In order to contribute to the biblical and denominational intent for the Church to become a missional people and because humankind needs to be redeemed, Declaring the Gospel of God will challenge, inform, and equip students to become full participants in Christ’s mission by overcoming personal fears and coping with cultural resistance.
The students will be God-called persons, seeking to be adequately prepared to be both personally involved and to lead others to involvement in Christian mission. These learners usually have limited experience with evangelism and limited exposure to unsaved people; they have few if any unsaved friends. If learning is contained only in the classroom, it will not be sufficient to gain the exposure, motivation, and on-the-job-training which is critical to be adequately prepared to become a leader in the deliberate intention of the Church of the Nazarene to become missional.
Factors in both the state of society and of the Church contribute to the urgency and importance of Declaring the Gospel of God. As society, in general, is without a loving relationship with Christ, most people live in lawlessness and self-centered rebellion. Moral confusion and materialism are normative, and the threat of AIDS is either a present epidemic or a shadow of things to come, depending on the geographical or ethnic context.
The Church should be God’s agent for redemption and the source of hope, but its spiritual vigor has been sapped by relativism and apathy. The Church of the Nazarene is positioning itself to recapture its consciousness to fulfill its mission and to again become a movement, to become the “sent” people of God. The Church is asking: “Will the next generation have faith?” Trusting in a positive response, the Church is opening up to new structures for evangelism, contributing to the propensity of the moment for learners to become participants in this endeavor.
This module contributes to the development of the following abilities as defined in the U.S. Sourcebook for Ministerial Development.
CN 11—Ability to identify the significant elements of the message of Jesus and Paul.
CN 14—Ability to identify and describe the major theological concepts of the New Testament.
CN 27—Ability to identify the formative influences of the American Holiness Movement and the Church of the Nazarene.
CP 15—Ability to think globally and engage cross-culturally for the purpose of mission.
CP 16—Ability to preach evangelistically and to be engaged with and equip others in personal and congregational evangelism.
CP 17—Ability to lead in discipling and assimilating new converts into the church
CP 18—Ability to identify social and congregational factors that influence church health and growth
CP 20—Ability to envision Christian education most appropriate for a local church and to assure the development and empowerment of those serving in it.
CH 8—Ability to take responsibility for his or her own continuing spiritual development.
CX 1—Ability to discover sociological dynamics and trends and to apply that information to specific ministry settings.
CX 3—Ability to describe socialization and to apply its dynamics to the life of the Christian community.