Lessons one to ten from Ummah

Peter Borreggine

Description

• cours - matière potentielle : insha allah
• exposé
• expression écrite

LESSON ONE: The Alphabet Here are a few points to remember about the Arabic Alphabet:  Arabic is written from right to left  There are 29 characters of the Arabic alphabet  It is extremely important to include all dots and the number and placement of dots can change the sound of the letter and therefore the meaning of word. In English we may forget to dot the I or cross the T but we can not do this in Arabic.

• later lesson insha allah
• haadha
• moon letters
• man haadha
• muslim
• letters
• following words
• arabic
• lesson
• letter

Sujets

• Insha'Allah
• Exposé
• Letter
• Muslim
• Arabic language
• Following
• Lesson

Informations

• Publié par: nechong
• Nombre de lectures: 19
• Langue: English

Extrait

Peter Adkins M.A in Evangelism Studies
Unit 8 The Practice of Evangelism
Question 3
Explore the criteria by which evangelistic projects should be evaluated.
! Evangelistic projects could be described as intentional activities with the goal
of bringing people into the Kingdom of God, or to bring the kingdom of God to
people.
! The first question to be asked in evaluating any evangelistic project is to ask
why the project undertaken in the first place? While evangelism may be driven by
shrinking church attendance, the need for funds, social problems, imposed by
denominational headquarters, or ‘just because it’s about time we had a mission’, the
1scriptures present far higher motives. Was a desire for God’s glory preeminent,
rather than numerical success or church growth? Was there concern for those apart
1 One of Gavin Reid’s aims for mission England in 1984, Reid G, To Reach a Nation (London: Hodder
and Stoughton, 1987) p.55 It is also a theme found repeatedly in scripture. As the message of God’s
grace reaches more and more people it causes thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. (2 Cor
4:15) God’s glory is revealed in Christ, illuminating darkened minds and hearts. (2 Cor 4:6) This
motive looks forward to the day when every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father. (Phil 2:10,11)
12 3 4 5from Christ, who as Green points out are eternally lost, enslaved, blinded, and
6 7under God’s wrath, which Bosch describes as Paul’s motivation to lead people to
salvation, adoption, redemption, justification and knowledge of God. Was this
motivation strong enough to cause Christians to invite their family and friends to
the event? Was there a sense of the divine obligation and responsibility that Paul
8experienced? ‘Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade
9men.’ Was there a motivation of gratitude, overflowing from a personal experience
10of the grace and love of God? Verkuyl adds an eschatological motive, the longing
for the Kingdom and the ‘throbbing desire to gather all people united under the one
11Head, Jesus Christ...’ Evangelism that does not, however imperfectly, spring from
2 Green M, Evangelism in the Early Church (Crowborough: Highland Books, 1984)pp. 287-309
3 Luke 19:10 ‘For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.’
4 Galatians 4:8 ‘Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are
not gods.’
5 2 Corinthians 4:4 ‘The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.’
6 1 Thessalonians 1:10 ‘..and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus,
who rescues us from the coming wrath.’
7 Bosch D, Transforming Mission (Maryknoll:Orbis, 1997) p.134,135
8 1 Corinthians 9:16 ‘Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel’
9 2 Corinthians 5:11 Green describes this fear not as ‘the craven fear of the underdog, but the loving
fear of a friend and trusted servant who dreads disappointing his beloved Master.’ Green M,
Evangelism in the Early Church.. p.297
10 Romans 5:5 ‘God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given
us.’2 Corinthians 5:14 ‘For Christ's love compels us’ Acts 4:20 ‘We cannot keep from speaking about
what we have seen and heard.’
11 Verkuyl J, Contemporary Missiology (Grand Rapids: W.Eerdmans 1978) p.167
2such motives, is liable to fall into either serious methodological or ethical problems
12such as those outlined by Verkuyl.
! One fruit of successful evangelism is a larger church, yet the church growth
movement has been accused of promoting denominational self-aggrandisement.
Wagner acknowledges that ‘Behind growth statistics in general is the need for
13discernment as to what kind of growth is taking place.’ How many exciting, large
scale evangelistic events, have increased church numbers but disguised the fact that
14only transfer growth has occurred. Colquhoun cites Cooks’ defence of “counting
heads” in the Greater London Crusade of 1954, seeing a Biblical precedent in Acts
152:41, and 4:4, yet he is cautious in claiming all these as converts, preferring the
word “inquirers”. Reid is also not afraid of numbers, recording one of the goals of
16Mission England was ‘To bring large numbers of people to personal faith in Christ.’
The records show that from 100,000 inquirers, ‘56 per cent of all who went forward
were ‘accepting Christ’ for the first time. They were stating they held no faith and no
17commitment before that moment.’ These answers give some indication of success,
12 Ibid pp.168-175 Problems such as Colonialism, Imperialism, Ecclesiastical Colonialism and the
Cultural Motive, imposing upon the recipients of the gospel the culture of the missionary.
13 Wagner P, Church Growth and the Whole Gospel (Europe: Marc, 1981) p.10
14 Colquhoun F, Harringay Story (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1955) p.231
15 Ibid. p.233
16 Reid G, To Reach.. p.55
17 Ibid. p.62
3further verified by the fact that fifty nine percent of them were still in contact with
the churches they had been referred to twelve months later. This committed church
membership (and hopefully discipleship), gives a far more accurate indication of
evangelistic success. As Wagner rightly says, ‘The intent of the kingdom style of
gospel preaching is to make disciples for the king... Part of the commitment of
18becoming a true disciple is a commitment to the body of Christ.’
! Wagner acknowledges criticisms of those using numerical growth as a
measure of evangelistic success. They ‘often use man’s and not God’s arithmetic as a
19measure of growth’ or exhibit an ‘evangelistic triumphalism of a concern for
20numbers’. Wagner recognises the underlying concern of these criticisms is to avoid
21‘cheap grace or a commercialized gospel’ yet he agrees with McGavran who stated
that ‘The church is made up of countable people and there is nothing particularly
22spiritual in not counting them.’ Wagner acknowledges that ‘the church cannot be
identified with the kingdom of God one-on-one...The kingdom creates the church
not vice versa. But the church bears witness to the kingdom and is an instrument of
18 Wagner P, p.11
19 Weber H, ‘Gods Arithmetic’ Frontier 6 (Winter 1963)p.298 cit. Wagner P, Church Growth.. p. 61
20 Kirk J, “The Kingdom of God and the Church in Contemporary Protestantism and Catholicism,” in
Let the Earth Hear His Voice Douglas J, (Ed) (Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1975) p.1080
cit. Wagner P, p.61
21 Wagner P, p.61
22 Ibid.
423 24the kingdom.’ While Davies warns against using numerical church growth rather
than Kingdom growth as a measure of success, we need to be cautious in separating
the wheat from the weeds before the
appointed time. Wagner agrees with Fries and Costas ‘that kingdom growth is the
ultimate task, while church growth is a penultimate task within the evangelistic
25 26mandate.’ If ‘the goal of added numbers must not be absolutized’, is there some
other way to measure Kingdom growth? One way is to ask whether our evangelism
has effectively engaged with the culture of the hearers in bringing about change in
belief and behaviour. This depends on the method and content used to
communicate the gospel. Gustafson asks ‘does the method include the
communication of the good news of Jesus Christ accurately, clearly, and concisely,
giving the gospel the best hearing possible, in hopes that it might have its greatest
27impact.’ Opinions vary greatly as to what actually constitutes the ‘gospel’, Klaiber
23 Wagner P, p.9
24 ‘to define the goal of mission as church growth is to indulge in an ecclesiastical narrowing of the
concept of the kingdom of God.’ J.D. Davies ‘Church growth: A critique’ International Review of
Missions 57 no.267 (July 1968) p.293. cit. Wagner p.11
25 Wagner P,.p. 59
26Young J, ‘The Place and Importance of Numerical Church Growth’ Theological Perspectives on
Church Growth Conn H, (Ed) Nutley, NJ.:Presbyterian and Reformed, 1976) p.262 cit. Wagner P, p.62
27Gustafson D, ‘Creating and Critiquing Evangelistic Methods’ Journal of the Academy for
Evangelism in Theological Education Vol. 112 pp.69-76 (p.72) These criteria can be found in Acts
18:25 ‘He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervour and taught
about Jesus accurately...’ and Colossians 4: 3,4 ‘And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for
our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I
may proclaim it clearly, as I should.’
528‘s description of it as ‘elementary talk of God’ seems appropriate. Clear definitions
29of evangelism, such as that of the Lausanne Covenant, provide a framework by
which to evaluate our evangelism,
30 31while adding cautions that will help avoid offering cheap grace’. Abraham goes
further in his description, including creation, the uniqueness of humanity, a
diagnosis of what went wrong, a prescription of the solution in Jesus, a vision of the
future and a vision for living. Paul was very clear about one thing ‘..we do not
32preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord’. Not only do we need to ask whether
the message had sufficient content to enab