AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
DEPARTMENT OF CHURCH GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Evangelism Certification Program
“Preparing Laborers For The Harvest”
Rt. Rev. Preston Warren Williams II, Commission Chair
Rev. Dr. James C. Wade, Executive Director
Overview: The Need for Evangelism Certification
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5: 17-20a. NIV)
The world is in need of good news! Humanity continues to wrestle with the two primary existential questions of life: “Who Am I?” and “Why Am I Here?” In the search for answers many voices compete to get our attention, working hard to tell us they have the answers to our reason for being. We are told we can find our answers in material gains. We are told we can find our answers in worldly fame and success. Popular culture strives diligently to convince us it has the answers to our quest. What the world needs to hear is that the answer is in Jesus Christ!
God has given us the gospel or “good news” to share with the world: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The good news is that we have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection God has reunited us to himself. If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Christ from the dead, then we are saved, we are reconciled to God (Romans 10:9). This is the good news all need to hear.
To hear the good news God needs ambassadors equipped and willing to make God’s appeal of reconciliation. There was a time when many in the Church knew the basic information of Christianity and were able to act on what they already knew and believed to win others for Christ. In light of the clear decline taking place in many Protestant mainline churches we need to re-equip ambassadors for Christ so we might share the message of reconciliation with a lost and broken world.
In addition, in as much as the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has identified 54,000,000 abusers and chemically dependent persons and of that number, 10% or 5, 4000, 000 are receiving treatment of some kind, the Department of Church and Development is offering opportunities for clergy and laity to impact this particular population with the Good News. But by the same token, with virtually 90% of the remaining alcohol and substance abuse population still waiting for or receiving no treatment of any kind there is a tremendous shortage of Certified Professionals in the Health and Human Services Industry, who are able to share the message of the Lord Jesus Christ with a group that does not see or believe that healing, hope and/or deliverance is possible. Therefore, this presents an unparalleled opportunity for the AMEC to evangelize and equip person to become Service Providers in the profession of Addiction Counseling through ministries and employment for those who qualify.