Throughout history, Christians have used many different approaches to spread Christianity through evangelistic practice. Christianity began with only a few different evangelistic approaches, but over the years, many different forms of evangelism have been used by various groups to spread their faith. Many of these forms of evangelism are often used only in certain parts of the world by Christians in different geographical areas. In particular, most new approaches to evangelism have emerged in Europe or the United States, especially when new technologies are used for evangelistic efforts.
Video Approaches to evangelism
Announce in the open air
Open-air sermons are an approach to evangelism characterized by speaking in public places in the open, generally to a crowd at a time, using messages, preaching, or speeches that spread the gospel. Proponents of this approach note that both Jesus and many Old Testament prophets often preach about God in public. This is one of the oldest approaches to evangelism.
One of the earliest open-minded Christian preachers, according to the Gospel, is Jesus Christ, whose first sermon was specifically recorded as the Sermon on the Mount, which takes place on the open mountain slopes. In the Gospel of Luke ( Luke 6: 17-49 ), it is recorded that Jesus also gave an open preaching known as the Sermon on the Plain.
After Jesus' death, many of his apostles and followers opened the gospel in the Jerusalem Temple or in other open spaces.
During the Middle Ages it was used. During the Protestant Reformation, open preaching is often used by Protestants throughout Europe who can not always preach in churches, mostly Catholics. The open-air sermons in Europe continued during the rise of Puritanism and other Protestant movements. It is often used in pastoral environments as well as in cities, the first occasionally because of the desire to avoid the authorities, and the latter because, for one reason, it can reach the eccentric people who live in cities who will not hear Gospel.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many famous open preachers in the United States began preaching, such as Billy Sunday and Billy Graham. Graham in particular uses a combination of open-air sermons and the recent emergence of televangelism to broadcast his sermons, which often occur in large venues such as stadiums, to large parts of the world and millions of Americans.
John Wesley, founder of Methodist states, "I believe that I did much better for my Lincolnshire congregation by preaching three days in my father's grave than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit... To this day, the preaching field is a cross for me, but I know my duty and see no other way to preach the gospel to every creature. "
The Anglican contemporary pastor John Whitefield Wesley stated: "I believe I have never been more acceptable to my Master than when I stood up to teach listeners in the open field... I now preach to ten times more people than I should, if I have limited to churches. "Includes" field "outside Park Street.
It is said that one of the regular practices of American evangelist Dwight L. Moody in the late 1860s was "to urge passers-by at night from the courthouse staircase." Often this impromptu encounter attracts many traitors as supporters. "
Preachers open throughout history often note that preaching to many people often causes preachers to be abused in certain ways, usually by bringing objects thrown at them like rotting vegetables or unsanitary liquids of many varieties.
Charles Spurgeon, a well-known open Baptist preacher in England, believes that open-air sermons play a vital role in getting people to hear the gospel who may never hear it, and many open preachers today believe that it reaches more people than once for other approaches to evangelism. Charles Spurgeon recommends some things for open preachers, such as never trying to talk to the wind, trying to speak away from the wind so that someone's voice will carry farther, (sometimes up to a half-mile by Spurgeon's account) to make a concise sermon not too exaggerated and complicated , use illustrations and anecdotes to keep people interested, and not to speak at the very top of your voice so you do not get too tired. Spurgeon also recommends never to use a tent when preaching because of its dampening effect, and to be wary of what is on the other side of the wall that you may preach in front of, as people behind walls or living in spaces within a building can disturbing the preacher.
Maps Approaches to evangelism
Complicated evangelism
Trickle-down evangelism is an approach to evangelism that is primarily concerned with transforming high-level members of society, so that their influence can serve to help spread Christianity throughout the community. It was practiced especially during the Middle Ages.
Trickle-down evangelism was practiced throughout China several times during the Middle Ages, with examples of such an altered or sympathetic official helping the Jesuits or other parts of the Catholic church spread, or the Marco Polo expedition which resulted in the Mongol rulers of China Kublai Khan inviting the Pope to send "science and religious teacher" to China.
Complicated evangelism was also frequently applied in European regions during ancient times, such as in northern Sweden, when the Catholic Church tried to send missionaries to the area.
Introduction door to door
Preaching from house to house is an approach to evangelism where a Christian will go from household to household in a certain area to evangelize to the population, often simultaneously sharing a gospel tract. Jesus often went to other people's homes during his own ministry, and according to The Encyclopedia of Protestantism, it was a very important approach to evangelism. One of the first large-scale uses of home-to-home teaching was when the Oriental Mission Society sought to visit the homes of all nations, visiting 10.3 million homes in Japan from 1912 to 1917. The international organization Every Home for Christ began preaching from home to home in 1953 in many countries, and by 2010, the total number of home visits by its members to 1.3 billion. Many parishes and local churches around the world use this approach for evangelism.
Groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons are particularly well-known to spread their beliefs by door-to-door evangelism in people's homes, often in pairs or small groups. The main organizations of both groups use door-to-door preaching for the most part. The full-time missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints use this, and other techniques, to find people to teach.
Evangelizing through sermons
Many churches regularly have the gospel message preached in a sermon. Often, this will include an altar call in which people are invited to come forward and "receive Christ". The use of altar calling is somewhat controversial, while it is practiced by many evangelical churches, some Calvinists object to it for the reason it creates false conversions.
Lifestyle evangelism
Lifestyle evangelism is an approach to evangelism characterized by someone who demonstrates their faith by their actions in the hope that those around them will be impressed with how God influences the person's life, and becomes a Christian. According to The Encyclopedia of Protestantism printed in 2004, about 100 million people use this approach to evangelism.
Proponents of this approach to evangelism often cite Matthew 5:16 as a proof. Proponents also often show that Jesus draws people to God by showing good and doing good deeds, while critics sometimes note that people may not be aware of one's good behavior is because of Christianity. Proponents claim this is more effective than direct evangelism because of the perception that it is more difficult to live "properly" than preaching sermons.
Friendship evangelism
Similar to evangelistic lifestyles, friendship evangelism is an evangelistic approach characterized by Christians who build relationships with people to show kindness and talk to them about God in the end. Proponents sometimes say that Jesus is related to those who are interested in him as a friend, or that it is more effective than other methods of evangelism that are considered less personal. This approach is also known as "loving someone into the kingdom". Opponents state that friendship evangelism contradicts the approach of Jesus, Paul, and the apostles to preach the gospel. Dating missionaries take a step further and the Glamor Fishing makes it extreme.
Child evangelization
The movement of child evangelism is a Christian evangelistic movement that began in the 20th century. It focuses on Window 4/14 centered on child evangelism between the ages of 4 and 14.
Creative evangelism
This evangelistic approach is where the creative arts (such as music, visual arts, drama, film) are used to present the gospel message. Examples include Wendy Alec's novel "The Fall of Lucifer", Christian rock band Delirious? and musical compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach "MatthÃÆ'¤uspassion" (Saint Matthew Passion). However, some ministries call such evangelism only as a practice of finding creative ways to evangelize.
One of the most famous examples of creative evangelism is the oratio of George Handel, "Messiah," written in 1741. This is the most widely choral work in history, attached to the rise of the Church of England and influencing the famous evangelist John Wesley's Theology of security Eternal, and in modern times, has about four million viewers per year.
Campus Crusade for Christ, an evangelical Christian association with branches in many countries, has distribution rights for a film called "Jesus Film", a presentation about the life of Jesus Christ. The film, which has been translated into 80 languages, has been seen by some 850 million people.
In the Church of Pakistan, Hyderbad diocese uses this approach to evangelism among tribal groups in areas of Pakistan with high Sindhis population.
Using the gospel tract
The Gospel channel in the Christian sense is a leaflet with the Gospel message. This is usually a brief presentation of a gospel that lasts only a few pages, and is usually printed on small papers. It is estimated that the number of tracts distributed in 2000 amounts to about 5 billion. It is often used in conjunction with preaching on the street or door to door. As an evangelistic approach, many modern evangelists attest to the usefulness of the gospel tracts to spread the gospel.
Televangelism
Televangelism is an approach to evangelism characterized by evangelistic messages presented through television, often through charismatic preaching. Large Christian television networks such as the EWTN Catholic broadcast channel or Protestant televangelism channel Trinity Broadcasting Network show many televangelist preachers.
Televangelism began in the United States and Canada in the mid-20th century, as the main evangelical Protestant approach to evangelism. That made the Christian point of view far more visible in the world at that time than ever before.
Radio evangelism
Radio evangelism is an approach to evangelism that began around 1921, and has reached more people per hour than any other type of evangelism, according to The Encyclopedia of Protestantism . This is the use of radio broadcasts to evangelize to listeners, sometimes around the world in a single broadcast.
Maria Miranda, most listened to radio evangelist from Latin America in 1990, was heard by more than 100 million people per day through 537 radio stations in 22 countries during that time. In Yemen, a country where 97 percent of the country is registered as Muslim, 10 percent of the population listens to Christian radio. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has had a radio station in KFUO called "The Lutheran Hour" since 1925, had 5 million listeners in 1931, and was broadcasted in over 31 languages ​​with 40 million listeners in 1987. The first dedicated missionary radio station , HCJB, aired in Ecuador on December 25, 1931.
Internet evangelism
Internet evangelism is a form of evangelism in which the Christian Gospel is presented on the Internet. This may include a website that presents apologetics about the depth of the Bible, someone who addresses their faith in chat rooms, evangelical messages or advertisements on the Christian organization's home page, or other methods of using the Internet to spread Christianity.
In the United States, the Internet Evangelical Coalition, founded by Billy Graham Center in 1999, started Internet Evangelism on the last Sunday of April each year.
In the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the Pew Research Center found that "Nearly two-thirds of Americans online use the Internet for faith-related reasons." Sixty-four percent of Internet users who perform spiritual and religious activities online represent nearly eighty people. two million Americans ".
Among the most popular and important spiritual related online activities:
- Thirty-eight percent of the country's 128 million internet users have sent and received emails with spiritual content.
- Thirty-five percent have sent or received online greeting cards related to religious holidays.
- Thirty-two percent have been online to read events and religious news accounts.
- Twenty-one percent seek information on how to celebrate religious festivals.
- Seventeen percent have sought information about where they can attend religious services.
- Seven percent have made or responded to an online prayer request.
- Seven percent have contributed to a religious organization or charity.
Evangelism
This evangelical approach involves using the phone to contact people to spread the gospel to them. This sometimes takes the form of a random phone call, or is done after someone contacts the evangelist to recommend people to whom someone might want the evangelist to evangelize. The huge growth in mobile phones and other mobile devices paves the way for new and creative evangelistic methods.
Personal evangelism
Sometimes referred to as "one to one" or "personal work", this approach to evangelism is when a Christian evangelizes, usually, a non-Christian, or just some non-Christian, in a personal way. The Gallup Polling of 1982 reveals that 51 percent of Americans have tried to convince someone to become a Christian during their lifetime.
Creation evangelism
Not to be confused with creative evangelism, the creation of evangelism is the use of philosophical and theological creationist arguments to prove the literal interpretation of Genesis and thus the reliability of the Bible and the truth of the Christian gospel to the people so that they can become convinced that Christianity is true. This approach has also been described as using a strategy of persuading a "no belief that modern science is wrong and creationism is scientifically correct and then accepted, unbelievers will accept the truth of the Bible and become Christians."
Evangelical archeology
Used with great success by groups such as Seventh-day Adventists and Christadelphians, practitioners used archaeological discoveries to demonstrate the historical reliability and prophetic biblical. The availability of archaeological programs on radio and television has made this approach less popular and effective than in previous years. At one time this approach attracted a large crowd to the New Gallery Theater in London and the Opera House in Sydney with David Down, as well as many less prestigious places such as halls and churches.
Prophetic evangelization
A method most used by charismatic Christians. Here (as practitioners believe) God speaks through a Christian to an unbeliever to say something that will encourage the person to seek God. On most occasions it is something the speaker can not know naturally; for example, someone who has a secret affair can be told that God knows they made a mistake and want them to change their ways.
However, some critics of this approach note that other religions seem to use similar methods to spread their faith.
Treasure hunt
So-called treasure hunt is a kind of prophetic evangelism. A small group of Christians takes time to pray and listen to the revelation of the Holy Spirit about the people whom God wants the group to find. There is a close correlation with personal evangelism. This type of evangelism can be called a game of seeking God's treasure, which is human. This group usually receives revelation, or "guidance", which consists of places, clothes, hairstyles, or situations that will help identify "treasure".
After receiving this revelation, the group goes out and searches for those identified by the instructions. Sometimes they are able to talk about God's love and the gospel of Jesus Christ into one's life. On other occasions groups pray for healing or the needs of others.
The main focus in this type of evangelism is to let people know that they are valuable to God and that God is looking for them as his treasure.
Use of props
Various visual aids can serve as visual aids to accompany verbal explanations of the gospel message in many of the above approaches. Such props include variations on Books without Words, commercial products such as eCube, and special flannelgraph or flip chart sets.
Note
References
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "Lecture for My Students", Zondervan publishing house, Printed October 1977 Eighth print, ISBNÃ, 0-310-32910-8
- "The Encyclopedia of Protestantism", Editor Hans J. Hillerbrand, Assistant Editor James H. Thrall, Volume 2 D-K, publication, published in 2004, ISBNÃ, 0-415-92472-3
- "Evangelicalism", Bruce L. Guenther
- "Evangelism, Review", David B. Barret
- "Evangelical Organization", Edith Blumhofer
- "The Encyclopedia of Protestantism", Editor Hans J. Hillerbrand, Assistant Editor James H. Thrall, Volume 3 L-R, publication, published in 2004, ISBNÃ, 0-415-92472-3
- "Mormonism", Douglas J. Davies
External links
- The Reformed Evangelist Website discussing the Calvinistic approach to evangelism
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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