|
Anytime the gospel is systematized into a neat little package there is going to be compromises. The question is whether any compromises are acceptable. First, there is no question that God is greater than our failures. If we misrepresent or forget a salient truth of the gospel when reaching out to an unbeliever, the Holy Spirit's work will not be diminished. If God is working in an individual in order to bring them to faith in Christ, God's work will be done. Acknowledging this fact recognizes that God is completely sovereign. But this is not an excuse for compromising (imho). If a systematized gospel program is deficient in theology then it must changed or abandoned. This does not mean that the Way of the Master or Evangelism Explosion are devoid of merit. They aren't. But if I were to use their programs I would have to determine whether some "tweaking" was needed. For instance, any program that incorporates a standard sinners prayer would be changed if I had anything to say about it. Also, I couldn't tell a person that God loved them. How do I know that? I could tell them about the love of God but not that God loved them in their sinful condition.
P.S. Now...after all that I just said, my church has used BOTH the Way of the Master and Evangelism Explosion. E.E. is dormant right now because of lack of interest. W.O.T.M. was more of a DVD series than an actual program.
|