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From the 1975 classic “WHAT’S GONE WRONG WITH THE HARVEST” by James Engel

Proclamation

Often in non-Western countries, the vast majority of the potential audience, 90 percent or more, will be at position -8 on the continuum in Figure 3 and have little or no effective knowledge of the gospel. At the very most, they will have some awareness of God’s power through the witness of creation and their conscience as Paul asserts in his letter to the Romans. But this is hardly a sufficient basis for a life-changing decision. A simple presentation of the plan of salvation, often containing little more than a few major propositions backed up by several Scripture references, is likely to make little sense to a person who doesn’t even know what the Bible is, let alone its claims about God, the nature of man, and the uniqueness of Jesus. Such a simple gospel presentation will be screened out and ineffective until the person has reached stage -3 accompanied by a grasp of the implications of the Good News and problem recognition.

What is the minimum \level of biblical understanding required for one to make a valid life commitment to Jesus Christ? This is a question of enormous significance, and it is likely that there will be some important variations from one cultural grouping to another.4 But most will agree on three basic categories:

1. a belief in one God,
2. a proper recognition of the biblical significance of the nature of man as a sinner, and
3. a grasp of the uniqueness of Jesus in salvation.

These points will be elaborated in much greater depth in later chapters.

The goal of the communicator is to build awareness in these three categories and to stimulate, if possible, a positive attitude toward the Christian message and toward its visible manifestation, the Church. This is the essence of the ministry of proclamation — stimulation of awareness, initial interest, and positive attitude. More specifically, it brings about movement from -8 to -3. Another word for this type of communication, and an unfortunate one, is “pre-evangelism.” This implies that the proclamation is not true evangelism, an unwarranted position from the perspective of the decision process in Figure 3. Anything that stimulates movement from one stage to the next is a vital aspect of successful evangelism, even if it does not culminate in the actual decision at that point.