Saturation evangelism and personal witness in postmodern contexts

Saturation Evangelism

Evangelism

The term "evangelism" is derived from the Greek concept of "euangelizomai" that means to give good news. Evangelism can be described as communicating the Good News that not only the death but also burial as well as resurrection of Jesus Christ defeated sin. Sin alienates us from God, the Supreme Being. The Good News in this case happens to be that we could gain back our relationship with God as well as be guaranteed an everlasting life with Jesus in the Heavens Above when we place our trust in Jesus. This particular gift of an everlasting association with God is available for all ... but not all have received this message and this makes evangelism very significant. At times, the crowds happen to be huge, like Billy Graham's ministry. However, God provides the evangelists with a crowd of just one[footnoteRef:1]. Back during 1893, Helen Cadbury knew just how empowering it is to share this Good News, so much that she arranged a faction of women to sew pouches in their clothes and take with them, copies of bible, so as to spread this Good News. This had been the start of "The Pocket Testament League." Due to the vision of Helen about personal evangelism, one hundred million pocket-sized Gospels have been shared by Pocket Testament League members. In the last words of Christ, prior to ascending towards Heaven, he ordered his disciples to share the Good News with the world. All believers should participate in communicating this Good News and creation of new disciples. Evangelism, however, does not always come effortlessly. It takes preparation and courage. The "Pocket Testament League" provides a collection of resources not only to assist you develop your understanding, but also to get you ready with resources to share this Good News. [1: Evangelism Definition]

Most of the evangelism here in the U.S. was established in a context of Christendom, whereby almost everyone was aware of the basic information regarding Christianity and were favorably disposed to it. Evangelism made individuals act on what they were already familiar with, in a sense, already passively trusted. You could call individuals to commitment somewhat faster. You could also apply pretty forceful convincing methods. Dealing with post-moderns entails handling individuals that are not familiar with the basics of Christianity[footnoteRef:2]. They actually have a negative perspective regarding Christianity. Hence, it does not make any sense, if they come on very strong and quickly ask for a commitment. We ought to count conversations, instead of conversions. When majority of individuals think about evangelism, the term "arguments" surfaces; arguments regarding Christ's existence, regarding Christ's uniqueness, regarding the Bible's inspiration and so much more. For postmodern individuals, anything put forward as an argument is less convincing, given that arguments imply a message of conquest, instead of a message of peace. Post-moderns are quite offended by ads and political messages, that, for a message to be significant and real, it should come in a form other than an argument. [2: Christianity Today (2001)]

We have also become good at boiling the Good News into tiny four-step outlines. Modern individuals have a liking for diagrams. However, they feel that the truth comes as a tale, a work of art, and a mystery. This compels us to question if we have a clear comprehension of what the gospel entails. If, for several decades, we have turned the gospel into a chain of argument or a problem-solution approach, we need to ask how that might have altered our understanding of the Good News2. In numerous ways, the modern evangelical gospel is a message regarding how not to end up in hell. When you a take a step back and ask if that is truly the gospel from Christ's point-of-view, it is pretty difficult to answer yes. When Christ speaks of the gospel, he speaks of God's kingdom. That presents a whole realm of questions, which are more significant.

Efforts Seen in Layers

In accordance to John Scott, social action is not viewed as a path to evangelism, instead as a demonstration of evangelism. In this particular scenario, sympathy is not artificially connected to evangelism, from the outside, but develops from its natural expression. Social action is the sacrament of evangelism since it makes the message considerably visible. Evangelism and missions takes you deeper in thought as you turn onto the hands, feet, and mouth of Christ in the world[footnoteRef:3]. Scott agreed that social action is evangelism's partner. He explained that as a partner, the two belonged to one another, yet independent of each other. Each could stand on its own right, beside one another. Each is an end in itself. Both are manifestations of true love. [3: James (2015)]

A careful research on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ discloses that evangelism and social action could be compared to two sides of a coin. They are two aspects of the Christian faith. In accordance to the Random house dictionary, team work is a coordinated or cooperative effort on the part of a group of individuals, working together as a team or in the interest of Common cause2. The American heritage dictionary views evangelism as passionate preaching and spreading of the gospel, via missionary work or Militant passion for a cause. As we observe team work, we shall realize that team work is important in the life of evangelism. A team permits us to touch the untouchable and get to the unreachable; like William Booth says, put your ears down to the Bible, and hear him bid you, go and pull sinners from the fire of sin. Put your ears down to the worried and burdened heart of humankind; and listen to its pitiful cry for help. As one source put forward, we should go and stand by the gates of hell, and listen to the ruined beg you to go to their father's house and bid their servants and masters, and brothers and sisters not to go there. Similar to business, politics, or any other undertaking, team work is simply that2. Teamwork is important for accomplishing the goals set by the body of individuals, offering public service. Members of a team behave like a properly oiled machine. Another vital facet of politics or business is collecting individuals of different specialties. The team shall have sub-teams whereby different members manage varying aspects of the goals to be attained. These sub-teams then report back their finding to the main team for a deduction to be made by the entire team. For effectual functioning of a team, the talents of every individual should be used.

Owing Mills

Owings Mills is a town of 20,193 residents. A population of which 10, 633 people are females and the rest are males. The median female age is 32.4 and the median male age is 31.5. There are about 7,657 deaths and 9,063 births per annum. The racial composition is such that the overwhelming majority (19,717) individuals are from one race while a paltry 476 individuals are from other races[footnoteRef:7]. The town has about 313,734 housing units of which 13, 857 are vacant. The main type of houses in the town are 1-unit detached houses, which number about 147,499, while single families attached homes (town houses) are approximately 76,784. Apartment houses are the least. With this high number of houses, the towns' people are always in need of Owings Mills, MD, local movers to help them shift to different houses or business premises. By considering all this information, the best way one could evangelize in this town would be a take on door to door approach, owing to the small size of the town. Apart from the door to door campaign, radio programs and informational materials should also be used to reach many more people in the town. [7: Owings Mills, Md City Data]

Randallstown

Randallstown is a town of 30,870 residents. A population of which 16,772 people are females and the rest are males. The median female age is 38.3 and the median male age is 35.5. There are about 7,657 deaths and 9,063 births per annum. The racial composition is such that the overwhelming majority (30,334) individuals are from one race while a paltry 536 individuals are from other races. The town has about 313,734 housing units of which only 299,877 are occupied[footnoteRef:8]. The main type of houses in the town are 1-unit detached houses, which number about 147,499, while single families attached homes (town houses) are approximately 76,784. [8: Randallstown, Md City Data]

The total population of resident over the age of 16, who are employed in Randallstown, is approximately 595,770. This employee base is divided across different sectors of the towns' economy, including over 110,226 people doing sales and office work; 50,193 doing service operations; some 149,884 in professional, management and related work; 30,346 in maintenance, repair, extraction and constructions; and approximately 38367 in transportation, material moving, and production6. The total school enrollment (number of students currently attending school in both public and private schools) is 201,904 for the county's total population6. Therefore, for the community, the best evangelism method would be to take advantage of technology and call people to meetings in their places of work. Pamphlets, brochures and other informational material should be given not only to students to take home, but also at workplaces, with the permission of company managers. Door-to-door campaigns should also be made so as to reach those who might not have likely been reached through the use of informational materials. Since the town has such a huge population, a team of evangelist should be formed and the town divided into sectors so that the majority of the population will be reached. It is obvious that it will be difficult to cover the whole town through door to door campaigns, considering its population, thus radio campaigns and local social media pages should also be tapped into, so as to reach more people.