The Wordless Book is a Christian evangelistic book. Evidence points to it being invented by the famous London Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in a message given on January 11, 1866 [2] to several hundred orphans regarding Psalm 51:7 "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." [3] It is called a "book", as it is usually represented with pages, although it can be shown on a single page or banner.
The book consists of several blocks of pure color that, in sequence, represent a nonverbal catechism about basic Christian teachings for the instruction of children, the illiterate, or people of different cultures. [4] The presentation of the book is meant to be a verbal experience, however, providing the "reader" a visual cue to expound Christian doctrine extemporaneously or in impromptu situations.
Spurgeon's concept contained only three colors: "first was black, the second was red, and the third was pure white".
By 1880 at least, the book was being widely used in evangelism among orphanages, Sunday schools, and in cross-cultural missions.
Different versions came about when Dwight Lyman Moody added another color: gold (after white) – representing Heaven – in 1875. [5] Hudson Taylor and missionaries of the China Inland Mission used the four-color version in open-air preaching and individual evangelism. It has been used by missionaries and teachers such as Jennie Faulding Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Fanny Crosby (who was blind), and the modern-day Child Evangelism Fellowship, which added a fifth color: green (after white, before gold) – representing one's need to grow in Christ after salvation. Some modern Baptists add a sixth color: blue (after white, before green) – representing baptism etc. Blue can also represent faith, placed between red and white.
sin | atonement | righteousness | baptism | growth | heaven | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spurgeon | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
Moody | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ||
CEF | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |
Baptist | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
The success of the Wordless Book in communicating with East Asian peoples is disputable due to the influence of "color cosmology" (Wu Xing) [4] or color psychology in Chinese culture. For example, in Chinese symbolism, red is the color of good luck and success, and is used for decoration and wedding attire (during the traditional half of the wedding ceremony, while the bridal attire in the modern half is usually white). Money in Chinese societies is traditionally given in red packets; while white is the funeral color instead of black.
Wordless books have been put into many forms for easy use and insertion into everyday situations. Among these are salvation bracelets and various sports gear, including soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs and martial arts belts.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, to some of whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers." He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day.
Evangelism or witnessing is the act of preaching the Christian gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is sometimes associated with Christian missions.
This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through a listing of the most significant missionary outreach events.
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The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a large independent Reformed Baptist church in the Elephant and Castle in London. It was the largest non-conformist church of its day in 1861. The Tabernacle fellowship has been worshipping together since 1650. Its first pastor was William Rider; other notable pastors and preachers include Benjamin Keach, John Gill, John Rippon and C. H. Spurgeon. The present pastor is Peter Masters.
Open-air preaching, street preaching, or public preaching is the act of evangelizing a religious faith in public places. It is an ancient method of proselytizing a religious or social message and has been used by many cultures and religious traditions, but today it is usually associated with evangelical Protestant Christianity. Supporters of this approach note that both Jesus and many of the Old Testament prophets often preached about God in public places. It is one of the oldest approaches to evangelism.
James Hudson Taylor was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission. Taylor spent 54 years in China. The society that he began was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to the country who started 125 schools and directly resulted in 20,000 Christian conversions, as well as the establishment of more than 300 stations of work with more than 499 local helpers in all 18 provinces.
The Cambridge Seven were six students from Cambridge University and one from the Royal Military Academy, who in 1885, decided to become missionaries to China through the China Inland Mission. The seven were:
OMF International is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865.
Christians have used many different approaches to spread Christianity via the practice of evangelism. Christianity began with only a few different evangelistic approaches, but over the years, many different forms of evangelism have been employed by various groups to spread their faith. Many of these forms of evangelism are often employed in only certain parts of the world by Christians in different geographical areas. In particular, most new approaches to evangelism today have arisen out of Europe or the United States, especially when new technologies are used for the effort of evangelism.
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Wang Laiquan or Wang Laijun (王来俊) (1835-) was a Chinese Protestant Christian pastor and missionary in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China in the late 19th century. "One of China's great, if unsung Christians, after Pastor Xi Shengmo... he was perhaps the most notable Chinese connected with the China Inland Mission."
China’s Spiritual Need and Claims is a book written by James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, in October 1865.
William Garrett Lewis (1821–1885) was a Baptist preacher and pastor of Westbourne Grove Church in Bayswater, London for 33 years. He was an apologist author of two books, Westbourne Grove Sermons and The Trades and Industrial Occupations of the Bible, published by the Religious Tract Society.
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The salvation bracelet, also known as the gospel bracelet, witness bracelet, or wordless bracelet, is a bracelet used as a tool of Christian evangelism. The bracelet consists of a series of colored beads which represent key aspects of the Christian gospel.