look forward to taking the next steps with MYCN and see where God is leading us!