Introducing God (the course) by Dominic Steele

These days we are blessed with an abundance of evangelistic courses. Here, John Chapman reviews one of the latest on offer—a course that combines the sociology of Alpha with the theology of Two ways to live.

Introducing God is the latest and, in my opinion, the best of the ‘Alpha’-type courses which are available at the present moment to help us evangelize our friends. I use the term ‘Alpha’ because of the format—meeting with friends over a meal, listening to a talk or watching a video, and then discussing this around the table.

The course sets out to present the gospel, over a period of time, in an atmosphere where the Postmodern will feel comfortable with both the presentation of Christian material and the way the discussion groups are conducted.

Regarding Postmoderns, D. A. Carson claims, in The Gagging of God, that our present generation is so far away from a biblical world view that to begin the gospel with the person and work of the Lord Jesus makes it almost impossible for them to understand what we are talking about. Recognizing this, Introducing God begins with creation, moves from there to the fall, from there to God's judgement, then to the person and work of the Lord Jesus, and finally to the new creation. It follows the Two ways to live format as it sweeps across the Bible from cover to cover. This is done particularly well from the point of view of both the content and the format.

The idea of entering into a relationship with God is done in the context of relationship with God's people as God's gospel is presented and discussed. How Christians behave in the process will enhance (or hinder) people's ability to listen to the gospel.

The format

This course runs for 8 weeks plus a weekend away with three more talks.

The course is a package with the following:

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• The course driver's manual
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• Training video (DVD or VHS)
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• The talks (DVD or VHS)
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• Five participant's books
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• Posters to advertise the course (A4)
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• A packet of postcards with the Introducing God logo.
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This sells at $149.00.

The ‘course driver’ (the person that makes it happen) is provided with a comprehensive manual that provides the philosophy underlining the course, as well as all the practical details which need to be attended to in order to bring the course to completion; from the booking of a hall to the sending of emails to the discussion group facilitators after each session.

Of particular interest to me is the introduction by Dominic Steele and Tim Bowden explaining the aim of the course, where they describe the difference between ‘Moderns’ and ‘Postmoderns’, and consequently the different ways of approaching them with the gospel.

This video contains the material for training people at the local church level to participate in Introducing God, an aspect of the course that Dominic has developed well. The video shows a typical setting with people around tables, and gives a good feel for how the course should run.

Having spent most of our life teaching our people to open their mouths to tell others the gospel, it will come as a fairly massive gear change for discussion group facilitators to learn that this is not the segment of the program where gospel content is to be given, at least not in the early stages. These discussion groups are to let unbelievers express their opinions and to be able to participate, to feel at home and accepted, whatever their opinion is. The gospel presentations are done in the talk each week.

Further training is given as each week goes by. Emails are sent to the discussion group facilitator encouraging them and giving valuable tips. These emails are suggested in the ‘Course driver's manual’.

This video also contains a talk by Dominic to use on the introductory night, based on Acts 17. The stated aim of this night is to show unbelievers what the course will be like and how they fit into it. As Dominic says, “the aim of the first date is not to secure a commitment but to get a second date”.

If your computer is less than three years old (which mine isn't), you will be able to access the full scripts to download, showing where PowerPoint slides and clips are to be inserted (there is bound to be someone in the church who can do this for you).

On these two discs are all the talks which you will need to run the course. Leigh Hatcher introduces them and he concludes each talk with some pointers for the discussion groups. These are particularly good from the point of view of the content, and the multimedia production style is excellent. The course driver can give the talk, or the tape of Dominic Steele can be used. Whichever is used, both should utilize the PowerPoint slides, clips and the drama of the dysfunctional family, The Lemmings.

In my view, this is the best resource of its kind that is available to us at the present time. It has been ‘road tested’ again and again, and I have read and listened to it in its many reincarnations. The latest is the best. I hope that every church will invest in a copy of the material and that hoards of people will be ‘introduced to God’ as a result of it. That is my prayer.

For more information about Introducing God, or to purchase the course materials, visit the website: www.introducinggod.org