Implementing Biblical Evangelism Methodolgies at Fort Worth Harvest Church Fort Worth, Texas

Abstract

ABSTRACT

IMPLEMENTING BIBLICAL EVANGELISM METHODOLGIES

AT FORT WORTH HARVEST CHURCH

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

Bonifacio Ramirez, D.Min.

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2013

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Jeff K. Walters

Chapter 1 gives a ministry description of Fort Worth Harvest Church. The description gives a brief history of the church up until the present time. Some demographic details concerning the area surrounding the church and the city of Fort Worth are given as well. Chapter 1 details the kind of change that the church needs to embrace in order to be effective at reaching out. This chapter also includes the goals of the research project and the rationale for discovering and implementing the methods and principles of evangelism employed by Jesus and the New Testament church.

Chapter 2 examines the theological and biblical bases for this project. Special attention was given to the Gospels and the book of Acts in discovering the principles and methods used by Jesus and the New Testament church. Several passages concerning the methods of Jesus were examined (Matt 4:23-25; 7:28-29; Mark 1:35-39; Luke 6:17-19; John 20:20-21). Students were asked to pay attention to the identified principles and methods employed and to take note of those that seem the easiest to implement in their own personal witnessing.

Chapter 3 examines the theoretical and practical issues of modern day evangelism with those found in the New Testament. This chapter discusses how to help individuals understand what the gospel is, what some of the common misunderstandings of evangelism are, and how the church hinders lay people from doing biblical evangelism. In addition, it argues that the goal of the Great Commission is to make disciples, not decisions.

Chapter 4 gives an outline of the project's methodology and how it was carried out. A detailed account of the entire process was given. The point of this chapter is for someone to be able to duplicate it in their own ministry context.

Finally, chapter 5 evaluates the effectiveness of the project. The survey instruments indicated that people grew in confidence while sharing their faith and that they felt as if they were following the methods employed by Jesus and the New Testament church. This evaluation helped determine that this project was a success and allowed churches and church leaders options and tools that might help them in their own ministry contexts.