All people should know the story of the Bible because they find themselves in it. Evangelism requires that the content of the gospel be faithful to the Bible's overarching storyline and message. In the Scriptures there are many examples of how the Bible's story line is used in the preaching and proclamation of the gospel.
Not having a knowledge of Jesus Christ and his gospel makes the message of the Bible empty. Peterson explains, "Luke wants to establish a theology of the gospel as 'the word of God.' Paul builds an argument for the existence of God and that God is the God of the Bible.
This is the big story of the Bible that frames and explains all the little stories. Evangelism that is not based on the plot of the Bible lacks a connection with the whole plan of God's redemption. Since the entire Bible communicates God's plan, it can be taken as an overarching storyline.
Another belief underlying biblical theology is that the story of the Bible is ultimately centered on Jesus Christ. 19 Vaughan Roberts, God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002), 26. The first two movements of the Bible plot are revealed in the first three chapters of Genesis.
Mike Cosper's The Stories We Tell is an example of stories that echo the Bible narrative. This is so important to a culture that no longer knows the story of the Bible. The Church has benefited from the growing number of works that highlight the history of the Bible.
Assess Evangelism Practices and Frequency
The average age of the congregations matches the number of years most have been Christians and supports the assumption of a more mature congregation. The survey responses also indicated that the majority of the congregation has been a member of River Valley Community Church for a significant amount of time. This means that the maturity of the people surveyed have been under the teaching of the church for a considerable time.
When examining the frequency of evangelism practice, the majority of responses indicated that participants had shared their faith within the last week of the survey or within the last month of the survey. The results of this survey do not match the previous examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the congregation. One explanation may be that the previous review of the church was a little inaccurate about evangelism as a weakness in the church.
The problem with that explanation, however, is that church staff and leadership agree that the congregation as a whole does not appear to be engaged in evangelism in any discernible way. This would lead one to believe that there might be a problem in the study which would show this discrepancy between itself and the previous evaluation of the congregation. Since this explanation cannot be confirmed, it stands at best as a hypothesis about the discrepancy between the previous evaluation of the congregation and the survey.
A lower standard, which might refer to church attendance or a person believing without presenting the gospel, could help explain how the congregation believes they are doing evangelism more often than church leadership believes. The Likert scale part of the survey helps give a clearer picture of how the congregation feels about evangelism. The congregation's view of evangelism, particularly their ability and comfort, is clearer in the Likert scale portion of the survey.
One of the key premises of this project is that a robust knowledge and ability to articulate the biblical story will help a person share their faith. I hoped that this was one of the markers that would show significant changes for those who went through the curriculum.
Assess Biblical Knowledge
The goal was considered met when 30 percent of the congregation completed the survey and the data was analyzed. There are a few possible explanations for why knowing the biblical story was considered a weakness, but the research seems to suggest otherwise. The first explanation is that the survey was a poorly worded and written test of knowledge of the biblical story.
This interpretation is supported by a statement recorded in one of the research papers that says, "Your sermons have given me a GREAT appreciation for the Old Testament." Although this statement was just one person's response, it shows how the church's recent biblical teaching may have affected the congregation's knowledge of biblical theology. Examining the statements can help us understand where the congregation needs to grow in their knowledge of the biblical story.
This was one of the statements that was worded negatively so that the Likert scale would be in reverse order, with a 6 being strongly disagree. While the negative wording of the statement could have influenced the answers, the other negatively worded statement did not have such a low score. The statement was worded: "The stories of the Old Testament are primarily moral in nature." The average response to this statement was 3.77.
It can be argued that the congregation that is divided over the primary purpose of the Old Testament may show a lack of knowledge of the biblical story line. The curriculum used this division of the Bible to help explain the biblical narrative and thus addresses this statement. This lower response may indicate that although the congregation has some knowledge of the story line of the Bible, they have less confidence in their ability to articulate that story line.
The curriculum was designed for this reason: to give the congregation the ability and confidence to relate the story of the Bible to other people and thus be useful in sharing the faith. The survey showed that the congregation of River Valley Community Church has a strong grasp on the concept of the Bible having an overarching story, but may be less sure how to express that story or how it can be easily divided into parts. component.
Develop a Curriculum on the Scripture’s Storyline
This comment reflected that much of the teaching was designed to occur during the discussion in the classroom setting and was therefore not reflected in the student materials. This showed a weakness of the material, that it might not be used as effectively by someone less familiar with biblical theology. Frankie Post added no comments that influenced the final development of the curriculum.
The panel of ministers determined that the curriculum was sufficiently faithful to the biblical storyline and applicable to the congregation, with the aim of equipping them in evangelism. This revision allowed the curriculum to be taught to those of the congregation who were willing to come in person for an eight-lesson Sunday evening lesson, as well as those who chose to follow online. The online option lacked the discussion that an in-person classroom setting naturally has, but had the same materials and training.
Increase Knowledge of Scripture’s Overarching Storyline
Increased scores on the post-curriculum survey would indicate that they learned the story. A weakness in the survey questions would provide a poor measure of the participants' increase in knowledge.
Equip Members for Evangelism
Another strength was the curriculum itself and its applicability to the aims of the project. The main strength of the curriculum was the teaching of biblical history in the simple outline of creation, fall, redemption and consummation. Another strength of the curriculum was the discussion that took place in the in-person classes.
The second weakness of the project was the dropout rate of participants who started the class and did not finish it. These elements can be changed to increase the quality of the project as well as its success. Another improvement would be to ensure that the online option is of the same quality as the in-person class.
Biblical theology is important for all Christians to have a good understanding of the biblical narrative and how the Bible is connected. Using God's Story in Evangelism' to notice the beauty and utility of God's story. The ministry of the church includes preaching the gospel to those who do not believe.
This teaching of the biblical narrative would take place knowing that God's story includes all human stories. Knowing the overall narrative of the Bible gave members who reviewed the curriculum greater confidence in the Bible. The comparison between surveys before and after the curriculum showed an increase in both knowledge of biblical history and confidence in evangelism.
The church has been given the ability to deal with issues comprehensively for the benefit of the entire ministry. The project fulfilled what the church needed to address the weakness of evangelism as well as the lack of knowledge in the area of Bible history.
Survey
General Information
The survey you are about to participate in is designed to identify current practices and frequency of evangelism, as well as biblical knowledge among the . This research is being conducted by Adam Kareus with the aim of collecting data for a ministerial project. Any information you provide will be kept strictly confidential and your name will never be mentioned or identified with your answers.
By completing this survey, you are giving your informed consent to the use of your responses in this project.
Evangelism
I am confident in my ability to relate how parts of the Bible relate to my faith. This instrument was used to evaluate the training sessions of the participants while engaged in evangelism. An overview of the Bible's storyline." In Understanding the Big Picture of the Bible, edited by Wayne Grudem, C.
