DESCRIPTION:

This course is intended to help Christian leaders think about ways to form bridges to postmodern people using values gleaned from popular culture and to use this information to empower believers in church and parachurch ministries to more effectively witness to those around them. We will examine strategies and issues regarding interpreting popular culture and using items from popular culture in evangelism, explore the worldview and values of contemporary popular culture in order to discover points of contact and barriers for the presentation of the gospel, and discuss ways to encourage and teach people in our ministries to evangelize.

Postmodernism is not only a philosophy but a group of ideas which permeates the worldview of our popular culture. This course will concentrate on understanding the postmodern generations and sharing the gospel using points of contact with their worldview and values. Relational evangelism and life witness are of essential importance for reaching people in our culture today and so an important focus will be how to encourage and train people in our ministries to evangelize with both actions and words.

Class sessions will include lecture, interactive class discussion, guided small group discussions. The class will meet daily for four-hour sessions for two weeks.

Coupland, Douglas. Life After God. New York: Pocket Books, 1994.

Drane, John. What Is the New Age Still Saying to the Church? London: Marshall Pickering, 1999.

Kallenberg, Brad. Live to Tell: Evangelism for a Postmodern Age. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2002.

Morgenthaler, Sally. Worship Evangelism: Inviting Unbelievers into the Presence of God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995; 1999.

Webber, Robert E. The Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2002.

ONE of the following:

Long, Jimmy. Generating Hope: A Strategy for Reaching the Postmodern Generation. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

Richardson, Rick. Evangelism Outside the Box: New Ways to Help People Experience the Good News. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

A bibliography of recommended books will be available in class.

Class attendance and participation in class small group discussions, reading of required texts and articles distributed in class (approximately 1200 pp.), three short papers (3-4 pp.) due during the course of the class, one major paper (10-15 pp.) due after the end of the course meetings.

None.

Meets the M.Div. core requirement in Evangelism (MIN3).

No.