EMQ » October–December 2021 » Volume 57 Issue 4
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder, EMQLibraryInstitution”]By D. Scott Hildreth and Steven A. McKinion
2nd edition
B&H Academic, 2020
178 pages
US$19.99
Reviewed by Julie B. Scott, PhD student in Intercultural Studies, Center for Missiological Research, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.
The way evangelism strategies, methods, and scripts have been taught has led many Christians to feel freaked out, or, at least uncomfortable, at the thought of evangelizing. Many evangelism methods, in practice, come off as contrived, one-directional presentations, giving more the impression of a sales pitch than a genuine dialogue between two people. The authors of this book, two seminary professors, help Christians see that evangelism is not something to be fearful of, but can be a natural and casual conversation. This book will help Christians overcome several barriers to evangelism and provide a practical guide to one-on-one evangelism.
Sharing Jesus without Freaking Out is divided into eight chapters, each focusing on a distinct, useful principle for evangelism. Chapters 1–3 explain how evangelism does not need to be complicated or methodological. Christians already have everything they need for evangelism. It can be a conversation involving story-telling, telling the story of Jesus in the biblical context. Chapters 4–6 explore how every life circumstance can provide opportunities for evangelism. Evangelism is genuinely listening to people’s needs and discerning how the gospel can meet people in those places as good news. Chapters 7–8 offer useful tools for helping Christians prepare for evangelistic encounters and understand how God might be already working in relationships and leading conversations.
Supplementing the book’s main contents are useful teaching tools for evangelism in two appendixes. Additionally, the authors include an 8-week devotional, centering on each of the eight evangelism principles in the book, for use with small groups, college or seminary students, or individuals, plus study questions for small groups.
This book is a refreshing and encouraging look at relational evangelism, which can happen both in the United States and internationally. The target audience of the book is lay Christians or students preparing for ministry, who want to evangelize, but may have anxiety about evangelizing. However, this book should be helpful for any Christian who wants to share the gospel in a natural and relational way, be it with family members, friends, or acquaintances. Two areas into which the authors could expand their evangelistic insights are communal acts of evangelism (e.g., a local church community working together to evangelize their neighborhood), and the directing of evangelistic efforts to whole communities (e.g., when entire communities decide together, as a group, whether to accept the message). These approaches to evangelism might be especially important in collectivist societies, where decisions are often community-based.
The authors correctly identify and address the reasons why Christians might be fearful of evangelistic encounters, and successfully mitigate those fears. They allay Christians’ fears of having to know all the right answers to people’s spiritual questions or having to be successful in converting people in each evangelistic encounter. The authors correctly emphasize the Holy Spirit’s responsibility for conversion and encourage Christians to join in with the Holy Spirit’s work by just faithfully telling the story of the gospel, in a clear and understandable way. I highly recommend this book for any Christian interested in evangelizing in an intentional, but stress-free way.
For Further Reading
Pope-Levison, Priscilla. Models of Evangelism. Baker Academic, 2020.
Thiessen, Elmer J. The Scandal of Evangelism: A Biblical Study of the Ethics of Evangelism. Wipf and Stock, 2018.
