Growing up I learned several tools for evangelism. I remember youth training in "Evangelism Explosion" (EE) and the "Romans Road". Once a week we went door to door speaking with people in the community (you could do stuff like that back then without getting shot). In seminary we studied several books and methods.
I am not slighting any of that. Those methods were good tools for some, perhaps not so good for others. Those books were good. But I wonder sometimes if we do not make it more complicated than it really should be.
In a way it seems the nature of our culture and society to seek out methods and formulas, summaries and short cuts. The issue, perhaps, is that this can lead to ineffective evangelism if taken too far because it avoids true interaction.
Here is what Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
I am not slighting any of that. Those methods were good tools for some, perhaps not so good for others. Those books were good. But I wonder sometimes if we do not make it more complicated than it really should be.
In a way it seems the nature of our culture and society to seek out methods and formulas, summaries and short cuts. The issue, perhaps, is that this can lead to ineffective evangelism if taken too far because it avoids true interaction.
Here is what Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.