This book, an almost-mythically-good classic on evangelism from Becky Manley-Pippert, was quite excellent. It's one of those books that western middle-class Christians born after 1990 grow up wondering apprehensively when they're going to read.* As such, I've owned a copy for several years and can't remember where from (probably indefinitely borrowed from my dad, as many of my good books on Christianity are) and since the end of 2012 have been steadily chewing through a chapter every other month or so. I have terrible reading habits; for the last five years or so I've rarely had fewer than ten books on the go at once, and I don't pace them equally, so some I finish quickly while others take me literally years. This book was much slower going that I'd have expected given how readable and actually-quite-short it is, but last week I decided to finish it in a final focussed spurt and now I have. Ta-da.
Anyway, my excruciatingly-dull reading habits aside, this book is an absolute corker. It's about how we should be doing evangelism, but it's not a textbook or guidebook or even methodological primer - it's a deep, wide, reasonable, and well-aimed application of the gospel to ourselves as evangelists. Becky isn't trying to teach us a new model of reaching the unbelievers with maximal efficacy, simply encouraging us in truths we should already know and sensitivities we should already be trying to develop so as to communicate clearly, kindly, and to God's glory. As the book's title recalls, we are the 'salt of the earth'; and this book is an extended series of reminders about ways in which we may become less salty.
She starts by reminding us of who Jesus is to us, the beautiful intersection of his humanity with his Godhood, and our identity in him defining us to live in a radical relationship with him that can't help but share itself. Our knowing this should spur us to holiness and love and obedience, characteristics of our Christianity that differentiate us from the rest of the world that doesn't know God, and practicing our constancy of being aware of Christ's presence and centrality in our lives helps us grow in these ways. She also reminds us our the implicit need for the gospel in a human life, and that evangelism should be habitual, urgent even, for those who believe it if they truly love the people they are wanting to reach. In the second half of the book she takes a slightly more method-oriented approach, having grounded our reasons for being evangelists in the more theologically-dense first half. Primarily, this doesn't follow a rigorous methodological outline or step-by-step but is essentially based in properly engaging with people. That means being able and willing to have proper involved conversations with them, respecting their views and lifestyles fully enough to see them on their terms so that our arguments and discussions aren't insensitive ballistic missiles but well-discerned polite wrestles. Only if we are standing firm in God's word will our revelation of his truth through the Spirit be honest, and only if we as communicators understand opposing worldviews and perspectives rightly can we recommend accurately the gospel's superiority. She discusses stages in the process of evangelism: 'cultivating the soil' by discerning someone's relevant attitudes, 'planting the seed' by openly discussing Christianity, and 'reaping the harvest' by appealing to seekers (of course, also by appealing in trust to God's power over us and the Spirit's work in seekers' hearts and minds) to decide what they think about Jesus. In such culturally complex times, with many people still caught between modernism and post-modernism, there won't of course be one reliable method to reveal God's truth to people. Faith is an act of the will, but people's conducts vary in their composure between rationality, emotivity, convenience, and a variety of other things that may affect which way their will leans in the end. Becky cites as methods firstly apologetics,** whereby we should be able to argue philosophical and historical reasonable explanations for the case of Christian truth; secondly, alongside this intellectual approach is the experience-grounded mode of story-telling, whereby by recounting our testimonies or narratives from the Bible we can show how Christian truth works itself out in real lives. Also, and importantly, she adds, we must trust in the omnipotent ongoing work of the Holy Spirit; all the mission that we do as individuals is done by it through us anyway, and it also works abundantly and often without our knowing in the lives of those who need God's truth. Ultimately, bringing people to God is God's work, and though we as Christians have a part in it, we only do so as part of his prerogative and plan, so we should be evangelical but also faithful and prayerful. Finally, she discusses the nature of the church as an inclusive gospel-centred missional community; when individual Christian grace-redeemed sinners come together in joy and hope and love to celebrate their salvation, to pray and to worship and to share each others' lives and to further share the gospel that freed them with non-believers; this is powerful witness and testament to God's goodness and glory, and as a vehicle for supporting and enhancing evangelism, is absolutely crucial.
I felt very challenged and encouraged by this book. Becky's writing is lively and readable but never overly ambitious in what she's arguing; all her points are distillations of gospel truth and common sense put together in ways that make clear our evangelical nature. She peppers the chapters with stories of real conversations she's had over her decades of experience leading people to Christ, so we get glimpses into the actual applications of this God-centred people-sensitive approach to evangelism; how she serves, speaks, responds, prays, loves, sometimes makes mistakes, and mostly trusts God to be at work. It's inspired me into a stronger-than-usual perseverance of intentionality in trying to talk to my friends about the gospel, and praying for God to bring them to him; as fallible as Christians are (as I am) we do need reminders and spurts to refocus our evangelical efforts and our walks with God, though the two go hand-in-hand, and the further one walks with their heavenly Father, the easier it gets for them to keep walking in trust without veering off the path.
I thank God for Becky and this brilliant book, which in its 27 years of publication must have challenged and encouraged many thousands of Christians to reach out further and harder; God has probably used this book to (directly and indirectly) save thousands more - and I pray that he will continue to do so. If you're a Christian, read this book, and also make the decision now to step out in faith in Jesus and act like the salt you are.
* You know, like John Stott's The Cross of Christ or C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity or Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion (for rebuttals only) or even the Apocrypha (if they're clear-minded and like a challenge).
** Her views on it, taken within the context of the whole book, were pretty similar to those of another book I read recently - though that shouldn't be surprising, as there is a huge amount of convergence between most well-reasoned biblically-led Christian thought.
Anyway, my excruciatingly-dull reading habits aside, this book is an absolute corker. It's about how we should be doing evangelism, but it's not a textbook or guidebook or even methodological primer - it's a deep, wide, reasonable, and well-aimed application of the gospel to ourselves as evangelists. Becky isn't trying to teach us a new model of reaching the unbelievers with maximal efficacy, simply encouraging us in truths we should already know and sensitivities we should already be trying to develop so as to communicate clearly, kindly, and to God's glory. As the book's title recalls, we are the 'salt of the earth'; and this book is an extended series of reminders about ways in which we may become less salty.
She starts by reminding us of who Jesus is to us, the beautiful intersection of his humanity with his Godhood, and our identity in him defining us to live in a radical relationship with him that can't help but share itself. Our knowing this should spur us to holiness and love and obedience, characteristics of our Christianity that differentiate us from the rest of the world that doesn't know God, and practicing our constancy of being aware of Christ's presence and centrality in our lives helps us grow in these ways. She also reminds us our the implicit need for the gospel in a human life, and that evangelism should be habitual, urgent even, for those who believe it if they truly love the people they are wanting to reach. In the second half of the book she takes a slightly more method-oriented approach, having grounded our reasons for being evangelists in the more theologically-dense first half. Primarily, this doesn't follow a rigorous methodological outline or step-by-step but is essentially based in properly engaging with people. That means being able and willing to have proper involved conversations with them, respecting their views and lifestyles fully enough to see them on their terms so that our arguments and discussions aren't insensitive ballistic missiles but well-discerned polite wrestles. Only if we are standing firm in God's word will our revelation of his truth through the Spirit be honest, and only if we as communicators understand opposing worldviews and perspectives rightly can we recommend accurately the gospel's superiority. She discusses stages in the process of evangelism: 'cultivating the soil' by discerning someone's relevant attitudes, 'planting the seed' by openly discussing Christianity, and 'reaping the harvest' by appealing to seekers (of course, also by appealing in trust to God's power over us and the Spirit's work in seekers' hearts and minds) to decide what they think about Jesus. In such culturally complex times, with many people still caught between modernism and post-modernism, there won't of course be one reliable method to reveal God's truth to people. Faith is an act of the will, but people's conducts vary in their composure between rationality, emotivity, convenience, and a variety of other things that may affect which way their will leans in the end. Becky cites as methods firstly apologetics,** whereby we should be able to argue philosophical and historical reasonable explanations for the case of Christian truth; secondly, alongside this intellectual approach is the experience-grounded mode of story-telling, whereby by recounting our testimonies or narratives from the Bible we can show how Christian truth works itself out in real lives. Also, and importantly, she adds, we must trust in the omnipotent ongoing work of the Holy Spirit; all the mission that we do as individuals is done by it through us anyway, and it also works abundantly and often without our knowing in the lives of those who need God's truth. Ultimately, bringing people to God is God's work, and though we as Christians have a part in it, we only do so as part of his prerogative and plan, so we should be evangelical but also faithful and prayerful. Finally, she discusses the nature of the church as an inclusive gospel-centred missional community; when individual Christian grace-redeemed sinners come together in joy and hope and love to celebrate their salvation, to pray and to worship and to share each others' lives and to further share the gospel that freed them with non-believers; this is powerful witness and testament to God's goodness and glory, and as a vehicle for supporting and enhancing evangelism, is absolutely crucial.
I felt very challenged and encouraged by this book. Becky's writing is lively and readable but never overly ambitious in what she's arguing; all her points are distillations of gospel truth and common sense put together in ways that make clear our evangelical nature. She peppers the chapters with stories of real conversations she's had over her decades of experience leading people to Christ, so we get glimpses into the actual applications of this God-centred people-sensitive approach to evangelism; how she serves, speaks, responds, prays, loves, sometimes makes mistakes, and mostly trusts God to be at work. It's inspired me into a stronger-than-usual perseverance of intentionality in trying to talk to my friends about the gospel, and praying for God to bring them to him; as fallible as Christians are (as I am) we do need reminders and spurts to refocus our evangelical efforts and our walks with God, though the two go hand-in-hand, and the further one walks with their heavenly Father, the easier it gets for them to keep walking in trust without veering off the path.
I thank God for Becky and this brilliant book, which in its 27 years of publication must have challenged and encouraged many thousands of Christians to reach out further and harder; God has probably used this book to (directly and indirectly) save thousands more - and I pray that he will continue to do so. If you're a Christian, read this book, and also make the decision now to step out in faith in Jesus and act like the salt you are.
* You know, like John Stott's The Cross of Christ or C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity or Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion (for rebuttals only) or even the Apocrypha (if they're clear-minded and like a challenge).
** Her views on it, taken within the context of the whole book, were pretty similar to those of another book I read recently - though that shouldn't be surprising, as there is a huge amount of convergence between most well-reasoned biblically-led Christian thought.
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