THREE VIEWS OF EVANGELISM

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THREE VIEWS OF EVANGELISM

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

entertainment-style evangelism (Wahshing)
Date: 2001, Sep 11
From: Wahshing Wahshing

THREE VIEWS OF EVANGELISM
Information Transmission
Views evangelism as a one-way transmission of information from a sender to a receiver. This view assumes that people will give the correct response when given the correct information. If the receiver does not do what is expected, it is because the sender did not transmit the information in the correct manner.
There are many people and churchs practicing evangelism according to the information transmission model. They feel that their task is simply to tell other people that God loves them. These people do a lot of talking, but very little listening. If they listen as all, it is only to discover what errors they need to correct. When non-Christians who are exposed to this kind of religious communication do not convert, the message senders typically blame themselves. They feel that they must have left something out or said something in the wrong way.
Manipulative Monologue
View evangelism as a process of manipulation. The message might be an emotional appeal or it might be leading a person through a set of carefully prepared questions. The techniques of high pressure salesmanship are based on this model of communication. Unfortunately, many books on preaching, and most books on person-to-person evangelism have been based on the high pressure salesmanship approach.
There are also many people and churches who practice religious communication according to the manipulative monologue model. They see the influence as being all one-way. They are not really interested in listening unless they can use the appearance of listening for manipulative purposes.
Non-Manipulative Dialogue
View of evangelism is based on the recognition that no two people ever see things in exactly the same way. Non-manipulative dialogue is an effort to look at things from the perspective of the other person. The principle of non-manipulative dialogue does not rule out an effort to share those convictions with others in the hope of influencing them. Non-manipulative dialogue, in fact, demands conviction and an interest in the other person which would motivate an effort to share such conviction. But in this model, the persuader treats the other person as a person and not as an object to be manipulated.