APOLOGETIC ACTION PLAN INSTRUCTIONS
This assignment is meant to be very practical in nature. It should challenge you as a student to apply what you have learned in this course. James 1:22-25 challenges the believer in the following way, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror (ESV)." or he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." You should leave this course with a strong understanding of the next step. What is the next step in becoming an apologist? The next step is becoming a doer of the word, not merely a hearer of the word.
If you do not commit yourself to doing apologetics and doing this assignment with more than just your mind, you will have taken this course but achieved much less than your peer who took and applied the course. The following is an explanation of what is required for successful completion of this assignment. Use the titles below as the titles of each section of your Apologetic Action Plan.
Part 1 - People
List 5 people you know that do not know Christ. It would be a great idea to use the same people (plus one) that you interviewed in your first assignment submission. By listing these people, you are committing to praying for them by name over the course of the next year.
Your prayers will include prayers for opportunities to share with them the gospel message at some point over the next year (we'll get to that soon). Some students have claimed that they don't know 5 non-Christians. If this is the case, you have until the due date of this assignment to meet them-get started! Along with a list of these people, provide a date (for your own accountability purposes) by which you plan to share the gospel with them.
You will not be graded on anything other than this date being written down; this is where the apologetic accountability partner comes into play. Find someone you can explain this assignment to and ask him/her to hold you accountable to this assignment over the course of the next year. This person could be your spouse, your pastor, your Sunday school teacher, or someone you met in this course on the Discussion Board Forum. Make sure it is someone who understands the importance of apologetics.
Part 2 - Initial Worldview Analysis
In Part 2, your worldview analysis will be more robust if you use the same people that you used for your interview; if you do not use the same people you interviewed, then conduct this analysis based on what you know of them already (one of the reasons why it is valuable to choose people you know-and purposefully know people who do not know Christ). Use the following template:
Individual 1: Explain what you believe are the top 3 reasons this person does not know Christ. Is it because no one has explained the Gospel to him/her? Or is it because they think that the issue of evil is problematic?
Do they have a hurt in his/her past that has grown into bitterness toward God? Do they have a problem with the resurrection being real? The Bible being real? Creationism? Write a brief analysis of what you anticipate being his/her top 3 reasons for rejecting the Gospel. Remember-a worldview is made up of an individual's views on the origin issue, his/her identity, meaning and purpose, morality, and eternal destiny.
Repeat above for each individual.
Part 3 - Apologetic Plan
Write a 1-2-paragraph explanation of how you anticipate approachingeach of these people with the Gospel message. Do you need to establish a better friendship with this person? If so, how are you going to do that? Do you need to invite them over for dinner 3 or 4 times before you can feel comfortable with sharing your apologetic? If so, write your plan explicitly regarding when specifically you are going to invite them to dinner. It has already been asserted that prayer is going to be a part of this plan, so you do not need to mention that here.
This section should be more specific than, "I am going to pray for this person." Example: a student once said that she decided that she was going get her nails done at a specific salon once a month. She knew the man who worked there was Buddhist and she was going to practice her apologetics in a conversation with him. This is the type of specificity desired for this portion of the assignment.
Part 4 - Reading List
List 5 books that you willread in the next year on the topic of apologetics. You may use books mentioned in this course, course bibliography, books recommended in the McGrath text, or other books on apologetics. Give the full bibliography in current Turabian format. It may be wise and beneficial to choose these books based on what you anticipate needing to know in preparation for presenting your apologetic. Provide when you are going to have each book read. Because you have school ahead of you in the coming year, be reasonable; nonetheless, challenge yourself to become an apologist by reading apologists!
Part 5 - Teaching
In this last section, write an explanation of how and to whom you are going to teach apologetics to. This section is for current believers.
This should challenge you to become trainers of the next set of apologists now. Feel free to use any and all of the material covered in this course. You can teach this in your churches and especially to your families. Explain when, where, and how you are going to train others to become apologists.
Concrete examples are the best to use. If you need to talk with your pastor or Sunday school teacher about when you might have the opportunity to train others, please do so! Don't let the apologetic burden stop at you; let it progress to multiple spiritual generations!