{"id":711,"date":"2012-12-10T09:16:27","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T01:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/?p=711"},"modified":"2012-12-10T09:16:27","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T01:16:27","slug":"a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2012\/12\/10\/a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet\/","title":{"rendered":"A Review of "The Father's Love" (an evangelistic booklet)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I previously wrote a post<\/a> announcing that Werner Mischke,<\/a> Executive Vice President and Director of Training Ministries at Mission ONE<\/a>, has designed a new evangelistic booklet that uses an honor and shame perspective. It\u2019s called The Father\u2019s Love Booklet<\/a>. Today, I review it.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall, I like it. I should first give full disclosure. I\u2019m not a fan of things like tracts but acknowledge that they can be useful tools, if<\/em> they are used wisely and do not replace a more thorough explanation of the gospel. As a starting point, however, they can be helpful. I have long been developing a few potential booklets of my own. To be sure, this is not a \u201ctract\u201d in the typical sense. It\u2019s longer and more expensive than an average tract.<\/p>\n

The booklet uses Luke 15:11\u201332, the story of the Prodigal Son, to introduce people to God\u2019s own love for people. The aim of the booklet is to use the language of honor and shame to communicate the message of salvation. On the booklet\u2019s website, Werner gives 10 reasons why he developed the booklet<\/a>, including the fact that honor-shame is a common feature in the majority world and there is resistance to a \u201cWestern\u201d gospel. On his own website, you can see how he distinguished a guilt and shame orientation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are a few other quick miscellaneous comments. The booklet has 20 pages and uses the Easy-to-Read Version of the Bible (ERV). There are plans to create a digital version and translate it into other languages, beginning with Arabic and Spanish.<\/p>\n

What do I like about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The booklet largely takes a narrative approach rather than simply listing a few principles or doctrines to be believed. Along the way, it poses various questions to spur reflection and conversation between believers and non-believers. the questions also help readers anticipate what comes next. The booklet is easy to read. The illustrations are simple and the characters don\u2019t appear to look very Caucasian, like so many other evangelistic resources.<\/p>\n

The reader is forced to think about the Father\u2019s honor<\/em>, not simply the gross behavior of the sons. The booklet helpfully connects God\u2019s love with honor and shame. God expresses his love by enduring the shame brought about by his sons; furthermore, he even seeks to share his own honor with us. In its explanatory section, the booklet primarily uses the book of John (not just Romans). This is refreshing. A few other good points are mentioned but not developed. On p. 17, it says, \u201cHe suffers to cover our shame and give us His honor,\u201d therefore, \u201cJesus defeated sin, shame, death\u201d (p. 18). The last page quotes Phil 2:9\u201311, reminding us that everyone will ultimately bow down in honor of Jesus, to the glory of God.<\/p>\n

Finally, I like the perspective on faith expressed in the wording: \u201cAnd when we believe in Jesus, following Him day by day, we can truly live in victory over sin and shame!\u201d Faith is depicted here as active, necessarily expressing itself in action (not perfection). Just think of the book of James. I would add that faith should convey the sense of loyalty, which then is expressed in<\/em> obedience. Loyalty and obedience are not equivalent but they are necessarily connected. The \u201cloyalty\u201d theme is especially important to honor-shame contexts.<\/p>\n

For those familiar with related debates, the booklet presents a \u201csoterian\u201d gospel<\/a>. In other words, it frames the gospel in terms of salvation, how a person gets saved. There is nothing in the booklet that talks about Jesus as king or the fulfillment of Israel\u2019s history. Instead, it aims at a particular entry point for conversation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What aspects of the booklet might some people regard as weaknesses or possible areas for improvement?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I personally would have preferred a clearer explanation of the meaning of \u201csin.\u201d There are times when the booklet talks about \u201csin and shame\u201d but readers may not know how those relate. To be fair, one could infer from the narrative that \u201csin\u201d refers to the shame brought to the father by the sons. Shame of course can refer to different things in this situation. I\u2019ve written on this before<\/a>. I suggest, at a basic level, sin could be understood as shaming or dishonoring God. I know the booklet presumes this; yet, it would be nice to see it laid out more explicitly. Sin is shameful behavior that also brings shame on the sinner. The booklet \u201cslips\u201d into traditional language at one point, asking how it can be that God would \u201csuffer to cover our sin and shame and give us His righteousness and honor?\u201d The term \u201crighteousness\u201d is suddenly added without explanation.<\/p>\n

Although the booklet includes a chart that nicely contrasts the younger and older sons, I don\u2019t prefer the category labels: \u201crebellious sinner\u201d versus the \u201creligious sinner.\u201d There\u2019s nothing inherently wrong with them. I would simply like it to see another word than \u201creligious\u201d to describe the older son. I acknowledge that the older brother represents the \u201creligious\u201d leaders that opposed Jesus. However, one may not want to press the distinction between \u201creligious\u201d and \u201csocial\u201d when talking about a context like ancient Palestine. The Pharisees were staunch cultural conformists. Maybe the older brother could represent ethnocentrism or someone like a \u201cnationalists.\u201d I admit this is an anachronistic term. From a cross-cultural standpoint, \u201creligious\u201d need not have a negative connotation. How people view the word \u201creligion\u201d will vary across Muslim or East Asian contexts. With some thought, I\u2019m sure something more in keeping with the honor-shame theme could be used.<\/p>\n

Finally, the presentation includes \u201csinner\u2019s prayer.\u201d In short, if you don\u2019t like the use of such prayers, then you won\u2019t like it here. If you are alright with using a \u201csinner\u2019s prayer,\u201d then you should be fine with this one. I\u2019m not a fan. I think, in Scripture, baptism is supposed to function more in the way people today treat such prayers. However, that\u2019s for another discussion. The inclusion of a \u201csinner\u2019s prayer\u201d certainly does not<\/em> negate the booklet\u2019s value.<\/p>\n

In summary, I like the booklet. What I consider slight weaknesses certainly reflects my own preference.\u00a0I imagine many or most people will disagree with me on points. Positively, it goes further than perhaps any other honor-shame booklet\/tract I\u2019ve read. It is consistent with how honor-shame works. The presentation is no mere ploy where it exchanges a few honor-shame words and then presumes to actually being contextual. I would use it as a conversation starter. Like all such tools, people need to hear from a live person who can help make sure they truly understand the gospel, its implications and cost.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I previously wrote a post announcing that Werner Mischke, Executive Vice President and Director of Training Ministries at Mission ONE, has designed a new evangelistic booklet that uses an honor and shame perspective. It\u2019s called The Father\u2019s Love Booklet. Today, I review it. Overall, I like it. I should first give full disclosure. I\u2019m not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2368,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,8,10],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel","category-honor-shame-face","category-mission-methods","tag-books-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\nA Review of "The Father's Love" (an evangelistic booklet)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I previously wrote a post announcing that Werner Mischke, Executive Vice President and Director of Training Ministries at Mission ONE, has designed a new\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2012\/12\/10\/a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Review of "The Father's Love" (an evangelistic booklet)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I previously wrote a post announcing that Werner Mischke, Executive Vice President and Director of Training Ministries at Mission ONE, has designed a new\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2012\/12\/10\/a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Saving God\u2019s Face\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/savinggodsface\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-10T01:16:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/files\/2012\/11\/fathers-love-header3.jpg?w=487\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Vaughn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@savinggodsface\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad Vaughn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2012\/12\/10\/a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2012\/12\/10\/a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet\/\",\"name\":\"A Review of "The Father's Love" (an evangelistic booklet)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-10T01:16:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-10T01:16:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/#\/schema\/person\/c6033eb278ed95fcd5f10ce3ad21210c\"},\"description\":\"I previously wrote a post announcing that Werner Mischke, Executive Vice President and Director of Training Ministries at Mission ONE, has designed a new\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2012\/12\/10\/a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2012\/12\/10\/a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2012\/12\/10\/a-review-of-the-fathers-love-an-evangelistic-booklet\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Review of "The Father's Love" (an evangelistic booklet)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/\",\"name\":\"Saving God\u2019s Face\",\"description\":\"Doing Theology. 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