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Whenever I preach on evangelism my congregation looks like deer caught in the headlights. We’ve tried training courses on sharing your faith. We’ve done servant evangelism, giving away free drinks on a busy street corner. That’s great for awaking people’s compassion, but it doesn’t always lead to our neighbors being introduced to Jesus.
As one author says, it’s less threatening to reach strangers, but what about reaching your friends and family.
Happily, the chief proponent of servant evangelism, Steve Sjogren, is now pointing out a few steps we’ve been missing.
Sjogren, author of the best-selling Conspiracy of Kindness, is launching pastor of Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and co-authors Dave Ping, director of Equipping Ministries International, and Doug Pollock, evangelism director for Athletes in Action, have now written Irresistible Evangelism: The Natural Way to Open Others to Jesus (Group, 2003).
Sjogren’s now famous church of 6,000 began with 37 people who were willing to scrub toilets to demonstrate the servant spirit of Christ. Now, Sjogren says, servanthood may not be enough.
A few years back, a famous pastor who developed a well-known 1960s approach to evangelism verbalized his concerns to Sjogren about servant evangelism.
“Steve,” he said, “I think there is too much serving and not enough evangelism here.”
Yet the staff of that pastor’s church told Sjogren they thought servant evangelism would help to appeal to people who no longer responded to their methods. Once people were interested, their classic approach worked great.
Sjogren wondered if perhaps both approaches were imbalanced.
“If you’ve tried servant evangelism and don’t know what to do next,” he writes, “this book will provide a practical roadmap for you to follow.”
Four stages are outlined.
1. Active kindness, which includes servant evangelism, lays the groundwork. But that’s only the first step of the process. “Using servant evangelism to connect with not-yet Christians is a great idea, but failing to get around to the gospel method is a common mistake.” Photographs and brief sidebar descriptions of simple outreaches add spice and practicality to this section.
2. Active friendship prioritizes listening. Drawing on Ping’s expertise (he coauthored Listening for Heaven’s Sake, a course that was helpful for our congregation), the authors explain how to move from brief touches of compassion with strangers, friends, and family into deeper, more personal connections.
3. Active wondering involves questions that help open people up to talk about what’s important to them and where Jesus might connect to their lives. The book lists 99 “wondering” questions (What has been your greatest success? Your greatest failure? What conclusions have you come to concerning an afterlife?).
I often find making conversation difficult, and these questions are a great aid to nurturing a relationship. They will also help my congregation feel more confident in guiding conversations in a spiritual direction.
4. Active sharing provides natural ways to relate our personal stories and to help others consider making a commitment to Christ. A practical worksheet helps people improve their ability to share effectively.
Pollock has been sharing this model in training people, with an encouraging response.
“A large majority of people in the church have grown weary of current models or decided those models don’t fit them,” he writes. “As I’ve shared the model we are working on, people are saying, ‘This is authentic, it feels right, and I can do it!’ This response makes me excited about evangelism again.”
The highly readable, concrete, and practical principles Sjogren, Ping, and Pollock put forward should help my congregation shake their deer-in-the-headlights paralysis and befriend more deer for our local herd.
Kathy Callahan-Howell pastors Winton Community Free Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Book Reviews in Brief
The Younger Evangelicalsby Robert E. Webber (Baker, 2002)
Historian Webber gives us some of his best work in this insightful overview of the emerging generation. Describing them as redemptively motivated, theologically reflective, culturally engaged, yet rooted in the early creeds, Webber is enthusiastic about their future leadership of the church. Demographics play a role, but Webber argues that a “younger evangelical is anyone … who deals thoughtfully with the shift from 20th to 21st century culture.”
Different from both rational traditionalists (1950-1975), and therapeutic pragmatists (1975-2000), Y.E.s are a new breed. Emphasizing technology, spiritual formation, and relational evangelism, they are creating vibrant, diverse communities of faith. Noting “a new spirit of renewal and reform is sweeping over North America and around the world,” Webber places Y.E.s at the forefront. Some might question his schematization and optimism, but Webber helps make sense of the transitions in evangelicalism. At the very least, he gives us an impressive assessment of our recent history and a primer for our prospects in the 21st century.
Scott Wenig, Denver, Colorado
The Unchurched Next Doorby Thom S. Rainer (Zondervan, 2003)
Rainer interviewed 306 unchurched people on their attitudes about churches and the gospel. Among the surprising finds: while only 5 percent were antagonistic, 80 percent said they’d consider attending church if invited; and one in ten would accept Christ if someone introduced him. Rainer categorizes them in five “faith stages.” A “U5” is antagonistic toward church and gospel; U3 is indifferent; U1 appears faith ready. A wealth of quotes provides perspective and strategy.
I found this work more practical than his previous book, Surprising Insights from the Unchurched. And while I thought Rainer’s theme—if we invite them, they will come—simplistic, any pastor would benefit from eavesdropping on Rainer’s conversations.
Drew Zahn, Stratford, Iowa
From Geography to Affinityby Lyle E. Schaller (Abingdon, 2003)
Schaller advocates restructuring the churches within denominations by their interests and needs rather than by location. He calls this “an affinity network.” What sense does it make for a church in tiny Hoopeston, Illinois, to be forced into a regional structure with churches in Chicago? Shouldn’t a church in a changing ethnic neighborhood seek out guidance from a church that faced that challenge, no matter where that church is located?
Schaller proposes three paradigm shifts: organizing by affinities, peer learning rather than seminary training, and identification of churches by their distinctive ministry roles rather than by denomination (think, sign out front, for example).
Most pastors can’t reorganize the denominational hierarchy, but Schaller’s 40 insights may change how you structure and network your local church.
Doug Ward, Wheaton, Illinois
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