Description
Book SynopsisChristian faith is always a leap. When the leap takes particularly long in a society the Church has characteristically shortened that leap through a process approach to winning seekers known as catechetical evangelism. Author Tory Baucum explores catechumenal evangelism in the early Church and its recovery in the early modern period in Methodism and late modernity (or postmodernity) in the Alpha course. Baucum seeks to describe the salient features of catechetical evangelism and why it is effective at creating an environment that shortens the leap from unbelief to belief. Evangelical Hospitality describes a church that has lost touch with its deep memory of evangelization, the recovery of that memory in catechetical ministry, and the kinds of practices this recovery spawns in the Church. After describing the social construction of faith communities, the bulk of the book examines four core practices, which are entailed in creating cultures of faithplaces where believing in Christ becom
Trade ReviewEvangelical Hospitality is a rare and genuine breakthrough. Baucum gives teachers, students and practitioners a simple outline for evangelistic effectiveness in the postmodern milieu. Evangelical Hospitality convincingly demonstrates that conversion and conversation are related—etymologically and practically. When people's deepest questions and concerns of life are listened to in the context of Christian hospitality offered through a nice meal, friendship and teaching, then you have the ancient and future formula of what Baucum has termed 'catechetical evangelism.' If discipleship to Jesus and becoming Spirit-enabled ambassadors of the Kingdom of God is the goal of evangelism, this simple historic pattern provides a powerful recipe for success. -- Todd Hunter, National Director, Alpha USA, Former National Director, Vineyard Churches USA
