(Photo: a Baptist church converted into a bar in Lake Geneva, WI)

The religious scene in America 100 years ago was much different than it is today. Why? Most people back then had a basic Christian worldview and understanding of God. There were many things that a disciple maker could simply assume in the worldview of most people that he/she spoke with.

The average American’s worldview has radically changed.

Many are writing on this reality and how the church of Christ is to respond to it. A few recent reads of mine on this are Understanding the Metamodern Mood and Four Themes for the Church in the Negative World.

Most professed Christians in America today don’t even have a basic Christian worldview. Consider this statement from the Christian Post which quotes a Barna study in 2024[1]: “Only 6% of self-professed Christians hold biblical worldview amid increasing syncretism in the US: survey.”[2] Syncretism is the combination of Christian and pagan ideas and philosophy.

Accepting the “new normal” should affect how we seek to make disciples.

Methods of Evangelism Created in Other Times

Methods of evangelism that have been used and popularized in America over the years, like The Romans Road, The Four Spiritual Laws, and God’s Simple Plan of Salvation were used effectively. Many came to Christ after a relatively brief presentation using these approaches. Some still do today.

The people we meet now in “post-Christian” American culture are mostly unchurched and spiritually paganized.  Many Christians, however, continue to use the same methods of evangelism that proved useful under a different set of preconceptions. These approaches are no longer appropriate as standalone truths for the majority of people Christians seek to win today.

While there are still many with a Christian worldview, their numbers are far fewer. What is worse still is that professed Christianity contains a large percentage of churches dominated by false teaching and heresies. Each of these perversions of Christianity redesigns God’s character and the meaning of the Christian message to adjust to cultural expectations. Yet many Bible-believing Christians continue to use evangelism methods from a different cultural context.

The Problem of Assumptions

The biggest problem with using methods developed in far different times is that they assume too much about the hearer’s basic understanding of God. Methods like the examples above assume that basic Bible truths are already understood and even largely believed.

The key goals in these conversations are to help people admit that they are sinners, express a desire to repent of their sins, elicit a statement of belief that Jesus loves them and died for their sins and rose again, and finally invite them to pray to receive Jesus. As we will see, assumptions in this approach are numerous.

The Danger of Culture-Specific Evangelistic Tools

As a missionary in Asia, I see great damage when these kinds of evangelistic tools (The Romans Road, The Four Spiritual Laws, God’s Simple Plan, etc.) are simply translated and put to use in cross-cultural ministry settings. Since a basic Christian worldview is lacking in most cultural contexts in our world, the use of these tools can actually be dangerous. Why? Unclear Gospel proclamation promotes false Christianity. How? People are led to profess to believe on Jesus Christ without a basic understanding of God, sin, Jesus, or the Gospel message itself in its biblical context.

The Welcome Emphasis on Creation to Christ

In the last few decades, there has been a huge movement among conservative Christians to return to an emphasis in evangelism on the beginning: creation and the character of God. Ministries like Answers in Genesis (The 7 Cs), ABWE’s Good Soil, Ethnos360’s Building on Firm Foundations, Matthias Media’s Two Ways to Live, and The Bible Project have been very influential.

Basically, these ministries call upon Christians in the USA to accept the reality that their culture is now post-Christian. Most people today need to be evangelized as pagans–approached with the assumption that they have very limited Bible knowledge. We must make no assumptions about a person’s understanding about God when we speak of salvation through Jesus Christ. We must evangelize as missionaries do cross-culturally when speaking with most people.

The Big Picture Narrative Begins with Genesis

When making disciples we must be sure to communicate this Creation to Christ approach, which might be described as the “Cosmic Gospel” or the “Big Picture Gospel” that covers Genesis to Revelation. People need a biblical framework for understanding the Gospel. God’s Spirit has hung His message on a grand narrative, the greatest of stories.

We must begin at the beginning. The Gospel begins at Genesis 1:1.

Why is this so important?

  • Most have no concept of who the God of the Bible is.
  • Most have never been taught Creation (except as an example of folly). Many believe instead in some form of evolution or simply have no explanation.
  • Most have no idea how they as human beings relate to God. There is no sense of creatureliness, gratitude, or accountability to the Creator.
  • Since there is no knowledge of God as Creator, they cannot have a real understanding about sin, their personal sinfulness against God. They cannot understand their need to be made right with Him.
  • Even if they know the basic Bible facts about Jesus–His life, death, and resurrection–they can make no sense of these things. They see no need to repent and believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
  • Most believe that all religions are good, that none of them is THE truth. Relativism dominates.
  • Cultural tradition, religious heritage, or subculture tribalistic beliefs provide the basis of one’s identity in much of the world. Most believe that their group’s faith is good enough. Logic and reason have little purchase in the minds of many of these.

This may sound daunting, but it is the real-world situation we face in evangelism today. We have to teach the Gospel beginning where people are. That will usually require an early emphasis on Creation. And time and commitment to tell the whole story from God’s holy Word.

[1]https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CRC-Release-AWVI-2-April-23-2024.pdf

[2] https://www.christianpost.com/news/only-6-percent-christians-hold-biblical-worldview-syncretism-rises.html

Photo: Kelly Loris on Flickr