Why the Faith Pyramid?

Before reading this third introductory post, I recommend you read the first two posts: (1) What is Apologetics? and (2) What is the Faith Pyramid?

There are two presuppositions that every evangelism program seems to have:

1. The person you share with will already believe in God;

2. And the person you share with will already believe the Bible to be trustworthy.

These evangelism paradigms start with the above assumptions and then have you share the Gospel message with an implicit hope that no difficult questions will derail your presentation. (Don't misunderstand: In youth ministry and college, I was trained in several different evangelism programs, and I found them all to be pretty valuable.) Times are changing rapidly, and I believe these old methods are not sufficient anymore. Let me tell you why...

Here are some common responses you would receive today:

"Why should I believe in God? Evolution has been proven to be true." (evangelism paradigm derailed)

"Why should I trust the Bible? Wasn't it written by some guy in a cave thousands of year ago?" (evangelism paradigm derailed)

"How can I trust the Bible? Everyone knows it's full of contradictions." (evangelism paradigm derailed)

"Jesus was a wise man, but he never claimed to be God. Religious people made that up long after he was dead and buried." (evangelism paradigm derailed)

"Why is Christianity true and not other religions?" (evangelism paradigm derailed)

In all of these examples (note: these are just some examples), the typical evangelism paradigm is derailed, because either the two presuppositions are not reflected, or because the paradigm is not prepared to handle scrutiny.

If you find yourself at the other end of these questions and accusations, you will do one of two things: You will attempt to respond in a reasonable way, or you will become the proverbial deer in the headlights.

The purpose of the Faith Pyramid evangelism strategy is to train Christians to be able to share Christ with anyone.

The Faith Pyramid, itself, has two presuppositions:

1. "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." - 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)

2. "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." - 1 Corinthians 3:7 (NASB)

As Christians, we should be able to answer reasonable questions (especially if we desire to actually reach people); however we must also know: Changing someone's heart is humanly impossible. Only God, through His Holy Spirit, can do that. We can plant and we can water, but God is the only One who can actually cause growth. My prayer is that God will use the Faith Pyramid as a "vehicle" to reach people for His Kingdom. But I believe Jesus when He said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." (John 6:44 NIV).

My final introductory post is on methodology: FP Methodology: Engage, Listen, & Adjust