Two Ways To Live: Know and Share The Gospel
A review by the West Kelmscott Evangelism Support Committee
September 2006
Overview
Developed in Australia, the "Two Ways To Live" course is designed to train people in knowing and sharing the gospel of Christ.
The training course stems from the conviction that every Christian should know and understand the gospel clearly for themselves, and that every Christian should be able to explain their faith simply and clearly when the opportunity arises.
Two Ways To Live was originally authored by Phillip Jensen, an Anglican clergyman who is currently the Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney.
The Two Ways To Live course has been developed over the last 20 years by the team at the Anglican Chaplaincy at the University of NSW, Sydney, with significant input from Phillip Jensen and Colin Marshall, the directory of the Ministry Training Strategy.
As a result, it is a mature course, with plenty of reference material, training aids, and books available.
Target Audience
The course is aimed at people who already know the gospel, and want to be able to better share it with others.
In particular, it is designed to teach you how to discuss the gospel and christianity with unbelievers and people from other denominations.
Course Summary
The course is broken up into seven lessons, designed to be run over seven evenings, with an instructor leading a group of participants through the course material.
It includes an instructor manual, participants' manuals, and a DVD containing several short video presentations.
Six points are used to summarise the main points of the Biblical gospel, namely
- God the creator; humanity ruling under his authority.
- Humanity rebels, wishing to run things its own way.
- God judges (and will judge) humanity for this rebellion.
- In his love, God sends Jesus to die as an atoning sacrifice.
- In his power, God raises Jesus to life as ruler and judge.
- This presents us with a challenge to repent and believe.
These six points provide a brief summary of the story of the Bible, and fit logically together to explain the gospel and Christian message.
The name Two Ways To Live comes from thought that as a result of man's fall into sin, there are two ways to live.
We can reject God as a ruler, and try to run life our own way, but this results in condemnation by God, and we will face death and judgement.
Alternatively, we can submit to Jesus, and rely on His death and resurrection, and thus be forgiven by God, and enjoy eternal life.
The instructor's manual provides clear background information and discussion guidelines for leading the participants through the course.
The participants' manual includes a lot of discussion material, Bible references, and questions to prompt the participants.
All material is presented in a clear and concise fashion. The video presentations on the DVD aiding the experience for participants by allowing them to see and hear some of the concepts in action, as well as seeing some other examples of people using the Two Ways To Live framework to share the gospel message.
Conclusion
The course adheres to the Biblical gospel closely, and refrains from presenting any denomination-specific thoughts or ideas.
All material is presented clearly, in a systematic way, and unambiguously, and it arms participants with very practical means to share and discuss the gospel with others – something that we are often reluctant to do.
Recommendations
We believe members of our congregation would derive significant benefit from participating in the Two Ways To Live: Know and Share The Gospel training course.
At the end of this course, the participants will be in a better position to be able to perform casual evangelism – discussing and sharing the gospel with people around them.
Ideally, the course should be instructor-led, with groups of approximately six people participating.
References
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