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A
s evening shadows faded and dusk was giving way to darkness, Robert Louis Stevenson, a small boy at the time, had his nose pressed against the window pane of his home. He was fascinated by the old-fashioned lamplighter coming down the street lighting the gas street lamps.
"Look," he cried out in excitement to his nanny, "there's a man coming down the street punching holes in the darkness."
You, too, can punch holes in the darkness by becoming an ACTS Outreach Partner
"I am the light of the world," Jesus said. "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12, NIV). As Christians we have the responsibility and opportunity to take the Light of the World to the world ... much of which is in spiritual darkness. Becoming an ACTS Outreach Partner can help you do this.
1. The Purpose
2. The Plan
3. The Power
4. The Proof
5. The Program
6. How YOU can become involved
1. The Purpose
If our generation is going to be reached with the gospel, it will need to be done by thousands of committed Christians working together to share the message of Jesus Christ—the Light of the World—within their circle of influence and around the world. None of us can do the job alone, but working together in this day and age millions around the world can be easily reached with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ in a simple, attractive, and non-threatening way.
As most Christians are not comfortable or gifted with confrontational evangelism, ACTS has provided exceptionally simple and effective tools to make it easy for every Christian to have a small but vital part in God's plan to share the gospel with everyone everywhere.
2. The Plan
You can be an ACTS Outreach Partner in one or more of the following ways:
- By forwarding articles that apply the gospel and Christian message to the everyday needs readers feel.
- By forwarding suitable copies of Daily Encounter.
- By using the ACTS Business Witness Cards.
- By sponsoring a Good News website for your town/area.
- By becoming a financial prayer/share partner.
Click HERE to see each one of these plans explained.
3. The Power
The Bible, the written Word of God, is God's affirmation of the power of the written word. It is a powerful means of communicat-ing God's message of salvation especially today via the Internet and eMail:
- It can reach into places worldwide that other methods can't.
- It can be communicated at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods.
- It can get behind closed doors in countries where it is forbidden to preach the gospel.
- It can work 7-24-365 days of the year.
- It never gets, tired, sick or discouraged.
- It can have an even greater impact than the spoken word in many places.
- It can be read over and over again.
- It speaks long after the spoken voice is silent.
For three decades ACTS International used the printed page to communicate the gospel. These same messages have been adapted for use via the world wide web of the Internet and via eMail. The following are a few comments about ACTS printed messages:
Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the world's largest church in Korea wrote, "The print media program of ACTS International is one of the finest and most outstanding literature programs I have seen."
Michael P. Green, Ph.D., formerly a Professor at Dallas Theological Seminary said, "I recommend your Encounter brochures to our students as an example of the best kind of Christian literature."
Pastor Ron Kiser from Asheville, NC wrote: "Keep ACTS 'non-tract tracts' coming. They're the best single tool we have for creating receptivity to the gospel and its truths. Several persons have told me, 'The ACTS brochures started me thinking about my relationship with God.'"
These same Encounter articles are now all available online at a fraction of the cost of the printed page—and they are provided without charge to all readers all around the world.
4. The Proof
For the first three decades of ACTS outreach ministry more than 40 million of ACTS Encounter brochures were distributed in many parts of the world and were used by hundreds of churches, chaplains, business people and individuals.
In the past decade, since going online in 1998 (starting in a very small way) ACTS has built gospel websites in English, Spanish, French, Finnish and Hebrew based on the most effective known means of communication; that is, by reaching people at their point of felt need—the only known way to open closed minds to any message—including the gospel. This was the way Jesus always presented his message. He reached people where they were "at".
At the time of writing we have received 19,922 salvation and re-commitment to Jesus Christ responses from the Internet—5220 of these were received in the past year from 118 countries. Plus the Daily Encounter, Weekend Encounter and Prayer Encounter eMail subscriber lists have grown to over 150,000 subscribers and have been increasing at the rate of 4,000-5,000 new subscribers a month worldwide. Currently we are sending out over 33,000,000 Christian and gospel email messages every year! Many thousands more are being reached through our websites every day of the year.
This is all being done with only two full-time staff members making the use of the Internet and eMail one of the most cost-effective means of communicating the gospel to untold numbers of people worldwide.
5. The Program...God's Program
Taking the gospel to the ends of the earth is God's program and our commission. As an ACTS Outreach Partner YOU can have a vital part in God's program and therein be involved in a dynamic outreach ministry that is communicating the gospel message of Jesus Christ—taking the "Light of the World" to darkened corners across the street and around the world.
In all of the world's history why has God given our generation the greatest resources, the most powerful technology, and such exceptional methods of communicating the gospel? Could it be to reach the world with the gospel in preparation for Christ's return?
Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony unto all nations; and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). Never before has this been as possible as it is today. Furthermore, you and I only have our generation to reach our generation with the gospel.
Remember, too, that all the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of one small candle. Therefore, YOU are important. YOUR involvement is needed. By becoming an ACTS Outreach Partner YOU can make a difference. YOU can make an impact on people's lives across the street and around the world.
6. Click HERE to see how YOU can become involved as an ACTS Outreach Partner.
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