This should take from 2 to four years, as I work at an enormous amount of reading. My topic is "Evangelism in the Methodist Churches of Cape Town", and I will be interviewing 45 ministers from different Cultural backgrounds. I have a lot to learn!!
I have felt ambivalent about going on to this next stage of studies, but as we have thought and prayed through the issues we have realised that this will not only be about satisfying my curiosity, but should also enable me to teach more effectively. Another issue is that I hope that the paper qualification will open new doors to empower people to focus on people outside their church communities. I certainly will not be any less involved in basic evangelism myself!
I will be revisiting John Wesley's perspecives on evangelism - re-reading the journals and sermons and learning more from the source documents. And I hope to investigate especially the ethics of persuasion: what makes evangelism ethical, and what makes it manipulative?
I was in line to pay my fees and get my card with a man from Jordan doing a Masters degree in Agriculture, looking at salinity and cultivation of bananas and tomatoes...he said that he would be interested to read my findings. It seemed to be a little sign of grace!
