TEACHING PROCLAMATION A MODEL FOR TRAINING EVANGELISTIC SPEAKERS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF MCMASTER DIYINITY COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY MISSION Ai\D RENEWAL MCMASTER UNIVERSITY HAMTLTON, ONTARIO BY JOHN BOWEN APRIL 1999 DOCTOR OF MIMSTRY McMASTER LTNTVERSITY Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: A Modet for Training Evangelistic Speakers AUTHOR: John p. Bowen, B.A. (Oxford), Dip.Th.(London) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Andrew lrvine NLMBER OF PAGES: 279 McMASTER DIVINITY COLLEGE Upon the recommendation of an oral examination committee and vote of the faculty, this thesis-project by John P. Bowen is hereby accepted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry Date: April 2I,1999 ABSTRACT I I I This thesis considers how Christian ministers and other Christian workers may be trained to communicate the Christian message through public speaking, in a way that is Biblically sound, culturally appropriate and p edagogically inforrn ed. The data base for the thesis is a group of staff and students of Inter- Varsity Christian Fellowship Canada who attended a training conference in evangelism in November 1995. Twenty-two of the delegates to this conference who opted to receive training in evangelistic speaking returned a questionnaire on their understanding and practice of evangelistic speaking. The results of this questionnaire were considered from four perspectives: Biblical material on evangelism and evangelistic speaking; current missiological considerations; contemporar5r cultural trends, particularly the growth of postmodernism; and recent writings in tl.e area of pedagogr. The conclusion proposes a model for training evangelistic speakers in the light of this material, a model which may be applied in parachurch and seminar5r settings. f \7 ACl{ilOWLEDGEMTNTS Many people have contributed to the writing of ttris thesis. rVCF especially has done much to shape my understanding of evangelism and evangelistic speaking over the past 30 years. I am particularly grateful to evangelists like David watson and Michael Green, who were outstanding models of what Gospel proclamation could be. In canadian IVCF, Don posterski and Jim Berney have given consistent allirmation, wise direction and encouragement over many years. And then countless conversations, Bible studies and meetings with IVCF students and staJr coileagues across Canada have influenced me more than I can measure. on a more personal level, my family have been wonderfulry understanding of my frequent absences while I was working on my o{emon., In particular, my wife Deborah, who has been this way before me, offered wise counsel, reassurance and cups of tea when needed. A friend of rong standing, Dr. Emily Gear Berkman in ottawa, has also been a constant source of encouragement. Finally, Dr. Andrew Irvine has patienfly worked with me on this thesis in the midst of his own hectic schedule. It has taken many cups of coffee, more t]1an one strategr session involving chalk and blackboard, and numerous messages on answering machines. He has gone the second mile . not to mention the third and the fourth. To all of these, my heartfelt thanks. Table of Contents ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTENTS chapter L: INTRoDUCTIoN: PERSONALAND INSTITUTIONAL . .1 Chapter 2: BIBLICAL MODELS OF EVANGELISM 34 Chapter 3: EVANGELISM AND MISSIOLOGY Chapter 4: EVANGELISM AND THE POSTMODERN WORLD . L2S Chapter 5: LEARNING EVANGELISTIC SPEAKING 173 Chapter 6: A MODEL FOR TRAINING EVANGELISTIC SPEAKERS . 222 WORKS CITED .242 Appendix I: QUESTIONNAIRE for delegates to ECgs Februarylggg. ....25I Appendix II: JOB DESCRIPTION for a mentor in Evangelistic Preaching at EC95. 266 Appendix III: GLASS NorES for a course on Evangelistic preaching taught at Wycliffe College, Toronto. Sp.irrg 199g. 269 Appendix IV: STATEMENT OF METHODOLOGY . .279 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: PTRSONAL AltD INSTITUTIONAL Evangelistic preaching is the public proclamation of tJ:e good news of Jesus Christ to those who are not yet his followers. In the New Testament, evangelistic preaching is one of the chief ways tJ:e Gospel message is spread. Jesus, Peter, Paul, Philip and Apollos are among those who employ public proclamation as a me€u1s of evangelism. The Unpopularitv of Evaneelistic Preachine In North America in recent years, however, confidence in evangelistic preaching has waned. Partly this is due to the air of scandal which surrounds the most visible of such preachers--TV evangelists. It is also due to the perceived inadequacy of their message. David Buttrick parodies it thus: First, lay on a heavy sense of guilt, and then, when the congregation quivers in despair, hand out a carrot-on-a-stick Jesus wittr mercy. Such strategies, including emotional climaxes, threats of coming wrath, last- chance gospels, and the like, border on manipulation and are a denial of our freedom for God.' A further level of reaction to evangelistic preaching comes from those who want to re-emphasize the importance of the church and the lifestyle of its ' David Buttrick Homiletic: Moves and Structures (Philadelphia: Fortress Press L987), 454. 225-234. members in God's evangelistic purposes. The influential missiologist, David Bosch, for instance, comments tJlat in the early church: Of far greater significance than the mission of the peripatetic preacher . was the conduct of early Christians, the olanguage of love' on their lips and in their lives." William J. Abraham too notes the way that evangelistic preaching often separates evangelism from other facets of the church's life, and thus fails to give converts (or potential converts) adequate initiation into the work of the Kingdom. He believes that: [m]ost contemporary evangelistic preaching is unrelated to t]re intention to initiate people into tJ e Kingdom of God.. Further criticism of evangelistic preaching is implied in a popular textbook on homiletics such as David Buttrick's 1987 text, Homiletic: Moves and Structures. Out of a total of 459 pages, Buttrick devotes only 9 to the question of evangelism, and even then his emphasis is on the witness of the laity and not on preaching. For anyone concerned for evangelistic preaching, thg criticisms which have been leveled at it need to be taken seriously. Nevertheless, behind this thesis lies the conviction that, once evangelistic preaching has learned these lessons, it still has an important contribution to make as one element within the totality of the church's evangelistic efforts. z David J. Bosch Transformine Mission: Paradisrn Shifts in Theoloqv of Mission (Maryknoll I{'Y: Orbis, 1991), 191. s Williarn J. Abraha:n, The Losic of Evanselism (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 1989), 173. 2 The purpose of ttris thesis, therefore, is to develop a model of how people can be trained in evangelistic preaching. The goal of such training is to prepare them to continue the tradition of preaching begun by Christ and his Aposfles, and practised in the church through the centuries. The model of training will also need to be one which helps evangelistic preachers be sensitive to contemporary concerns, both theological and cultural. Lastly, the training will be based on sound pedagogical principles. The Strateer/ of this Thesis In order to develop this model, Chapter 1 will describe and evaluate a conference for training in evangelistic speaking held in 1995 which I directed. Delegates to this conference formed my database for this thesis: I sent them a questionnaire 6 months after the conference, and a second one 2.5 vears after the event. Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 will then consider theoretical issues related to evangelistic preaching, and Chapter 6 will revisit the question of a practical model for training. In the theoretical section, I will consider background issues essential for the understanding and practice of evangelistic preaching today. Chapter 2 will examine a biblical understanding of evangelism, with particular attention to the theological and eccelesiological context in which evalgelistic preaching takes place. A consideration of biblical data alone is not 3 a sufficient foundation, however, since evangelistic preaching is practised differently according to one's overarching theological scheme and, in particular, one's theological understanding of culture and of mission. Chapter 3 will address this question, motivated in part by Lesslie Newbigin's urging that t1.e Western world be treated as a mission field.. In light of this, I will examine evangelistic preaching as a part the church's missiological calling and seek to show how it is possible to preach evangelistically in such a way as to "relate to oselling the culture" without out to the culture." The argument of this cirapter, that tJ1e evangelistic preacher must speak in the idiom of the surrounding culture as well as being faithful to the Gospel, needs then to be pursued further in order to give guidance to the preacher in the specific culture of the contemporary West. Chapter 4 will thus consider the current transition from modernity to postmodernity, and I will offer some practical proposals for how evangelistic preachers may engage with a postmodern world. Chapter 5 then moves on to address the practical question of training in evangelistic preaching, through a consideration of pedagogical method. It will also illustrate pedagogical principles by reference to interviews with practising evangelists. At the conclusion of each of these chapters, I will consider the responses of those who attended the training conference in the light of the theoretical issues raised. I will analyze not only how they position themselves in relation to each topic, but, in chapter s, I will arso ask how t]lev learned the 4 E.G. "What would be involved in a missionar5i encounter between the gospel and this yhole way of perceiving, thinking and tinittg that we call hodern western culture?'Lesslie Newbigin, Foolis[ness to thi Greeks: the Gospel and Western Culture (Grand Rapids: Effi understanding and skills of evangelistic speaking which they have demonstrated by their answers.