The Gospel & Personal Evangelism

The Gospel & Personal Evangelism - A Review

Mark Dever claims to have written his book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, to help individual Christians and local churches develop a culture of evangelism. He wants them to evangelize more.

For this, he should be commended.

I am eager to endorse this aim. I share it. I think every local church should have the same goal.

Greatest Strengths

1. The Scope. As Dever seeks to create a culture of evangelism he brings in details that other authors skip. This book attempts to deal with stumbling blocks that keep people from evangelizing, making the case that evangelism is something for all Christians to grow and participate in, what to do leading up to, during, and after actual evangelism takes place.

2. What Evangelism Isn't. Like other books in the 9 Marks series, Dever attempts to clarify the gospel and evangelism by presenting what it is and what it isn't. Particularly helpful in this little book is the discussion of commonly held views about evangelism that Dever rightly teaches actually are not evangelism. Dever tackles many related topics that are good Christian activities on their own - things like personal testimony, service, and apologetics - by showing how these are different than evangelism. This section is worth the price of the book alone.

3. The Move Toward Discipleship. Many books on evangelism focus only leading up to and during the actual witnessing encounter. Dever's book includes what to do afterward, too. This is a part of the number one strength listed above. But it deserves its own mention.

I've met many Christians who evangelize and think a lot about scattering gospel seed. I think we would all do well to think about how to continue caring for the seed that has been sown in both those who believe and those who reject the gospel message. Dever helps his readers to think more about these things. A true strength in this little book.

Greatest Weaknesses

1. The Length. What makes these books popular is that they are short. As such, they are extremely readable. However, I am seemingly always left wanting more. The gospel and personal evangelism is such a weighty subject. Here we briefly touch on the surface. It's a good step in the direction of building a culture of personal evangelism. Taking action in this area will go a long way. However, the brevity of much of the discussion in this book leaves a superficial impression in my mind. This leads to my next thought...

2. The Gospel. The weakness mentioned above is most glaring in Dever's discussion of the gospel itself. The subject of the Title, yet the discussion spans 14 pages. Some of that discussion is anecdote. While I don't think Dever failed in his pursuit, it is an extremely superficial discussion. For such a short section Dever may have done about as well as possible. Yet, there are far better treatments of the gospel. To be fair, there are certainly far worse, too. As part of the title and aim, this element is severely lacking, in my opinion.

3. Misuse of the terminology "Evangelist." Dever is not alone in his misuse of this biblical term. It's probably not fair for me to single him out. It should be stated clearly that sharing the gospel doesn't make you an evangelist. This issue is the main focus of this blog, so it's a bigger deal to me than to most. Take that for what it's worth!

Conclusion

I like Mark Dever's book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. There are other, similar books that I like a lot more. I would be happy to recommend this book to someone who I am confident has an excellent grasp on the gospel already or who expresses a strong desire to study the gospel in great depth.

To truly succeed in the aim Dever shoots for - creating a culture of evangelism - I think we need to cultivate a far deeper understanding and appreciation of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Both in our own hearts and minds, and in the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Comments

Prayer vs. Petition

Q: What's the difference between prayer and petition? Phil 4:6 for example. A: An excellent word study question! When attempting to study words from the text it is necessary to analyze the word being studied in the original language (in this case Greek) as attempting to look up the words in English will often produce erroneous results. For example, in English the word petition has within its range of meanings things that are certainly not within the scope of meanings for the Greek word (i.e. “a sheet that is signed to demonstrate agreement with some principle or desire for some social action to be taken” is part of the range of “petition” but not of the Greek deesis from which “petition” is translated). The word most commonly translated as “prayer” in our English Bibles is proseuche , which appears 36 times in the New Testament (NT) in one form or another (for the purposes of this study, we are only examining the usage of these words as nouns – the verbal forms will not be

Smoking Hookah

Q: This week a young Christian talked with me about the practice of smoking Hookah. They attend a church [which] is reaching out to the many Indian and Muslims in the surrounding areas. Their church also have several ministries that support missions in India and Arab countries. As they spoke with me they said that many of their Christian friends are smoking the Hookah. They said that they have been told that certain types of Hookah smoking involve no tobacco but are simply flavored water, other types of Hookah smoking do include tobacco but in a ‘more pure’ form than that of cigarettes that have additives. The Christians that they know of who partake in smoking Hookah do not feel that there is anything sinful in this practice and believe that it is just a part of certain cultures as a way to relax and socialize. Apparently during certain celebrations some of these culture groups get together as a family and include smoking the Hookah together as part of the festivities. These Chris

The Church Isn't A Business

I used to be a salesman. I sold a lot of different stuff. I worked retail. I did door-to-door. In all my various jobs my function was essentially the same. I was the link between company and customer. Successful companies know their customer demographics. Many sales meetings revolve around numbers. Persons are treated as statistics. The customer becomes a set of numbers, preferences, and habits. Really successful companies cater their goods and services to a target demographic. It's all about the consumer experience. I remember when I began in pastoral ministry. People assured me that my experience as a salesman would be beneficial. They said there was a lot of overlap between pastors and salespeople. That may be true in our experience. But is it true of what we read in Scripture? When I open my Bible and read about Christ's church I see a beautiful design that is very different from a business. Night and day different. When Jesus walked the earth He rebuked those who

The "Jesus Loves You" Problem

Q: I've encountered a lot of teaching and Christians who believe that saying, "Jesus loves you!" is a valid form of evangelism. Do you disagree with this? If so, why? It seems like a loving way to reach out and to encourage those who are not believers. A: What a great question! There are certainly a lot of materials and teachings that encourage Christians to use the phrase, "Jesus loves you" as an outreach and evangelistic tool. Much of this teaching that I've encountered emphasizes following the lead of the Holy Spirit. It claims that the Holy Spirit will often lead Christians to say this to non-believers to encourage them and try and lead them to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Fourth Year Ministries does not teach or endorse this as a valid evangelism strategy. That's not because we don't want it to be valid! Truth be told, we would love for this to be a good practice for Christians. It would certainly open some more doors for us. I

10 Things An Evangelist Is Not

You've probably heard the term Evangelist before. Most people have. The term most likely brings something to mind. Sometimes positive. Often negative. Does your idea match what other people think of when they hear the term evangelist? More importantly, do any of these ideas match what the Bible tells us an evangelist is ? The truth is that most of the popular ideas about what an evangelist is and does are based on the culture, not the Bible. This is a problem. The cultural idea of an evangelist is so popular that it is beginning to be used by companies. If you go to popular job sites and put the term evangelist into the search bar you will find many non-church jobs looking for evangelists. Many of these positions include the duties of spreading knowledge about a particular company, product, service, or idea. The Bible tells us that Jesus gave some Evangelists for His church. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as

Fourth Year Ministries

Search This Blog