Soteriology in evangelical practice : a view from the street

Abstract

This article discusses the difficulties experienced by evangelical missionary practitioners in the West from the perspective of soteriology. This is done ‘from below,’ that is, based on recent empirical studies. First, the ‘benchmark soteriology’ of evangelicalism is presented. Second, based on an analysis of recent field studies of missionary practices in Europe a series of challenges for evangelical evangelism are listed. It appears that evangelical practitioners often experience ‘speechlessness’ in terms of witness. This leads to various forms of frustration and disappointment. After offering some suggestions for an explanation of this speechlessness, the article concludes with a tentative description of a new paradigm of evangelism emerging from missionary practices in the West.