Constructing faith cultures: Catechumenal evangelism in the early church, early Methodism and Alpha

Scholars have recognized missing links in the evangelization processes of Christian churches. This dissertation identifies and examines the nature of one of those missing links by comparing features of early Methodism and Alpha---two very effective evangelistic processes---under the rubric of "catechetical evangelism." Catechetical evangelism focuses on creating a "culture of faith"---a network of beliefs and practices and attitudes---where people are encouraged to experience the gift of faith.;The kind of religious enculturation investigated here utilizes a group process approach of accompanying emerging Christians on their way to a living faith. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand the nature of this process---how and why it works, when it does work. A comparative analysis of three different historic evangelizations has been employed to study this process. Encapsulation theory (which inquires how personal identity is reconstructed via a group process) and the historic catechumenate (a group process of initiation into the Christian faith) provide the historical/theoretical bases of this research.;Specifically, the social processes described in encapsulation theory and the practices inherent within the catechumenate constitute the comparisons which comprises the body of the dissertation. Surprisingly this comparative analysis discovered and illuminated four perennial practices that constitute "catechetical evangelism:" relations which encourage friendship (chapter three); rituals which inaugurate community (chapter four); rhetorical delivery of normative content for emerging Christians (chapter five); and roles which encourage meaningful participation in the process (chapter six). When these four practices are operative they tend to encourage people to take further steps in their journey toward conversion to Christ. One way to understand this dissertation is the documentation of a set of historic evangelistic processes and practices in search of a theoretical basis.;Several findings arose from the comparison. First, Christian conversion, at a sociological level, is a species of social influence where friendship is both the normative means and end of the process. Second, rites are not necessarily rote because they are never divorced from their effect on our friends. Third, the Sermon on the Mount is normative content for emerging Christians because it describes and develops friendship with Christ in community. And fourth, roles include everyone in the ever-widening circle of friendship constitutive of a "faith culture.".