Two ways to live, the classic outline that has helped thousands of people like Graeme Hoinville to grasp the gospel, is being put back on the agenda as part of basic training for all Christians, writes GEOFF ROBSON.
More than 20 years ago, Tony Payne was part of a small group of people who were introduced to the concept of personal evangelism, through the ‘Two
ways to live’ gospel outline. Today, he is part of another group - one that has just finished overseeing a major revision of that same short course, now called Two ways to live: Know and share the gospel.
A simple, six-point summary of the gospel that aims to convey key information to non-Christians without assuming any prior knowledge, Two ways to live has become one of the best-known and most widely used evangelism tools for Christians in Australia and beyond. A range of training materials has since been developed around the outline, to help Christians both know and explain the gospel.
But Mr Payne, now Publishing Director of Matthias Media, says the time had come for the training package to be given an overhaul. A fully revised version of the course is being launched this month.
“With the number and variety of uses Two ways to live is put to these days, we wanted to go back to basics and give a new lease of life to the course that started it all. We thought it was time that the course was back on the agenda as part of the basic training that all Christians receive,” Mr Payne said.
Learning the gospel outline has had a major impact in Tony Payne’s own Christian life. Moving from Grafton to Sydney in 1981, the training program helped him to find his way ‘in the big world of city Christianity’.
His own training group learnt the presentation, practiced putting it in their own words, and were challenged to share it with friends. “I remember returning to the group the next week, full of pride because I had managed to raise the subject with a friend, and had bumbled my way through most of the gospel,” he says.
“Despite my fairly humble efforts, I can still remember the excitement in that small group. We were all fairly young Christians, and for the first time we were learning the gospel really well.
“Armed with a knowledge of this gospel, we had the confidence to do what had before seemed almost unthinkable up to that point in our Christian lives: to explain our faith to someone else in a way that made sense to them - because it had first made sense to us.”
From t-shirts and study materials, through to outlines scribbled on the back of a serviette, Two ways to live has become ‘part of the evangelical furniture’ for Christians around the world. But Mr Payne says the main aim of the course has always been ‘to encapsulate the gospel in a clear, easily-grasped outline’ so every Christian is comfortable sharing this message with others.
In addition to a new look, updated features of the course include a revision of the structure, design and content of the training program, intended to make it simpler and more flexible for a variety of ministry contexts. A greater emphasis has been placed on participants coming to know the gospel for themselves, rather than simply memorising the outline.
As well as the traditional manual, each participant now receives their own CD, containing two talks exploring the theological content of the gospel. A new training video includes demonstrations and role-plays to use with a group.
“We have tried to make the course easier to run, more rewarding to be part of, and more effective in achieving its aims,” Mr Payne says. “Amid the numerous changes and updates, two things haven’t changed at all: the Two ways to live course itself, and the aims of the course ? to train every Christian to know the gospel really thoroughly and clearly for themselves, and thus be equipped to explain their faith in their own words, whenever the opportunity arises.
