Urban Evangelism Resources

Richardson, R. (28 February 2001). 8 Urgent Questions of Today's Generation in www. LeadershipJournal.net. Adapted from Evangelism Outside the Box. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

OVERVIEW

Rick Richardson provides us with "8 Urgent Questions of Today's Generation." He says that understanding people's real concerns gives our message more credibility.

I recently served on a panel that included young Christians and pre-Christians. They were given freedom to ask questions about the credibility of Christian faith. One person (planted by me!) asked about the evidence for the resurrection. Others asked about the reliability of the Bible. They seemed politely interested in our answers. Then someone asked how we can legitimately question homosexual identity and practice. The temperature in the room went up. Clearly, people were not politely interested at this point.

Here's Rick's summary of some of the new questions we must face if we wish to connect with this post-modern generation:

• Questions of power and motive. Even our logical answers can feel like an exercise of colonializing power. To many people, we're just another tribe, using logic to gain power. Post-modern people have redefined truth as "whatever rings true to your experience, whatever feels real to you." There's no grand story to inspire people. Any attempt to claim that one has the truth for everybody is heard as an arrogant attempt at domination and control.
• Questions of identity. Who am I? Who will I listen to for help in developing my identity and sense of self? How can you Christians think you can tell other people who they are? Who do you think you are to invalidate my sense of self and identity and my group's definition of who we are?
• Questions of pain and suffering. Why do I hurt? Why did my family break apart? Why is there so much hatred and violence in the world? People are crying out not so much for philosophical answers as for a way to give meaning and purpose to personal and corporate suffering.
• Questions of character, trust and attractiveness. Why should I trust you? Look at what believers have done: racism, sexism, homophobia, the Crusades, religious wars. Intolerance and narrow hate seem to mark your institutions. Your character is no better than the character of the society you live in. I can trust you just as much as I can trust other leaders in our society-which is hardly at all.
• Questions of love and meaning. How can you reject the homosexual lifestyle? How can you say you love people when you reject who they are, how they define their very identity? How can you question living together when people love each other? How can you be rule-oriented in your ethics when the situation has to determine what is really loving?
• Questions of interpretation. Isn't the way you see the world completely dependent on your community and place of birth? Can't you interpret Scriptures any way you want, and haven't you? I don't care about the Bible's reliability. I am concerned about its integrity and moral value. After all, it was written by patriarchal, ethnocentric people.
• Questions of relevance and relativism. Does your belief change lives? Does prayer really make a difference? Does your religion help you with your pain? If it works for you, why should it work for me? What does it matter what you believe as long as it works and helps you? The question of the uniqueness of Christ is not primarily philosophical as it is utilitarian. Don't all religions help people equally? If a religion works and feels real to a person, then it is true for that person. People are not looking for theological comparisons but for attractiveness and relevance.
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• Questions of impact. Does your religion help society? Does it help me, whether I'm in your group or not? Or are you just another self-serving group?

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

• Are these some of the questions the young people you know are asking about faith and life?
• What other questions do they have?
• Are some still interested in the apologetic and intellectual questions about faith?

IMPLICATIONS

• As important as it is to know what the questions young people are asking about life and faith, only questions asked and answered within the context of a caring relationship with these young people will give you the opportunity to share your faith with them.
• Formal, modernist evangelism programme are not likely to succeed with today's generation, unless of course the formal programme is within the context of a caring relationship and allows for questions outside of the box!

OVERVIEW

Michael T. Motley, a professor and department chair of rhetoric and communication at the University of California, maintains a private practice as a communication consultant. He cites the following facts:

• About 85% of people feel anxious about speaking in public or suffer "speech anxiety."
• There are physical symptoms of "speech anxiety": sweaty palms, a dry mouth, an increased heart rate, shaky hands, weak knees, shortness of breath, "butterflies" in the stomach, an increase in blood pressure, and increased muscle tension.
• While some are encouraged by these symptoms, it scares and deters most people from getting up to make a public speech.
• In extreme cases, some people suffer irrational fears about public speaking.
• It is shown that an audience does not generally critique a speech nor attune to a speaker’s nervousness.

HELP FOR THOSE WHO SUFFER EXTREME ANXIETY PRECEDING A SPEECH

• One method of treatment is systematic desensitization. It aims to lessen physiological arousal, and it involves controlling muscle tension and treatment using visual imagery.
• Another approach is Rational Emotive Therapy (RET). This strives to reduce irrational thoughts contributing to anxiety.

TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR A SPEECH

• View the speech as communication rather than performance. Think of it as a normal conversation.
• Plan how you can best express your major points.
• Imagine yourself in the audience. Speak to them on their terms, in language they can understand.
• Think of yourself as speaking to one person at a time so that it feels more natural.
• Try not to think about your hand movements and facial expressions.
• Take it slow and easy.
• Speak the way you would normally talk.
• Ask for advice and criticism.

IMPLICATIONS

• Public speaking is a very real part of working with youth. Youth workers should feel comfortable in front of young audiences. It is important to accept speaking engagements in order to model public speaking to others.
• Kids are encouraged to speak in front of class and club audiences. Youth workers can help them prepare for such situations.
• It is good to practice some techniques for calming down before a speaking engagement.
• Practice with small groups and friends. Practice with kids. They are the best audience for letting you know where you stand.
• Realize that when you are asked to speak, it is a form of encouragement and a sign of respect. Use that encouragement when preparing to speak.

Sarah Alderman and Anne Montague cCYS

Borgman, D. (1989). Evangelization. The Center for Youth Studies.

OVERVIEW

What is the difference between evangelism and evangelization? What do we mean by the word "evangelical?" What really is the Gospel?

These terms carry many different shades of meaning-in their connotative and denotative uses-and they also raise deep and strong emotions.

Webster's University Dictionary defines evangelism as "Zealous preaching and dissemination of the Gospel, as through missionary work. Militant zeal for a cause." The term "evangelism" is often tied to the Evangelical Church and with evangelical beliefs.

The same dictionary defines evangelical, in the broad sense, as "relating to, or in accordance with, the Christian Gospel, especially the four Gospels of the New Testament." In a more specific and Protestant sense, evangelical means "...a group emphasizing the authority of the Gospel and holding that salvation is from faith and grace rather than from good works and sacraments alone." Then, of course, the term evangelical can refer to specific denominations such as The Evangelical Free Church.

Among some, there is preference for the term "evangelization" over "evangelism," because the latter with its "ism" ending connotes an ideology, an ultimate loyalty that might even transcend one's commitment to God himself and the Kingdom. "Evangelization" seems to be used by many across a broad range of the Christian Church-from Roman Catholic to Evangelical and Pentecostal. And it seems to point to process and action rather than to belief and belonging.

Regardless of the term preferred, evangelism and evangelization speak of a deep and strong commitment to the Great Commission, to reaching all unreached people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ-as He himself commanded. Evangelization is the grand mission of the Church.

As with any grand mission, there are serious differences about how this mission mandate should work. Some see the mission strictly as saving souls through personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Others see healing and ecstatic experiences as being part of any full gospel and satisfactory evangelistic accomplishment. In America, Evangelicals, Born-Againers, and right-wing Moral Majority tended to be confused in the 1980s. Some are accused of preaching a "gospel of health and wealth." Those who minister in destitute sections of the city or under a variety of oppressive situations are often charged with diluting the Gospel with social concern and adding liberating emphases not found in St. Paul's teaching. Evangelicals may attack sacramentalism and a gospel of works in those of high church or Roman Catholic teaching (who reply that theirs is also a gospel of pure grace). Liberal theologians and churchpeople have a very different understanding of the Gospel and evangelization than do conservative Evangelicals.

How, then, is one to sort through this? It seems the responsibility of theological schools and pastors to help Christians understand the Gospel from Scripture and to ponder the mandate of the Gospel in today's world.

It might be noted that there are, in general, two different understandings of the Gospel. The one is based on the scope of the text in 1 Cor. 15:1-4 and St. Paul's emphasis throughout his epistles. A broader interpretation of the Gospel accepts this emphasis (perhaps as the core of gospel content) but understands the Gospel as the Good News of God's entire Word. Such an interpretation puts equal weight on such an important text as our Lord's ("inaugural") address in Luke 4:18ff. Jesus' use of Isaiah 61:1ff (which relates back to Leviticus 25) would, for those of broader interpretation, bring physical healing and social liberation into the scope of the Gospel. For those of broader understanding, Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom included essential features not noted in 1 Cor. 14:3-4. Those of stricter and narrower interpretation fear in this broader view, a disastrous compromise and dilution of the Gospel resulting in a weakening of the Gospel's call for repentance.

Fortunately or unfortunately, this preliminary discussion of world evangelization is an important prelude to considering the principles of evangelization and missiology.

To evangelize the world, the passion and strategy of St. Paul must be wed to the compassion and model of Jesus Christ, who lived out truth and presented the truth as no else ever has.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

• What is your commitment to evangelism or evangelization?
• Would you call yourself evangelical?
• How do you define and describe the Gospel?

IMPLICATIONS

• Every Christian and every church is obligated to consider the meaning of the Great Commission (to the first Christians and church) about its mandate for evangelization.
• There is no more important study for this task than to understand the meaning, glory, and power of the Gospel as described in Holy Scripture (especially in Isaiah, the Gospels, Romans, and 1 Cor.).
• Added to this study one must be aware of the statistics of world demography and evangelization.
• Theologians and evangelists must always be aware of the culture to which they are called (see 1 Cor. 9:19-23). Anthropology and sociology, especially, have provided important principles for the out-working of missiology.