Reformed Evangelism and the Postmodern Challenge

Throughout the past decades churches in the CRC have been introduced to a succession of different evangelism methods and church planting models. In the early 1970s during the "Key 73" evangelistic campaign the "Kennedy Method" of personal evangelism was very popular. Then thousands of pastors and church members were trained to use the Evangelism Explosion method; I remember using this evangelistic technique in Australia and in the Philippines. Campus Crusade came out with their Four Spiritual Laws, the Navigators with their Bridge Illustration, and the Roman Road became popular.

Members of the CRC have used not only these personal evangelistic techniques, but have also worked seriously on techniques and methods for church growth and revitalization. In recent decades many CRC pastors and church leaders have attended seminars at the Crystal Cathedral in California, at Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago suburbs, and at Saddleback Church in California. Church developers have also worked with Christian Schwarz's model of "Natural Church Development."

Today one hears a lot about the "emerging church movement" as offering possible strategies and a new model for doing evangelism in a postmodern context. (For a definition of postmodernism, see the article in this issue written by John Cooper.) The postmodern context brings special challenges to the church, but also wonderful opportunities for evangelism. The postmodern attitude allows room again for a spiritual conversation. There is an intense interest in "spirituality" in North America. Yet many people describe themselves with the words of the title of a recent book: "Spiritual, but not religious" They see themselves as open to "spiritual" matters, but they identify "religion" with the organized church. Our students at CTS [Calvin Theological Seminary] experience this in their efforts to reach out with the gospel. While they find that starting a spiritual conversation is not all that difficult, they learn that moving from a spiritual conversation to a presentation of the gospel can be quite a challenge.

Dr. Paul Visser is the pastor of a Protestant congregation in The Hague, the Netherlands. On the basis of his extensive experience in a very postmodern European context he recently gave us a helpful perspective on such evangelism efforts. He not only presented new possibilities for evangelistic outreach, but also cautioned us that this reawakening of spirituality is not exclusively positive. What I write here follows the basic thrust of his presentation at Calvin Theological Seminary.

We must begin by evaluating postmodern religious experiences and spiritual hunger in the light of Scripture. Our fundamental perspective is this:
1. We are separated from God because of our sin and rebellion. Human beings have turned against God with the idea that they can be gods themselves. In the depths of their being they no longer want to know about God. In the secularized West many have taken radical leave of God without any sense that they are missing anything.
2. But God is not separated from us. Although people may no longer overtly seek after God, in their emptiness they are continually searching for themselves, asking the fundamental questions: Who am I? (for identity); What must I do? (for guidance); How do I escape? (for help); What is my purpose in life? (for meaning). The unbeliever senses that ^ there must be more to life than a flat empirical reality. This sense is the notion of God, a religious consciousness that comes from God who reveals himself through his general revelation. Every person living in the world responds to this.

We are grateful for God's continuing effort in this respect; the revived religious sensitivity we see in postmodernism is more than simply a human product. But we also must question the content of a person's revived religiosity. We human beings are highly susceptible to "exchanging the truth of God for a lie" (see Rom. 1:18-25).

Keeping in mind such warnings, we can observe that the postmodern situation does bring about new possibilities for evangelistic outreach. If we want to fulfill our evangelistic task in a relevant and adequate way we must take the other person completely seriously and attempt to understand his source of inspiration; any attitude of arrogant condescension would certainly be a barrier to our witness. The authors of the emerging church movement have something to teach us about this sensitivity. At the same time, we need to do more than simply be sensitive to the person and his culture. Perhaps at this point the emerging church movement tends to be as captive to postmodern culture as it accuses the modern church of being captive to modernity. Reformed evangelism teaches us to look at the spiritual dynamics behind what we see in our culture and evaluate them in light of Scripture.

Those who enter into evangelistic conversations with people living in our post-modern culture should train themselves in the humility of Christ. We should realize that our efforts are a knock on the door, and we must wait until the other opens the door for us. As we wait we may need to provide places where such conversations can be conducted freely. Many churches have found programs like the Alpha Course (which combines mealtime conversation and small group discussion with instruction) to be very helpful in providing such opportunities.

In having these conversations with unbelievers we must be careful not to make statements that are judgmental and prejudicial about contemporary religious experiences and feelings. Truly listening to another person is vital if an honest conversation is to take place. The postmodern person desires that her individual opinion and authentic experience be honored and accepted, and will be very sensitive as to whether this occurs. It can be helpful to introduce our own authentic personal struggles into the conversation, telling the significance of the great narrative of Scripture from heart to heart via the story of our own real life experience. In one of my courses my students are assigned to share the gospel story to an unbeliever in a meaningful way, telling the broader narrative of the gospel via the personal narrative of what has happened in the student's own life.

But we must also realize that this conversation, no matter how patiently it may be conducted, can lead to tension. There comes the moment when a person's religious truths are confronted with the claims of the gospel. And when this happens a purely rational approach in which we attempt to prove the truth of our faith with logical arguments will not convince the other person's heart. Metanoia (repentance) refers to a change in the nous, which is more than the rational part of the mind.

So how do we confront the other with the gospel of Christ? It comes down to encountering another person with the sincere desire that Christ will do with that person what Christ has done with us through the Holy Spirit—enlightening the eyes of our heart (Eph. 1:18), offering a surprising and discovering insight that convinced us of the truth of the gospel. In this context one should see the unbeliever's religious experiences and convictions as responses to God's speaking. Ask which points of contact with the Bible are present and speak to this person's life. Be willing to explore with the unbeliever, in a questioning way, seeking the deepest meaning of his religious experiences and desires and holding them up to the light of the Bible. Ask, "What have you done with God? and "What will you do with God?"— basic evangelistic questions that are applicable in any culture or context.

In the end, it must come to light whether rebellion hides behind a person's postmodern religious experience—whether they would prefer to be equal to God rather than submit to him. It is at this point that the phrase "making the gospel relevant for today" becomes problematic. God has determined that the gospel is relevant for the sinner's most basic need; it is not the world that determines whether the gospel is relevant or not. The Bible teaches us that unless one is born again one cannot see the Kingdom of God and cannot understand the relevance of the gospel. Of course, the way this message is brought will be impacted by the particular cultural context.

Above all, we must remember the cross of Christ as God's answer to our struggle. The cross shows us how all our attempts are under judgment, but also how God responds to our hostility with redemption, to our guilt with grace, and to our resistance with love. This is where our hearts must be as we engage in evangelistic conversations—in complete dependence on the Holy Spirit, remembering that we are no different from or better than the person with whom we are in contact. We ourselves must be continually convinced of the truth of the gospel over against the resistance of our own hearts.

This is not an easy thing to teach. This is not an easy thing for a professor to model in his or her own life. Yet it is one of the keys for more fervent evangelistic pastors and congregations. It is not the method or the program but the hearts of the people bringing the message that is of primary importance.