Review: The Gospel & Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever
Mark Dever writes to help a Christian who is convinced that he or she needs be evangelizing know how to and how not to. The Gospel and Personal Evangelism is a good implementation of that goal. In fact, it is page-for-page the best book on evangelism that I have read written in the last 100 years. Dever's personal friend, C.J. Mahaney, writes in the foreword, "Mark, thank you for writing The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. THank you even more for your compelling example of compassion for the lost and for your faithfulness to proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified. May there be many gosepl conversations and abundant evangelistic fruit as a result of this book." I echo those sentiments. Thank you, Mark.
Among evangelicals, there are generally two common incrrect responses to Jesus' call to evangelize the nations. One, ignore it. Two, preach something that isn't the gospel, say that we are evangelizing, and then count people as conversions before there is any evidence of faith besides a confession that they want to go to heaven. This book tackles both common errors, rather trying to cultivate a biblically informed, gospel-motivated, Spirit-empowered heart that proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ with a balance of honesty, urgency, and joy.
The chapter titles give a good summary of what the book is about. Each chapter is usually between 10 and 15 pages and would make a good daily reading for personal edification or reading for a group study (I am seriously thinking about going through this book with my church smallgroup):
- Why Don't We Evangelize?
- What Is the Gospel?
- Who Should Evangelize?
- How Should We Evangelize?
- What Isn't Evanglism?
- What Should We Do After We Evangelize?
- Why Should We Evangelize?
- Conlusion: Closing the Sale (We are not salesmen)
- Appendix: Recommended Reading
- Appendix: Word to Pastors
Mark Dever writes to affect the heart. Evangelism devoid of the correct motivation does not give God the glory, will tend to be legalistic, and doesn't aim for disciples but numbers. I would love to go chapter-by-chapter through the book giving highlights of each, as there is not a weak chapter in the entire book. I have posted and will continue to post some quotes from the book on my blog. Just search for "Dever Evangelism". I will say that two of the most helpful points of the book are (1) Differentiate evangelism from the fruits of evangelism, and (2) We are not salesmen who need to "close the deal" but witnesses.
Dever has effectively engaged my heart and affected the way that I think about evangelism and has begun to affect the way that I have patterned my life in order that I can build a lifestyle of evangelism. I hope and pray that time will tell by my life that this book deserves the 5-star rating that I have given it.
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