tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8612639.post116420282156716556..comments2011-03-28T13:53:04.038-07:00Comments on OKPREACHER'S CHRISTIAN RESOURCE CENTER: Deconstructing Postmodern Discipleship - The Evangelism ShiftUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8612639.post-1164991291702725132006-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:002006-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00David, you are certainly correct. As a part of my ...David, you are certainly correct. As a part of my job as a spiritual formation minister I have studied a number of curricula that accomadate both methods. I believe there has even been some recent messages and blog posts on evangelistic styles. My goal with this post is to point out the shift in effectiveness of the methods. The deductive approach was effective with a modernist perspective and remains effective with those who maintain a modernist philosophy (even if they don't recognize it). The post-modern tends to respond better to an inductive approach. My future posts on this subject will reflect this in more detail. The short of it is the post-modern wants to see the impact of the gospel in your life before they accept it into their own life. In my opinion, the current state of our denominational politics and debate is greatly affecting our ability to reach the young generational post-moderns. Consistently calling them relativists doesn't help either. Their affinity for asking "why" doesn't make them relativists. We must live the gospel to them, before we earn the right to preach it to them.Professor Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14998126386636531425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8612639.post-1164984875917891992006-12-01T06:54:00.000-08:002006-12-01T06:54:00.000-08:00As you (okpreacher/professor X?)refer to in your p...As you (okpreacher/professor X?)refer to in your post, I believe the Contagious Christianity training course (out of Willow Creek) does just what you are talking about: helps us to adapt our presentation to the context in which we are working. I highly recommend it.David Rogershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11701934251748260267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8612639.post-1164638469548576192006-11-27T06:41:00.000-08:002006-11-27T06:41:00.000-08:00Professor X, I couldn't agree with you more. I re...Professor X,<BR/><BR/> I couldn't agree with you more. I read recently that churches that don't have evangelism training are having more converts than churches that have evangelism training. The point isn't that evangelism traning is bad, just that we are training people the wrong way. I think churches would be more successful in reaching those without Christ if every member sought ways to share the gospel in "inductive" ways. Thanks for the great article.OKpreacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00135457583900440944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8612639.post-1164635942372240872006-11-27T05:59:00.000-08:002006-11-27T05:59:00.000-08:00Great post, just my cup of tea! You write, "A key ...Great post, just my cup of tea! You write, <I>"A key point to make in this evangelistic shift is that a form of discipleship often occurs before conversion ever takes place."</I> This is so very true. In our own work we use what we call "open groups" which are discipleship groups for both believers and any non-believers whom they invite or show up. For the believers the open group is a form of further discipleship, for the non-believer it is a form of leading them (process) to Christ. Usually somewhere along the way the non-believer will give their life to Christ, and be that much ahead of the game having been discipled beforehand. It really works. If you think about it, Christ didn't say, "go, evangelize the lost, disciple them, etc." What He said was go make disciples. Period.J. Guy Musehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17751691713410311094noreply@blogger.com