Spring 2020/Fuller Online

MC538

Headington

MC538: EVANGELISM AND CHURCH PLANTING (4 Units: 160 hours). Carrie Boren Headington.

DESCRIPTION: Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ is at the center of God's missional heart and therefore central to the mission of church planting and church renewal. In this course, we explore the life-transforming Gospel message and how to communicate and contextualize the Good News in our specific cultural contexts. The course is especially designed to equip church planters, pastors, and lay leaders in both personal and congregational evangelism. The purpose of the course is to help practitioners engage evangelism both theologically and practically in their church planting context.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon completion of this course, students will have demonstrated: (1) an ability to reflect theologically and practically on the meaning of evangelism and its role in the life of the church; (2) a firm grasp of the nature of the Gospel and an ability to express the Good News of Jesus Christ in a clear manner; (3) a capacity to engage in conversations about faith and an ability to equip others ( i.e. members of the church plant) to do the same; (4) an understanding of the way Jesus evangelized and an ability to apply these lessons to their church planting context; (5) an ability to preach an evangelistic message; (6) an understanding of the questions people in their surrounding community are asking about the Christian faith and an ability to engage both the question and questioner; (7) an ability to teach and to motivate their church plants in evangelism; (8) a capacity to create an evangelistic action plan for their church plant.

RELATIONSHIP TO PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: Addresses the MDiv and MATM PLO that states “Students will have demonstrated capacities to engage diverse cultural contexts for transformational discipleship, mission, and ministry.” Addresses MAICS Area of Interest Class “Students will have demonstrated capacities to pursue vocations that engage the mission of God globally.”

COURSE FORMAT: This course will be conducted online on a ten-week schedule aligned with Fuller’s academic calendar for a total of 40 instructional hours. Students are required to interact with the material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning.

REQUIRED READING: 1651 total number of pages required.

Books to Purchase:

Coleman, Robert. Master Plan of Evangelism. Baker Book House, 2006. ISBN: 0800731220, Pub. Price $13.99 [191 pp.].

Kreeft, Peter. Handbook of Christian Apologetics. IVP Academic, 1994. ISBN: 9780830817740, Pub. Price $28.00 – Choose your chapters according to topic- At most 100 pages

Packer, J.I. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. InterVarsity Press, 2012. ISBN-13: 978-0-8308-3799-1, Pub. Price $16.00 [126 pp.]

Pippert, Rebecca Manley, Out of the Salt Shaker and into the World. InterVarsity Press, 1999. ISBN: 978-0-8308-2220-1, Pub. Price $18.00, [260 pp.]

Tang, Len and Cotherman, Charles, Sent to Flourish. IVP Academic, 2019. ISBN: 978-0-8308-5268-0, Pub. Price $35.00, Kindle $19.24, [255 pp.]

Wright, Christopher, The Mission of God’s People. Zondervan, 2010. ISBN-13: 978-0310291121, Pub. Price $32.99. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [287 pp.].

Wright, Tom. Simply Good News. SPCK, 2015. ISBN: 978-0281073030, Pub Price $13.35 [171 pp.].

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

*The 9 Arts of Spiritual Conversations Primer. www.qplace.com

*John, J. Natural Evangelism. Philo Trust, 2014. ISBN: 9780745933894, Pub. Price $10.23 or Digital $4.99 [108 pp.].

*Peace, Richard. HOLY conversation. IVP Connect, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-8308-1119-9, Pub. Price $19.00 [127 pp.].

*Reese, Martha Grace. Unbinding the Gospel. Chalice Press, 2008, ISBN: 9780827238084, Pub. Price $21.99 [148 pp.].

Books Available on eReserves:

Abraham, William J. The Logic of Evangelism. Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co., 1989. ISBN: 978-0-8028-0433-4, Pub. Price $26.50 [Chapter 8, The Ministry of Evangelism, 20 pp.].

Branson, Mark and Warnes, Nick.Starting Missional Churches: Life with God in The Neighborhood. IVP,

2014, ISBN: 978-0-8308-4116-5, Pub. Price: $22.00 [Chapter 2, pp. 28-48, pp. assigned 20]

Chilcote, Paul W., Warner, Laceye C. The Study of Evangelism: Exploring a Missional Practice of the Church. 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8028-0391-7, Pub.Price $42.00 [Chapter 1, pp. 4-17; Ch. 2 pp. 18-32; Ch.13, pp. 185-204, 51pp.].

Sunquist, Scott and Yong, Amos. The Gospel and Pluralism Today: Reassessing Lesslie Newbigin in the 21^st Century. 2015. ISBN: 978-0-8308-5094-5, Pub. Price $30.00 [Chapter 8, pp. 171-195, 24 pp.].

Sunquist, Scott. Understanding Christian Mission: Participation in Suffering and Glory. Baker Academic, 2013. ISBN:978-0801036156, Pub. Price $34.99 [Ch. 10, pp. 311-341; Ch. 13, pp. 396-412, TOTAL: 46 pp.].

RECOMMENDED READING:

Everts, Don and Schaupp, Doug.I Once Was Lost.IVP Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0830836086, Pub. Price $16.00 [134 pp.].

Green, Michael. Compelled by Joy. Inter-Varsity Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-1844746736, Pub. Price $12.49 [Ch. 4, 51-66, 15 pp.].

Green, Michael. Who is This Jesus? Regent College Publishing, 2007. ISBN: 978-1573834087, Pub. Price $12.95 [145 pp.].

Green, Michael. Evangelism in the Early Church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004. ISBN: 978-0802827685, Pub. Price $30.00 [474 pp.].

Green, Michael. 30 Years That Changed the World: a fresh look at the book of Acts. Inter-Varsity Press, 2002. ISBN: 0851112617, Pub. Price $13.43 [268 pp.].

Harney, Kevin G. Organic Outreach. Zondervan, 2009. ISBN: 9780310273950, Pub. Price $16.99 [255 pp.].

Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City. Zondervan, 2012. ISBN: 9780310494188 [Ch. 7-10, .89-119, 30 pp.]. Pub. Price $36.99.

Keller, Timothy. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Riverhead Books, 2009. ISBN: 9781594483493, Pub. Price $17.00 [352 pp.].

Kinnaman, David and Lyons, Gabe. Unchristian. Baker Books, 2012, ISBN: 9780801072710, Pub. Price $16.99 [256 pp.].

Kinnaman, David and Hawkins, Aly. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church…and Rethinking Faith. Baker Publishing, 2013, ISBN: 9780801014994, Pub Price $10.00 [80 pp.].

Richardson, Rick. Reimagining Evangelism. InterVarsity Press, 2006, ISBN: 978-0830833429, Pub. Price $18.00 [164 pp.].

Naugle, David K. Worldview: The History of a Concept. Eerdmans, 2002, ISBN: 9780802847614, Pub. Price $34.00 [406 pp.].

Newbigin, Lesslie, Foolishness to the Greeks. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1988. ISBN: 978-0802801760, Pub. Price $17.00 [ 160 pp.].

Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989. ISBN: 978-0802804266, Pub. Price: $25.00 [244 pp.].

Peskett, Howard and Ramachandra, Vinoth. The Message of Mission. Inter-Varsity Press, 2003, ISBN: 978*0830824076 Pub. Price $23.00 [288 pp.].

Richard, Ramesh. Preparing Evangelistic Sermons. BakerBooks, 2015. Paperback ISBN: 9780801018381, Pub. Price $20.00 or E-Book ISBN: 9781441227140, Pub. Price $20.00 [272 pp.].

Schaller, Mary. Crilly, John. The 9 Arts of Spiritual Conversations: Walking Alongside People Who Believe Differently. Tyndale House Publishing, 2016, ISBN: 9781496405760, Pub. Price $15.99 [270 pp.].

The 9 Arts of Spiritual Conversations Primer. www.qplace.com

Stott, John. Basic Christianity. IVP Books, 2012. ISBN: 978-0830834136, Pub. Price $8.00, [192 pp.].

Sunquist, Scott. Understanding Christian Mission: Participation in Suffering and Glory. Baker Academic, 2013. ISBN:978-0801036156, Pub. Price $34.99

Woodward, JR. Creating a Missional Culture. InterVarsity Press, 2012, ISBN: 9780830836536, Pub. Price $20.00, [245 pp.].

Yancey, Philip. The Jesus I Never Knew. Rev. Ed. Zondervan, 2002. ISBN: 9780310219231, Pub. Price: $18.99 [304 pp] *Also has a series for seekers connected with this book.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

Participation in classroom discussion forums. (15%) [Learning Outcomes #1-8] [26 hours].
Complete reading from the reading list. (15%) [Learning Outcomes #1-8] [82 hours].
Write an essay on the nature of the Gospel. 500-600 words (5%) [Learning Outcomes #1,2,7,8] [5 Hours]
Write an essay on how Jesus evangelized.500-600 words. (5%) [Learning Outcomes #4,7] [5 Hours]
Write a definition of evangelism (5%). [Learning Outcomes #1,2,7,8] [1 hour].
Write a Gospel presentation to be shared with a seeker in your context. (5%) [Learning Outcomes #2,3,4,7,8] [2 hours].
Write an assessment of the demographics of your mission field in no more than 600 words. (5%) [Learning Outcomes #6-8] [3 hours].
Write a mission statement for your church plant’s evangelistic vision in no more than 400 words. (5%) [Learning Outcomes #6-8] [2 hours].
Write an essay answering a question asked about the Christian faith in your context. No more than 800 words. (5%) [Learning Outcomes #2,3,6,7,8] [4 Hours]
Write an essay on the roots necessary for a flourishing church plant. No more than 600 words. (5%) [Learning Outcomes [#1,8][5 Hours]
Write a 10-minute evangelistic talk. (5%) [Learning Outcome #5] [10 hours].
Write an essay on the key components needed to develop a holistic evangelism plan for my church plant. No more than 600 words. (5%) [Learning Outcomes #7,8] [5 Hours]
Design an evangelistic action plan for their church plant covering one- three years which includes: equipping the congregation for the missional tasks, ways to involve the entire church body in the work of evangelism, providing space for seekers to ask questions and explore faith, ways to be a transformative presence in their community, and to be good news in word and deed as the body of Christ. [Learning Outcomes #1-8] (20% of grade) [10 hours].

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the EVG requirement in the 120 MDiv and 80 MATM Programs (Fall 2018). Option to meet the C3 requirement in the 120 MDiv and 80 MATM Programs (Fall 2015).

FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes.