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The Power of a Personal Testimony Booklet: Increasing Gospel Witness in Everyday Life

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The Power of a Personal Testimony Booklet: Increasing Gospel Witness in Everyday Life Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity The Power of a Personal Testimony Booklet: Increasing Gospel Witness in Everyday Life A Thesis Project Report Submitted to the Faculty of Liberty School of Divinity in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Ministry Department of Evangelism and Church Planting by Patrick Walker Lynchburg, Virginia February 20, 2021 Copyright © 2021 by Patrick Walker All Rights Reserved ii Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Thesis Project Approval Sheet ___Dr. Daryl Neipp___ Mentor Name & Title __Dr. David Wheeler__ Reader Name & Title iii THE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY THESIS PROJECT ABSTRACT “The Power of a Personal Testimony Booklet: Increasing Gospel Witness in Everyday Life” Patrick Walker Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity, 2021. Mentor: Dr. Daryl Neipp Evangelism is a key component of the Great Commission and a major responsibility for every Christ-Follower. The practice of personal evangelism, however, is frequently neglected by a majority of Christians. This project will initially examine the current state of personal evangelism in America and the scriptural expectation for all Christians to be frequent communicators of the gospel message. The ultimate purpose of this project is to demonstrate that a member of LivingStone Community Church can increase their Gospel witness in everyday life through the use of a written Personal Testimony Booklet. This pocket-sized booklet consists of two components. The first is a description of the three stages of one’s personal testimony. The second component consists of a unique presentation of the gospel message based upon that person’s spiritual journey. The goal of this thesis will shed light on the value of writing and distributing a personal testimony booklet. Practical suggestions will be offered for how to help church members develop and implement this evangelism method. Action research will primarily examine the success of this evangelism tool in increasing gospel witness in everyday life through surveys and interviews. Word Count: 187 Keywords Evangelism, Gospel Literature, Gospel Witness, Personal Evangelism, Personal Testimony Booklet, Spiritual Autobiography iv Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................1 Ministry Context ................................................................................................................1 Colonial Beach Demographics ................................................................................2 Outreach Biography .................................................................................................2 Corporate Evangelism: New Resident Outreach .........................................3 Servant Evangelism Projects and Events .....................................................4 Individual Evangelism: The 3 Circles..........................................................6 LCC’s Vision ...........................................................................................................7 Problem Presented .............................................................................................................8 The Lack of Evangelism and Church Health in America ........................................8 The Lack of Evangelism and Church Health at LCC ..............................................9 Purpose Statement ...........................................................................................................10 Basic Assumptions ...........................................................................................................11 Definitions .........................................................................................................................12 Evangelism .............................................................................................................12 The Gospel .............................................................................................................14 Personal Testimony Booklet ..................................................................................14 Limitations ........................................................................................................................15 Sampling Pool ........................................................................................................15 Time Constraints ....................................................................................................15 Delimitations .....................................................................................................................16 Missional Evangelism vs. Attractional Evangelism ..............................................16 v A Narrow Focus: One Method of Personal Evangelism ........................................16 The First Stage of the Great Commission: Evangelism .........................................17 Thesis Statement ..............................................................................................................17 Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework ...........................................................................................19 Literature Review ............................................................................................................19 Introduction ............................................................................................................19 Focusing in on the Problem ...................................................................................20 The Power of Personal Testimony and Gospel Literature .....................................26 A Gap in the Literature ..........................................................................................29 Conclusion .............................................................................................................30 Theological Foundations .................................................................................................31 The Great Commission and Personal Evangelism .................................................31 Effective Personal Evangelism ..............................................................................35 #1 Communicating the Gospel ...................................................................35 #2 The Biblical Motive for Evangelism .....................................................36 #3 The Role of the Holy Spirit and Prayer ................................................36 #4 A Life that Reflects the Message ...........................................................39 Written Gospel Literature of the New Testament ..................................................40 A Scriptural Foundation for Personal Testimony ..................................................41 Theoretical Foundations ..................................................................................................42 Introduction ............................................................................................................42 Written Gospel Literature ......................................................................................45 The Use of Personal Testimony .............................................................................50 vi A Happy Medium: A Personal Testimony Booklet ...............................................53 Benefits of a Personal Testimony Booklet.............................................................55 Conclusion .............................................................................................................57 Chapter 3: Methodology..............................................................................................................59 Intervention Design ..........................................................................................................59 A Review of the Problem .......................................................................................59 The Details of the Intervention Design ..................................................................61 The Process of Implementation ......................................................................................65 Difficulties Encountered During the Writing Process ..................................................77 Utilizing a Personal Testimony Booklet .........................................................................79 How Results will be Measured ........................................................................................82 Identifying Individual Participants and Cataloging Information ...............................86 Data Analysis Plan ...........................................................................................................87 Chapter 4: Results........................................................................................................................89 Research Participants ......................................................................................................89 Research Results ..............................................................................................................91 Part 1: Questionnaire..............................................................................................91 Part 2: Questionnaire..............................................................................................94 Part 3: Personal Interview ....................................................................................104 Were the Results
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