Question 1:

According to Wheeler (2008, 50), Incarnational apologetics is the representative

public and private lifestyle of a Christian that validates to the world the absolute truths of
the Bible. Considering this approach should impact our evangelism efforts, for
evangelism is not just passing information to people, but showing them our changed life
in Christ. It is important that the informational evangelism is utilized, but information
itself is not enough to convince many people. In fact, some of the hardest people to
convince are those who knew us before our own conversion, such as family and old
friends. Yet, using the incarnational approach, they are more likely to be won over to
Christ, because they can see the difference in your own life and that it is not just
information or persuasive talk. Additionally, the use of incarnational evangelism can help
remove various barriers to evangelism. McRaney (2003, 192-193) states, Some of use
struggle with sharing our faith because we are fearful of being asked questions we cannot
answer; we say we do not know enough theology or how to witness. If one considers
their own walk with Christ as a witness and evangelism, such as incarnational evangelism
does, then this barrier is quickly removed because the person can easily tell someone of
their own personal story of change and the effects of the change are readily apparent in
their daily life.
Personally, I struggled for a long time with conducting evangelism because I felt I
didnt know enough to be effective. Once I began relying on my own walk with Christ
(incarnational) as the basis of my evangelism, the fear of not knowing the right words to
say or that I might be asked a deep theological question started to disappear. One of my
pastors told me, You dont have to have all the answers, and no one can argue with the

change in your own lifespeak about what you experiences, what you know. This has
been effective for me to overcome my fears in sharing the gospel.
It is also important, though, to balance both the incarnational and informational
approached to evangelism. Some people need the information to make a decision, while
others need the emotional, personal experience related to them and observed in ones life
to make the decision. Personally, the biggest areas I struggle with in sharing my faith are
the idea of losing a relationship or being asked something that I couldnt answer. Over
the past year, I have worked on the knowledge portion, but there are still things I do not
know how to answer. The idea of losing a relationship by sharing the gospel is
frightening, but so is missing the opportunity to provide a close friend or relative the
opportunity to hear the gospel and make a life changing decision for Christ.
Word Count: 468

Question 2:
The woman, Lindsey, appears to be a pantheist and she also appears to believe in
a God that does care about order and balance. Lindsey stated, I think that the way you
treat other people, other living things, the way you treat the environment is very
important to God. She further claims that her God supports equality and wants
everyone treated nicely and fairly. Utilizing the techniques learned from this class, I
would engage her in a conversation that revolved around her beliefs by using the Five
Share Jesus Questions presented by Fay (1999, 146). As we listened to her beliefs, we
find that she had attended numerous churches, but has a distain for them due to a belief
of corruption and self-serving among the members. This is clearly a woman who has

experienced religion in the past, but has not experienced Christ. The best attempt to
reach this girl is to show her through incarnational evangelism and servant evangelism
that Christians arent money-hungry and corrupt individuals. The churches may be
faulty, but the relationship with Christ is what transforms us as people. By establishing a
relationship with this girl and befriending her, over time, she could see that change and
distinction between a Christ-followers life and a non-believers. The difference in the
lifestyle, the choices, and the effects are what separate our lives and can lead a person to
Christ more than the informational approach, especially since she appears to have already
heard the information previously in the various churches and temples she attended.
Word Count: 255
Jason

References:
Fay, William. Share Jesus Without Fear. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 1999.
McRaney, Will. The Art of Personal Evangelism. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2003.
Wheeler, David. Apologetics, Incarnational In The Popular Encyclopedia of
Apologetics, 50-53. Edited by Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner. Eugene, OR: Harvest
House, 2008.

Nicholas,
I agree with you that incarnational evangelism can be even more important than
informational evangelism. If the person performing the evangelism is disingenuous or
found to be hypocritical, their entire informational presentation has no credibility. As you
stated, we are not perfect, but if our life looks no different than the non-believers, what
exactly is it that we are offering to others?
As you stated, a barrier to evangelism is often linked to emotions. This can occur
on both our side (fear), or the recipients side (past hurts). This seems to be the case with
the girl in the video, Lindsey.
As we saw in the video, Lindsey was hurt by hypocritical churchgoers that have

created almost a distain for her against the church. I agree that she appears pantheist in
her beliefs. She appears open minded, with total acceptance of everyones beliefs, yet
you can tell she has a negative view towards Christianity due to her hurt in her past. She
would probably be willing to listen to you present the Gospel, but due to her past hurts in
the church environment, I am not sure she would be ready to accept Christ immediately.
I think a longer relationship with her would probably be the way to reach her.
As you stated, the best approach for her is to pray for her, and to show her Gods
love. The idea of servant evangelism towards this lost soul may have the best response
from her and helps to heal the void that is created between her and Christ due to the
issues in her past. Information alone will not reach Lindsey; she must be reached through
incarnational evangelism, emotional healing, and Gods unconditional love.
Word Count: 287
Jason

Tyler,
I enjoyed your post and agree that there is a strong connection between the
incarnational and informational apologetics. If we only provide information without the
practice what we preach, as you stated, we provide nothing more than empty words.
As McRaney (2005, 166) wrote, Evangelism is more a process than an eventit usually
takes more than one encounter with the gospel message to trust Christ. This new
requirements of evangelism to occur over multiple occasions impresses the need for
incarnational evangelism even more, since people have more of an opportunity to assess
your life and beliefs in the context of your actions. As you stated in your post,
Presenting non-believers with the Gospel and displaying no fruit form the change that
we proclaim is genuine hypocrisy.
In our contemporary culture, hypocrisy is not just frowned upon, but immediately
rejected. Once a hint of hypocrisy is noticed in your words and actions, the receiving
immediately dismisses the message you are carrying. It would be horrible if the reason
someone missed the opportunity to have a relationship with Christ was because of the
evangelists own hypocrisy in the message, therefore incarnational evangelism must be
kept in mind by the speaker and in how the act out their faith.
As you stated, it appears that Lindsey has a basic background in many faiths and
religions of the world, yet her pantheist perspective leads her to a distorted view of the
truth. Your idea of speaking about the one truth, being Christ, may be just the right
point to begin the discussion with her. It appears she has the typical contemporary
viewpoint that if one does good, they are good. As Christians, though, we understand
that all humanity is failed and comparison between humans doesnt make us better or
worse, since we all fall short of the glory of God. The only salvation is through Christ,
who redeemed us of our sins. Using McRaneys (2003, 243) Readiness Scale, I think
Lindsey is currently a skeptic, who may be open to discussion, but is plagued by
doubts when discussing Christianity. Using this as a discussion point, we could ask her
what questions she had about the faith, and try to use that as a way to present the Gospel
in reference to her questions and doubts.

Word Count: 386

Jason

References:
McRaney, Will. The Art of Personal Evangelism. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2003.