Thomas Wade Akins, Pioneer Evangelism: Growing Churches
and Planting New Ones That are Self-Supporting Using New Testament Methods
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Junta de Missoes Nacionais, 1999)
Having served in Vietnam and Brazil, Wade Akins is now a
retired missionary from the International Mission Board. Using the materials he
formulated on the field, he now trains church planters in Tennessee . His Pioneer Evangelism training was effective in raising the level of
church planting substantially in Brazil.
Pioneer
Evangelism is a program that Wade Akins implemented after returning to
Brazil from his first stateside assignment as an International Mission Board
missionary. During his first term, he had been personally involved in starting twelve
new churches in Minas Gerais, Brazil, but he thought this was not rapid enough.
So in his second term he implemented training materials largely influenced and
borrowed from Charles Brock and Curtis Sergeant. As he shifted his focus from
hands-on church planting to training nationals, he saw sixty-three new
congregations started within two years. This book is a compilation of the
training materials that were used to train these nationals.
At the
beginning of the manual, Akins outlines the differences between traditional
models of church planting and what he calls the Pioneer Evangelism model. To make his point, he defines the
leadership roles of bishops, deacons and elders within the framework of what is
understood as the functions of the church. Akins correlates the leadership
offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist and teacher to the functions of church.
In doing so, he places the office or gift of evangelist within the reach of any
person in the congregation. “These are the people we are calling ‘pioneers’ in the
Pioneer Evangelism ministry” (22). His main point is that anyone can be an
evangelist if they would only commit themselves.
After a
brief survey of definitions involved in the manual, Akins presents his training
material in four parts. The first part, which he labels the principles,
involves his ecclesiological philosophy behind this shift in his missiological
thinking. He then presents the practicality of his manual, a basic guide for
implementing Charles Brock’s materials in the Pioneer Evangelism model. There
is also a planning section in which he utilizes Curtis Sergeant’s methodology
for breaking the process down into manageable cycles. Finally, he includes
appendices of Charles Brock’s, Waylon Moore’s and Christy Akins Brawner’s
training materials. The appendices make up over half of the entire book.
Akins’
basic methodology is to recruit lay persons to become appointed evangelists for
an existing church. These evangelists find lost persons of peace in a targeted
area and begin inductive bible studies in their homes or in another neutral
location. Utilizing this person’s circle of influence, more people are
attracted to form an evangelistic bible study through which people can hear the
gospel and be saved. Those who are saved are then trained for further expansion
into yet other groups using the same materials. Once several groups have been
formed, they are intentionally combined for worship services and formed into a
local church. Newly formed local churches then seek to reproduce the same
process for starting new groups.
In short, Akin’s book is a one-stop
guide for starting bible studies with nationals. His approach is that of a
trainer for trainers. The materials he presents show how to form a group,
present the gospel, disciple the converts, train them to reproduce the teaching
and multiply into further groups. As such, Akin compiles some simple training
that church planting practitioners have used with success and presents it with
relative brevity and candor.
Akins states that his purpose for
writing the Pioneer Evangelism program was “to bring every person to know Jesus
Christ as the first priority in life” (3).
This is a lofty goal for missions let alone for a training manual. His unstated
purpose, though, is to provide a training manual for missionary practitioners
that compiles proven programs and presents them in a straightforward format. Because
of his emphasis on training lay persons in evangelism, the manual is to be
training for trainers.
Akins
accomplishes his goal for presenting a program for training national lay
people. According to his personal testimony of its success in Brazil, the
program is valid for use in cross-cultural situations. However, it is in essence
one program among many that exist. Whereas Akins’ slant is on equipping the lay
person to do evangelism, other programs take different approaches. The success
of Akins’ presentation is in its minimalism in relation to evangelism training.
Not much is needed to begin this program, and any materials involved accompany
the manual in an appendix. This is a positive facet to being so straightforward,
but it might present a too simplistic approach for some.
Positive Aspects of
the Book
Effective Church Planting Model
The church planting model that Akins presents really does
work in some contexts. Akins presents a plan that he personally has proven. The
introductory testimony of Brazil’s rapid growth is reflective of an emerging
church planting movement. Many books have been written from a theoretical
perspective, but Akins brings practical experience into play. As such, Akins
argument for using the Pioneer Evangelism method is only strengthened. The
model of starting new groups is basic and simple to implement.
Empowering the Laity
Akins takes a biblical approach to his church planting
process. As Akins shows from his survey of Scripture regarding the role of
pastor, the average church member should be equipped to do ministry. Each church
member should be expected to be involved in the evangelistic outreach of the
church. Akins capitalizes on this biblical principle. Perhaps this is one of
the most positive elements of the Pioneer Evangelism program.
Evangelistic Emphasis
Akins’ program expresses the heart of the gospel. Akins
believes that various evangelism methods like “personal testimony, sharing the
plan of salvation directly, Bible studies without studies, Bible studies using
indirect methods [and] storying” (48) can be used successfully to reach people
for Christ. Although he claims that the Pioneer Evangelism method is not a
program that can be canned and presented, he does a great job in compiling the
best of many evangelism programs to create a toolbox of potential evangelistic
instruments.
Negative Aspects of
the Book
Clergy/Laity Confusion
There is some confusion as to what Akins defines as
pioneers. At first, he says that evangelists are “those that proclaim the good
news of Jesus Christ with the purpose of winning souls,” and that “these are
the people we are calling ‘pioneers’ in the Pioneer Evangelism ministry” (22).
Later, he says a team of disciples in a church “is what we call the Pioneers in
this training manual” (25). He insists that the trainers in this program must
be the pastors, but he then explains that the lay pioneers are paid or
supported by the churches as well. Each pioneer must become a PEL, or pioneer
evangelism leader, but he later equates the PEL to a pastor’s role while the
saints are the lay people. In the beginning, the pioneer is an evangelist. He
wins souls and afterwards teaches these new believers the basic doctrines of
the faith. However, the next step is to raise up local leaders, leaving he work
in their hands, in order for him to start new work in a new neighborhood or city
(44). This confusion in roles could be diminished or greatly reduced without
such a sharp distinction between clergy and laity, but Akins cannot get away
from the two traditional categories.
Complex Reproduction
Although Akins’ model is straightforward at the beginning
stage of starting a new group, it
involves a complexity at the reproductive level that
unnecessarily burdens the process. Perhaps
this is due to the inability to see each group as a church,
Akins waits until several groups are formed to combine their strength into one
congregation. This is perhaps practical in areas where groups are formed at a
rapid rate, but in areas where groups are separated by large distances or even
subcultures, the complexity of combining groups lends itself to a cumbersome
structure. It would be much simpler to allow the individual groups to exist as
separate churches. Related to the complex burden of starting multiple groups
before a worship service can be created is the issue of sequentialism. It seems
that Akins’ model is rather linear in thought, something that might not work
well in an eastern environment where step-by-step progression is not valued.
House Church with Traditional Baggage
There are several points throughout his book where Akins
seems to deal with his own internal ecclesiological conflict. At one point,
Akins talks about training new leaders in democratic principles for church
polity and the need for strong leadership to govern the group (40). At other
times, although he cites Paul’s examples of house church as the biblical model,
he speaks of training pioneers in sermon preparation, something that is
typically more associated with traditional church models. Moreover, he insists
that several good news groups must be combined to make a worship service. The
more traditional elements of the western church seem to direct his end vision
of what a church must look like. Akins insists that laymen must become officers
of the church by fulfilling the evangelism role. If lay people are to have an
official position, there is no distinction between laity and clergy; however,
this confusion is more reflective of traditional church models than simple
house churches.
Applications to
Church Planting
Function of Church
Akins defines church functions as
the roles that are given in Ephesians 4:11–12. Although others tie the function
of the church to passages like Acts 2:42–47, Akins outlines four functions that
each church must fulfill (22). The sending role, the preaching role, the
evangelizing role and the training role make up Akins’ ecclesiastical utility. Although
there is some confusion as to the difference between pastor as trainer and
evangelist who later becomes a trainer, Akins believes these elements should
exist in healthy churches.
The
problem then arises when a new church plant is seeking its identity as a
growing church. If a church plant does not ever have a member who becomes
pastor but only a trainer who is an evangelist, it might never see itself as a
church. In his training manual, Akins offers no instruction for the place of
fellowship and ministry as a function of the church. Because his coaching leans
so heavily to the evangelistic side, there are potential problems with helping
a maturing body to function more healthily.
Western Emphasis on Intellectual
Decisions
Akins’ teaching is a reflection
upon western Christianity’s emphasis on making decisions for Christ. Akins does
not approach the elements of pre-discipleship or household conversion as is so
often prevalent in church planting movements. Moreover, Akins’ approach is that
of a classroom discussion where a lecturer passes information on to her
students. Granted he admonishes an inductive approach to bible study, but his
training methods are more of direct instruction rather than allowance for
self-theologizing.
In
some locations throughout the world, missionaries must train by hands-on
example instead of classroom instruction. Although Brazil is open to this type
of traditional western style, some countries like Russia and some people groups
like the Udmurt and Chuvash find it difficult to understand linear instruction.
They instead must see the work being done.
Church Planting Funding
Another issue at stake in the
pioneering church planting model is that of funding. Although Akins does
not address the issue of funding in his training material, church planters
worldwide have to deal with the issue of who will pay for the ongoing training.
If training is linked to materials that must be reproduced or neutral places to
rent, at some point money has to be discussed. Akins readily accepts the idea
of a self-supporting church, but he does not address the funding of pioneer
work where there are no churches or where an existing church has no means to
produce photocopies of training materials. This will be an ongoing discussion
as missionaries try to find more reproducible ways at lower costs to spread the
gospel.
Akins’ book
is a step toward more rapid reproductive evangelism, but it is still not church
planting movement methodology. Therefore, what Akins offers is an invaluable
tool in the church planting toolbox. However, it is only one tool and must be
used with other tools to see its potential for greater reproducibility.
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