As Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Disciples of Christ, and other predominantly European-centered Christian denominations of North America seek to respond as a faith community to the increasingly dynamic ethnic and cultural diversity within our society, this book offers a sobering yet valuable perspective. By understanding the ministry of Christian evangelism as a construct that speaks of the power of divine transformation (personal and communal) and the embrace of a way of life, this work argues for a multi-variant approach that values the philosophical aspects of cultural differences, which are effective and faithful models of Christian evangelism. An analysis of key missiological concepts, such as mission histories, ethno-theologies, worldview, culture, ethnic cohesion, and contextualization is appropriated to illuminate the theological voices and evangelical practices of a specific people, or ethnicity, shaped by a journey of spiritual faith. While the numerical significance of self-identified African-American Presbyterians may appear small, their synergistic encounter of human identity and religious faith, historical experience in the church, and the impact of their evangelical presence provide an excellent case study for discerning the twenty-first-century challenges of evangelism. This thorough study of history, theology, organizational structures, methods, and techniques will serve as a valuable tool in evaluating the impact of the faith journey of African-American Presbyterians and its challenges for today and the future.

Here is a comprehensive guide to the how-to's of the African-American church and many aspects of its ministry.

John Gerstner (1914–96) was a significant leader in the renewal of Presbyterian and Reformed evangelicalism in America during the second half of the twentieth century. Gerstner’s work as a church historian sought to shape evangelicalism, but also northern mainline Presbyterianism. In order to promote evangelical thought he wrote, taught, lectured, debated, and preached widely. In pursuing his aims he promoted the work of the great colonial theologian Jonathan Edwards. He also defended and endorsed biblical inerrancy and the Old Princeton theology. Gerstner was a sharp critic of theological modernism and what he considered its negative influence on the church. Part of Gerstner’s fame was his active participation in mainline Presbyterianism and in so many of the smaller Presbyterian denominations and in the wider evangelical movement. His renewal efforts within the United Presbyterian Church USA (later PCUSA) were largely a failure, but they did contribute to the surprising resurgence of Presbyterian and Reformed evangelicalism. Evangelical marginalization in the mainline led Gerstner and other evangelicals to redirect their energy into new evangelical institutions, groups, and denominations. Gerstner’s evangelical United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) background influenced the young scholar and the legacy of the UPCNA’s heritage can be detected in the popular forms of the Presbyterian and Reformed evangelical movement that exist today. Moreover, he was significant for the revival of Reformed teaching beyond the bounds of Presbyterianism. This book establishes Gerstner’s significance in American church history and provides a thorough analysis of the evangelical movement he sought to reinvigorate.

A definitive history of evangelical Presbyterianism in America Reformed and Evangelical across Four Centuries tells the story of the Presbyterian church in the United States, beginning with its British foundations and extending to its present-day expression in multiple American Presbyterian denominations. This account emphasizes the role of the evangelical movement in shaping various Presbyterian bodies in America, especially in the twentieth century amid increasing departures from traditional Calvinism, historic orthodoxy, and a focus on biblical authority. Particular attention is also given to crucial elements of diversity in the Presbyterian story, with increasing numbers of African American, Latino/a, and Korean American Presbyterians--among others--in the twenty-first century. Overall, this book will be a bountiful resource to anyone curious about what it means to be Presbyterian in the multidimensional American context, as well as to anyone looking to understand this piece of the larger history of Christianity in the United States.

Publisher Fact Sheet This groundbreaking study analyzes the evolution of Southern Baptists' attitudes toward African Americans during a tumultuous period of change in the United States.

This encyclopedia offers the most comprehensive presentation available on the diversity and richness of religious practices among African Americans, from traditions predating the era of the transatlantic slave trade to contemporary religious movements. Like no previous reference, African American Religious Cultures captures the full scope of African American religious identity, tracing the long history of African American engagement with spiritual practice while exploring the origins and complexities of current religious traditions. This breakthrough encyclopedia offers alphabetically organized entries on every major spiritual belief system as it has evolved among African American communities, covering its beginnings, development, major doctrinal points, rituals, important figures, and defining moments. In addition, the work illustrates how the social and economic realities of life for African Americans have shaped beliefs across the spectrum of religious cultures.

With this book, Yaakov Ariel offers the first comprehensive history of Protestant evangelization of Jews in America to the present day. Based on unprecedented research in missionary archives as well as Jewish writings, the book analyzes the theology and activities of both the missions and the converts and describes the reactions of the Jewish community, which in turn helped to shape the evangelical activity directed toward it. Ariel delineates three successive waves of evangelism, the first directed toward poor Jewish immigrants, the second toward American-born Jews trying to assimilate, and the third toward Jewish baby boomers influenced by the counterculture of the Vietnam War era. After World War II, the missionary impulse became almost exclusively the realm of conservative evangelicals, as the more liberal segments of American Christianity took the path of interfaith dialogue. As Ariel shows, these missionary efforts have profoundly influenced Christian-Jewish relations. Jews have seen the missionary movement as a continuation of attempts to delegitimize Judaism and to do away with Jews through assimilation or annihilation. But to conservative evangelical Christians, who support the State of Israel, evangelizing Jews is a manifestation of goodwill toward them.