Winter 2013/Pasadena

EV519

Segura-Guzman

EV519: EVANGELISMO ENTRE HISPANOS [Evangelism among Hispanics]. Osías Segura-Guzman.


DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to equip church leaders to develop effective evangelistic strategies for their church’s distinctive ministry context. The course focuses on evangelism as a process of building relationships through which the local church seeks to impact its context with a holistic gospel. Therefore, the class will provide a theological basis for evangelism and for the communication of the gospel in contemporary Hispanic culture. It will provide students with tools to develop evangelistic strategies in order to plan personal, small group, and church-wide evangelism activities appropriate to their own context.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: The main objective of this course is to help students learn how to do evangelism in a culturally relevant way, with a biblical, theological, and missiological foundation. The course is designed for church leaders and/or lay people who understand their responsibility and have the passion for developing effective, culturally relevant evangelistic strategies in the local church.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: After completing this course the student will (1) have gained a biblical, theological, and missiological understanding of evangelism in contemporary society; (2) appreciate the importance of a “culture of evangelism” in the local church; (3) have tools for evaluating contemporary evangelistic programs; (4) be motivated to engage in evangelism and be able to analyze and apply the most suitable evangelistic tactics for effective church outreach; (5) have developed for implementation a plan of evangelism that is culturally relevant to the student’s church or ministry situation.

COURSE FORMAT: The class meets weekly for a three-hour session. Students will learn via presentations (professor- and student-led), class discussions, video and multimedia presentations, and small group exercises.

REQUIRED READING (1500 pages):

Burke, John. No se Admiten Personas Perfectas. Miami: Editorial Vida, 2006. Pub. Price: $13.00. ISBN: 978-0829747270. (336 p. assigned).

Mittelberg, Mark. Edifique una Iglesia Contagiosa. Miami: Editorial Vida, 2005. ISBN: 978-0829739664. (408 p. assigned).

Van Engen, Charles E. El Pueblo Misionero de Dios. Libros Desafio, 2004. ISBN:

9781558834095. (244 p. assigned).

Course Reader (available online) containing the following books:

Steuernagel, Valdir, ed. Al Servicio del Reino en América Latina. San José, Costa Rica: Visión Mundial, 1991.

Steuernagel, Valdir, ed. La Misión de la Iglesia. San José, Costa Rica: Visión Mundial, 1992.

Grellert, M., Myers, B., y McAlpine, T. Al Servicio del Reino. San José: Visión Mundial, 1992.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

  1. Students are required to be present and prepared to participate in classroom discussions (10%).

  2. Weekly reading reports (250 words) as described in the syllabus (20%).

  3. Three 500-word summaries of readings and class discussions (15%).

  4. A 1,000-word field research report, analyzing a local congregation’s theology and practice of evangelism, based on three hours of participant observation and interviews (15%).

  5. Book review on Van Engen's book (10%).

  6. A 2,000-word paper that includes the student’s theology of evangelism and presents a plan for a culturally relevant evangelistic project in the student’s local congregation or ministry situation (30%; due during finals week).

PREREQUISITES: Spanish. Auditors are welcome but required to fully participate in class discussions.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets MDiv core requirement in Evangelism (MIN3).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.


NOTE: This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification.