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29-659: The Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Museum , opened in 1980, is designed to help visitors "extend their understanding of the good news about Jesus", and contains exhibits about the history of Christian evangelism in the United States and the ministry of Billy Graham . Changing exhibits are designed around the themes of evangelism, missions and Christian art. The center differs from the Billy Graham Library , opened in 2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina ;

58-469: A Christian message and usually accompanied by an opportunity to respond with a prayer for salvation . New opportunities for evangelism have been provided in recent decades by increased travel opportunities and by instant communications over the internet. Instant chalk board drawings (while storytelling), using bright poster chalk on large boards, along with ventriloquism and humor, have also been used in schools and churches and at beaches and river banks. In

87-568: A church or other Christian place of worship in Illinois is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Christian evangelism In Christianity, evangelism or witnessing is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ . It is sometimes associated with Christian missions . Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists , whether they are in their home communities or living as missionaries in

116-630: A distributor of these American Christian films in France, if Christian films are considered proselytism, all films are a form of proselytism, since films of all genres could each be said to carry a message. Child evangelism movement The child evangelism movement is an American Christian evangelism movement founded in 1937 by Jesse Irvin Overholtzer, who founded the Christian organization Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). It focuses on

145-504: A gradual transformation of life and belief. He has also criticized the targeting of young children, who can be "easily manipulated" into confessing belief in things they do not understand to please adults. Protestant criticism has expressed concern that young converts grow up to have a false understanding of the religion, and that widespread secularisation of Europe and North America is the product of false conversions in childhood. John F. MacArthur has been critical of evangelists coercing

174-709: A literal reading of Old Testament narratives; in 2013, Stewart argued that biblical literalists teach children to read from the Old Testament in order to understand the divinely-ordered extermination of the Amalekites as used to justify genocide. In response, the Childhood Evangelism Foundation stated that they encouraged a literal reading of the extermination of the Amalekites, but did not encourage children to view it as an endorsement of historical or current genocides. History of

203-577: A profession of faith from children, especially when the evangelist oversimplifies parts of the religion in order to get a large number of children to "convert", in response to a formulaic presentation light on details of the faith. In the 19th century, the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer argued that teaching some ideas to children at a young age could foster resistance to doubting those ideas later on. In her 2012 book The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children , journalist Katherine Stewart criticized various practices of

232-597: A two-day conference held by Awana Clubs International in Streamwood , Illinois hosted children's ministry leaders from 54 organizations, focusing on ways to evangelize children between the ages of 4 and 14. The conference was sponsored by Christianity Today International, along with six other groups co-sponsoring the event. A survey conducted in 1995–1996 by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary found that 71% of Christians in

261-521: A way that disparages their local culture. The 4/14 window was originally conceived by Bryant Myers of World Vision and later popularized by Christian missionary strategist Luis Bush , who also coined the term 10/40 window . The 4/14 window is a subset of the child evangelism movement, focused on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. Bush commented in the Christian Post in 2009 that "Mission strategies developed for

290-407: The 4/14 window , which centers on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years. The movement focuses on targeting children, as they are considered both the most receptive to evangelization and the most effective at evangelizing their peer group, with groups supportive of the initiative arguing for the need to refocus evangelization efforts on the 4-14 age group worldwide. In April 1994,

319-675: The Foursquare Church , was the first woman to use radio to reach a wider audience in the United States. In 1951, producer Dick Ross and Baptist evangelist Billy Graham founded the film production company World Wide Pictures , which would make videos of his preaching and Christian films. In 1960, more than half of the Protestant American missionaries were evangelical. American and European Pentecostal missionaries are also numerous, Pentecostalism can develop independently by non-foreign residents in various regions of

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348-620: The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization in Thailand, a group of Christian evangelists examined the state of evangelism among children. The Lausanne committee published a paper arguing that evangelists should target children under 14 in the global South for conversion, and created the Aim Lower initiative. In 2005, Christian relief organization World Vision declared the child evangelism movement "very important" in

377-669: The New Testament , making its meaning more difficult to ascertain. Parallel texts of the Gospels of Luke and Mark reveal a synonymous relationship between the verb euangelizo ( εὑαγγελίζω ) and a Greek verb kerusso ( κηρύσσω ), which means "to proclaim". Evangelism can include preaching or distributing bibles, tracts, newspapers and/or magazines, by the media, street evangelists, etc. The Bible records that Jesus sent out his disciples to evangelize by visiting peoples homes in pairs of two believers (cf. Luke 10:1–12 ). In

406-470: The ' Good News Club ' after-school Bible study program, including young participants being rewarded for recruiting friends of other faiths and denominations whose parents have not enrolled them in the program. She argued that children in schools were encouraged to bully children who did not share their faith. Stewart has also criticised the efforts of politically conservative biblical literalists to convert young children to forms of Christian belief that advocate

435-562: The 21st century. Dan Brewster, a director of World Vision, argued in a paper in 2005 that "The poor and exploited tend to be much more receptive to the Gospel", and that children and young people should be targeted in areas where disease, poverty and conflict have disrupted their lives. The paper included basic ethical considerations, such as not evangelising children without parental consent, or where their families are entirely dependent on Christian charities for financial or material support, or in

464-531: The 4/14 Window would be implemented by parents, pastors and other role model figures who play key roles in shaping a child's worldview." Proponents of the 4/14 window encourage children from the age of four to be converted to Christianity. Evangelists often use techniques such as a Wordless Book to communicate religious concepts to children too young to read. Critics of this practice argue that children too young to read for themselves are too young to be able to make informed, independent decisions about religion; in

493-691: The 90's (and now in the 2000's) Geoffrey Moran of Australia uses these "old school" methods as they are now new again for both children and adults. Ventriloquism is also returning to radio in the Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy style. In 1831, the Presbyterian Mission Agency was founded by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America . Various evangelical mission organizations have specialized in evangelism throughout history. In 1792, BMS World Mission

522-532: The US converted before the age of 14. In 2003, George Barna published the results of his research, showing that children were the most important population segment to minister to, as they were considered the most likely to absorb spiritual teaching due to developmental vulnerability. Barna argued that a child's moral development was "set" by the age of nine, in contrast to the tactics of many churches focusing on teaching older children. Barna wrote that "habits related to

551-424: The United States, then a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. In 2007, there were over 10,000 Baptist missionaries in overseas missions around the world. Some consider evangelism to be proselytising , while others argue it is merely free speech. The fact that evangelicals speak about their faith in public is sometimes criticized by the media and it is often associated with proselytism. According to

580-608: The canonical titles of the Four Gospels , authored by (or attributed to) Matthew , Mark , Luke , and John (also known as the Four Evangelists ). The Greek word εὐαγγέλιον originally meant a reward given to the messenger for good news ( εὔ = "good", ἀνγέλλω = "I bring a message"; the word " angel " comes from the same root) and later "good news" itself. The verb form of euangelion , (translated as "evangelism"), occurs rarely in older Greek literature outside

609-547: The evangelicals, freedom of religion and freedom of expression allow them to discuss their faith like they would discuss other topics. Christian films made by American evangelical production companies are also regularly associated with proselytism. According to Sarah-Jane Murray, screenwriting teacher at the US Film and Christian Television Commission United, Christian films are works of art, not proselytism. For Hubert de Kerangat, communications manager at SAJE Distribution,

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638-561: The field, although some Christian traditions refer to such people as missionaries in either case. Some Christian traditions consider evangelists to be in a leadership position; they may be found preaching to large meetings or in governance roles. In addition, Christian groups who encourage evangelism are sometimes known as evangelistic or evangelist . The word evangelist comes from the Koine Greek word εὐανγέλιον (transliterated as euangelion ) via Latinised evangelium as used in

667-643: The library serves primarily as an evangelical tool for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and is open to the general public. According to journalist Jeff Sharlet , The Billy Graham Center holds 600 boxes of records for the Christian political organization The Fellowship . In 2020, the building was renamed the Billy Graham Hall. 41°52′00″N 88°05′58″W  /  41.8667°N 88.0994°W  / 41.8667; -88.0994 This article about

696-403: The practice of one's faith develop when one is young and change surprisingly little over time", and that "the older a child gets, the more distracted and vulnerable he or she becomes" to what he described as "nonfamily influences". Barna also found that children who converted to Christianity before their teenage years were more likely to remain "absolutely committed" to Christianity. In 2004, at

725-542: The same text, Jesus mentioned that few people were willing to evangelize, despite there being many people who would be receptive to his Gospel message . The child evangelism movement is a Christian evangelism movement that originated in the 20th century. It focuses on the 4/14 Window which centers on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. Beginning in the 1970s, a group of Christian athletes known as The Power Team spawned an entire genre of Christian entertainment based on strong-man exploits mixed with

754-450: The same vein, some Christian authors are critical of the use of altar calls , wherein those who wish to make a new spiritual commitment to Jesus and the Christian faith are invited to come forward publicly. Some theologians argue that altar calls may give converts a false understanding of religious salvation. Theologian Randal Rauser has criticized the practice of "conversionism," which emphasizes immediate change in religion, rather than

783-503: The second-largest source of missionaries in the world, after the United States and ahead of England. In July 1999, TopChrétien, an evangelical Christian web portal and social network , was launched by Éric Célérier, pastor of the Assemblies of God of France and Estelle Martin. In January 2007, GodTube , a site for sharing videos related to Christianity, especially evangelical, was founded by Christopher Wyatt of Plano, Texas in

812-807: The world, notably in Africa, South America, and Asia. Youth with a Mission was founded in 1960 in United States by Loren Cunningham and his wife Darlene. The Christian Broadcasting Network was founded in 1961 in Virginia Beach , United States, by Baptist minister Pat Robertson . In 1974, Billy Graham and the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization organized the First International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne . In 2004, South Korea became

841-1234: Was founded in Kettering , England by William Carey . In 1814, the American Baptist International Ministries was founded by the American Baptist Churches USA in United States. In 1865, OMF International was founded by Hudson Taylor in England. In 1893, in Lagos in Nigeria, SIM was founded by Walter Gowans , Rowland Bingham , and Thomas Kent . Samuel E. Hill, John H. Nicholson, and William J. Knights founded Gideons International , an organization which distributes free Bibles to hotels, motels, hospitals, military bases, prisons, schools, and universities, in Janesville in Wisconsin, United States, in 1899. In 1922, Canadian evangelical evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson , founder of

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