Art and Science of Evangelism
Introduction - Have you ever known a physician who practiced both the art and science of medicine? Perhaps you will enjoy hearing about a friend of mine who has mastered both aspects of cross-cultural medicine in Nigeria. Last year, the physician went to a remote village along the border with Niger Republic to investigate the possibilities of starting a new medical dispensary in the area.
In line with the Nigerian cultures, he began by greeting the chief of the village and requesting permission to begin a new medical facility for his people. Characteristically, the village chief was skeptical about the white doctor’s motives for starting a medical outlet in a heavily Muslim dominated area. Just when my friend thought he was going to be sent out of the village, the Spirit of God placed an idea in his mind. Quickly turning to the chief he said, "Do you have any pains in your body?" Taken back by this bold offer, the chief said, "Matter of fact, I do! Everyone in the chief’s palace stared incredulously as the chief stood to his feet. At this point nearly everyone in the 110F degree palace thought the chief would insultingly order the physician and his assistants out. Almost miraculously the chief continued, "In fact I have a pain in my knees that have been bothering me for a long time. Plus I have some severe pain in my hips that hinder me from turning over in my bed at night. In addition I have some more pain in my chest when I cough. Furthermore, I have serious headaches when I have lots of decisions to make. The list went on for another five minutes until the chief described all the pains that he felt now, yesterday, and assuming that his condition would not change, forever more!
Undaunted, my physician friend said, "I am confident your highness that I have just the medicine to take away your pain!" Even the physician attendants were ready to fall over in amazement. Did this mean that the conservative physician was ready to call down a cure from heaven at that moment. "Hand me a prescription pad!" The physician authoritatively told his assistant. Then as Dr. Phil wrote out the prescription, his every grunt, groan, and movement mesmerized the Chief. "Take this to the next town to have the prescription filled and be back in 30 minutes", he said to his assistant! By this time, the entire village of 5,000 were gathered outside of the Chief’s palace to be the first to learn of the outcomes of the white doctor’s encounter with their Chief. They longed to have access to real medical facilities, but were afraid of insulting the Muslim chief. All major decisions had to be made by the Chief or serious trouble would result for the insolent soul who tried to subvert the powers that be.
60 minutes later, the assistant returned with the medicine prescribed by the doctor for the Chief. "Take these pills with a cup of water and your pain will soon subside," Dr. Phil confidently told the Chief. Even though, he hesitated, the Chief felt that the white doctor would never dare to give him anything to make him sick, plus his credibility as Chief was on the line with such an important matter at hand. As everyone baked in the hot sun, the tension grew to a fever pitch in the village. Finally, the Chief said that he had made his decision, which he would announce in front of all 5,000 men, women, and children of the village. "Today, I have been asked by this white doctor for permission to start a medical dispensary in our village, but I wanted to test the powers of his medicine first. Before the white man came I had pain all over my body, but I am delighted to report that his medicine is power and effective. Now, all my pains have gone away. I am hereby granting official permission for the white doctor to establish any kind of medical facility he wants to in my village." The people cheered wildly, as they were suffering from all kinds of illness, infant mortality, and untold suffering.
When Dr. Phil arrived back in Jos that week I asked him, "I heard that the Chief allowed you to start a medical dispensary in his village. What miracle drug did you give him?" Phil laughed sheepishly for a moment and said, "Only aspirin! But I gave him lots of faith, hope, and love that the medicine would make his pain subside and he believed!" Phil knew how to practice a balance of both the science and ART OF MEDICINE. It struck me that in order to be more effective in evangelizing Africans our seminary evangelistic teams needed to learn how to balance both the SCIENCE AND THE ART OF EVANGELISM.
So much of Western views on evangelizing Africans emphasize the science at the exclusion of the art of evangelism. Perhaps this could explain some of the years of fruitless efforts by many well-intentioned Western missionaries. Our African seminary students tend to emphasize the artistic aspects of evangelizing their own people. Since both elements are important, I have tried to delineate the most important aspects of both the art and the science in African evangelism
I. The Science of Evangelism Generally Includes:
1. The emphasis on the absolute Truth about Sin, Salvation, Christ, Man, God, and Faith.
2. The precision of the gospel’s message.
3. Teaching the meanings of the truths about redemption, regeneration, justification, atonement, propitiation, sanctification, substitutionary payment, repentance, adoption, and being born-again etc.
4. Analysis of the processes of conversion from faith in self, idols, traditions, spirits, myths, legends, ancestors etc. to Christ alone for salvation.
5. Emphasis on the cognitive decisions necessary for salvation.
6. Objective evaluation of the natures of the carnal, Christ centered, and unspiritual man from I Cor. 2:14-16.
7. Greater emphasis on the New Testament especially the epistles over the Old Testament.
8. Stressing the transcultural and supracultural elements of the gospel.
9. The use of theories of evangelism and cross-cultural evangelism.
10. Reliance on the logical approach to evangelism.
11. Listing of the essentials for salvation versus the non-essentials.
12. Pointing out the mainpoints of the gospel’s message through deduction.
13. Emphasizing the results of evangelism.
14. Connecting the cause-effect relationships in your teaching.
II. Using The Artistic Emphasis in Evangelizing Africans
1. Generous use of stories, case studies, legends, myths, and traditions to bridge the cultural knowns to the gospels’ unknowns.
2. Emphasis on relationships between the evangelist and the chief or heads of the village or family.
3. Emotional presentations of the gospel through drama, singing, film, and intense personal communications.
4. Taking time to discover the assumptions about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, salvation and tribal gods.
5. Demonstrations of power through encounters with forces of evil through prayer, fasting, and lifestyle.
6. Working through the social hierarchy to win the confidence of the people through love, rapport, and mutual dependence.
7. Learning the language of the people through casual social exchanges.
8. Playing games with the youth and children of the village to gain confidence of the people.
9. Visiting the people in their homes, listening to their needs, concerns, and joys.
10. Gradually work your way through the various rites of passage in the village to gain credibility for your message of salvation.
11. Develop close friendships with several mediators who will be able to serve as bridges for communication to a variety of age, gender, and social groups.
12. Attend a variety of ceremonies (Weddings, burial ceremonies, naming ceremonies for infants etc.) with the people to observe the conscious and sub-conscious joys, values, and sorrows they express most.
13. Take trips with several friends to try to see what they see and hear what is important in their conversations. Learn to practice the art of participation.
14. Use analogies generously in your teaching, conversing, and preaching with things familiar to the people.
15. Use problem-solution methods in your teaching. Emphasize real problems that are close to the hearts of the people.
16. Show how evangelism is both a process and an event.
III. Integrating The Science and Art of Evangelism
The integration of the science and the art of evangelism begins by prioritizing the primary, secondary, and tertiary aspects of the gospel. The primary aspects of the gospel include a clear understanding of Christ, God, Man’s sinful condition, how the Grace of God regenerates us through Christ’s substitutionary payment for sin, and faith in the atoning sacrifice Christ made for our redemption, justification, forgiveness, and eternal life. Essentially, our students need to communicate that conversion to a concrete-relational thinking African means changing faith in idols, spirits, tribe, family, or anyone to Christ alone for forgiveness of their personal sins. Here we want to describe sin in terms that most Africans’ understand. For example, we teach how sin came through Adam’s sin so that all men are born with sin (Rom. 5:12) We want to emphasize that sin is not merely the absence of good, but it means missing the mark of God’s righteous standard in Christ. Sin is anything that is done contrary to the nature of God or his word. We want to communicate how sin comes in many different packages - sins of intentions, sins of presumption, sins of carelessness, sins of ignorance, sins of spiritual weakness, sins unto death etc.
