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Christianity Today, February, 2007 |

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Belonging Before Believing

Reimagining Evangelism for a millennial generation.

Review by Louis A. Markos | posted 2/14/2007 08:52AM

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Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christian (2001) issued a strong, if controversial, wake-up call to proposition-minded evangelicals eager to reach the millennial generation with the gospel. For those who agreed with the basic tenor of McLaren's book but felt he went too far in downplaying logic-based, creed-centered apologetics, Rick Richardson's Reimagining Evangelism (which tellingly boasts a preface by McLaren) offers a healthy and appealing middle ground.

Richardson agrees with McLaren (and others in the emerging church) that postmoderns are more likely to join us on a spiritual journey than to respond to a one-time, high-pressure conversion sales pitch, that they are more eager to hear the Bible's grand story than the dogmatic statements into which that story has been abstracted by theologians.

What Richardson adds is a powerful vision of a collaborative, Holy Spirit–led apologetics in which a community of believers pools together their diverse gifts.

In today's world, he persuasively argues, seekers must feel they are part of such a community before they embrace Christ: "Belonging comes before believing."

Richardson also helps evangelists to reimagine themselves as detectives "looking for clues of God's Spirit at work in the lives of others."

Related Elsewhere:

Reimagining Evangelism is available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

InterVarsity Press has more information, including an excerpt, from the book.

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February 2007, Vol. 51, No. 2

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wordwon

Posted: February 20, 2007 5:34 AM

Comparative world view discussion is a route I love to use in opening up to the subject of the New Birth. The Bible insists dogmatically that the Law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Number One thing about God is Righteousness. We must come, apologetically or whatever, to see that we must have our sins forgiven by the utterly Righteous God. Church could become an extension of the apologetics that the pastor and others know have been in play by witnesses to those present and being dealt with individually. We must be as Ezekel. He sat where his hearers sat. He learned where they were spiritually and spoke to them accordingly. I think Jesus and Paul operated their group-leading ministries this way too. If I am wrong on this, how am I wrong? If I am right on this, why is it impossible for us to be like Christ, Paul, and Ezekiel about this? We are to like Christ.

Robin

Posted: February 17, 2007 4:31 PM

Rick Richardson is not saying that one can be a member of a church without believing. Rather, he is saying that today's nonbelievers are searching for [1] community (a place to belong) with truthful, self-disclosing, genuinely caring people who are involved in making a positive difference in the world, e.g., caring for the less fortunate, and [2] answers to the Big Questions associated with "spirituality." He insists that we Christians need to build friendships (not evangelism opportunities) with nonbelievers, listen to and hear them out about their "spirituality," offer to pray for them, and share our faith at moments when our faith is relevant to the conversation we're having with our friend. An invitation to come and see how we Christians worship, have fun together, lead our lives as Christians, and so forth, is part of sharing our faith. I'd add: The 12 disciples belonged to a group before they fully understood Jesus' identity, put their faith in him, or received the Spirit!

Gordon

Posted: February 15, 2007 12:07 PM


Shades of trial marriage concepts of the unregenerate culture where the persons try each other out for supposed compatibility before they ever make a commitment. It certainly has the markings of making the non-believer look good to be associated, but it diminishes the New Testament reality that the Lord adds to the church such as should be saved! Heaven help us!

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