Deep Dive into Apologetics and Evangelism by Dr. Michael Vlach & Prof. Jesse Johnson - Evangelism in the Early Church and Today
Charles Finney's evangelism, which emerged in the early 1800s, profoundly reshaped Christian outreach, primarily in response to the "orthodoxism" of his era. Orthodoxism emphasized Christianity as a matter of tradition and genealogy, rather than personal faith.
Finney countered this by stressing the individual's choice to receive Christ. A core theological difference was his teaching that people were sinful by choice, not by nature. This led to the belief that what condemned people to hell was the absence of a choice to follow Christ, rather than an inherent sinful state. Consequently, the goal of evangelism shifted dramatically: instead of aiming for regeneration (being "born again") as earlier evangelists like Edwards and Whitfield had, Finney sought to cause people "to choose differently" and "to make a decision for Christ." Salvation, in his view, became predominantly an act of the human will, rather than an act of divine will.
This emphasis on human decision led to a highly pragmatic approach. Finney is notably credited as the "world's first evangelist to count decisions," introducing a metric where success was measured by the quantity of decisions for Christ, often via raised hands, rather than by individuals being baptized or joining a church as seen in the Book of Acts. This also spawned concepts like "rededication." His methods popularized non-biblical vocabulary in evangelism, such as "make a decision" or "ask Jesus into your heart."
The remnants of Finney's decision-oriented and pragmatic evangelism continue to be visible in broad evangelicalism today, and his focus on "decisions" paved the way for later mass Crusades and ecumenical movements that prioritized unity over specific doctrinal clarity.
Reformed Theologian GPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-XXwzX1gnv-reformed-theologian
https://buymeacoffee.com/edi2730
