Christians who continue to hand out tracts or try to argue their opponents into heaven, have simply failed to move on with the times, according to the authors of a new book on evangelism, "Irresistible Evangelism," by Steve Sjogren, Dave Ping and Doug Pollock, Group Publishing; 192 pages; paperback; 2003; $17.99.
Sjogren, of the Vineyard movement; along with Ping, executive director of Equipping Ministries International; and Pollock, international director of Cutting Edge Evangelism for Athletes in Action, the sports ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, advocate methods of leading people to Christ that are more in keeping with a postmodern world.
"We've found that most people aren't nearly as concerned with our answers as they are with being treated as if they are valuable and important," they write. People want to know both what the catch is, and that there is no catch.
Enter servant evangelism, a.k.a. random acts of kindness. That's been going on since the 80s, but what "Irresistible Evangelism" provides is follow-up.
"It is now clear that we need to provide a practical understanding of how to respond to the natural processes and relational power set in motion by genuine acts of kindness," the authors write.
So they write about friendship, wondering questions and sharing your own story -- all steps in a new brand of evangelism that isn't about numbers, but about loving people; the new outreach strategy that in fact defies the definition of strategy, and is actually as old as the world.
Sjogren, Ping and Pollock spend the first half of the book decrying ineffective and just plain rude methods of evangelism in an attempt to shift evangelism paradigms. It works. With a subtitle of "Natural Ways to Open Others to Jesus," I was expecting to read a list of project ideas for bringing more people to church. Instead I was compelled to rethink my motivation for wanting people to come to church, and why I don't want to simply love them as much as I want to check them off my prayer list.
Sjogren, Ping and Pollock suggest that evangelism should be about relationships -- again, nothing new, but they go further to suggest unconditional love. Through moving stories of their own attempts at irresistible evangelism the authors make clear the sort of love that is effective.
If giving away free sodas yields no church growth, so what, these authors claim. The yield will be felt in the church eventually and will change Christians immediately. Because love teaches people to love and that is the secret of irresistible evangelism that makes Christians more accepting of people.
"Once we get beyond treating the people around us as either outsiders or insiders, we can start loving with irresistible love," they write. They diagram a spiritual version of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to show the layers of a person that may be reached through different levels of evangelism.
"Forget the grand gestures, impersonal presentations, and once-in-a-lifetime events, and proceed lovingly with many caring touches that lead toward the heart," they write.
"True evangelism is not merely proclaiming a message of good news; it is becoming a living representative of God's heart toward people."
