And that end is to disciple the un saved who respond to the Gospel. We need to review our present ap proach. Brady Tyson, Methodist missionary in Sao Paulo, sees three false ideas about church growth. He sees the mistake of beautiful buildings that do not necessarily attract people. Would not several house churches in the community serve a more adequate purpose? Then he speaks of the mistake that assumes that a church always needs a pastor. The layman can certainly be utilized in every con gregation. His third observation is the mistake that evangelism needs to be done through the children in Sunday school (McGavran 1969: 95-96). The missionary task force of our field or any field should constantly be on their toes to use different methods that will aid in the proc lamation and persuasion of the peoples to respond to Christ. If one method does not work, then an other one should be tried. In one case, evangelistic campaigns did not produce s ig n ific a n t church growth in a receptive field. How ever, at a different time evangelis tic cam pa igns were e ffe c tive . “ Some campaigns left no measur able results but a few were notably successful” (Bennett 1968 :155 - 156). Whatever methods are used they must be fortified and utilized under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who desires to glorify Christ and to aid in the growth of the Church. The goal of winning men to Christ needs to be accomplished by evangelism with a purpose. The purpose should be to add disciples to the Church of Jesus Christ. Without committed men who decide for Christ within the believing con gregations, the stated goal of evan gelism is unfulfilled. In conc lus ion , the me thods should be tested in receptive and ripe fields. If a field is not ready then the results will be minimal. God grant that the missionary task force may learn to labor in the ready fields that must be worked in purposeful evangelism. KB 9
disciples. It may be in terms of individuals, moreover; successful evangelism often recognizes family ties (extended families) and blood ties. “ In a true people individuals are bound together not merely by common social practices and reli gious beliefs bu t by common blood” (McGavran 1955:9). Persuasion evangelism is greatly concerned with men who under stand the Gospel and adequately persuade men to acept it. Christian workers should be able to avoid confusion. Christians sometimes make a distinction between the “ Gospel of Jesus Christ” and “ Christianity,” to avoid the relativities and am biguities associated with the latter term. But the Gospel is not so de livered from relativities of history; it too is known, professed, and in terpreted in history by finite men” (Anderson 1961:216). Persuasion evangelism is meas ured by the number of disciples becoming members of the church. This is a valid measurement. It must be done by the effective pres entation of the Gospel, communi cating Christ in the power of the Holy S p irit; "He communicates Himself in the person of His Son, in whom the Word became flesh,” (Nida 1960:22) and then persuad ing the people to become disciples. Discipleship will become an at tractive thing to the people of our field when indigeneous churches appeal to the unchurched. What kind of churches are these? "An indigenous church is precisely one in which the changes which take place under the guidance of the Holy Spirit meet the needs and fu l fill the meanings of that society and not any outside group” (Smal ley 1967:150). Therefore, the ulti mate guide in determining success ful persuasion evangelism is by the number of d is c ip le s becom ing members of the church. The third characteristic must of necessity include the methods. Many methods can be used in ef fectively presenting Christ to the masses and classes. Methods and plans are only a means to an end.
“ good news” has been told. This group would definitely say that presence is never a substitute for proclamation. This second view is good but it is only a partial work of the task th a t evange lism demands. It doesn’t give a workable demonstra tion of the complete task of evan gelism. Robert Calvin Guy quotes Roland Allen, “ Thus Roland Allen insisted that missionaries do not go to the field to ‘tell people the tru th ’ but to minister the Spirit" (McGavran 1965-43). Ministering the Spirit and sharing Jesus Christ demands more than proclamation. It demands more than a neutralist witness. “ Indeed, any formula which lim its the Christian to search or to neutralist witness, whether out of respect for the sovereignty of God or fear of practicing religious im perialism, has an artificial ring to it. It fits a system, not the New Testament. In avoiding the manipu lation of persons, it falls into the sin of passing by the other side. It may enable Christians to continue witness to an unresponsive society, but that does not make the formula pleasing to God or true to the New Testament Chu rch ” (McGavran 1970:41). Proclamation evangelism usually measures its success by the amount of people who hear the Gospel and understand it. Proclamation does not preach for a verdict. To under stand the message is not enough. We cannot accept that proclama tion is the entirety of the respon sibility of evangelism. Evangelism with a purpose entails a verdict theology. Men must be given the opportunity to accept or reject the Gospel. A third conception and the cor rect view of evangelism may be seen in persuasion evangelism. Per suasion evange lism recogn izes proclamation evangelism. This de mands making the message under stood and persuading men to be come disciples. This mea'ns not only preaching to individuals but also to entire families, clans and tribes, persuading them to become SEPTEMBER, 1970
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