A METHOD of evangelism that was new to me was presented to those attending an evangelistic council sponsored by the Applied Theology Department of the Seminary at Andrews University in March, 1967. Dr. M. G. Hardinge, of Loma Linda University School of Public Health, while speaking on health evangelism, quoted from the works of Ellen G. White. The words he read continued to ring in my mind until Dr. Herschel C. Lamp, medical secretary of the Middle East Di vision, and I united our efforts as a doctor-minister team in a series of meetings aimed at Moslems attending the Adventist Center in Tehran, Iran.
The words of counsel that burned into my mind were:
If ministers and physicians will plan to unite in an effort to reach the honest-hearted ones in our cities, the physicians, as well as the ministers, will be placed on vantage ground. As they labor in humility, God will open the way before them, and many will receive a saving knowledge of truth. --Medical Ministry, p. 304. (Italics supplied.)
In contemplating this statement, we were impressed that here was a method of evangelism not commonly used, and it has God's endorsing promise of success, for "many will receive a saving knowledge of truth."
Further study of the same volume revealed that doctors and ministers "are to be one with Christ, men through whom God can work" (page 250). It was also impressed upon us that "if our physicians and our ministers can work together in the presentation of truth to the people, more can be reached than could be influenced by the minister laboring alone" (page 263).
We Team Up for Meetings in Tehran
Because of the many and formidable obstacles met in conducting public evangelistic meetings in Islamic countries, it was felt that a doctor-minister evangelistic team might be a successful new approach. Tehran was chosen as the site for this pilot program because Dr. Lamp had previously held a successful series of health lectures in the Adventist Center,* and this new series could build partially on a previously developed interest. Since the first series used a health approach, it seemed logical to develop the second upon the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of life--- "Life at Its Best," as we chose to call the program.
The Tehran campaign developed into a pilot program, dealing with more than the doctor-minister idea; for in our initial planning we pondered: Just how can a doctor and a minister unite in an evangelistic team? Will the doctor conduct a short health talk at the beginning of each meeting while the minister presents the usual series of doctrinal sermons? Or should the doctor speak one evening and the minister the next? Perhaps the doctor and the minister would each present half of every topic in an attempt to divide the time equally. From this last idea evolved the plan followed. We would try a dialog approach in our evangelistic meetings with doctor and minister discussing each evening's topic. In advertising the meetings it was billed as: "A series of dynamic dialogs designed to focus on life and put it into proper perspective by presenting topics discussing the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of life that will help achieve health, success, and happiness----LIFE AT ITS BEST."
The Dialog Approach
In implementing the dialog approach, two lecterns were used, one on each side of the platform. From the lectern on the right Dr. Lamp spoke with his translator, Mohammed Morovati, principal of our Tehran Adventist Academy; while Johnny Minassian, academy Bible teacher, translated for me from the left. Translators were necessary as our audience was largely Farsi-speaking. Admittedly it is easier to carry on a dialog directly before an audience than it is to use translators. How ever, we found that by going over the subject material with our translators prior to the meeting, an effective action and interreaction of speakers and translators was developed that was warmly appreciated by the audience. As the series progressed, re viewing the material before the meeting was not so essential.
For variation we would alternate in launching the topic of the evening and in presenting the closing summary or appeal. We endeavored to plan each meeting care fully and have each topic well organized, but latitude was left for each presentation to have life and spontaneity so that we were not tied to a prepared script.
At the conclusion of twenty-four dialogs conducted from September 19 to October 19, 1968, we were well pleased with this approach for the following reasons:
1. By its novel approach in public meetings, a dialog attracted initial interest through advertising and generated attention in the opening meetings of the series.
2. It helped hold audience attention. After a few minutes of listening to a speaker, the average person's attention be gins to wander, but a dialog serves to bring attention back to the subject being presented every time a speaker change occurs.
3. Auditor interest is stimulated by the impression of receiving both speakers' opinions on the subject.
4. Interest in the subject is further heightened by the interreaction of the speakers to each other as the topic is discussed.
5. There is strength in working together in a dialog. During this series the words of Evangelism, page 72, certainly proved true in our experience of working together:
Calling the twelve about Him, Jesus bade them go out two and two through the towns and villages. None were sent forth alone, but brother was associated with brother, friend with friend. Thus they could help and encourage each other, counseling and praying together, each one's strength supplementing the other's weakness.
Working for Moslems is extremely difficult and trying. Through the years results have been limited, for no one has yet effected a truly successful method of approaching Moslems or answering to their satisfaction the questions concerning the nature of Christ that they inevitably ask Christians.
Moslems feel their Koran is superior to the Christian Bible, for it comprises God's latest message through His last and final prophet--Mohammed. No prophet, they assert, is to come after the time of Mo hammed. A further reason for their belief that the Koran is superior is that Moslems are taught that the Bible has been corrupted by human agents in the ages since God gave His message to the ancient prophets, while the Koranic messages, given by God to Mohammed, have remained pure and undefiled.
Therefore, our major objective in this campaign was to build on the interest created by the previous series held by Dr. Lamp and to introduce these Moslems to the Holy Scriptures and the truths contained therein. In reaching this objective we faced the problem of selecting a sequence of topics that would lead a Moslem listener to agree to investigate the Bible for himself, hoping he would find that the Bible is still God's infallible message for man. In the balance of this report, the avenue of approach we used in presenting the message will be given.
(To be continued)
