Evangelism can be generally defined as the recruitment process of one group, generally of religious affiliation, to an individual that is typically not currently enlisted. The tactics used by these groups have both traditional roots, as well as new-age ideas. These two general categories encompass a never ending list of practices that all religions use to evangelize including; look-a-likes, scare tactics, “save them with kindness”, intra-targeting and many more. In his article, “Discipleship vs. Evangelism”, Andrew Wommack says “Jesus’ attitude toward evangelism is much different that that of most Christians. Jesus is more concerned with the quality of ministry than the quantity.” However, how do Christian evangelists and other religion’s effectively reach and communicate to their potential new members?
While religions may vary in beliefs, a common thread can be found in evangelism. The key in many cases includes relating to the “non-believer”. The same tactics can be seen in educational advertising books. Seek out the target audience, in this case, non-believers, and tell them who they are, who the church is, and why they cannot live another day without joining. A major problem all churches face is overcoming the preconceived notions already prevalent in the minds of the non-believers.
These notions are often unable to penetrate. Some people are just as set in their ways as those who try to change them, and are interested in a discussion instead of a baptism. However, in many cases an educated discussion can lead to replacing a previously negative attitude towards the church an evangelist represents with a positive one. In many cases, replacing this attitude is half the battle. At this point, usually there is a huge fork in the road. This paper will discuss the following paths that can be chosen from this point on; new age evangelism, traditional tactics, and ways they are intertwined among the world’s leading religions.
I included the intro to remind everyone about what was going on. I've re written these first few pages so many times, and nothing seems to really sit right. I guess we'll see today. Hmm.
Dude...I totally think your paper can go in a bunch of really interesting directions; don't despair! It'll sit right once you start writing and it all starts to come together :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would ask about your topic--are you planning on talking about evangelism specifically as it relates to Christianity in the South or to multiple religious traditions? This sentence: "While religions may vary in beliefs, a common thread can be found in evangelism" lends itself to you talking about multiple religions, but then you talk much more specifically about the church in your last paragraph. Maybe if you talked about multiple religions it would give you more topics to discuss in 20 pages or more?
Sounds good though girl...keep going!
I think you've got a great direction I think you just need to break it down a little in the beginning. Let the readers know what exactly you are going to discuss. The first paragraph is a little confusing. I can tell you have so many ideas so it is probably hard to compile them. This is a really interesting topic and kind of outside the box. I would also try to relate this to South. Maybe, the trends in evangelism in the South (describing what that is) compared to those of the North. Are Southern evangelists more aggressive. Or you could compare different types of evangelism within different sects of religion within the South, which I think is sort of your intention.
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