50 Days of Mission IN HIS STEPS 2021
Workshop 4: Culturally Relevant Evangelism Evangelism is the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ as historical, biblical Savior and Lord with a view to persuading people to respond to him by grace through faith and so be reconciled to God. Culturally relevant evangelism is the intersection between God’s story, my story, and the story of the person with whom I am sharing the gospel. It is God’s universal truth made personal through my own culture and experience, and communicated with sensitive attention to the culture and experience of others.
God’s Story
My Story
Your Story
Discuss: What happens to the communication process when any of these three elements are missing?
I. God’s Story: The Good News (Ephesians 2:8) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
A. By Grace 1. The good news of Jesus Christ is that we are saved, not by our own good works, but by the finished work of Jesus in his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus is the gospel. 2. God’s grace to us includes past, present and future. •
Justifying Grace: All our sins have been forgiven and we have the righteousness of Christ
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Sanctifying Grace: We are receiving the power to overcome sin and be filled with God’s love
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Glorifying Grace: We will overcome death and be resurrected like Christ into a New Creation
3. As Methodists, part of our tradition has been to put a special emphasis on Sanctifying Grace. We rob people of the full gospel if we only share about past forgiveness and future hope in heaven but do not share about the present power of God to free us from sin.
B. Through Faith 1. The Good News of Jesus is for everyone, but must be received personally 2. Faith is more than mere mental assent; it is a response of the whole heart; therefore, it necessarily involves repentance—turning away from Sin and toward God 3. Faith is a gift of God, imparted by the Holy Spirit, through the hearing of God’s Word, proclaimed by God’s people, the Church. • It begins with belief in the heart (often expressed through a “sinners prayer”) • It leads to confession of Jesus as Lord (public profession of faith, ideally through the sacrament of baptism and the process of confirmation) C. Discuss: Write out in your own words how you would explain the gospel to someone in three minutes. Share your talk with someone in the group and give each other feedback on how clear and compelling it was. Was it founded on Jesus, focused on grace, and leading to faith?
II. My Story: Making it Personal (1 Thessalonians 2:8) Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
A. Why share your story? 1. Sharing your own experience gives authenticity to your message (Acts 26:29) Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am. 2. Sharing your own experience gives evidence to support your message. (2 Corinthians 3:3) You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
B. What is my story? 1. An effective story has a beginning, middle, and end. • Life Before Christ—what was your life like without Jesus? • Meeting Christ—what prompted you to seek Jesus, and how did you became a Christian • Life With Christ–how is your life different now? 2. I’ve “always” been a Christian. How can I share my testimony? • Generational: If you are a part of a multi-generational Christian family, your testimony includes the experience of your ancestors. Find out all that you can about how they first came to Christ and how it has transformed the experience of generations after that. • Growing: Every growing Christian will have moments in life when the Holy Spirit helped them to become more aware of the presence and power of Christ, or gave a greater revelation of the full meaning of our salvation. Focus on one of these moments to tell your story. • Remember, your story doesn’t have to be dramatic, just authentic and personal. C. Write it Down: Take a moment to briefly write our your story below.
D. Practice: Pick a partner and take turns sharing your own story of meeting Jesus in about 3 minutes. After each presentation, give feedback: Was the story clear? Was it personal? Did your partner use any religious jargon, or assume background knowledge of the Bible that might not be clear to a person who has not been in the church?
III. Their Story: Making it Connect (1 Corinthians 9:19, 22) Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.…I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
A. What are language, culture and worldview? 1. Language, culture and worldview are the words, behaviors, and ideas with which we both communicate about the world, and through which we perceive the world 2. The influence of language, culture and worldview are usually unconscious until we are confronted by people who see the world differently.
B. Why learn about language, culture and worldview? 1. The Command of Christ • Jesus commands us to share the gospel with all people—not just those who are like us. • “Translating” the gospel culturally can be just as important as translating a language in reaching a new group of people. 2. The Love of God • If we don’t pay attention to other people’s culture, or if we stubbornly refuse to adapt to it, we may unnecessarily say or do things that offend and hurt people whom God loves. • If we don’t recognize when people have different assumptions, we may present the gospel in a way that is misunderstood. C. Compare: Read Peter’s preaching of the gospel to the Jews in Acts 2:22-41, and Paul’s presentation of the gospel to the pagan Greeks in Acts 17:22-34. How and why do you think are they different?
D. Discuss: Read the traits of genuine love found in 1 Corinthians 13. Which of these traits do you think are most important in sharing the gospel with people of a different culture?
Follow up: On a separate sheet, list some specific ways could practice listening and learning about other cultures around you in order to be better able to share the Good News of Jesus. Then pick one of them to work on over the next 30 days.