Like parched ground, the souls of men and women thirst for a living relationship with Jesus, the water of life. Unfortunately, it is possible to have membership in a church without possessing this life. Such people are “partially evangelized” in the sense that while they are called Christians, they have not personally embraced Jesus according to the gospel.
Overview
Because the Church has the greatest message in the world, Christians, of all people, should be the clearest communicators. Unfortunately, due to a dearth of training, most evangelicals are unable to clearly articulate their faith. Our vision is to remedy this problem by training pastors, church leaders, and congregations to actively embody and proclaim the gospel.
According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, there are a total of 132,060,000 Americans who identify with the Mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Sociologists of religion tell us that three out of every four of these are partially evangelized, thus leaving over 99,000,000 such people in the United States. Our mission is to train evangelicals from all kinds of churches to reach these people through a relational approach to evangelism, one that is sensitive to the particular assumptions, priorities, and cultural backgrounds of the partially evangelized.
The Need
A recent National Barna Survey tells us that only 55% of American adults who identify as “Born Again” have actually shared their faith in the last twelve months. Among this 55%, those who feel competent in doing so are miniscule. Herein is the particular need that we wish to address: to provide evangelicals with the requisite training for understanding, building bridges, and effectively relating the gospel among their partially evangelized friends and loved ones.
There are three particular places where a need for this ministry is most acute: in families, the workplace, and on college campuses. Since it is in these places that evangelicals enjoy ongoing relationships with the partially evangelized, Gospel Renewal training considers the various challenges and opportunities associated with each of these contexts.
The Vision
There are several ways that Gospel Renewal is poised to offer training: workshops, private church seminars, church leadership coaching, conferences, retreats, and through various forms of media such as Chris’s blog, books, and podcasts. Since the release of Holy Ground, each of these mediums has been central to Pastor Castaldo’s ministry. Whether in churches, conferences, colleges, seminaries, or radio interviews, Gospel Renewal—the reality that the gospel changes everything and therefore it must be central to our lives—has been the leading edge of Pastor Castaldo’s work.
Of all places where the Ministry of Gospel Renewal might be located, the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College is ideal. Known for its world-class scholarship and leadership in equipping the church for global evangelism, BGC has the credibility, influence, and a platform to effectively reach the 99,000,000 people in need of gospel renewal.
What is now only a trickle of Christian identity, God desires to make a deep river of faith (Ezekiel 47); what is a small cloud, God wishes to develop into a torrential rain (1 Kings 18:44); what is a modest-sized lunch, God will multiply a thousand times over into a feast (John 6). The Ministry of Gospel Renewal exists for this purpose, to see partially evangelized men and women across our land converted, embracing Scripture, and engaged in gospel outreach as fully devoted followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Historical Background
At the Billy Graham Center’s dedication on September 13, 1980, Dr. Charles Malik challenged the Wheaton College community and the newly dedicated Billy Graham Center (BGC), to pursue a thoughtful and principled engagement with the wider Christian tradition and the world, an engagement that would reflect the gospel-centered legacy of Billy Graham himself. While numerous ministries have grown in and from the Graham Center over the years—vital works such as Prison Ministry, Muslim Outreach, Ethnic and Cross Cultural Training—Dr. Malik’s particular challenge regarding the wider Christian tradition has gone unmet.
Fast-forwarding to September of 2011, Dr. Lon Allison, Director of the BGC approached the Rev. Chris Castaldo, then Pastor of Outreach at College Church in Wheaton, about starting a new ministry at the Center aimed at fulfilling Dr. Malik’s vision. Dr. Allison was familiar with Pastor Castaldo’s burgeoning ministry among former Catholics based upon Chris’s book Holy Ground (Zondervan). A former Catholic himself, Dr. Allison appreciated Pastor Castaldo’s conscious balance of theological substance and warm-hearted, pastoral sensitivity. An exploratory conversation between these men about the prospect of creating a new ministry at BGC resulted in enthusiasm. Over subsequent months, they enjoyed additional meetings, and, in January of 2010, seeing what appeared to be the Lord’s hand of affirmation, Dr. Allison submitted a Gospel Renewal Ministry proposal to Wheaton College President Phil Ryken and Provost Stan Jones. After receiving approval from Drs. Ryken and Jones, Pastor Castaldo submitted his resignation to College Church in Wheaton.
Support
As the Director of the Ministry of Gospel renewal, Chris Castaldo must raise his own financial support. Chris and his wife, Angela, thank you for prayerfully considering this ministry.
