e conversation review
19 July 2006
Dear X
I thought the best way to respond to your email was to tell you the things I thought were helpful about John Dickson's Promoting the Gospel and give you an idea of my own personal journey.
Firstly the chapter on prayer. I found this helpful. Our church has had a long history of prayerlessness. Not that we didn't pray but that we didn't make it the priority it should have been. Furthermore it corrected against our tendency to rely on programs and ideas more than on prayer and God.
Secondly tracts. I have great respect for Two Ways to Live (2W2L). I have used it over a number of years in "walk up" stranger evangelism. However I think that there are many other ways to approaching evangelism and discussion. Again early on I had a tendency to think I had "done" evangelism if I had managed to tell a stranger 2W2L. This wasn't a particularly helpful approach. I guess this is a fault with MY strategy rather than the tracts themselves. Again the book helpfully points out that merely sharing 2W2L does not mean you have "done" evangelism.
Thirdly and finally gifting. I think that among other things God has gifted me with an uncanny ability to talk to strangers and people more generally Christian or otherwise. Again early on in our church history we had a "every person doing evangelism" rule. This was defined as "walkup" and running strangers through 2W2L. This was good for me. I found it easy to do even to the point of being blasé and arrogant, but others without the gift struggled. They then felt guilty for not getting involved and combined with mental illness worked to run a number of people into the ground.
Coming from this background I'm sure you can see why I found Dickson's "widesceen view" or evangelism refreshing and helpful.
In Christ supportMIKE
tags christian, friends, ministry, ministry tips, review, thinking
Posts
Our growth group is reading it together at the moment. We haven't finished it but so far I've found it exteremely liberating. I had a lot of guilt about evangelism from early days.
i'm going to have to look for this book ... as well as Timmis' when i get home.
sigh ... yet another couple of volumes to add to my library ... but i have a feeling both will be put towards the front in the "read as soon as you finish what you're reading now section"
I forgot to write that I really appreciate how humble the leaders at Crossroads have been in acknowledging where things went wrong. It has been wonderful!
I must get that book. I immensely appreciate the change in focus at Crossroads, and I very much identify with the guilt!