Conversational Evangelism by Norman and David Geisler

I don't know if I can say this is a habit, but the handful of times that I've been to the Embassy of Japan normally ends with a visit to my aunt and uncle. That's actually because their house is within walking distance but nonetheless, most visits normally end with me borrowing books like Hard Truths, G.A. Henty, etc. The last and latest visit ended with me borrowing Conversational Evangelism.

Conversational Evangelism focuses on "pre-evangelism". And that is sorely needed. I noticed that people tend to jump into sharing the gospel, and following that, chasing after people/arguing over apologetics. Pre-evangelism is focused on understanding the other party and their worldviews, getting them to be receptive to the Word of Christ.

And a lot of what they say makes sense. What's the point of shoving down the gospel at someone who doesn't understand where you're coming from? What may make perfect sense to us may be complete nonsense to someone with a different worldview.

The book divides the conversational evangelist into 4 persona's - the musician, the artist, the archaeologist and the builder. The musician hears the "sour notes" or discrepancies in what people are telling us, the artists gets a clearer picture of the worldview, the archaeologist finds the reason why and finally, the builder builds common ground.

Although the book sounds serious (and it is!), the book is easy to read. It has a lot of examples, taken from conversations the authors had with others, which makes the points very clear and easy to understand. The book is helpful in pointing the way, such as the appendixes which recommend good books for the beginner, intermediate and advanced (depending on how much you know of apologetics, doctrine, etc)

In conclusion, this book is a must read. If you're a Christian, you really need to read this to find out how to spread the Gospel. And, it may show you that it's not as scary as you once thought!