MS 610 The Ministry of Evangelism

Reading Assignments: Most of the classes will focus, for the first session, on books or readings, that have been assigned for that day. The books and readings are available in Asbury’s Cokesbury Bookstore. BOOKS: 1. Rambo, Lewis. Understanding Religious Conversion 2. Hunter, George G. III, The Celtic Way of Evangelism 3. McLaren, Brian. More Ready Than You Realize 4. Crandall, Ron. The Contagious Witness READINGS (available in ATS bookstore after about February 17): 1. Neill, Stephen. “Conversion” 2. Green, Michael. “Methods and Strategy in the Evangelism of the Early Church” 3. DeWolf, L. Harold. “The New Birth” 4. Green, Bryan. “Counseling the Seeker.” 5. Winter, Ralph. “The Highest Priority: Cross-Cultural Evangelism.” IV. Requirements and Written Assignmentshttps://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/3044/thumbnail.jp

ME 830 Seminar in Evangelization: Applied Rhetorical Theory

Textbooks: Seminar participants will work through and process parts of two formidable texts, and will reflect throughout the semester on one famous evangelistic sermon—Clarence McCartney’s “Come Before Winter” (class handout) 1. Bizzell, Patricia and Bruce Herzberg, ed’s. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, Second Edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001) 2. Corbett, Edward P. J. and Robert J. Connors. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, Fourth Edition (Oxford University Press, 1999.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/2721/thumbnail.jp

MS 645 Cross Cultural Communication of the Gospel

1. Storti, Craig. The Art of Crossing Cultures, second ed. Intercultural Press, Inc., 2001. 2. _________. Figuring Foreigners Out. Intercultural Press, Inc., 1999. 3. Hunter, George G. III, The Celtic Way of Evangelism. Abingdon Press, 2000. 4. Nydell, Margaret K. Understanding Arabs, fourth ed. Intercultural Press, Sept. 2005. Additional Required Textbooks for MB 720 students (optional for MS 645 students). 5. Berger, Peter and Thomas Luckman. The Social Construction of Reality. Doubleday @ Company, 1967. 6. Nida, Eugene. Message and Mission: The Communication of the Christian Faith, rev. ed. William Carey Library, 1990. Additional Required Readings for both MS 645 and MB730 (will be available for purchase in a packet of readings at the ATS Cokesbury bookstore. 1. Milton J. Bennett, Toward Ethnorelativism: A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. 2. Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall. Key Concepts: Underlying Structures of Culture , from Understanding Cultural Differences. Intercultural Press, 1990. 3. Herbert Blumer. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method, pp. 1-21.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/3559/thumbnail.jp

ME 820 Seminar in Evangelization: Applied Historical Perspectives

Course Readings Asbury’s bookstore has ordered the following sources for us: 1. Michael Green. Evangelism in the Early Church, rev. ed. (Eerdmans, 2003) 2. Rodney Stark. The Rise of Christianity (Harper-Collins p. b., 1997. 3 Richard Fletcher. The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity (University of California Press, 1999). 4. Smith, Stout, and Minkema, Eds. A Jonathan Edwards Reader (Yale University Press p. b., 2003) 5. C. H. Spurgeon. The SoulWinner Whitaker House, 1995) 6. Alcoholics Anonymous, fourth edition. The bookstore has also ordered a packet of readings, featuring a. St. Patrick’s Confession b. Selections from Bede”s Ecclesiastical History of the English People c. John Wesley’s “Character of a Methodist” and “Short History of the People Called Methodists.” d. Selected chapters from Charles G. Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion. Robert Tuttle’s The Story of Evangelism: A History of the Witness to the Gospel (Abingdon, 2006) would serve as a marvelous introductory text for this subject, but was not used because of the seminar’s greater stress on primary sources. Tuttle’s book is admirably suited to (say) a course in which the students mainly read one text.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/2719/thumbnail.jp

One More Time: Why We Do Research on the Ministry of Evangelism

George Hunter has spent a lifetime studying the ministry of evangelism. Following his teenage conversion, he discovered that the ministry that helps pre-Christian people become new Christians was the most understudied of the Church’s ministries. In this article, he reports on how he studied, from multiple perspectives, the Church’s most essential (but most academically neglected) ministry. Hunter gradually discovered at least a dozen assumptions about evangelism in Protestant folk-wisdom that are typically more counterproductive than productive. He interfaces with these assumptions to suggest alternative views that are more academically warranted and practically effective. He concludes by inviting a generation of younger scholars to invest their lives in studying “apostolic ministry.

ME 880 Doctoral Seminar in Evangelization

1. Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity. 2. Fletcher, Richard. The Barbarian Conversion. 3. James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. 4. McLaren, Brian. More Ready Than You Realize. 5. Patrick, Confession (handout) 6. Finney, Charles G. Lectures on Revivals of Religion, ch’s 1 and 14 (handout) 7. Alcoholics Anonymous, fourth edition.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/3607/thumbnail.jp

ME 820 Seminar in Evangelization: Applied Historical Perspectives

Course Readings Asbury’s bookstore has ordered the following sources for us: 1. Michael Green. Evangelism in the Early Church, rev. ed. (Eerdmans, 2003) 2. Rodney Stark. The Rise of Christianity (Harper-Collins p. b., 1997. 3 Richard Fletcher. The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity (University of California Press, 1999). 4. Smith, Stout, and Minkema, Eds. A Jonathan Edwards Reader (Yale University Press p. b., 2003) 5. C. H. Spurgeon. The SoulWinner Whitaker House, 1995) 6. Alcoholics Anonymous, fourth edition.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/1862/thumbnail.jp

ME 745 Leading the Church for the Unchurched

1. Hunter, George G. Leading and Managing a Growing Church. Abingdon, 2000. 2. ___________. Radical Outreach: The Recovery of Apostolic Ministry and Evangelism. Abingdon, 2003 3. Schaller, Lyle. Strategies for Change. Abingdon, 1993. 4. Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Church. Zondervan, 1995.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/3606/thumbnail.jp

Old East Side’s Daunting Challenge: The “Cultural Enclave”

An explanation of how older churches become cultural enclaves, and how they can be renewed as apostolic congregations

One More Time: Why We Do Research on the Ministry of Evangelism

George Hunter has spent a lifetime studying the ministry of evangelism. Following his teenage conversion, he discovered that the ministry that helps pre-Christian people become new Christians was the most understudied of the Church’s ministries. In this article, he reports on how he studied, from multiple perspectives, the Church’s most essential (but most academically neglected) ministry. Hunter gradually discovered at least a dozen assumptions about evangelism in Protestant folk-wisdom that are typically more counterproductive than productive. He interfaces with these assumptions to suggest alternative views that are more academically warranted and practically effective. He concludes by inviting a generation of younger scholars to invest their lives in studying “apostolic ministry.