2. Cultural Distance: E-Scale
The combined membership of all protestant denominations in the USA declined by almost 5 million members (9.5%), while the USA population increased by 24 million (11%).
This statistic we gave last section is one that is very telling. It shows us that because of the decline Christianity and the rate of population growth the distance we have to travel to reach people for Jesus is much farther away. This distance is a major shift in America. Previously in our history Christianity seemed to be in the center of almost every community. Even if people didn't necessary live like Christ, because the influence Christianity had in American culture at the very least they were ethical Christians. This meant that the church didn't really have to do much evangelistically to reach the world around them. For the most part the cultural and the people were Christian which meant the people came to the church. Well as the stat above shows those days are now gone. We now live in a world where Christianity and the church are increasing being pushed out of the town square and back to the fringes of the community. This means we are going to have to think missionally concerning the world around us and that we have to abandon much of what we have been taught concerning former evangelism mindsets.
Fortunately for us we have a tool that will help us as we try to understand how to approach our campuses missionally.
Ralph Winters, was one of the foremost missiologists of our time. One of the ways he helped explain the task of being missional in evangelism is the scale you see in the picture above.The E-scale represents the cultural distance that Christians go, or need to go, when sharing the Gospel. Each measure of the scale, E-0, E-1,E-2, E-3, represents the distance and/or barrier Christians would have to break through in order to reach someone outside the church with the Gospel. Let’s examine each individual barrier more closely in order to see if it will help understand how culturally distant the local church is from the rest of its community.
E-0 Evangelism
E-0 evangelism is the type of evangelism that uses the elements of the church or the programs within the church to reach those who already attend or participate in local church activities. Examples of this kind of evangelism would be Sunday school, Easter egg hunts, christmas plays, sermons, youth ministry, children’s ministry and perhaps follow-up visitation. In this type of evangelism there is no need for Christians to move outside of his own cultural boundaries. Everyone they are trying to reach is already part of it. Its greatest focus and prize is on the wayward Christian and personal decisions.
E-1 Evangelism
E-1 evangelism is evangelism that does take place outside the church, but to the same culture. This is reaching out to those who aren’t participating in the local church, but primarily share in the same views and outlook concerning the climate of the culture. The best example is personal evangelism by the local church. There is no need to move outside of the culture created in the local church, as the ones they seek to reach would most likely already conform to the practices of the local church. Primary focus is family members, coworkers, and others fallen away from the church or in another church.
E-2 Evangelism
E-2 is cross-cultural evangelism into a similar, but different culture. This is reaching out to those who may or may not have the same language, but do have a different backgrounds. The best example of this would be short-term mission trips. Here there is a need for the Christian to be aware of his own cultural practices and biblical practices so as not to hinder anyone coming to faith. It greatest focus is not on bringing people to the church, but to seed the Gospel where they are.
E-3 Evangelism
E-3 evangelism takes the Gospel to cultures very different from that of the messenger. This is reaching out to those who have never heard of Jesus or who have a culturallyinstigated resistance to Christianity. There are usually no examples of this in local church practice, except in the commissioning of career missionaries. Here there is a need for the Christian to radically strip off his own culture from the Gospel message and identify the barriers, gaps, and bridges to faith that exist in the unreached person’s culture. Its focus is exclusively on bringing the church to a new place.
A Chi Alpha missionaries we willing to look at the E-Scale and translate into our own context. Most Churches today never go beyond E-0 evangelism. They stay mostly to themselves. We will look at the consequences of this in more depth later we will look to see if the local church is successful, and a reasonable method of distributing the Gospel. However, by understanding the E-scale it gives a sense of how far we must travel and what it may take to spread he Gospel on our campus.
In Summary
The E-scale represents the cultural distance that Christians go, or need to go, when sharing
the Gospel.
This statistic we gave last section is one that is very telling. It shows us that because of the decline Christianity and the rate of population growth the distance we have to travel to reach people for Jesus is much farther away. This distance is a major shift in America. Previously in our history Christianity seemed to be in the center of almost every community. Even if people didn't necessary live like Christ, because the influence Christianity had in American culture at the very least they were ethical Christians. This meant that the church didn't really have to do much evangelistically to reach the world around them. For the most part the cultural and the people were Christian which meant the people came to the church. Well as the stat above shows those days are now gone. We now live in a world where Christianity and the church are increasing being pushed out of the town square and back to the fringes of the community. This means we are going to have to think missionally concerning the world around us and that we have to abandon much of what we have been taught concerning former evangelism mindsets.
Fortunately for us we have a tool that will help us as we try to understand how to approach our campuses missionally.
Ralph Winters, was one of the foremost missiologists of our time. One of the ways he helped explain the task of being missional in evangelism is the scale you see in the picture above.The E-scale represents the cultural distance that Christians go, or need to go, when sharing the Gospel. Each measure of the scale, E-0, E-1,E-2, E-3, represents the distance and/or barrier Christians would have to break through in order to reach someone outside the church with the Gospel. Let’s examine each individual barrier more closely in order to see if it will help understand how culturally distant the local church is from the rest of its community.
E-0 Evangelism
E-0 evangelism is the type of evangelism that uses the elements of the church or the programs within the church to reach those who already attend or participate in local church activities. Examples of this kind of evangelism would be Sunday school, Easter egg hunts, christmas plays, sermons, youth ministry, children’s ministry and perhaps follow-up visitation. In this type of evangelism there is no need for Christians to move outside of his own cultural boundaries. Everyone they are trying to reach is already part of it. Its greatest focus and prize is on the wayward Christian and personal decisions.
E-1 Evangelism
E-1 evangelism is evangelism that does take place outside the church, but to the same culture. This is reaching out to those who aren’t participating in the local church, but primarily share in the same views and outlook concerning the climate of the culture. The best example is personal evangelism by the local church. There is no need to move outside of the culture created in the local church, as the ones they seek to reach would most likely already conform to the practices of the local church. Primary focus is family members, coworkers, and others fallen away from the church or in another church.
E-2 Evangelism
E-2 is cross-cultural evangelism into a similar, but different culture. This is reaching out to those who may or may not have the same language, but do have a different backgrounds. The best example of this would be short-term mission trips. Here there is a need for the Christian to be aware of his own cultural practices and biblical practices so as not to hinder anyone coming to faith. It greatest focus is not on bringing people to the church, but to seed the Gospel where they are.
E-3 Evangelism
E-3 evangelism takes the Gospel to cultures very different from that of the messenger. This is reaching out to those who have never heard of Jesus or who have a culturallyinstigated resistance to Christianity. There are usually no examples of this in local church practice, except in the commissioning of career missionaries. Here there is a need for the Christian to radically strip off his own culture from the Gospel message and identify the barriers, gaps, and bridges to faith that exist in the unreached person’s culture. Its focus is exclusively on bringing the church to a new place.
A Chi Alpha missionaries we willing to look at the E-Scale and translate into our own context. Most Churches today never go beyond E-0 evangelism. They stay mostly to themselves. We will look at the consequences of this in more depth later we will look to see if the local church is successful, and a reasonable method of distributing the Gospel. However, by understanding the E-scale it gives a sense of how far we must travel and what it may take to spread he Gospel on our campus.
In Summary
The E-scale represents the cultural distance that Christians go, or need to go, when sharing
the Gospel.
- E-0 is the type of evangelism is reaching those who already attend or participate in local church activities.
- E-1 is evangelism that does take place outside the church, but to the same culture.
- E-2 is reaching out to those who may or may not have the same language, but do have a different backgrounds.
- E-3 evangelism is reaching out to those who have never heard of Jesus or who have a culturally instigated resistance to Christianity.