Evangelism Outside the Box

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Book Review
Book by Rick Richardson

The first question one might be tempted to ask about this book is "what box?" What is he talking about? Richardson therefore defines the various ways in which we are prevented from being creative and innovative in our attempts to advance the Gospel. He suggests that our "box" can have any or all of the following aspects:

1. Theology: Either an unbalanced Calvinism or an unbalanced Arminianism can limit our effectiveness. Our theology should be analogous to the incarnation, in that evangelism should be 100% God and 100% us, just as Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. This paradox is a mystery, of course, but one that the Bible clearly teaches.
2. Sacred Practices: We tend to cling to what we are good at, to our strengths, whether they are relevant or not.
3. Structure and Strategy: We cling to our structure, strategy, and ministry "forms," long after they have ceased to be effective and have ceased to fulfill their "function."
4. Self-Perception: We tend to focus on our own inadequacies and make excuses such as, "I am not an evangelist because . . . "

Richardson does an excellent job of differentiating between evangelistic strategies that work well with modern people and those that are needed with postmodern people. He suggests that many common approaches to evangelism that were effective with modern people come across to postmodern people as a combination of arrogance and benevolence. We mean well and have the unbeliever's best interests at heart (benevolence), but we communicate that we have the answer and they don't, so they need to listen to us (arrogance).

Richardson lists three dimensions of the postmodern mindset that have a profound impact on the way we need to communicate the Gospel:

1. The idea of truth has been transformed.
2. The understanding of self and identity has been transformed. The modern person saw himself as autonomous, individualistic and rational. One develops oneself through analysis, discovery and self-expression. Today, intimacy with others and identity are inseparably connected. As a result, postmodern people want to "belong before they believe."
3. The way people become convinced about moral and spiritual choices has changed. In modernity, people were convinced by compelling, rational, logical arguments. In a postmodern world, the battle for allegiance is a battle for the spiritual and moral imagination of a people.

Summarizing, Richardson concludes that evangelism has gone from being a science to being an art. As a result, experience comes before explanation, belonging comes before believing, and image comes before word. Despite the fact that post-modernity is a relatively recent development, the author finds two historical precedents for doing what he advocates: John Wesley and the Wesleyan movement in England in the 18th century, and Saint Patrick and the Celtic mission.

Richardson suggests the following strategy adapted from Wesley:

1. Build friendships and pray.
2. Hold "soul-awakening" events.
3. Draw pre-Christians into seeking community, such as Groups Investigating God (GIG).
4. Challenge pre-Christians to conversion.
5. Help new Christians into transformation.

As an example of a "soul-awakening" event, he cites Paul's ministry on Mars Hill in Acts 17. Paul connected with and affirmed the Athenians, particularly their spiritual interest, but he challenged their way of trying to fulfill their search and to satisfy the hunger of their souls by giving them some surprising evidence that supported his message and pointed to an unexpected way to fulfill their spiritual longings, i.e. through Jesus. He expands on this with a chapter on awakening souls by connecting to the culture and another chapter on challenging pre-Christian people.

The author also cites the Celtic model, which differed from the predominant Roman model, which was more one of conquest, in eight ways:

Roman Model

• Nature of God--Emphasis on Transcendence
• Nature of Man--Total Depravity
• Power of God--Stability and order
• Organization--Preserving institutions and traditions
• Culture--Thought Roman culture superior
• Religion--Treated other religions as irrelevant or demonic
• Communication--Emphasized a "left-brained," rational, propositional, dialectic, doctrinal model
• Mission--Began churches when people believed

Celtic Model

• Nature of God--Emphasis on Immanence
• Nature of Man--Image of God in man blurred and twisted, but not beyond recognition
• Power of God--Dynamic activity
• Organization--Advancing a movement through community
• Culture--Worked contextually and indigenously
• Religion--Saw the religion of pagans as evidence of spiritual interest and preparation for the Gospel
• Communication--Emphasized a more "right-brained," imaginative approach
• Mission--Invited people to belong before they believed

This clearly shows the similarity of the Roman model to modernity and the similarity of the Celtic model to post-modernity. There is an almost uncanny similarity between the contrast between these two models and the contrast between modernity and post-modernity.

Since what is experientially and emotionally true is vitally important to post-moderns, we should not invalidate the experience of others, but rather bank on the fact that people have a soul and a spiritual hunger and interest. Because they are seeking for community, he devotes two chapters to developing genuine Christian community and inviting pre-Christians into seeking community. He writes:

"If soul-awakening events are the leading edge and missing link in evangelism, drawing people into seeking community is the heart and soul of evangelism today. Our friends need to seek and experience spiritual truth and reality in the context of community . . . The church is the only society in the world that (should) exist for the benefit of its members."

When it comes to drawing pre-Christians into seeking community, we need to design our events to have a warm and welcoming ambiance, free of Christian "jargon" and including authentic interaction.

Perhaps the most thought-provoking (and potentially controversial!) chapter is entitled "Conversion for Pre-Christian People Today," in which he presents three theories of the atonement:

1. Satisfaction of God's justice, originated by Anselm in the 12th century. Salvation is an objective work of God in which God reconciles human beings to Himself by pouring out His wrath on Jesus, so that He could be just and at the same time justify the unjust.
2. An Example that we should follow by choosing to be reconciled to God. This theory was first fully developed in the 12th century by Abelard, and is a subjective model. The conflict between liberal and conservative theology has often centered on the difference between these first two models.
3. The Classical view developed by the church fathers in the 2nd century, that Jesus' death is a victory over the evil powers of this world and the spiritual powers that have people in bondage. This view includes the following points:
   • Adam and Eve chose to be ruled by sin, Satan and death, and we have all ratified that choice.
   • Jesus recapitulated the life of Adam, choosing to obey God.
   • On the cross, Jesus exposed and unmasked sin, Satan and death for what they are.
   • On the cross, Jesus took all hatred, destruction, woundedness, shame and death unto Himself. Satan lost his legitimacy, his right to judge. On the cross, Satan was unmasked and his power and right to rule lost their legitimacy.
   • Because Jesus was innocent, God raised Him from the dead.
   • Now we can all choose to identify with Jesus, to give Him our allegiance. Satan no longer has any right to us. Sin no longer has the right to rule us.

Without going into a detailed comparison of these three views of salvation, Richardson suggests that the classical view may be the most meaningful to post-modern people, whereas the satisfaction model was the most meaningful to modern people. We can no longer assume that people are familiar with Scripture or basic Biblical ideas, that they feel accountable to a supreme Being or guilt for sin, that they even think at all in terms of sin, or that that they need to have any logical consistency or coherence to their ideas about God. He writes:

"After all, the post-modern assumption is that we create our own reality in the arena of spirituality. In a Biblically illiterate subject-centered postmodern world, we face new challenges to communicating the Gospel in a meaningful, true and resonant way. A gospel that merely addresses an individual's personal guilt and has no answer to the addictions and evil and bondage of our day will seem irrelevant and reductionistic. In the end, such a Gospel will not be taken seriously in our postmodern world."

To compare these three models of the atonement is beyond the scope of this book review (and probably beyond the scope of Richardson's book!). I am the most comfortable with the satisfaction of God's justice model, but that may well be because I am a "modern" person. There seems to be ample Biblical support for the classical model, and it is more complete than the satisfaction model. Therefore, using this model to better communicate with post-modern people seems legitimate to me.

Richardson has taken a real risk by getting into a discussion of models of the atonement. This is the kind of thing that generates theological controversy and gets one labeled a heretic. I would submit, however, that the atonement is much too complex to be explained by a simple model, and that there are elements of truth as well as inadequacies associated with each model. His goal is to communicate the Gospel to all kinds of people in terms that they understand. When a tried-and-proven modern method (the Bridge) proved inadequate to communicate with post-modern people, he developed another one that is equally faithful to the Biblical data, in my opinion, but that better communicates with postmodern people. He calls this illustration, which is based on the Classical model of the atonement: "Circles of Belonging." At first, all creation was in the circle of belonging, but we have all chosen to love other things than God, making them the centers of our lives. Jesus died for us, taking the death we deserve and offering us a way back into the circle of belonging. This happens when we admit our false centers, accept Jesus' death and ask Jesus into our lives.

The book also devotes a chapter to the subject of transformation. In a postmodern view, identity is developed through dialogue and community. Unfortunately, most of our methods of discipling were designed for modern people, with much emphasis on individualistic values, such as personal discipline, etc. The author therefore believes that new approaches that build on our new identity in Christ are needed for experiential, community-seeking postmodern people.

He concludes with an afterword to pastors and leaders of Christian ministries, including a short list of steps that can be taken to get outside the box in evangelism in order to reach people that will not be reached by more conventional methods. He recommends starting with an honest assessment: "Your honest assessment can help you decide whether to launch radical change or whether to start small. Either way, you will need to declare war, to give your best energy and efforts to see real and lasting change in reaching the lost." Other steps include:

1. Start with prayer.
2. Own and model the value of personal relational evangelism.
3. Communicate your heart and vision for reaching those outside God's family to those in
4. Name a point person.
5. Train everyone in relational evangelism.
6. Recruit an evangelism team.
7. With the team, develop soul-awakening events and community experiences for pre-Christians.

The book also includes six appendices with extremely practical ideas:

• Appendix 1 - The Rise and Fall of the Modern World
• Appendix 2 - Leading a Group Investigating God (GIG)
• Appendix 3 - Four GIG Studies from the Biographies of Jesus
• Appendix 4 - The Alpha Course
• Appendix 5 - A Sample Seeker Retreat
• Appendix 6 - "Circles of Belonging" Training Sheet

I found this book to be extremely helpful in thinking about how to reach both modern and postmodern people. Richardson clearly understands the essential differences between modernity and post-modernity, and he is able to communicate them in ways that are easy to grasp. The book is both practical and theoretical, with several very helpful tools included in the appendices.

Those who have worked with the "mission outpost" concept will especially feel at home, as much of what he advocates is, in fact, the creation of mission outposts. His models include three of the four essential elements of a mission outpost (teamwork, community and prayer). In fact, the fourth element (thinking and living like a missionary), though not mentioned in those terms, is in fact covered by his excellent treatment of post-modern culture. I would recommend this book to anyone who is serious about engaging the people of our time in meaningful dialogue around the Gospel.