Affinity Evangelism

The evening dripped of class and elegance.  Delicious cheese.  Great wines.  Wonderful music.  It was free to those who came and it cost very little to the churches.  And the Gospel of Jesus Christ was preached with power.

Two churches joined together to hold this wine and cheese night and formed a leadership team for the event of about 15 people.  Both of these urban churches had a significant part of their core congregation as being 20 and 30 somethings, who attended events like these elsewhere.  They wanted to be able to invite their friends to a classy evening to showcase the Gospel and their church as one who "thinks outside the box".

The event was held in a small banquet room of a classy Italian restaurant and that provided a wonderful array of cheeses and hors d'oevres.  A local winery was contacted and agreed to showcase their wines for a tasting in exchange for free publicity and the ability to sell bottles at the event.  Here is how the evening unfolded.

A couple of the members of each church's worship teams were also well known locally as accomplished classical musicians.  They provided beautiful music throughout the evening on cello, violin and guitar.

A welcome was given at 6:15 PM by one of the team members and the wine and food began to be served.  At 6:45 PM the owner of the local winery spoke for about 15-20 minutes about his wines and gave recommendations on foods and events they could be served with.

At about 8:00 PM the one of the pastors made a joke about the irony of a church holding a wine tasting and proceeded to tell the story of Jesus making wine at the wedding feast in Cana.  He spoke about how Jesus transforms and makes things new including his offer of new life to all would receive it.  He then asked a young attractive women to come forward and tell her story about new life.  Her testimony was of growing up in the suburbanite world, partying through high school and college and then becoming a bar fly -- looking to fill the ache in her soul with hook-ups and alcohol but eventually finding wholeness in Jesus Christ.  The pastor then finished his message with an invitation to receive new life in Jesus.

Coffee and cheesecake were served by about 8:30 PM and the conversations continued for hours -- long after the music ended and food was put away.  Many came to Christ that night and several more in the weeks that followed.