Evangelistic Approach
New Tribes Mission's strategy for church planting starts with language acquisition. NTM believes that individuals should have access to the Bible and its teachings in their native languages, and refuses to teach in English or local trade languages. Several unwritten languages on the verge of extinction have been given new leases on life because of missionary efforts to reduce them to writing and to teach their speakers in literacy.
After becoming proficient in the local languages, NTM missionaries initiate in-depth Bible studies with interested parties. Rather than distributing tracts or showing the "Jesus" film (popular methods among many organizations), NTM focuses on teaching through the Scriptures chronologically. Missionaries begin with the Genesis account of creation and follow the storyline of the This approach is necessary because most of the cultures in which they work have no exposure to any biblical teaching whatsoever, and therefore require solid grounding on the foundational principles of the Old Testament before they can be introduced to the New Testament Gospel.
This chronological curriculum consists of 50 lessons and is called, "Building on Firm Foundations." It was written by Trevor McIlwain and Nancy Everson, originally published in 1985.
Paul Humphreys of GoodSeed says: "There is a lot of talk today in 'church' circles about how little people know about the Bible... Biblical illiteracy is not a new trend. It has been around a long time. The underlying cause is explained by the Apostle Paul (Romans 1:18-32)... It seems almost impossible to have an accurate concept of God apart from the knowledge of certain foundational biblical stories.
The biblically illiterate need to begin with an understanding of who God is, and where they are in relationship to their Creator-Owner-truths set forth in the pages of the Old Testament. They need to know these things before we can expect an accurate response to what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross" (GoodSeed Gleanings, No. 6, Sept. 2000).
Read more about this topic: New Tribes Mission
Famous quotes containing the word approach:
“F.R. Leavis’s “eat up your broccoli” approach to fiction emphasises this junkfood/wholefood dichotomy. If reading a novel—for the eighteenth century reader, the most frivolous of diversions—did not, by the middle of the twentieth century, make you a better person in some way, then you might as well flush the offending volume down the toilet, which was by far the best place for the undigested excreta of dubious nourishment.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)