The Gospel Coalition

Yesterday, I wrote about traditional evangelistic strategies and the tendency for us to assume too much when we engage in personal evangelism. Today, I’d like to review three gospel presentations that have recently been developed that seek to combine the theological truths of Scripture with the Grand Narrative:

The Story: How it all Began and How it will never End

“The Story” is a web and print-based tract that explains the gospel message in terms of four worldview questions:

• How did it all begin? (Creation)
• What went wrong? (Fall)
• Can anything be done? (Rescue)
• What will the future hold? (Restoration)

In the space of a few pages, the tract explains the story of the world – from creation to new creation. The final section calls for a response (repentance and faith), but does so in ways that explain these concepts clearly to the lost person. Utilizing materials from Tim Keller, D.A. Carson, and others, the developers of “The Story” provide a biblical presentation of the gospel that explains this announcement of good news within the Grand Narrative.

The strengths of this approach are numerous. It empowers laypeople to share the meta-narrative in which the gospel makes sense. It sets heaven and hell within the biblical context of God’s renewal of the cosmos. It seamlessly unites repentance and faith with the call to recognize the lordship of Christ. The presentation is brief and memorable.

The weakness of “The Story” is that in its pursuit of brevity, the tract skips from Adam and Eve right to Jesus. The exclusion of the Law and the story of Israel deletes an important part of the story, a part which should serve to reinforce our condemnation as well as spotlight the perfect character of God. But even as it stands, “The Story” is a very useful tool for those who want to present the gospel message within the biblical worldview.

Good Soil: The Story of Hope

The Good Soil curriculum is inspired by missionaries who have ministered in oral cultures where storying has been an effective means of evangelism. The Story of Hope is a booklet which takes the reader through 40 essential Bible scenes (20 Old Testament and 20 New Testament), while distilling eight propositional truths from the stories:

• God
• Man
• Sin
• Death
• Christ
• Cross
• Faith
• Life.

In this way, the curriculum combines the biblical and systematic approach to theology. The pictures in The Story of Hope are beautifully done, and the story itself traces the theme of sacrifice from the Old Testament to Jesus – the dying Lamb.

This presentation has many strong points. The curriculum is flexible. If you’re pressed for time, you can present the story in 10 minutes. If you meet with someone for an hour or two, you can present the 20 most important stories. If you have more time, you can present 40 of the stories. There is even an option for presenting a hundred biblical scenes. The best part of The Story of Hope is its ability to connect the dots for people who have little to no Bible knowledge. It presents the Bible as a unified whole.

Still, there are a couple of weaknesses to this approach. It’s not as handy and memorable as “The Story,” though it can be adapted if need be. At times, the reasoning behind the choice of stories is not always clear. The story is told through the lens of atonement (from sacrifices to the cross). But there are other ways to tell this story too – through the lens of death needing new life (resurrection) or creation needing God’s kingdom (the reign of Jesus).

Sometimes the stories are a bit too specific in their detail. For example, instead of leaving the origin of evil and Satan’s fall to the realm of mystery and biblical summarization, the curriculum recounts Lucifer’s story as if the Bible presents it as straightforwardly as it does Moses and the Passover. Likewise, instead of simply focusing on Christ returning to judge the living and the dead, The Story of Hope commits one to a pre-tribulational rapture.

Overall, this presentation is very effective in telling the Bible’s Story to those who are unfamiliar with Scripture. It is also effective in connecting the dots for those who may know isolated Bible stories, but are unsure of how it all fits together. Highly recommended!

Two Ways to Live: The Choice We All Face

I have been using Two Ways to Live for a couple of years now. Like the other two presentations, this tract combines the narrative of Scripture with propositional truths about God, although it tends to lean a bit in the second direction. The history of Adam and Eve, Israel, etc. are passed over for a brief presentation of our problem and God’s solution.

I like Two Ways to Live because of its emphasis on our need to live under God’s rule and the good news that Christ has fulfilled this requirement in our place. The tract clearly lays out the choice that we must make is ultimately about being transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Repentance and faith are rightfully defined in terms of submission to Christ and trust in his sacrifice.

The weakness of this approach is that narrative takes a backseat to propositional truth about God. There is also very little in terms of the story, even though it is presented in narrative format.

What about you? Do you see storied evangelism on the rise? What tools have you found most effective?