Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development

by Bryant L. Myers

McIlwain decided to resequence the Bible chronologically so that it could be told as an epic story, beginning with creation in Genesis and ending with the second coming of Christ in Revelation. The result is a chronological teaching outline that tells the whole salvation story so that it builds a foundation on which a person, who has never heard ofJesus or of Israel or been to a city, can say with understanding, “Yes, I believe.” McIlwain understood that it is the whole of our story as Christians that reveals the character and activity of the God of the Bible in human history. “The story of Christ begins in the first verse in Genesis” (McIlwain 1991, 32). If telling the whole biblical story is foundational to understanding the Jesus story and making an informed faith decision, no one should be invited to make such a decision until he or she has heard the whole story. In this sense, discipleship begins before the evangelistic act itself.