I recently read an article by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis titled "Radical Evangelism" in which he explains how he came to understand the need to start at the beginning of the Bible when explaining the gospel to someone. The truth is, even here in North America, we live in a Biblically illiterate society. Things are not how they used to be. People generally don't have a correct understanding of God and His character as revealed in Scripture. They don't understand man's problem of sin or our need for a Savior. And it's pretty safe to say that people's view of origins are greatly distorted. In the article, Mr. Ham says, "How can a Christian explain the gospel to someone who has no background understanding of God's truth revealed in Genesis? It is impossible." He then goes on to talk about the significance of the historical accounts recorded in the book of Genesis.

"Genesis's account of history explains that all humans are descendants of one man, Adam, who rebelled against God, thus bringing sin and death into this once-perfect creation. As a result, Adam and his descendants were separated from their Creator. However, the Creator God had a plan from eternity for man's salvation.

As Paul deals with the gospel in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, he goes back to Genesis to lay the foundational information so that all who read these crucial passages will understand the gospel."

When Mr. Ham first concluded that a chronological approach to sharing the gospel was the way to go, he thought to himself, "Wow, what a radical idea! I need to present the gospel to these people the way God does it in His Word, the Bible! Who would have ever thought of that?" But as he goes on to explain, this seemingly radical approach is not completely unheard of today.

"The missionary organization New Tribes Mission has led the way in what it describes as a "chronological approach" to teaching the Bible to pagan cultures that have no understanding of God's Word. This approach starts at the beginning in Genesis and works through the true history of the world. When the missionaries eventually present the message of Christ on the Cross, they find that the people to whom they are ministering understand the essence of the gospel!"

The work of those with New Tribes MIssion has long been an interest to JD & I. We've heard amazing stories from those that have successfully used the chronological approach in remote tribal locations. But what about our own "tribal" people here in North America? What about those surrounding us that have no Biblical background or perhaps have a very confused understanding of the Bible's message? That's were the ministry of GoodSeed comes in. Although Mr. Ham's article does not talk about GoodSeed, their work clearly goes hand in hand with what he refers to as radical evangelism.

GoodSeed has spent well over a decade developing evangelism tools that use the chronological approach ~ some of which are specifically geared towards the North American mindset. JD & I were missionaries with GoodSeed Canada for five years, and though we are no longer on staff, we are still 100% behind their much needed ministry. The desire of GoodSeed is to help people gain clarity of the Bible's main message, and then to equip people to pass on that message to others in a way that makes sense.

Mr. Ham concludes his article by reiterating the need for this radical approach to evangelism.

"Sound radical? Actually it shouldn't. But it does sound radical in today's church environment, where so many churches have avoided Genesis (or consider it unimportant or even reject it as symbolic poetry or myth). The secularists have made incredible inroads in infiltrating Christian minds with false ideas about evolution and earth history over millions of years.

Because so many Christians (including many Christian leaders) have disregarded Genesis, even many church people do not truly understand the gospel. Also, the coming generations increasingly have little understanding of God's Word from the beginning. Many just "shrug their shoulders" at the message of salvation and end up walking away from the church.

So for today's world, we do need a radical approach to evangelism. That radical approach is to present the gospel the way God Himself does for us in His Word - starting in Genesis!"

So while this "radical" approach may in fact require a radical change in how we as Christians view our role as ambassadors {2 Cor 5:20}, it's not radical in a sense that we are left unequipped. This chronological approach is illustrated numerous times in the Bible. And the ministry of GoodSeed has done well to develop tools that use Scripture to beautifully tie together the main message of the Bible from Creation to the Cross and beyond.

If you're not familiar with GoodSeed, I highly recommend taking the time to get acquainted with their resources. In recent years, JD & I have found the book By This Name to be an ideal tool to help explain the message of the Bible to our post-modern, post-Christian, & secular society. And since we are rarely taught the Bible in a chronological fashion, it's also an excellent source of encouragement for believers.

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...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

~ 1 Peter 3:15

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