Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus by J Mack Stiles
I appreciated this book for its clarity. Stiles sets out what evangelism is, what the gospel is and how to bring about a culture of evangelism in your church.
"Evangelism is teaching (heralding, proclaiming, preaching) the gospel (the message from God that leads us to salvation) with the aim (hope, desire, goal) to persuade (convince, convert)." and it is the mission of the Church.
To help foster a culture of evangelism, Stiles suggests 11 things to help, which includes having a church motivated by God's love and one that is confident in the power of the Gospel. Finding ways to models how to evangelise and then celebrate when people do and when others get converted.
The Church is to take its task seriously and avoid the dangers of attractional entertainment. The Gospel is the truth of God, it doesn't need dressing up. Besides how you win people to your Church is how you keep them. Better to win them to God and not entertainment and feel-good messages.
Stiles would also have the church cut back on all the extra programs they run, and to only focus on running those that will proclaim the Gospel clearly, that way when a member of the church invites their friends to anything run by the church, they know that the Gospel will be said. Also, every member should be equipped to know and say the Gospel and have the wisdom to find opportunities to connect it with everyday life. A culture of evangelism is grassroots. The members of the church does the evangelism, not the church organisation. This means the church doesn't have to invest in specific outreach programs to certain people groups in the area, instead, that is the job of the individual Christian to go to those people and connect with them where they are.
I liked the sentiment of the book and would love to see every church seeking to build a culture of evangelism where it is equipping the saints to tell the Gospel to everyone they meet
"Evangelism is teaching (heralding, proclaiming, preaching) the gospel (the message from God that leads us to salvation) with the aim (hope, desire, goal) to persuade (convince, convert)." and it is the mission of the Church.
To help foster a culture of evangelism, Stiles suggests 11 things to help, which includes having a church motivated by God's love and one that is confident in the power of the Gospel. Finding ways to models how to evangelise and then celebrate when people do and when others get converted.
The Church is to take its task seriously and avoid the dangers of attractional entertainment. The Gospel is the truth of God, it doesn't need dressing up. Besides how you win people to your Church is how you keep them. Better to win them to God and not entertainment and feel-good messages.
Stiles would also have the church cut back on all the extra programs they run, and to only focus on running those that will proclaim the Gospel clearly, that way when a member of the church invites their friends to anything run by the church, they know that the Gospel will be said. Also, every member should be equipped to know and say the Gospel and have the wisdom to find opportunities to connect it with everyday life. A culture of evangelism is grassroots. The members of the church does the evangelism, not the church organisation. This means the church doesn't have to invest in specific outreach programs to certain people groups in the area, instead, that is the job of the individual Christian to go to those people and connect with them where they are.
I liked the sentiment of the book and would love to see every church seeking to build a culture of evangelism where it is equipping the saints to tell the Gospel to everyone they meet
Conversion: How God Creates a People by Michael Lawrence
While evangelism is the mission of the Church it is not the ultimate goal. Evangelism, by God's grace, wants people to convert - to turn to Jesus as Lord. This is why it is important for the Church to know what conversion is and isn't. Conversion is not about people becoming nice or even about making a one-off decision. It is about new life and discipleship, it is about being holy and distinct.
If you get conversion wrong, then you get the Gospel wrong. Instead of pointing people to submitting to Jesus, you could be teaching people to just try harder at being moral. Also, reducing being converted at just attending Church on Sunday, may mean you orientate church to just keep people coming back, and not actually calling out sin, holy living or even mission.
There was a warning about assessing people's lives before you assure them that they are converted. Sometimes we put too much stock in praying "the prayer" or raising a hand in an emotional setting (both of which are not mentioned in the New Testament). After these one-offs decisions, we can immediately jump to the conclusion that these people are saved, with no testing or assessment of their new life and character. In the parable of the four seeds, we need to remember that two of the four sees hear and obey it for a little while before rejecting it. Sure we need to be charitable to people's identification as a Christian, and if they are saying they are a Christian then we should hold them to Christian living standards and church authority.
Before reading this book, I was already on the bandwagon of making disciples and not decisions. Afterwards, I was more convinced that when people ask if they are saved, I wouldn't tell them to remember some decision in the past, but rather to get them to think about what current decisions they have made under Jesus today.
If you get conversion wrong, then you get the Gospel wrong. Instead of pointing people to submitting to Jesus, you could be teaching people to just try harder at being moral. Also, reducing being converted at just attending Church on Sunday, may mean you orientate church to just keep people coming back, and not actually calling out sin, holy living or even mission.
There was a warning about assessing people's lives before you assure them that they are converted. Sometimes we put too much stock in praying "the prayer" or raising a hand in an emotional setting (both of which are not mentioned in the New Testament). After these one-offs decisions, we can immediately jump to the conclusion that these people are saved, with no testing or assessment of their new life and character. In the parable of the four seeds, we need to remember that two of the four sees hear and obey it for a little while before rejecting it. Sure we need to be charitable to people's identification as a Christian, and if they are saying they are a Christian then we should hold them to Christian living standards and church authority.
Before reading this book, I was already on the bandwagon of making disciples and not decisions. Afterwards, I was more convinced that when people ask if they are saved, I wouldn't tell them to remember some decision in the past, but rather to get them to think about what current decisions they have made under Jesus today.
Discipling: How to Help Others Follow Jesus by Mark Dever
This book reminded me a little of a shorter book I read this year called With Him. This was a simple straightforward book on discipleship. The working definition of discipling in the book was "helping others to follow Jesus" while discipleship was defined as "our own following of Christ". The discipling takes place within discipleship, ie (from Multiply) disciples of Jesus make disciples of Jesus.
The book looked at what discipling is, where it should be done and how you can go about it. In essence discipling is meeting with someone else to talk about how God is working in their life. It is accountable, it is teaching, it is modelling, it is life on life. I tell my leaders that discipling is pouring God's word and your life into someone (I think I took that from Fruit that Will Last).
The book pushes you to think of one person you can regularly meet with. It outlines at least 9 practical things to think through when picking someone, along with the idea of setting clear aims for meeting up together. There is a realistic discussion about the cost involved with meeting one one one with someone, that has obviously come from personal experience.
What I also appreciated in the book was the conclusion written by Jonathan Leeman talking about how Mark Dever invested his life into him, focusing on two main areas of exercising authority and giving away authority. In discipling, you want someone to be equipped to follow Jesus and to tell others about him, which means they need opportunities to step up and try. If you are a church leader, you have your own opportunities to do these things, but you should be making yourself redundant by raising others up and giving them a chance to put into practice your ministry. It is one thing to teach someone something, it is another to show them how, and again it is another to let them do it altogether. Sure it is easier to do it yourself, but only for the short term. In raising up leaders and discipling someone who is younger than you, then you are sending out someone to a place where you can not go, into the future.
The book looked at what discipling is, where it should be done and how you can go about it. In essence discipling is meeting with someone else to talk about how God is working in their life. It is accountable, it is teaching, it is modelling, it is life on life. I tell my leaders that discipling is pouring God's word and your life into someone (I think I took that from Fruit that Will Last).
The book pushes you to think of one person you can regularly meet with. It outlines at least 9 practical things to think through when picking someone, along with the idea of setting clear aims for meeting up together. There is a realistic discussion about the cost involved with meeting one one one with someone, that has obviously come from personal experience.
What I also appreciated in the book was the conclusion written by Jonathan Leeman talking about how Mark Dever invested his life into him, focusing on two main areas of exercising authority and giving away authority. In discipling, you want someone to be equipped to follow Jesus and to tell others about him, which means they need opportunities to step up and try. If you are a church leader, you have your own opportunities to do these things, but you should be making yourself redundant by raising others up and giving them a chance to put into practice your ministry. It is one thing to teach someone something, it is another to show them how, and again it is another to let them do it altogether. Sure it is easier to do it yourself, but only for the short term. In raising up leaders and discipling someone who is younger than you, then you are sending out someone to a place where you can not go, into the future.
You can download this book, via this crossway survey (not sure how long the link will last).
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