A Trinitarian ecology for witness: A conceptual application of the ecological systems model to evangelism

This study attempts to subject the communicative aspects of evangelism to the analysis defined by ecological worldview and its systemic paradigms. Too often evangelistic communication is understood in terms of content of gospel presentation or well-crafted programs, which would guarantee the effective result of evangelism. This study postulates that such attitude may stem from mechanistic worldview that engenders a technological culture and the simplistic transmission view of communication. In response to such a worldview, this study probes the Trinitarian theology as the solid ground for understanding the shape of human existence and the way of human communication. The way the triune God engages with each other grounds the matrix into which human life and communication are weaved. This paradigm runs parallel to the ecological paradigm of thinking, which examines the human life within the purview of interrelated settings. An ecological approach to human life is ultimately grounded and defined by the Trinitarian theology in this study.;Furthermore, this insight into the Trinitarian virtue of God is significant to our understanding of conversion and Christian communication. Understanding conversion and approach to communication are discussed as the two main axes on which to practice evangelism. How we view conversion and communication determines how we do evangelism. The Trinitarian way of communication can be defined as plural, relational, and incarnational. Also, conversion needs to be understood as the multilayered and protracted core process of spiritual development. This view of human transformation and communication can be aided by the ecological paradigm of thinking.;To deal with such notions as ecological worldview and the ecology of communication, this study discusses Gregory Bateson's concept of ecological interconnection between mind and nature and Marshall McLuhan's aphorisms like "the medium is the message" and "the media as human extension.";Having explored the concept of ecology and its models for human development with regard to conversion and Christian communication, this study moves on to present the strategies for evangelism by mapping out the previous or existing evangelism ministries and literatures within the ecological systems model proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner: micro-, meso-, exo-, macro-, and chrono-systems. In conclusion, this study points again to the Trinitarian consummating of ecological process for human transformation without falling into the pitfall of natural automatism.