559 - Rethinking Evangelism: A Theological Approach

Rethinking Evangelism: A Theological Approach

By Ben Campbell Johnson
Philadelphia, Westminster, 1987. 141 Pp. $9.95.

Acknowledging his personal faith pilgrimage from fundamentalism to a nonimperialistic, postcritical theology, Ben Johnson presents in his latest volume the results of his "rethinking evangelism," drawing upon many sources in the process. The place to start, he believes, is with a theology of personhood, one that addresses the five existential questions that define the meaning of our being: Where did I come from? Who am I? What's wrong with me? Why am I here? Where am I going?

Rejecting secular humanism and dialectical materialism as ultimately inadequate solutions to humanity's quest for meaning, the author offers his own version of the traditional arguments for the existence of God in support of his affirmation that God is the only satisfying answer. The starting point for effective evangelism, therefore, is precisely at the point of human need and human asking. So, the evangelist must first be a listener.

The evangelistic model for Johnson is the incarnation, by which Christ reveals God's initiative in identifying with us, participating in our lives, and transforming us. An incarnational christology must avoid the extremes of adoptionism or docetism, keeping the divine-human aspects in tension. The ministry of Christ is the norm for discerning the work of the Holy Spirit, who functions universally in all persons and cultures and is constantly seeking to turn people to Christ.

The task of the evangelist, then, is to identify with the work of the Spirit. It is, however, the task of the whole church, which evangelizes through each of its functions, especially worship. Johnson distinguishes between the church's mission (the transformation of society) and its evangelistic task (the salvation of persons). A personal and corporate understanding of salvation, he says, requires both. He finds in James Fowler's stages of faith a helpful paradigm for viewing what he calls "the process of salvation." The stages of faith along with what he considers to be discernible corresponding stages of social awareness offer, in Johnson's view, exciting new possibilities for evangelism, each stage calling for a different style.

In his chapter on "The Role of Faith," Johnson identifies and discusses two types of conversion, "nurtured" and "dramatic." Both are valid; both have their strengths and weaknesses. The human response to grace is faith, which Johnson, drawing upon Paul Tillich, defines as "ultimate concern." This understanding of faith informs how we relate to those we seek to evangelize.

In his discussion of the Kingdom of God, the author prefers to hold in tension the issue of universalism versus the doctrine of the last judgment. In the concluding chapter to his systematic theology of evangelism, he then presents his answers to ten practical questions, which he views as crucial to the church's evangelistic task.

Rethinking Evangelism is recommended reading for all teachers and serious practitioners of evangelism.

Richard S. Armstrong, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J.