A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

ing of sin and lostness, with an ap- peal to self-fulfillment-a "wonderful plan for your life.*5* Con- version becomes less a conviction of sin and a process of waiting on God to extend mercy and grace for salvation, than convincing God to give what is available. Salvation becomes a mere commodity for the benefit of humanity* Its theology is detached from the divine initiative of the Holy Spirit.57 Poten- tial converts are urged to pray a prayer-"invite Jesus into your heart"-and are assured that God responds the moment this petition is expressed. Sin is the hindrance for the experience of self-fulfillment, and confession is necessary to remove the hindrance. It is a condition to be filled with the Spirit.38 Per- sonal workers--one-to-one evangelism-prepare a review of their own experience of accepting Christ and its benefits as an introduction to motivate others to accept Christ.59 A classic example of evangelism focused on self -fulfill- ment is given in Tex Sample's strategy for reaching baby boomers:40 1. The program of the church needs to be intrinsically valuable, worthwhile in and of itself. This class of people will not go to church out of obligation. The programs need to be complex, high quality programs that provide instant gratifica- tion and are user friendly, 2. Worship services need to be emotionally expressive, offering plenty of movement, and using the language of the 253 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH world in which people live, 3. Programs need to "focus on building deep and lasting relationships." Baby boomers are relationally hungry. They desire a "rich community life with a lot of options: worship, study, recreation, social activities, social action, spiritual for- mation, community service and so on*w 4. Effective evangelism to this class of people requires "strong community outreach opportunities and active groups concerned about issues such as liberation, social justice and ecology protection." 5. Today's generation "have not typically been willing to make long-term commitments." This means that program- ming should focus on shorter-term events, activities and ac- tions. The over-emphasis on the human dimension of salvation without due focus on God's holiness and the cross as judg- ment over sin is a theological accommodation to the culture of self-fulfillment. This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the "gospel of cheap grace."41 This cheap grace gospel is highly popular in America, where three-fourths of the population say they believe there is a personal God, profess having had an experience with Him, claim He has a plan fo