
doi: 10.1111/irom.12049
Evangelism is the life wire of the church, since through it new converts are added into the church. However, communicating the gospel, which is considered a meta-narrative in contemporary society, is a difficult task. The reason is that whereas the core message of the gospel remains the same, the world in which the gospel is being preached is constantly changing. As predicted in the Bible in passages including 1 Timothy 4:1-2 and 2 Timothy 3:1-7, the world has now become more secularized than before. The result is the rejection of God, the removal of religious aspects from many governmental affairs, and the belief that truth and falsehood or goodness and badness are not unconditional but change from situation to situation or culture to culture. Against this backdrop, within society we see an increased level of permissiveness, lifestyles of "whateverism," materialism, sexual immorality, sexual divergent preference, and different religious beliefs. One institution that is greatly attacked by this set of beliefs is Christianity and its beliefs and practices. (1) Christianity, and as such religion, is gradually being pushed to the background. This is being engineered by the postmodern philosophy, which has permeated virtually every aspect of human life. (2) The question that arises, therefore, is how can the gospel effectively be communicated in this condition? Apparently, there is no easy answer. On the other hand, the condition demands that new ways of doing evangelism are explored. This is what this study seeks to do. It attempts to look into the mind of God on changing trends that emanate from postmodernism. It also briefly looks at postmodern mindsets and attitudes and some strategies that may be employed to put evangelism on the cutting edge. David Bosch (1991) defines evangelism as: That dimension and activity of the church's mission which, by word and deed and in the light of particular conditions and a particular context, offers every person and community, everywhere, a valid opportunity to be directly challenged to a radical reorientation of their lives, a reorientation which involves such things as deliverance from slavery from the world and its powers; embracing Christ as Saviour and Lord; becoming living members of his community, the church; being enlisted into his service of reconciliation, peace and justice on earth; and being committed to God's purpose of placing all things under the rule of Christ. (3) In short, evangelism aims at making people disciples of Christ. (4) To effectively make people the disciples of Christ in contemporary society requires that the church develop certain practical relationship-based strategies. The following are some suggestions. Diversity and innovation There should be a conscious effort to bring in diversity and innovation under the leading of the Holy Spirit. Contemporary people see truth as experiential and personal or communal. They seek acceptance and a community that is seen as safe enough for one to develop identity and self-consciousness. Also, the allegiance of people is based on their spiritual and moral imagination. (5) The postmodern evangelistic engagement should therefore be one of creativity, innovation, and diversity under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The God we serve is a creative God. He believes in diversity and created diversity in the sea, among fishes, birds, mountains, valleys, and different races. Isaiah prophesies, "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert" (Is. 43:19, KJV). God, in the above scriptures, sets clearly his passion for newness. The principle of being innovative and doing new things to meet new challenges cannot be better captured than in Paul's statement of being all things to all men that he might win some (6) (1 Cor. 9:16-23). …
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