Sociologists have suggested that modern evangelism was born in the eighteenth century, partly as a reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment and partly as a religious form of that very same rationalism.  It has thrived in societies that are in the process of becoming literate, and so prize literacy especially highly as an up-and-coming value. Evangelism has clearly been a religion of the book, rather than of the visual spectacle of ceremony, such as the mass. Its doctrines tend towards abstract, mental conceptions rather than visual ones. Justification is by faith (an inner act or state), rather than by tangible sacraments and visible good works of the kind that even an illiterate peasant can appreciate. (See Pearse and Matthews, 1999, p. 146)

 

Historical evidence suggests that evangelism has thrived in societies that are in the process of urbanizing and becoming more commercial. This was true even in the early modern period before evangelism assumed its modern shape. The English Lollards of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (remember John Wycliffe?) were mostly artisans and merchants involved in the wool trade. The Protestantism of the Reformation, when it came along in the sixteenth century, took hold in the more commercial south and east of England before the north and west, in the towns before the countryside,  and among the commercial classes before the peasant or nobility. Even when the country had been forcibly converted from popery, the same areas and segments of society that had been protestantised  first were the strongest bastions of support for the more virulently evangelical strain represented by Puritasnism within the church of England.

 

If one looks at the French Calvinists ( or Huguenots), the social demography is even more marked: the movement was dominated by the literate, urban middle classed, especially by lawyers, and made no impression on the peasantry whatsoever. The real rise of evangelism in Britain an American coincided with the Industrial Revolution and the growth on both

sides of the Atlantic of an overwhelmingly commercial economy, in which self-reliant families broke free of their kinship ties and moved to towns. The Methodists greatest gains were in the new factory towns and industrial villages.

 

Of course, not all countries that have industrialized have become bastions of evangelism, but it would be true to say that virtually all strongholds of evangelical Christianity ( the USA in the late twentieth century perhaps excepted) have been countries in the process of urbanization and/or industrialisation. The current rapid growth in much of the urbanizing and industrializing Third World is part of the same phenomenon.

 

Evangelical faith has thrived in societies where nuclear families are prized over wider kinship or tribal groups. In cultures where people can carry logical discourses-such as a well-constructed hour-long sermon-in their heads, there evangelical faith has prospered. Some things, such as doctrine and biblical knowledge, which were relatively easy to impart in a modernist culture,

where literacy was prized and people had little trouble thinking in abstract terms, will need to be treated creatively and worked at harder if they are to be intelligible and appealing to postmodern people. Conversely, visual and experiential elements have far greater potential for conveying the faith and for leading astray than was the case in the modern period. Again, presenting the gospel as an all-embracing explanation of Life, the Universe and everything will pay few evangelistic dividends, even if thats what we think it is. We will do better to focus on practical felt needs and moral applications, and allow people who are in the process of becoming Christians to work further in from there.

 

In all cases, the onus is where it always has been: upon the evangelists to adapt their presentation to the receptivity of those we seek to persuade. To begin with, the authority of Scripture or mans need of a Saviour is no more intelligible to postmodern people than attacking indulgences and transubstantiation would have been effective in bringing about conversions in the 1960s. We may get people to those points, but they cannot be our opening shots.

 

 The up-front approach to evangelism, and much of our presentation in teaching, has to take account of the actual thought processes of our contemporaries.  Form takes its cue from function.

 

We cannot allow our culture-bound presentation of the gospel to become an obstacle to evangelism or discipleship.  As Maggi Dawn (1997) says, To insist on continuity of language and form [means that] Christianity not only becomes alien to those who are not part of it, but it actually changes its meaning for those who are part of it We are unavoidably connected to the

culture and the Language of the world in which we live, and we do not have the luxury of redefining the terms unless we become a completely isolated community (p. 41)

 

Nineteenth-century evangelism had been very strong on social action of various kinds, from charitable work to political campaigns. Partly as a compensatory mechanism for the evacuation of the doctrine, and partly to meet  Marxist critiques, liberal evangelism majored on the social gospel and the espousal of leftish political causes. But by the middle of the 20^th  century, liberal evangelism had ceased to be genuinely evangelical at all; it had become simply liberal.

 

Several of the traditionally evangelical nonconformist denominations were decimated by this development. Without an evangel, evangelism became impossible. No one was converted to their version of Christianity from unbelief; it became parasitic upon orthodoxy, a sort of refuge for lapsed Christians. The churches that followed this route declined very rapidly and are now little more than shells of what they were in the early 1900s.

 

The opposite reaction to modernism was adopted by the conservative evangelicals. These were mostly fundamentalists, who insisted upon biblical literalism, especially in respect of the interpretation of early Genesis, as the only secure defence against biblical criticism. They also mostly adopted the novel dispensationalist eschatology which insisted upon a literate reading of biblical prophecy, drawing the conclusion that the church was supposed to be in decline during the end times (thus justifying their own predicament), and that the Second Coming was to be

expected at any moment, a view Adventism does not share.

 

Anti-intellectualism, which had for long lurked in the background of some types of evangelism, was elevated to the status of positive virtue; modern science and biblical criticism were the wisdom of this world, and demonstration of the folly of relying on human reason. Not only was Marxism rejected (with good cause) as so much godless wickedness, but the evangelical social activism of the previous century was also now repudiated: saving souls, not bodies, from the wrath to come was the one thing needful. (Pearce and Matthew, p.152)

 

Adventism agreed with some positions espoused by  the fundamentalists.  For instance their  insistence upon rejecting all of the other trappings of modern culture as so much worldliness.  Cinema, theatre, smoking and drinking were out. So too was dancing, gambling, etc.  So were modern clothes and modern music such as jazz and, when it emerged, rock and roll.

 

This  rejection of  social action and intellectual engagement on the one hand, and an apparent myopic focus only on  saving souls, on the other, made fundamentalists irrelevant to their wider culture, an escapist religious ghetto.  But they were not the only ones; the capitulation to modernity of the liberals made them irrelevant too. Willing to sing the modernist song in a religious key, they had nothing distinctive certainly nothing distinctively Christian to say.

 

The modern period has seen a variety of beliefs and attitudes, of course; terrible wars have been fought between the partisans of some of them. Broadly speaking, however, modern attitudes are characterized by a belief in coherence, logic, unity, principles, abstract ideas, system. Its most important medium of discourse has been the printed text.

 

Sermons and political speeches, which piggy-backed on the mindset that literacy created, could afford to be quiet long, complex and substantive.

 

Postmodernity , on the other hand, is characterized by preferences for incoherence, experience, diversity, situational ethics, practical techniques and a suspicion of all ideologies. Like the pre-modern ages, postmodernity is more visually oriented, and less literate. Its dominant medium of public discourse is TV. Sermons and even lessons in school cannot hope to compete with television in entertainment value (though preachers and teachers have felt constrained to try.

 

 

Postmodern  people have a huge suspicion of all metanarratives, by which they mean all overarching explanations of everything .  Douglas Adams expressed this suspicion very well: his imaginary computer Deep Thought, after seven and a half million years of calculations, finally came up with the answer to the Question of Life, the Universe and Everything: it is 42. The answer is meaningless because, as Deep Thought went on to point out, the question is meaningless too. Postmodern attitudes tend to regard all metanarratives as vehicles of oppression, the imposition of one groups value and understanding of reality upon all others.

 

The death of the Marxist dream with the collapse of communion appeared to vindicate this view. Marxism was a classically modernist intellectual construction. It purported to explain all human experience of reality on the basis of some abstract scientific ideas, and to insist that all people would inevitably conform to its teachings and values.

 

Such an approach to the world strikes postmodern people as frankly incredible. But heres the rub; Christianity is rejected on the same grounds. Whereas many moderns rejected Christianity as untrue (because they believed in Marxism, or the accounts of modern science as conflicting with the Bible, or whatever), postmoderns reject it as being a claim to universal truth.

 

Christianity purports to give an account of the origins and meaning of the universe, and points to historys ultimate fulfillment in the return of Christ. Postmodern thinking rejects such claims as hopelessly totalistic. It is not that Christianity is untrue, but that there is no such thing as truth at least not of the overarching explanatory kind that Christianity posits. This way of thinking is a key element in the evangelistic problem of our day. The rejection of moral absolutes makes it difficult for Christians to uphold traditional morality.

 

Green (1972), argues that the church is not sent to save the world, the community, or the family; her mission is to bring the saving gospel to individuals.  The Spirit of God deals with the world, the community, and the church, usually in groups, to prepare the way for the Word of God.  The Word then speaks to individuals.  Men are born one at a time.  This suggests a dangerous misconception about mass evangelism.  Actually, mass evangelism is a misnomer.  What happens is simultaneous soul winning, or multi-individual decisions (p. 173)

 

Because the structure of a church is dynamic and the personnel and programming change, it is obvious that the church varies as it moves through a sociological cycle; nevertheless, it does not follow that the church must move through the cycle theologically.  The experiential aspects of New Testament Christianity remain available to all believers of each generation.

 

The attached Generational Generalities show the differences in responses by various cohorts and the need to be sensitive to their worldview as we seek to reach them with the gospel. (See attachment).

 

Evangelism is fishing with the line or with the net.  But we must catch  fish on their terms not on our own.  It may require doing things that are uncomfortable to get to the fish.  If we are serious about the Great Commission we will go to any legitimate length  (even if uncomfortable) in order to win people to Christ.

 

Rick Warren (1995) in The Purpose Driven Church suggests the need for awareness of the following:

1.      Understanding and adopting to their culture

2.      Letting your target determine your approach

3.      Beginning with the felt needs of the unchurched

4.      Understanding and responding to the hang-ups of the unchurched

5.      Change methods whenever necessary (pp 195-199)

 

Warren (1995), sees that even the gospels were written with specific target audiences in mind.   Why would God use four writers and four books to communicate the one life of Christ?  After all, almost all of the stories and teaching in the gospel of Mark are covered in the gospel of Matthew.  Why do we need both books?  Because Matthews gospel was targeted for the Hebrew reader and Marks was targeted for the Gentile reader.  They had the same message, but because they wrote for different audiences, their style of communication differed.  Targeting your audience for evangelism is a method God invented! He expects us to witness to people on their own terms. 

 

The concept of evangelistic targeting is built into the Great Commission.  We are to make disciples of all nations.  The Greek term ta ethne, from which drive the word ethnic, refers literally to all people groups.  Each of these unique people groups needs an evangelistic strategy that communicates the Gospel in terms that their specific culture can understand.

 

In March of 1995, Billy Grahams Puerto Rico crusade was broadcast simultaneously in 116 languages to audiences around the world.  The message was the same, but it was translated into each countrys language, and culturally appropriate music and testimonies were dubbed into the broadcast.  Over one billion people heard the Gospel in relevant languages, music, and testimonieshistorys greatest example of targeted evangelism.

 

That same year, the Adventist church in North America did something similar by It is Written speaker,   Mark Finlay, called Net 95.   Then again in 1996.  For Net 98 the Evangelist was Dwight Nelson.  In each case, upwards of 5000 new believers joined the Adventist church. Because of the phenomenal success of satellite evangelism, Net 2004 is planned for October next year with Evangelist Walter Pearson of  Breath of Life as the speaker.

 

 

 

How do you define your target?             

 

We have seen that the practice of targeting specific kinds of people for evangelism to be a biblical one. Target (like Jesus and the Syrophoenecian (Canaanite) woman) to be effective not exclusive.

 

1. Define your target geographically.  Acts 1: 8.  Begin at Jerusalem and go to the uttermost parts of the earth.

People in your community are your Jerusalemevangelistic fishing pond.  Remember however, people choose churches today primarily on the basis of relationship and programs, not location.                                                                                                                                                                                           Proximity not necessarily related to appeal.  The church must fit needs.

 

2. Define your target demographically. a. Age group; b. marital status c. income level-median and average d. education e. occupation.

 

3. Define your target culturally.  Culture: lifestyle as mind-set of those in the evangelistic fishing pond. Psychographics (business): peoples values, interests, hurts, and fears.  Identify culture and subcultures within community.  One of the major barriers to church growth is people-blindness being unaware of social and cultural differences between people.  All Trinidadians are not Afro or Indo.  All Afro or Indo are not Trinidadians.

 

4. Define your target spiritually.  Spirituality could determine receptivity or resistance.  The unchurched not only those who never went to church but those who make no profession. 

 

 

Megachurches (300 and above, according to Carl George) do not assume that their message is automatically attractive to the unchurched.  They work hard at understanding their target audience and removing possible obstacles to effective communication.  This customer-oriented marketing mind-set is in stark contrast to churches, which have assumed that their role in the process of evangelism ends with proclaiming the gospel.

 

Baumgartner (Dybdahl, 1999) identifies some crucial aspects of communication.   He posits, Listening, understanding, and responding to the gospel is, of course, the receivers responsibility.  But research has shown that communication can be blocked for many reasonsusually not theological ones, but cultural and sociological reasons.  In other words, communication is often blocked because the message seems strange and people cannot identify with the messenger.  Megachurches go a long way to identify culturally with those they want to reach.  This step is paved with risks for misunderstanding.  Many Christians, unaware of their own culture, do not understand how deeply life is affected by cultural dimensions. (Dybdahl, p. 156).

 

Some church growth specialists regard megachurches as those with 2000 members and above.  The Adventist denomination also has a few, most of them connected with large Adventist institutions (colleges, hospitals, headquarters).  Every year about 25 churches break the 2,000 worship attendance barrier.  The worlds largest church is Yonggi Chos Yoida Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea, with more than 700,000 members gathering weekly in more than 60,000 cell meetings and multiple church services in the central auditorium, which seats 25,000.  A widely copied system of home cells is the backbone of the phenomenal growth of the church.

 

These churches are spectacular examples of a new breed of churches.  They are metropolitan churches drawing people from way beyond their immediate community.  Because of their sixe they are able to offer a supermarket-like variety of choice programs geared to meet the needs of the members and those living  in the surrounding community.

 

They are high-performance organizations that are extremely intentional about meeting the religious and personal needs of their target audience.  They know their target audience well.  They have profiled it and their programs and preaching indicate that they take seriously the agendas of the new generation. For Willow Creek this generation (the baby boomers ) is college educated, married with children, between 25 and 45 years old and thinks negatively of institutionsespecially if the church.  Their needs have become the basis for reshaping the gospel message to reach Unchurched Harry and Mary.  These needs include personal fulfillment, family, stress, loneliness, marriage problems and purpose. (Dybdahl, p. 152).

 

Finally, be aware of  barriers to effective evangelism: Fear, Lack of Spiritual Gifts, Intimidation by role models, Lack of knowledge, and Powerlessness.

 

Fear of defeat is the single greatest enemy of evangelism (Matthew 25:15).  The parable of the talented servant whose phobia caused him to default, gave fear as his defense.  He said, I was afraid.  He was called an unprofitable servant.  Faith can conquer fear, because faith brings out hidden strength.  Believers are strong. Timid or fearful soldiers are of little value in the Lords army.  The interval between Christs ascent and His return must be used by intrepid disciples to evangelize the world. (Green, p 90)

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Anderson, Leith, (1992). A Church For The 21^st Century.  Minneapolis:  Bethany House.

 

Dawn, M.,in Gray et al. (1997). The Post-evangelical Debate. New York: SPCK.

 

Dybdahl, Jon L., ed. (1999). Adventist Mission in the 21^st Century. Hagerstown: Review    and Herald.

 

Green, Hollis L.,(1972). Why Churches Die. Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship.

 

Pearse, Meic and Matthews, Chris, (1999) We must Stop Meeting Like This.  Eastbourne:  Kingsway Publications..

 

Warren, Rick, (1995) The Purpose Driven Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

 

GENERATIONAL GENERALITIES

 

Pre-Boomers   (born before 1946)

 

 

 

1.  Commitment to

     Christ= commitment

      to church

2.  Program-oriented

3.  Money to missions

4.  In-depth Bible study and

      prayer

5.  Loyalty to denomination

6.  Minister out of duty

 

 

 

 

1.  Relate to missions

2.  Stress in-depth Bible

      study & prayer

3.  Maintain stability

4.  Focus on marriage &

      retirement

5.  Be formal

6.  Encourage contact with

      baby busters

 

 

 

1.  Quietness

2.  Hymns

3.  Expository sermons

4.  Pastoral prayer

5.  Guests recognized

6.  Organ\piano

7.   Low audience participation

 

 

 

1.  Ability to carry on programs and projects           will wane

2.  Giving will continue until retirement

3.  Revivalistic evangelism will continue to decline

 

4.  Loyalty to institutions will continue to decline

 

 

 

Gary L. McIntosh: The McIntosh Ch. Growth Net work, May, 1991,p2.

Baby Boomers    (born 1946-1964)

 

Religious Factors

 

Commitment to

   Christ=commitment

   to relationships

People-oriented

Money to people

Practical Bible study,

  prayer\share

Loyalty to people

Minister for personal

  satisfaction

 

Program

 

Relate to people

Stress fellowship &

  Support groups

Use variety

Focus on marriage &

  Family

Be relational

Encourage involvement

  In small groups

 

Worship

 

Talking

Praise songs

How to sermons

Various people pray

Guests anonymous

Guitars\drums

Higher audience participation

 

Implications for the future

 

Support of people-oriented projects will continue

Giving will be related to people projects

Friendship evangelism will continue strong

 

 

Loyalty to people will continue strong

Baby busters   (born after 1964)

 

 

 

Commitment to

  Christ=commitment

  to community

Community-oriented

Money to causes

Issue-oriented, Bible

  study, prayer\share

Loyalty to causes

Minister to confront

  Issues

 

 

 

Relate to causes

Stress Bible studies on

  issues

Use variety

Focus on marriage &

  singles

Be spontaneous

Encourage involvement

  in community issues

 

 

 

Talking

Praise songs

Issue-oriented sermons

Various people pray

Guests anonymous

Jazz ensemble

Lower audience participation

 

 

 

 More involvement with issue-oriented projects

Giving will be related to issues & causes 12-step evangelism events will grow

 

 

Loyalty to issues or causes will grow