"pre-evangelism"
"Sir, we would see Jesus" - Jn 12:21 The May WELS Connection (above) did not sit right with me. This id ea of "pre-evangelism" - the Church not sharing the Gospel directly, rather, doing things to earn trust then sharing the Gospel - seems like a stumbling block to sharing the Gospel. Dale Carnegie would teach you how to win friends and influence people; Jesus left us the great commission to go preach, baptize... we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Gentiles. At best this is a confusion between the work of the Church and the work of the Priesthood of all Believers. The Augsburg Confession, Article VII (AC VII), clearly defines the Church as " the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." The work of the Church is to preach the Gospel, in season and out of season, and administer the Sacraments. Word and Sacrament are the only tools we are given, and are th...