Models of Evangelism

Priscilla Pope-Levison

Description

Many sincere Christians dismiss evangelism due to enduring evangelistic caricatures. This book helps readers move beyond those caricatures to consider thoughtfully and practically how they can engage in evangelism, whether it's through one-on-one conversations, social media, social justice, or the liturgy of worship services.At once biblical, theological, historical, and practical, this book by a seasoned scholar offers an engaging, well-researched, and well-organized presentation and analysis of eight models of evangelism. Covering a breadth of approaches--from personal evangelism to media evangelism and everything in between--Priscilla Pope-Levison encourages readers to take a deeper look at evangelism and discover a model that captures their attention. Each chapter introduces and assesses a model biblically, theologically, historically, and practically, allowing for easy comparison across the board. The book also includes end-of-chapter study questions to further help readers interact with each model.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 27 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493427383
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2020 by Priscilla Pope-Levison
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-2738-3
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Scripture quotation labeled CEB is from the Common English Bible. © Copyright 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Scripture quotation labeled NABRE is from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC, and is used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Dedication
To Jack
We are one,
One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself
(J OHN M ILTON , P ARADISE L OST )
Contents
Cover i
Title Page ii
Copyright Page iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1. Personal 11
2. Small Group 31
3. Visitation 49
4. Liturgical 69
5. Church Growth 91
6. Prophetic 113
7. Revival 135
8. Media 157
Conclusion 181
Scripture Index 191
Subject and Name Index 193
Back Cover 201
Acknowledgments
T he genesis of this book is the classroom—more than twenty years of teaching Introduction to Evangelism at Duke Divinity School, Seattle Pacific University, and now Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. Typically, the first half of the course covers biblical, historical, and theological foundations of evangelism; the second half focuses on models of evangelism. The final project requires students to gather all this together into a yearlong evangelistic strategy for a concrete ministry setting; they must thoroughly implement at least one model in the assignment. Over the years, students’ enthusiasm about these models—which challenge their preconceptions about the worth of evangelism and spark their imaginations about how to practice it intelligently and winsomely—inspired me to write this book. Perhaps, then, it is not so much the classroom that is the genesis of the book but the many eager and earnest students who, for more than two decades, have filled its pages with a spirit of learning.
Five years ago, I began a full-time administrative position as associate dean of external programs at Perkins School of Theology. This vocational shift came with less time for research and writing, which made my five-month leave of absence granted by Dean Craig Hill all the more precious. During those months, my husband, Jack, and I sequestered ourselves in an apartment under the eaves in the Internationales Begegnungszentrum in Munich, and I completed a full draft of the book. Our stellar graduate assistant, Andrew Klumpp, scanned and e-mailed me scads of articles and book chapters so I could keep up a feverish writing pace. Bridwell Library staff were immensely helpful as well. Sally Hoover requested countless interlibrary loan materials, Ellen Frost bought books to add to the Bridwell collection, and reference librarians David Schmersal (now at Austin Presbyterian Seminary) and Jane Elder searched for obscure and otherwise unattainable bibliographic references and citations. While I was away from campus, my dear colleagues in the Office of External Programs, Bart Patton and Mary Roberts, ran our events with aplomb and excellence. They are an absolute joy to work alongside, and I look forward each and every day to interacting with them as I climb the steps to the third floor of Selecman Hall, an old, brick building on the campus of Southern Methodist University.
A remarkable coterie of people, some of whom I have yet to meet in person, graciously took time from their own work to comment on parts of the manuscript or to contribute to it through meaningful conversations: Billy Abraham, Chris Alford, Jonathan Bedford-Strom, Angela Gorrell, Natasha Govekar, Robert Hunt, Dick Peace, Mark Teasdale, Patricia Walker, and Mark Wingfield. I am also grateful to the team at Baker Academic, who designed the book’s fabulous cover and provided expert and careful copyediting, and especially to Bob Hosack, acquisitions editor, who helped shape this book over meals at the American Academy of Religion and the Wesleyan Theological Society—and who, not incidentally, championed it from the start.
Chloe and Jeremy, our daughter and son, surprised and delighted us by moving to Dallas—both of them—not long after Jack and I picked up stakes in Seattle and headed to Texas in 2015. They have kept me grounded in the midst of a major transition in geography and vocation. During the past half decade, we have discovered favorite places to walk, order great takeout pizza, and enjoy happy hour. What a joy it has been to be in their presence on nearly a daily basis.
Jack, my spouse of thirty-eight years, vociferously edited this entire book. He knew my time for a thorough edit was limited once my leave was over, so he offered to be my editor, and I readily accepted. The book improved immensely under his wise and expert pen. For his birthday last year, I gave him a card with the message “I love how we do life!” These words speak to our love-filled enjoyment of daily life together, fully and happily bound up in the other. I dedicate this book to Jack with love and gratitude for how we do life together.
Introduction
B athsheba Kingsley was charged in 1741 with stealing a horse and riding away on the Sabbath without her husband’s consent, which she did in order to preach the gospel in neighboring towns. She justified herself to the church council, which included Jonathan Edwards, by claiming that she had received a revelation from heaven and was merely obeying God’s will. Bathsheba Kingsley was an evangelist.
Sarah Osborn hosted a women’s prayer group for over twenty years. By 1766, the group grew to as many as 350 people, including men, women, children, and enslaved people, who flocked to her house for nightly prayer meetings and religious conversation. Sarah Osborn was an evangelist.
Harriet Livermore sang and preached to a standing-room-only crowd in Congress on January 8, 1827, with President John Quincy Adams in attendance. She preached to Congress three more times between 1831 and 1843. Harriet Livermore was an evangelist.
Jarena Lee traveled by foot, stagecoach, and boat from her home in Philadelphia throughout New England, north into Canada, and west into Ohio. She preached wherever a location presented itself—in churches, schools, camp meetings, barns, and homes. Her 1836 autobiography was the first published by an African-American woman. Jarena Lee was an evangelist.
Isaac Hecker converted to Catholicism in 1844. He and five other American-born priests formed the Congregation of St. Paul (or the Paulists) in 1858, as an apostolate to non-Catholics. They held evangelistic missions throughout the country. Isaac Hecker was an evangelist.
Jennie Fowler Willing never birthed her own child, but she encouraged women, especially mothers, to utilize their influence and authority in the service of evangelism. In an article published in 1896, Fowler Willing extolled the mother’s power in evangelism. “Among the mightiest of undiscovered forces,” she advised, “the mother’s power for good ranks all.” 1 Jennie Fowler Willing was an evangelist.
Mattie Perry founded Elhanan Training Institute in Marion, North Carolina, for penniless students called into evangelistic work. Her curriculum provided them with Bible classes and practical training. Working with her father and brother, she refurbished, furnished, and readied twenty-five rooms of the derelict Catawba Hotel in time for the watch-night dedication service on December 31, 1898. Mattie Perry was an evangelist.
Emma Ray and Mother Ryther were an interracial pair who visited brothels in Seattle’s wharf district on the cusp of the twentieth century. Brothel owners gave them permission to visit and quieted the dancing and music so that Ray and Ryther could hold evangelistic meetings in the parlor. Emma Ray and Mother Ryther were evangelists.
Anna Prosser was healed after living with a disability for ten years. Armed with renewed health, she began to volunteer in a Woman’s Christian Temperance Union rescue mission in Buffalo, New York, and she convened a Saturday evening Bible study for laboring men. Each Christmas she provided as lavish a feast for them as she could afford. When she felt called to open a new mission, the men elected to go and assist her. From then on, when talking about the mission, Prosser used the pronoun we to signify their partnership. Anna Prosser was an evangelist.
David Goldstein, a convert to Catholicism from Judaism, co-founded the Catholic Truth Guild in 1917 as a traveling evangelistic organization run and staffed by Catholic laypeople. With support from Boston’s archbishop, William O’Connell, Goldstein traveled in a customized Model-T throughout New England in the summer and across the continent to California in the winter, holding outdoor evangelistic meetings along the way. David Goldstein was an evangelist.
Raymond Leong emigrated from southern China to Detroit and worked in a hand-laundry business. After becoming a Christian in 1953, thanks to the outreach efforts of local churches, he recruited other Chinese lau