×

 Why do many of our methods of evangelism neglect the importance of the Story? In many evangelical churches, “witnessing” has been whittled down to nothing more than handing out a tract that shows stick figures jumping over a pit by way of a funny-looking cross. Or if it’s not the stick figures, it’s the ABC’s of salvation or the Four Spiritual Laws. Want to show others the way to heaven? Just memorize the Romans Road. Easy. Painless.

Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with the above methods of Gospel-sharing. The Four Spiritual Laws are true. So are the brochures starring the stick figures. The ABC’s of Salvation may be Kindergarten truth, but truth they still remain. No one will deny that God has used such methods to bring people into His Kingdom.

But if God had wanted us to flatten the Gospel message into three or four abstract truths, why didn’t He give us a Bible that reads likewise? Why doesn’t the Bible teach us step by step how someone goes to heaven and then summarize those truths for speedy reference? Why didn’t Paul or Peter go through their well-polished ABC’s when they spoke to the Jews and Greeks? Puzzling, isn’t it? Instead of a numbered list of truths, God chose to give us a book that is made up mostly of narratives. Stories.

The Gospel message that “Jesus is Lord and God raised Him from the dead” doesn’t make sense if proclaimed apart from the biblical worldview in which that truth finds its proper meaning. Consider our society. Postmodernism rejects the whole notion of their being a Meta-narrative – one overarching Story that makes sense of the whole world. History becomes simply one person’s version of truth; thus the world has countless “histories” – stories that each group tells based on their common experience. None is right or wrong. All are subjective, changeable, and equally valid.

In this buffet of “histories,” people hunger for the Story that explains where we’ve come from, who we are, what’s gone wrong, what the solution is, and where we are going. Christians must come to the rescue, not by handing out a tract that reads like a 3-point sermon, nor by quoting verses at random. We must provide answers by telling people we know the Story.

 At Pentecost, Peter proclaimed that God had fulfilled the ancient Jewish prophecies in Jesus of Nazareth. Speaking to a crowd that upheld a basic biblical worldview, he could immediately begin proclaiming the message that Jesus was Lord and God had raised Him from the dead.

But fast forward to Paul in Athens. In a pagan environment with no knowledge of the One True God, Paul begins with creation. The opening chapter of God’s great Story. Paul’s sermon differs from Peter’s, not because the core truths have been altered, but because the worldview of those listening was different. Addressing his fellow Jews, Peter could jump right ahead to latest chapter in the Story God had been writing. But addressing the Greeks, Paul had to begin with Chapter 1, before going any further.

Part 2 of 3

LOAD MORE
Loading