The Logic Of Evangelism

The publication of William J. Abraham's The Logic of Evangelism in 1989 marked a turning point in the field and practice of evangelism. Almost thirty years later the book still provokes discussion as it stimulates both theorists and practitioners to comprehend evangelism as initiation into God's reign. Combining theological insight and historical analysis, Abraham's groundbreaking work remains the primary text to set the stage for how evangelism may be conceived. In these timely essays written by both theologians and church leaders, The Logic of Evangelism Revisited takes a critical and yet appreciative look into the ways Abraham's work still speaks to the church in today's world. The authors, coming from a wide array of backgrounds, show how The Logic of Evangelism remains a key text into the twenty-first century.

Defining evangelism as initiating people into the kingdom, Abraham critiques contemporary church growth and evangelism from a theological perspective. A good text for a graduate level course on evangelism.

Following his best seller, The Logic of Evangelism, this book takes further Professor Abraham's belief that evangelism should involve taking the whole gospel to the whole person. The book reveals his understanding that evangelism is more than winning people for Christ--it is a process of discipleship, introducing new converts to all the riches of the Christian faith. Of course, anyone can undertake evangelism, but some do it with a slapstick attitude, as though they were throwing paint on canvas. In this book, Professor William Abraham declares that evangelism is an art. Evangelism is to be crafted with care, it is to be undertaken thoughtfully, it is to be placed carefully in the overall strategy of church life. Moreover, Christians are not made by throwing words at people, they are won by the care and love of a Christian community that takes seriously its traditions and its Bible.

Centers evangelism on the church as a body of witness, reimagining the practice of evangelism from within a post-Constantinian, postliberal narrative of the church and world.

In Evangelism and the Openness of God, Vaughn Baker argues that a dynamic concept of God as articulated in open theism better serves the evangelistic mission of the church than does conventional theology. Open theism affirms an ontology of love as opposed to power, and it focuses on God's kenosis in creation, allowing for the authentic freedom of creation influenced by divine persuasion. God's genuine temporal relationship with creation--one that is open, synergist, and non-coercive--provides a new perspective for evangelistic activity. In this volume the author has made a valuable contribution to the integration of new developments in theology and evangelism.

Christians and communities of faith today are rediscovering evangelism as an essential aspect of the church's mission. Many of the resulting books in the marketplace, however, have a hands-on orientation, often lacking serious theological engagement and reflection. Bucking that how-to trend, The Study of Evangelism offers thirty groundbreaking essays that plumb the depths of the biblical and theological heritage of the church with reference to evangelistic practice. Helpfully organized into six categories, these broad, diverse writings lay a solid scholarly foundation for meaningful dialogue about the church's practice of evangelism.

There are, it seems, as many definitions of the term "evangelism" as there are people doing the defining. For some, it means proclaiming the gospel to those who have not heard it. To others, it means making disciples of Jesus Christ. To others, it means working for the transformation of the world into the kingdom of God. For still others, it has principally to do with building vibrant, healthy congregations. Underlying this confusion is a fundamental inability to locate the practice of evangelism within one's overall theological convictions. We will never understand the part that proclamation, disciple making, kingdom building, and church growth play in evangelism until we first ask a more important question: What does evangelism have to do with who God is? What is it we know about God that makes evangelism a central part of what it means to be Christian? In this comprehensive theology of evangelism, Scott J. Jones proposes to ground the practice of evangelism in an understanding of God's love for the world, specifically as seen in the incarnation of God in Christ. In Jesus, God took on all of what it means to be human. Because of this, evangelism must be a ministry to the whole person. The typical distinctions between soul-winning, social action, and church growth evaporate; individual conversion and acts of mercy are part of the same ministry of bringing persons more fully into the reign of a loving God.

What does it mean to evangelize ethically in a multicultural climate? Following his successful Evangelism after Christendom, Bryan Stone addresses reasons evangelism often fails and explains how it can become distorted as a Christian practice. Stone urges us to consider a new approach, arguing for evangelism as a work of imagination and a witness to beauty rather than a crass effort to compete for converts in pluralistic contexts. He shows that the way we lead our lives as Christians is the most meaningful tool of evangelism in today's rapidly changing world.