Sean McGever
Sean (PhD, Aberdeen) is adjunct faculty in the College of Theology at Grand Canyon University and Area Director for Young Life
Abstract: This article analyzes the trajectory and norms of evangelical soteriology and evangelistic ministry established by early evangelicals Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley and later pattern set by Bill Bright’s Four Spiritual Laws. It examines how terms such as conversion, regeneration, the new birth, and being born again were used in evangelical literature and how they were understood. It further looks at the practices of Campus Crusade for Christ and its focus on decisions, looking at the results of the Berkeley Blitz, Explo ’74 in South Korea, and the Here’s Life campaigns around the world. It concludes by identifying five key areas in which the approach and practices of Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ differs from that of early evangelicals.
Keywords: Evangelicalism, soteriology, conversion, sinner’s prayer, decisionism, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, Bill Bright, Campus Crusade for Christ.
