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Facing the Challenge

The Changing Face of University Evangelism

University evangelism has changed in North America in the last ten years. These days we are dealing with a high proportion of people who are Biblically illiterate. We need to challenge the world view of these people so that they can then properly understand the gospel.

Today if someone says 'I see that Jesus died for my sin. I'll trust him as my personal savior. I believe that he rose from the dead and he is my Lord,' you do not have solid evidence that you are dealing with a convert. You don't really know you have a convert until they say, 'And there is no other way.'

It's fairly easy today to discuss the Trinity or creation on campuses. The hardest issue to explain is sin. Postmoderns believe sin is a social construct

Twenty five years ago in university missions we aimed to have as many converts as possible during a mission. Today that is a secondary aim. Today the big aim is to get as many people as possible into courses that explain Christianity once the mission is over. People's world views are so different these days that it takes time for them to understand what is being said.

Even now, most outreach on university campuses still functions on the basis of the modernist mind set. This method still finds some success predominantly with science, maths and engineering students (who still believe in some sort of objective truth) over arts students by a ratio of at least six to one.

In the past I used to give away John Stott's book Basic Christianity. I don't any more as it assumes too much. These days I give away something more like Roy Clements' Introducing Jesus or a John Chapman book.

The most fruitful university evangelists these days are those who think in terms of challenging world views. Good examples include Ravi Zacharias, Roy Clements, and Phillip Jensen.

This article first appeared in "Southern Cross Quarterly", the magazine of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Summer 1998. It is © Southern Cross Quarterly and Don Carson, and may not be reproduced without prior written permission.