Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Lewis: A Team of Two

C. S. Lewis has a fascinating essay called 'Modern Man and His Categories of Thought' in which he explains that we must change our evangelistic practices due to the changing presuppositions of modern people.

Written at the request of Bishop Stephen Neill in 1946, it could have been penned yesterday, and reads as if it were.

I may say more about it later, but here's the wonderful closing to the essay, in which Lewis reminds us that the need for God-sent awakening in evangelism transcends all cultural particularities and clever evangelistic strategies--
Before closing, I must add that the limitations of my own gifts has compelled me always to use a predominantly intellectual approach. But I have also been present when an appeal of a much more emotional and also more 'pneumatic' kind has worked wonders on a modern audience. Where God gives the gift, the 'foolishness of preaching' is still mighty.

But best of all is a team of two: one to deliver the preliminary intellectual barrage, and the other to follow up with a direct attack on the heart.
--C. S. Lewis, 'Modern Man and His Categories of Thought,' in Present Concerns (London: Fount, 1986), 66
Dane Ortlund

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