I once visited a secular homeschooling Internet forum where the members were decrying evangelical Christians.
It seems that they believed Christians gleefully went around telling people that they were going to Hell. If their comments hadn't been so discouraging it would have been funny.
First of all, no Christian I know finds any consideration of Hell gleeful. Secondly, I have to wonder where we all appear to be running around so vocally.
Mark Dever wrote The Gospel and Personal Evangelism because evangelism is scary. Anytime we share our faith we face the possibility of being laughed at, rejected, or mocked on a secular homeschooling Internet forum. It's enough to keep a lot of us silent about our faith.
But such an attitude is not only disobedient to Scripture, it also defies logic. If we truly believe Christ's work on the cross is the best news ever (and I pray that you do), why do we hesitate to share? Why aren't we telling everyone, all the time?
Dr. Dever begins the first chapter with five excuses we use not to evangelize, and then lays out twelve steps we should take: pray, plan, accept, understand, be faithful, risk, prepare, look, love, fear, stop, and consider. The remainder of the book rests on this chapter.
He also takes the time to discuss what the gospel is and what the gospel is not. This may seem elementary to some, but I think a lot of people lose sight of this. The gospel is not just sharing our testimony (although we can share the gospel in that context), nor is it apologetics or political activism. The gospel is helping someone understand that they are a sinner without hope apart from Christ's death and resurrection.
But evangelism is sharing the gospel faithfully. Results are nice, and certainly bless the one who shares, but Dr. Dever warns that we should not confuse the results of evangelism with the act of evangelism:
According to the Bible, converting people is not in our power. And evangelism may not be defined in terms of results but only in terms of faithfulness to the message preached. John Stott has said, "To 'evangelize'...does not mean to win converts...but simply to announce the good news, irrespective of the results."Since it is the Holy Spirit's work to save, and only our work to share, we are then free simply to share. Dr. Dever warns us to avoid the temptation to make the gospel more palatable by leaving out the hard parts. Coming to Christ involves repentance, and repentance is costly.
So however we evangelize, we aren't to hide problems, to ignore our own shortcomings, or to deny difficulties. And we are not to put forward only positives that we imagine our non-Christian friends presently value and present God as simply the means by which they can meet or achieve their own ends. We must be honest.This short little book does not contain anything new. It is not a how-to book per se, but a timely reminder to follow through on the final command that Jesus gave to his followers. But I think everyone, from the seasoned pastor to the new Christian, could glean something from this book.














