Evangelism in its Modern Context Outside the Box – Connecting to Culture

Evangelismin itsModern Context

Outside the Box – Connecting to Culture

Evangelism Outside the BoxRichardson, R. (2000). Evangelism outside the box: New ways to help people experience the good news. Downers Grove, IL: IVP.

“Wesley’s process and order of salvation are a great fit for

today’s experiential, community seeking person. Wesley’s

process can be adapted well to the way postmodern people

today think, feel, imagine and commit…As we think about how

to reach people in a very diverse world who are looking for a

safe place to work out their sense of identity and self, Wesley’s

insights can be quite helpful.” (p 53-54)

A Look at Our “Boxes”

• What do we mean by “boxes”?

– Mental models of ministry / evangelism

– Constraining barriers

– Spiritual strongholds in some cases


• Theology Box

– Misguided notions about evangelism that

keep us and God in a box

• Notion: Salvation is all of God, so my role is

simply to be faithful, not fruitful

– Fruitful evangelism is a 200% formula

• 100% God’s part with 100% our part

• Prayer and action / Faithfulness and fruitfulness


• Sacred Practice Box

– Strength of the current of tradition that

becomes a weakness

• Pre-1960 traditions: rationalistic approaches

– Way forward: distinguish between core

values and sacred practices

• Don’t cling to forms/practices that actually inhibit

achievement of values!

• Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater


• Structure & Strategy Box– Idea that love and relationship is sufficient

regardless of strategy• Structures/strategies often do not reflect what

we say we value

– Need to evaluate structures/strategies in light of how they are reaching unreached

• Do we start with who we are and figure out what we can do to reach people?

• Do we start with who the unreached are and develop forms that follow function


• Self-Perception Box

– Improper image of our personal role in

evangelism

• Evangelism is for all of us (styles)

– Not manipulative to build friendships with

goal of sharing Christ

• Proper/good to live our lives in fashion that

engenders interest and questions

• We can actively engage – “Living Out Loud”

Understanding Today’s Questions

• Quantum level shift in way current generation

thinks / poses questions

– Scientific truth is relative to the frame of reference

of the observer (or any truth)

– Logic is no longer either/or, since reality is

also/and

– Identity is self-made, never imposed or declared

– Truth and meaning is necessarily subjective

Understanding Today’s Questions

• Making sense of this new sensibility

– Dangerous perception

• Peculiar mixture of arrogance (I know the truth)

and benevolence (I want to save you)

• Learning how to approach…

– Invite without arrogance

– Show compassion without condescension

Common Questions

• Questions of power and motive – Logical answers perceived as exercise in

power/control

• Questions of identity– Each person creates their own

meaning/identity

– How can Christians claim to tell me who I am or should be?

Common Questions

• Questions of pain and suffering

– No grand explanation – simply alternative

efforts at meaning

• Questions of character, trust, and

attractiveness

– Your character is not better / your leaders

no more trustworthy

Common Questions

• Questions of love and meaning

– How can you say you love people and reject

who they are / how they define selves?

– How can you be rule-oriented in ethics,

when each situation determines what is truly

the loving / right / meaningful response?

Common Questions

• Questions of interpretation– Isn’t your worldview simply a product of

your birth/community?

• Questions of relevance and relativism– Does your belief change lives / make any

difference where it matters?

• Questions of impact– Does Christianity help society, or is it self-

serving as I see it?

Responding to Today’s Questions

• Postmodern mindset has launched many

into a crisis of inadequacy

– Sufficiency = understanding the cultural shift

– Each epochal shift requires the Christian

faith to reorient itself to address the new

cultural vision

– Christianity must engage with the world in a

manner the world comprehends

Three Important Dimensionsof the Postmodern Mindset

1. Idea of truth has been transformed – Modernity: truth was scientific and universal

• Postmodern: truth is experiential and personal or communal

– Downside: defining universal values has become difficult

• Upside: less prone to false polarizations of head, heart, and hand

– Consequence:• The search for communities of authenticity

• Focus on behavioral / ethical impact of belief


2. Understanding of self and identity• Modernity: self as autonomous,

individualistic, rational • Postmodern: self / sense of identity

constructed in community

• Consequences:• People looking for a community to belong to

rather than a message to believe in• Credibility (hearing) granted to one who

shares experience / struggles• People searching for a safe/accepting

community


3. Means for determining moral/spiritual choices

• Modern: convinced by compelling arguments • Postmodern: allegiance is a battle for spiritual and moral

imagination

• Consequences:• Ancient traditions of liturgy, sacrament, mystery are

returning

• Use of media/movies for communicating/exploring truth

• We must become great storytellers in order to express

Gospel truth

Summarizing the Response to Key Dimensions of Postmodernism

1. People are looking for truth that is experiential

(communities of authentic faith)

– Lesson for Evangelism: Experience comes before

explanation

2. People are looking for safe / accepting communities

in which to work out identity

– Lesson for Evangelism: Belonging comes before believing

3. Peoples’ allegiance is shaped by their moral and

spiritual imagination

– Lesson for Evangelism: Image comes before word

A Theology for Postmoderns

Wesley’s Four Steps into God’s Family1. People were “awakened”

[Soul awakening]

2. Awakened seekers were “welcomed” into fellowship [Welcoming community]

3. Fellowshipping seeker was “guided” into experience of justification [Conversion]

4. Convert was “discipled” toward full sanctification [Transformation]

A Theology for Postmoderns

• The four steps as template for reaching postmodern people– Soul Awakening

• Connecting to Jesus as satisfier

– Community• Place to belong in order to believe

– Conversion• Message that connects head and heart

– Transformation• Cultivate identity / personal change inside out

A Strategy for PostmodernsThe Celtic Way of Evangelism

• Nature: stressed humanity’s kinship with nature

• Human Nature: twisted/bent, but not utterly

destroyed – retain God’s image

• God’s presence: emphasized immanence

• God’s power: emphasis on dynamic activity

• Organization: advancing through community

Hunter, George. G. (2000). The Celtic way of evangelism. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

A Strategy for PostmodernsThe Celtic Way of Evangelism

• Culture: worked indigenously / contextually –

adapting to each culture

• Religions: viewed as spiritual vitality and

preparation for the true Gospel

• Communication: assumed a “right-brained”

imaginative approach

• Mission: invited to community, then

encouraged to believe

Hunter, George.G. (2000). The Celtic way of evangelism. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

Awakening Postmodern Souls

• How to go from authentic relationship to

spiritual conviction

– Pauline model for “soul-awakening events”

• Connects to and affirms Athenian culture

• Discerns and affirms their spiritual interest and search

• Challenges their futile ways of trying to fulfill their

search and satisfy souls

• Gives surprising evidence that supports his message

and points to the way to fulfill their spiritual search

– Connect then Confront

Awakening through Connection

• Identify the language people use to talk about

moral/spiritual things

– The language of therapy

– The language of the soul (media/arts)

• Find the common ground

– Find the good in postmodernism

• Begin with felt needs

– Shared human needs

– Belonging/relationships/community/spirituality

Awakening through Challenge

• Confront using their rules of truth– Ask them stimulating, provocative, even

disturbing questions – Ask if what we say rings true to the

experiential, community-seeking person – Argue to our truth basis, not from our truth

basis

• Soul question must be:– Does this life we’re living really make any

sense?


• Value of Story in confrontation

– If we can be authentic & non-manipulative

in the way we tell the story

– And it rings true..

• We can get actual response from postmoderns

– Effectively using good movies as forums of

experiential truth


• Nine Rules for arguing to our truth basis

1. Don’t invalidate the experiences of others

2. Bank on the fact that people have a soul and

spiritual interest / hunger

3. Appeal to commonly shared authorities

4. Help people to get in touch with their longing, their

yearning, their emptiness

5. Win your emotional/experiential truth points first,

before you bring in Jesus/Bible


• Nine Rules for arguing to our truth basis

6. Tie Jesus/Bible not to propositional truths, but to

experiential truth moments in your own life and

from shared stories

7. Create a transformational moment and then

interpret it

8. Work deeply with the transformational moment

9. Implement smooth transitions through the

transformational moments


• Proper way to present evidence– First question in their minds is not, “is it true”

• Is it attractive(does it bring relational harmony / enrich life)

• Is it relevant(does it work, make life better, improve society)

– Key to bringing them into our evidence of truth, is to begin in their world

• We must relate demonstrable truth beforelogical / abstract truth

Developing Christian Community

• Priority of Community– People looking for community to belong to

before a message to believe in

– Need a safe, accepting place to develop their identity and sense of self in community

• A place to experience God’s love/reality for themselves

• A place to experience spiritual truth and reality within community


• Marks of a safe / welcoming community

– Humor and humility

– Warmth and acceptance extended to new people

– Authenticity about our lives and struggles

– Changed lives and genuine Christian experience

– Tangible sense of God’s presence (Spirit-filled

community)


• How to generate such community

– Get a fresh encounter with the Jesus of Scripture

– Get a fresh taste of genuine Christian experience

• Through heartfelt worship

• Confession of sin – especially to one another

• Listening prayer – hearing from God and sharing lessons

with others

• Healing prayer – sharing God’s healing/restoration in our

lives with others

Conversion in Postmodern Culture

• How do Postmoderns commit to Christ?

– In context of community

– Through a personal experience of God

– With a clear call to change allegiance

• Invite Jesus to be at the center of their lives

• To wrap sense of identity around him


• New images of atonement

– Christus Victor theory of atonement

• Death as victory over evil powers of this world

and spiritual powers in heavens


• Key elements of this motif (Col. 2:13-15)

– Adam and Eve chose to be ruled by sin, Satan and

death when they disobeyed God

• Satan/death are rightful rulers over human beings by birth

and by choice

• Left to ourselves we face an eternity of slavery, misery,

and death

– God did not leave us in such dire condition –

reconciled us

• Second Adam recaptured all things lost by his obedience


• Key elements of this motif (Col. 2:13-15)

– Obedience took Jesus to a cross to expose sin,

Satan and death for what truly are• Took hatred, woundedness, shame, death onto himself

• Innocent died for guilty

• Satan lost all legitimacy - his power to rule vanquished

– Because innocent, God raised Jesus from dead• We can choose to identify with Jesus

• His life & obedience become our purpose/identity & hope

• Sin / Satan no longer have right to rule us – we become

free to be what created to be


• Central issue: Loyalty and allegiance

– Whom will you serve? / What idolatry abandon?

• Become slaves to own idols, or become free/liberated in

Christ

– This motif speaks to three significant platforms

postmoderns function on

• Need for experiential truth

• Need for sense of identity and self

• Need for symbols and pictures to capture imagination

THE CIRCLE OF BELONGING© InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA Circle of Belonging

At first, all creation was in the circle of belonging.

• God made the world. God made you – to

love him and be loved by him. We were

made to have God at our center and

through God to know who we are. With

God in the center, we were in right

relationship with ourselves and everything

else.

• Gen. 1:1, Deut. 6:5, Mk. 12:29-31

This is a tool to help you

learn a simple way to share

the gospel with a friend. You

don’t need to memorize the

text, but you will want to

understand the ideas and

flow.

Begin by asking, “Can I

share a picture of God’s love

for us?” Mentally divide the

napkin (or what ever you’re

drawing on) into four

quadrants. Draw a circle

with God in the center as you

share the ideas in the first

paragraph. You may want to

ask why they think people so

seldom feel really connected

to God?


We loved other things more than God, resulting in spiritual death.

• Unfortunately, we choose to substitute something else for God at the center of our lives. Maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe a family or cultural background. Maybe achievement or performance. Maybe a role we play. Substituting something else for God at the center of our lives is what the Bible calls sin and we all sin. We try to run our own lives, we try to create our own identity. We wrap our identity up in these other things, but they can’t deliver and they will always disappoint us. Our lives become more fragmented, more painful, more scattered, and at the center of our lives, where God should be, we experience an emptiness.

Then add the circles

representing the

things we try to

replace God with in

the second

quadrant.

This is a good place

to share what you

have tried to replace

God with in your

own life and you

may want to ask if

they can identify

with any of this?

When you talk about

the lack of God in

the center write in

the word “death.”

• As we reject God in favor of other things, we hurt ourselves, others and God. God hates our choice to replace him with other things. Without God in the center, our identity, our view of ourselves and our relationships with others are all distorted. We often feel ashamed of who we are. We end up alone and disconnected. The lack of God at the center of our lives results in spiritual death. If we never turn toward God, that aloneness and emptiness and spiritual death lasts forever.

• Rom. 3:23, Eph. 2:1-2


Jesus died for us, taking on the death we deserve.

• Fortunately, God didn't leave us alone and spiritually dead. God loves us passionately, and wants to restore himself as the center. So God came to us as a human being, Jesus. He was God. He created love and acceptance and belonging wherever he went because God was his center. He showed people who they really were and he showed people how to live with all those other things connected to the right center.

Start the drawing in

the third quadrant

with a circle with

Jesus in the center.

Use the arrows to

indicate Jesus

showed people how

to live with the right

connections to other

things.

When you come to

Jesus’ death on the

cross, cross out

Jesus.

• And then, even though God was his center, he died for us who have chosen not to make God our center. He was killed on the cross, taking on all the consequences of our choice to run our own lives and to live with other things at the center. At the cross, he took on himself the death we deserve.

• Mk. 15:34, John 3:16, Rom. 5:8


Jesus offers us a way back into the circle of belonging.

• What's more, Jesus didn’t just die. He also

rose again and he is alive today. The

evidence that Jesus rose from death is

astonishing! He is alive! So he can live in

us, at our center, restoring God to his place

in our lives. He will forgive us for the pain

we’ve caused and change us from the

inside out. And he can give us the sense of

belonging and identity we seek and restore

right relationships with others and the rest of

creation. Through Jesus, God can be back

in the center of our lives.

Begin the drawing in the fourth quadrant with a new circle with Jesus in the center. Emphasize how Jesus fills the center. Use the arrow to indicate how Jesus can restore the right relationship with other things in our life.

Explain that a commitment to Jesus can change your whole life. This may be a good point to share your commitment story. Ask where they think God is in their lives. Ask if they would like to know how God could be their center.


• How does this happen?– We ADMIT other centers and turn from

them toward God.

– We ACCEPT Jesus’ death for the death

we deserve and the hurt we have caused.

– We ASK Jesus to come into the center of

our lives and COMMIT to Jesus as our

forgiver, healer and leader. Through

Jesus, our real identity is reestablished in

relationship with God.

– John 1:12-13, Rom. 12:9, Rom. 6:23,

1Tim. 1:16

Add and explain

the words to

quadrants 2, 3,

and 4.

Offer to lead

them in a simple

prayer to invite

God into the

center of their

life.

Transformation in Postmodern Culture

• De-emphasis of mind & will strategies (gaining

certain knowledge/skills)

– Emphasis on fulfilling identity/purpose in Christ

– Growing true by aligning allegiance / loyalties to

the person now in you

– Overcoming sinful curvature/bent by power of Holy

Spirit within

• Becoming who created to be (harmonization / integration

of personhood in Christ)

Documents

Evangelism in its Modern Context Outside the Box – Connecting to Culture