Good speakers on "HOW to evangelize"?

[tjhvn]

Way of the Master is excellent for this. I lead the evangelism team at our church and I’ve heard so many people say that they were never able to share the Gospel before they started listening to WoTM.

You might also want to check out adventuresinchristianity.com, a website for street evangelists.

It features numerous videos, blogs, message boards, etc, to help you learn to share the Gospel.

I enjoy Way of the Master, but I sure don’t recommend it to Catholics. They are true fundamentalists and are very anti-Catholic.

For Catholics who have a solid foundation in the faith and are looking for ideas on how to evangelize, WOTM may be good for a little inspiration, but don’t look to them for doctrinal truth.

They would deny all the sacraments, the Blessed Mother, and all that the Catholic faith holds dear.

podcast.wayofthemasterradio.com/audio/podcasts/0108/WOTMR-01-24-08-Hour1.mp3 is a link to a radio show where they interview a Catholic priest at about 40 minutes into the episode. This will give you a good quick summary of the differences between their religion and our faith.

They are big fans of John MacArthur and have played many of his sermons in which he promotes lies about the Catholic Church.

Once again, they may be good at giving us Catholics a kick in the butt to get out of our pews and into the streets, but don’t look to them for doctrine or sound teaching.

And do not introduce them to people who are struggling in their faith. They have excellent scripts designed to capitalize on people’s fears of death and hell. If one is not properly formed in the faith, their doctrines could be quite damaging.

 

[adowcday]

I know CA has a lot of great apologists who can teach us the why’s of our faith, biblical proof, etc., but are there any speakers (CA or otherwise) who teach the “art” of evangelization - how to initiate conversations, when to initiate them, how to turn a discussion or argument into an evangelization opportunity - this goes beyond “knowing the answers” - but gets into personalities, temperaments, lead-in questions and phrases, how to engage and not offend, etc. I think workshops and role playing on this topic would fill a tremendous need. Any thoughts?

 

[adowcday]

There are some really great books written by evangelical protestants that might help. My favorites are by folks from Willow Creek Community Church. They include:

(1) “Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary: How to Reach Friends and Family Who Avoid God and the Church,” by Lee Strobel (Zondervan, 1993)

(2) “Becoming a Contagious Christian,” by Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg (Zondervan,1994)

If you are interested in building a team of people to do evangelism (or, better yet, an evangelizing church), I suggest:

(3) “Building a Contagious Church: Revolutionizing the Way We View and Do Evangelism,” by Mark Mittelberg (Zondervan, 2000).

If I had to recommend just one book, it’d be (2).

I know CA has a lot of great apologists who can teach us the why’s of our faith, biblical proof, etc., but are there any speakers (CA or otherwise) who teach the “art” of evangelization - how to initiate conversations, when to initiate them, how to turn a discussion or argument into an evangelization opportunity - this goes beyond “knowing the answers” - but gets into personalities, temperaments, lead-in questions and phrases, how to engage and not offend, etc. I think workshops and role playing on this topic would fill a tremendous need. Any thoughts?

 

[adowcday]

Aside from book recommendations, I’d say that a crucial factor in evangelism is to earn the right to share the gospel with someone. If you’ve earned their trust through friendship and loving acts, the other person will be receptive to your message. In fact, the fact that you attend church and have a satisfying relationship with Christ that gives your life meaning will be hard to keep out of a real friendship. Drive-by evangelism just isn’t very effective.

And prayer is fundamental. Pray for your friend or family member. If they have a need of some kind, ask them if it’s ok that you pray for them. And pray for the opportunity to talk about your faith and invite them to come to church with you. Many people are just waiting for us to ask!