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Edbert Livia
8th May 2023

Evaluation Report
I was allowed to speak at the young-adult congregation’s Saturday night service in
Christchurch Community Church on the 22nd of April 2023. The number of attendances on
the day is approximated to be 40 people. I started by going through the PowerPoint
presentation which went for roughly 15 minutes and then spent the remaining 15 minutes as
an open session where the audience can ask questions.

Looking at the Bible through a thematic lens is not something that most of them have heard
of. Therefore, being able to frame the story of the Bible using one thematic lens and
essentially linking the Bible from the beginning through to the end with it amazes them. The
short format of the presentation/animation retained the audience’s attention. I hope to bring
more biblical theology into the congregation to help with their understanding of the Bible.
The open session after the presentation enabled the audience to participate in the discussion.
There were great questions like “How has biblical theology impacted your spiritual life?” and
“Is the church a temple? If the temple is holy, is the church building holy?”.

The general feedback from the crowd is encouraging. One member of the audience said
during the open session, “It is very good to hear a message that covers the Bible as a whole.
Normally, messages are just focused on one book or jump around verses, but this helps form
an overall image of what the Bible tells us”. Another told me after the service, “Tonight’s
sermon was short but straight to the point. I get what you’re trying to convey tonight: we are
the temple of God”.

Overall, I hope that the sermon helps with the understanding of the foundation of their faith.
Although this is something that I have been struggling with; I am struggling with how to
encourage people to start picking up their Bible or how can reading the Bible be attractive to
them if they haven’t tasted the goodness of God. There are hearing it from an external source
and also getting it from the source directly. I believe it has to be a balance between the two. I
am trying not to emphasise reading the Bible too much as they also need to encounter God

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(see the Pharisees/teachers of the law as an example). Some encountered God by reading the
Bible and others encountered God first and then wanted to seek Him more by reading the His
Words. Ultimately, I need to take a step back to know that God is in control, check that I am
working in His plan and believe that God can transform lives.

The recording can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=2rhmCuMxe10&ab_channel=ChristchurchCommunityChurch

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