Applied Evangelism

Jesus commissioned his disciples to ‘go and make disciples’ (Matthew 28:19); Peter exhorted, ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have’ (1 Peter 3:15); and Paul lamented, ‘How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?’ (Romans 10:14).

As Christians, we have a commission, exhortation and passion to evangelise, but do you ever get the feeling that our culture has changed, and methods of evangelism which once worked very well last century, no longer seem as effective? How do you tell your friends about Jesus in a postmodern, post-Christian, relativist world? Jesus has not changed, but our culture’s systems of hearing and believing have altered.

In this unit we will explore the theological, philosophical and practical dimensions of evangelism. We will seek to understand how people’s cultures and contexts affect how they hear and believe the gospel. We will explore the implications for evangelistic preaching, using our testimony, apologetics, Bible storytelling and evangelism in community.