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07 October 2016

Press release

Getting evangelical about the Great Commission

The Evangelical Alliance is preparing to launch its Great Commission evangelism website on 26 October to help Christians share their faith, and to inspire people that Jesus is changing lives in the UK today.

New video stories will be released each week on the site (greatcommission.co.uk), sharing how people have come to faith in Jesus across the UK. There will also be inspiring accounts of Christians and churches who are talking about Jesus and seeing lives changed.

In the first video, released in the run up to the launch, Joe shares his story.

Joe says: "Aged about nineteen I got involved in substance misuse, and that was my life for about 20 years. In the end I felt like I was a failure, addicted to failure, I was just desperate. I just wanted out of my situation.

"I just cried out to God, begging him for help; 'If there is a God I need you now'. Within several weeks of calling out to God and God answering my prayers, placing people in my life who were there to support and encourage me, I found I'd detoxed myself within a few weeks, gained the strength quite quickly that I'd never had before."

Joe goes on to talk about the way Jesus has changed his life, and how he's now introducing others to the life-changing good news of Jesus: "I thought I was unemployable and I now work within the detox centre that I went through myself.

"I'm there sharing my experience, and I share my faith and show that it was a big impact on how I became abstinent from drugs. I'm in the process of becoming a member of an Eden team and I'm running a men's group from my flat and people are coming and getting saved."

Gavin Calver, director of mission at the Alliance, commented: "We know Jesus is changing lives across the UK today, but still four out of 10 people in England are not even convinced that Jesus was a real person. What's more, of non-Christians in England who say that they do know a Christian, four out of 10 say that they have never had a conversation about Jesus with that person.

"There's a huge opportunity for Christians in the UK to talk about Jesus, and we want the stories, reflections and resources on the Great Commission site to inspire and equip Christians and churches to be confidently talking about Jesus."

In the latest Great Commission weekly story, Shelia talks about how she shares Jesus' love by offering prayer and hugs to people on the streets of Peterborough: "People do say to me, 'it's okay for you because you find it easy', but I think we can all find it easy if we take that initial step. I'm not special in any way, just a mum and a grandma and I just have the conviction of my faith. I always, after I've hugged them, say that it's from the Lord, it's a gift from God to them to express his love."

The Great Commission team are sharing stories on twitter at @great_comm, and you can sign up at greatcommission.co.uk to receive the latest updates. The site will be live from 26 October.

Media Enquiries

Danny Webster
Tel: 07766 444 650
Email: info@eauk.org

Notes to Editors

  1. Gavin Calver is available for interview
  2. Joe's video is available here: https://vimeo.com/183981485 
  3. Shelia's video is available here: https://vimeo.com/184975146

The Evangelical Alliance

We are the largest and oldest body representing the UK's two million evangelical Christians. For more than 170 years, we have been bringing Christians together and helping them listen to, and be heard by, the government, media and society. We're here to connect people for a shared mission, whether it's celebrating the Bible, making a difference in our communities or lobbying the government for a better society. From Skye to Southampton, from Coleraine to Cardiff, we work across more than 80 denominations, nearly 4,000 churches, 600 organisations and thousands of individual members and
supporters. And we're not just uniting Christians within the UK – we are a founding member of the World Evangelical Alliance, a global network of more than 600 million evangelical Christians. For more information, go to www.eauk.org/join