Evangelism Explosion (EE) is a Christian

evangelistic In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are in ...

ministry and training program.

History

Evangelism Explosion was started in 1962 by

D. James Kennedy Dennis James Kennedy (November 3, 1930 – September 5, 2007) was an American pastor, evangelist, Christian broadcaster, and author. He was the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 1960 until hi ...

, senior pastor of

Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church is a Christian megachurch within the Presbyterian Church in America located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was founded in 1960 by D. James Kennedy (1930–2007), who served as the church's senior pastor until s ...

. Evangelism Explosion became an incorporated organization in 1972. In 1997, Evangelism Explosion published the results of a study which shows that the method was viewed as "confrontational evangelism". As a result of this, Evangelism Explosion announced that it was "changing its approach to emphasize relationship-building and discipling new believers." Evangelism Explosion has been published in a number of different forms, including Kids' EE, Seniors' EE, Deaf EE, and XEE. The latter is designed especially for members of Generations X and Y.

Content

Evangelism Explosion is best known for its two "diagnostic questions" that users can ask non-Christians as a means of determining a "person's spiritual health", and of stimulating an evangelistic conversation: #Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you can say you know for certain that if you were to die today you would go to heaven? #Suppose that you were to die today and stand before God and he were to say to you, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" what would you say? After the diagnostic questions, the evangelist is encouraged to explain the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

in terms of

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

, and

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

Use

Evangelism Explosion's materials have been translated into seventy languages. Jeff Noblit suggests that it is "probably the most used and copied soul-winning training course ever embraced by

Southern Baptists The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptists, Baptist denomination, and the Protestantism in the United States, largest Protestantism, Protestant and Christia ...

," while Stan Guthrie suggests that it is "the best known and most widely used evangelistic training curriculum in church history." It is used by over 20,000 churches worldwide. Evangelism Explosion officials claim that millions of people have come to Christ using the program. In 2011, 324,000 people worldwide were trained in the program, while over 7.25 million people reportedly made a profession of faith as a result of its use. Five years later, the organization claimed 10.7 million people professed faith in Christ in 2016. The spread of Evangelism Explosion materials have been remarkable as it has covered almost every continent and every island across the globe from the founding church in Florida to as far as th
Fiji Islands

Evaluation

David L. Larsen suggests that Evangelism Explosion has "brought a quickening of the evangelistic pulse", and has "provided a most helpful and practical vehicle for witness." Larsen notes, however, that "not everyone is comfortable" with "its more vigorous 'button-holing'." In a study done among non-Christian Thai people, all of them spoke negatively about the witnessing approach of EE. One respondent said,

I would be upset. It is ridiculous and strange. I do not know who will die first, the interrogator or me. I would simply walk away. I do not want anyone to talk about death. It is a depressive issue.

References

External links

*{{Official, http://evangelismexplosion.org/
Evangelism Explosion Uganda
Evangelical organizations established in the 20th century Christian organizations established in 1972 Christian missions Learning programs Christian organizations based in the United States Training organizations Organizations based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Evangelism 1972 establishments in Florida