Irresistible Evangelism

A few weeks ago I finished Irresistible Evangelism Natural Ways to Open Others to Jesus, by Steve Sjogren, Dave Ping, and Doug Pollock. This book continues to show that it is through relationship that persons come to know Christ. Through kindness, genuine love, and compassion the Holy Spirit can move in powerful ways to bring a person to faith. Sjogren is the person responsible for the popularity of servant evangelism as a method for reaching those far from God. Below are a few of the things that were especially striking in the book.

The main idea of the book is summed up in the concept of spiritual gardening:

Spiritual gardening- just as the right combination of sunlight, soil, and water causes seeds to grow, the proper combination of God's Spirit, with simple, consistent, loving actions will cause hearts to open for Jesus.

On the need to get the hell out of the church they write:

We must reshape our churches so they are no longer passive places where people Come and see. Instead we need active communities that equip and mobilize to go and be living examples of God's kindness.

When it comes to the important work of helping people far from God be connected with Christ we must use all the tools God has given us.

Need multi-pronged evangelism approach- servant evangelism is a great tool for accomplishing an essential part of evangelism that has been ignored for far too long.
It works well in combination with other tools- from Billy Graham's mission to Evangelism Explosion and the Alpha Course.

On the need to be persistent...

It takes between twelve and twenty Gospel touches for people to move from the beginning of the scale into genuine relationship with Christ.

An advantage to kindness is...

Genuine acts of kindness work no matter where people are in relationship to God, so they are always a great way to start the ball rolling.

The power of being good news in conjunction with proclaiming good news.

People might remember the words the words you say for a few hours, but they are likely to remember your acts of generosity for months, years, and in many cases, the rest of their lives.

A warning about talking heads.

Before we start preaching to pre-Christians heads, we must encounter people at the heart level.