Book Review: Evangelism for the Rest Of Us: Sharing Christ Within Your Personality Style

Do you associate the word "evangelism" with handing out tracts, seeking out strangers with whom to share the plan of salvation, and "formulas" meant to explain or advertise the gospel to others? Do these methods seem alien, uncomfortable, or cold to you? If so, Mike Bechtle's Evangelism For the Rest of Us is a book you absolutely must read. [Click title to read more.]

Beware of Third Person Perspective

As Christians, especially in this new age of what I can only call the corporate church, it's easy to reduce people to demographics. We talk about people as prospects, as "future growth," as communities, as "the unsaved" or "the lost." And to the ears of those outside the church - to the ears of those we are trying to reach - I wonder if our approach doesn't come across as occasionally dehumanizing, as though the church lives in pursuit of numbers and not souls. [Click title to read more.]

Defining “Neighbor” Beyond Convenience

A lot of us have an idea in mind of who our "neighbors" ought to be. They are kind, benign people who live near us; they are sometimes homeless, but always grateful and quiet; they are people willing to accept our kindness and generally deserving of it. All too often, my neighbors are people it does not inconvenience me to love. [Click title to read more.]

Drive-By Evangelism Helps No One

You can't make a disciple with a pamphlet. You can't condense God's love into two paragraphs. Most of all, you cannot treat evangelism - the holy duty of sharing God's word and love with others - as a marketing ploy by indiscriminately blanketing the streets with a generic version of "the Good News." [Click title to read more.]

I’ve Seen The Monster, And It Is Me

We were not saved because we were good or special; God's grace is not something we conferred upon ourselves. Acting as though being a "sinner saved by grace" is a personal credit to us is like a beggar acting as though it's a noble act for him to nod his head "yes" when someone offers to drop food into his shaking hands. [Click title to read more.]

Let God Prepare The Heart (And The Harvest)

Sometimes I think we believe we have to do it all ourselves: that we have to pick people we suspect are in need, that we have to make them understand the lack in their life, that we have to sell Jesus to them like a product - to make Him valuable enough that people will want to take Him home. But we are intermediaries, sent by God to help people along in the process that He has already started. [Click title to read more.]