Scattering Seeds of Hope

by Jeremy Marshall, Mary Davis

Nearly all of us are discouraged when it comes to evangelism. We love the Lord, and we want others to become Christians, but we are afraid and have many reasons and excuses for why we don’t or can’t share the gospel. After being diagnosed with incurable cancer in 2013, until his death in 2023, Jeremy told countless people the gospel. Scattering Seeds of Hope explains the method Jeremy found so simply sharing Bible stories, being a good friend and asking questions. There are no long gospel outline to learn, no special techniques to rehearse and absolutely no guilt trips. What if the secret to effective evangelism is to simply scatter seed abundantly and indiscriminately and watch while God does the rest?

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Christian Non Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

Published November 6, 2023

Reviews

[Jamie Dyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insomnia is a great thing for my Goodreads yearly goals. This book is really quite helpful though, a big challenge about how and how often we evangelise and also some really helpful advice on how to make talking about Jesus every day with others normal.

[Amy Hesterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read several books on the topic of evangelism over the years and have gone through a step by step teaching on how to better share Christ with others. But I have never read a book like this…that discusses the reality of feeling ineffective, ill-equipped, and ultimately discouraged in the desire to help others find Christ. It is the first book I’ve ever read that takes away the personal guilt one might feel of being ineffective and places the action upon God to save. It is a short book but one that you could revisit time and time again.

[Matty Lavelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple but helpful book for helping thinking about sharing Jesus!

[Jonathan Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book on evangelism I have longed to be written.

This is encouraging and equipping for people like me… Who struggle to share the gospel.

Easy to read, with clear, biblical commonsense teaching, and a Winsome application. This is a lovely one-stop shop book for normal Christians, wanting to reach out with a supernatural power of the Spirit.

[Tim Goldsmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by Jeremy Marshall, an English bank CEO who, having been diagnosed with incurable cancer, decided that the best thing to do with his remaining time would be doubling down on sharing the certain hope he had in Jesus.
This is a great starter book for someone who feels like sharing the gospel is completely beyond them. I'd still say the gold standard book is Sam Chan's How to talk about Jesus without being "that guy", partly because Sam spends more time thinking about building real relationships and the broader structure of evangelism. That said, this is a great book with heaps of helpful suggestions on good questions to ask, but also lots of great resources for how one might be praying, reading and preparing in such a way to make oneself a more effective sharer of the good news.
Feeling discouraged or ineffective in your bible sharing efforts? This could be a great book for you.

[Chris Wray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am the definition of a failed evangelist. Sometimes I fail to notice opportunities that come up in conversation until it’s too late; sometimes I do notice them and am too cowardly to speak; and sometimes (may God forgive me) I just can’t be bothered. In large measure, those failings are on me, but part of the problem is also a simple misunderstanding of what evangelism actually is. Too often I think that well-meaning Christians see evangelism as a technique, involving strategies, summaries and scripts that need to be memorised. Often, we think of evangelism as a sales role for the kingdom, with pressure to close the deal and having an eye on our quota.

That is where this wonderful little book by Jeremy Marshall and Mary Davis is super helpful, grounding us and shaping a much more accessible paradigm for evangelism. Ironically, this makes the challenge to evangelise and the rebuke for not doing so much more pointed: it is much more difficult to make excuses when what we are being asked to do is more clearly within our grasp and ability. Praying; asking thoughtful questions; spending enough time in our Bibles that we are familiar with its content; cultivating genuine reciprocal friendships; developing an honest interest in the Christianity we profess: these are all things that every Christian is already doing (or ought to be, and can do pretty easily).

Jeremy encourages us to be deliberate about doing these things, and as we ask God for opportunities to talk to our friends about our faith, we will begin to encounter such in the everyday. And when we do, we don’t need to have memorised a tract or a gospel summary (though these may be useful at times), but can say something as simple as, “Jesus is precious to me, and my faith in him is central to everything in my life. Do you have any beliefs that are very important to you?” If our friend is interested, then great; if not, then we can talk about something else. Jeremy even encourages us to ask outright, “Is this something that you are comfortable talking about?” If not, then it’s ok for us to leave it, continue praying, and come back to the topic of Christianity another time.

This is refreshing and encouraging on several levels. It respects our friends and their agency in the relationship; it encourages humility, patience and persistence; it recognises the reality of the work of evangelism as more akin to scattering seeds than closing deals; and most importantly, it reminds us of the sovereignty of God in saving souls. I leave the final word on this to Jeremy:

“Can I just remind you of something? You will never convert a single person in the whole of your life. That's not your job - it's God's. You will never need to pressurise someone into becoming a Christian. Giving new life is the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, you don't even need to know all the answers - you've got Christian brothers and sisters you can ask. Above all, you've got a resource - the Word of God that comes pre-loaded with the Holy Spirit. Just be a page turner and a Bible sharer - and pray. You've got a church you can invite people to, books you can read to inform yourself, or books you can give to someone who's asking questions you can't answer. Our job is simply to scatter seeds. Scatter a few seeds, pray and let the Word do its work.”

This is earthy, godly, life-giving advice, and among the plethora of books on evangelism, I found it to be one of the most encouraging I have read. I may be a failed evangelist, but even I can, by God’s grace, get up, dust myself down, and get on with the work of scattering seeds.

[Kim P · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read, and a book in evangelism that didn’t leave me feeling that there was no chance of me doing any of these things. In fact I’ve tried a few of Jeremy’s suggestions and they have resulted in some really interesting discussions with work colleagues. It’s an easy read and enormously practical.

Everyone who wants to share their faith and doesn’t know where to start should read this book. It’s an easy read and full of so many good ideas.

[Karen Soole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really helpful and inspiring read. Jeremy loved to share his faith and, before he died, shared how he did it without being intimidating or complicated. The gospel of Jesus is the most wonderful news, but we struggle so often to tell others. This book is realistic and down-to-earth. It is a short read, but the lessons it teaches could impact eternity.

[Julie Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick dive into evangelism. The book is good. However, the premise of questions to an atheist or indeed telling a Bible story off the bat seems a bit optimistic to say the least. The book is good but the ideas in it have given me pause for thought.

[Beverley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good explanation of why sowing gospel seed matters and a great confidence booster. Busting myths that it's all up to us, but rather focusing on our job to sow and resting in God's job to draw in. An excellent book!

[Hannah Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good read! quick and easy and so encouraging for us to get up and evangelise. Jeremy has done a great job at making it less scary, and getting us to remember it is God who changes hearts and does the growing - NOT US. We just plant the seeds.

[Rosalind Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I plan to re read regularly

[James Brixey]

This is a decent book about how we should approach evangelism.

[Cat Caird · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and helpful book on how to scatter seeds of hope.