Evangelism Doesn't Work Anymore? Really?

I was reading an article over at Christianity Today authored by Greg Stier (President of Dare2Share) about "Why Evangelism Doesn't Work".

To be even handed, the thrust of the article is to encourage teenagers to share their faith and not keep it bottled up. I don't think Greg is trying to teach any deep theological points here, but merely spur teenagers to action. The part of the article that caused a "Not So Fast My Friend" moment, was the following paragraph:

If evangelism doesn't work anymore, maybe the reason is that we refuse to engage in it like Jessica was willing to. Maybe the Gospel message is more relevant now than ever. Maybe St. Paul (not St. Francis) was right: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16).

The more I thought about that, the more I began to think "Well, Greg, what is the Gospel to you?" In the article, he had a link to his site where he describes "The Gospel Journey". Here is what Dare2Share has on their site:

Sharing the gospel with someone else is like taking them on a journey with six stops along the way. The evangelist becomes a guide of sorts who brings their fellow sojourners to six stops along the way to pause and ponder the landscape of the story of the Bible, the gospel message. This journey begins in Genesis chapter one with the creation of humanity and concludes with the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation chapter twenty two. In between there are twists and turns, break ups and make ups, mystery and intrigue but the driving message of the plot is that from the ashes of sin comes the redemption of mankind through the death of Christ and His resurrection from the dead.

In many ways this journey is like a fairy tale that just happens to be true. It could begin "Once upon a time" and conclude "and they lived happily ever after." This journey through the storyline of the Bible is filled with mankind's weak attempts at reconciliation toward a God whose heart humanity had broken. Much of the Old Testament is filled with examples of how sinful humanity attempted to gain God's acceptance through good deeds (Cain and his vegetables), obedience to God's commandments and a seemingly endless array of blood sacrifices. But all of these failed attempts prepared the way for the coming of Christ and the hope that He offered by His once and for all sacrifice on the cross.

The irreducible minimum of the gospel message can be communicated in an acrostic with six letters in it that happen to spell out the word "gospel".

The site goes on to then use the acrostic to share a very "Romans Road" esque presentation. My issue here is not with the acrostic, but rather with the paragraph. Let's take it a few sentences at a time here:

Sharing the gospel with someone else is like taking them on a journey with six stops along the way. The evangelist becomes a guide of sorts who brings their fellow sojourners to six stops along the way to pause and ponder the landscape of the story of the Bible, the gospel message.

Really? That's what sharing the Gospel with someone is like? Now remember, this isn't a children's audience we're talking about here. These are teenagers, fully capable of comprehending complex feelings and themes, and we describe calling to repentence and faith as "a guide of sorts who ...pauses and ponders the landscape".

That just seems so weak and powerless to me. It gives the feeling of God as a "latte" drinker who is just waiting for his "fellow sojourners" to "discover" him in the gallery of art and music. That's not the Gospel. Teenagers are completely capable of comprehending wrath, judgment, sin, and all of it's ugliness and rebellion against God. That whole paragraph is man-centric rather than Christ-exalting.

Onto the next:

In between there are twists and turns, break ups and make ups, mystery and intrigue but the driving message of the plot is that from the ashes of sin comes the redemption of mankind through the death of Christ and His resurrection from the dead

What is this? Beverly Hills 90210? Melrose Place? Lost? Grey's Anatomy? Has anyone read Colossians 1? Do the words "alien" and "hostile" come to mind here?

Next:

In many ways this journey is like a fairy tale that just happens to be true. It could begin "Once upon a time" and conclude "and they lived happily ever after." This journey through the storyline of the Bible is filled with mankind's weak attempts at reconciliation toward a God whose heart humanity had broken

Again, very soft language and no real Christ exaltation in this. It's almost as if the journey is the real attractive thing here and Jesus is just the enabler. Isn't Jesus the whole point here? One other thought here, I can't see this inspiring teenage dudes. There's no manhood in this.

And finally:

Much of the Old Testament is filled with examples of how sinful humanity attempted to gain God's acceptance through good deeds (Cain and his vegetables), obedience to God's commandments and a seemingly endless array of blood sacrifices. But all of these failed attempts prepared the way for the coming of Christ and the hope that He offered by His once and for all sacrifice on the cross

I would say much of the Old Testament is filled with mankind rebelling against God and thumbing their nose at Him and telling Him to "get lost, we don't need you". Once again, a very soft representation of the Scriptures.

I know what they are trying to go for here and the approach that they are taking with teenagers, but you have to ask the question: "Is Evangelism Failing Because We Really Don't Communicate What The Gospel Is?" There is nothing in this statment that talks about the righteousness of God and the depravity of man and just how grievous of an offense sin really is against God.

And if you say to me that teenagers don't want to hear that, or that teenagers can't understand that, then it is you who doesn't believe in the power of God unto salvation. I'll put a spin on Greg's illustration. Using soft language and flowery images doesn't help a cancer patient deal with reality. It merely lulls them into a soft feeling. Forcing them to think about the realities of death and end of existence here on Earth and what that means is the only "loving" thing you can do. But it's not just "fire and brimstone" but also the exalting, soul changing, universe lifting language about Jesus that matters. They have to accept Jesus because He is their treasure. Not because they want to come on a journey.