Clear, concise, and convicting – that’s a great way to describe Mark Dever’s teaching on evangelism in this little book. Nothing astounding here, just good teaching on a good subject, a subject too often ignored in both teaching and practice. Dever answers seven questions in seven short chapters: Why don’t we evangelize? What is the gospel? Who should evangelize? How should we evangelize? What isn’t evangelism? What should we do after we evangelize? And why should we evangelize? This book is defiantly worth the hour or two to read.
So that’s the balance we want to see – honesty, urgency, and joy. Honesty and urgency with no joy gives us a grim determination (read Philippians). Honest y and joy with no urgency gives us a carelessness about time (read 2 Peter). And urgency and joy with no honesty leads us into distorted claims about the immediate benefits of the gospel (Read 1 Peter).
Clarity with the claims of Christ will certainly include the translation of the gospel into words that our hearer understands, but it doesn’t necessarily mean translating it into words that our hearers will like. Too often, advocates of relevant evangelism verge over into being advocates r irrelevant non-evangelism. A gospel that in no way offends the sinner has not been understood.
No Other Boast 