Most Christians know they should share their faith in Jesus Christ with unbelievers, but not everyone is on the same footing. Some hardly know where to start. Others move with confidence but want to explore areas of greater effectiveness. In the body of Christ, the call to evangelism is clear, but the gifting is different. Now available in trade paper, Spirit-Led Evangelism helps remove any barriers to answering that call. With practical teaching and personal illustrations, Ché Ahn explains the priority of evangelism and equips readers to move to higher levels of success. With a special emphasis on "power evangelism," this book helps both hesitant and on-fire Christians deepen their skills for following Christ into all the world.
This book is an encouragement for soul winning. It explains why it is important and how Christians are to go about it and that it's not only for the evangelists or preachers but for every Christian, not just something that we set aside a day for but our lifestyle. It's divided into 6 sections. Section 1 our priority: This section is about setting our priorities right and fulfilling the mandate. We have to love God first and then out of that love for God, an inspiration and motivation to do his will by preaching to the lost is birthed. Christians only have this lifetime to preach. In heaven, there'll be worship but there won't be lost souls to preach to, so it will be wise to make good use of this lifetime. "The Great Commandment must precede the Great Commission if we truly want to flourish in evangelism— or anything else in God."
Section 2 Our Presentation: People observe us before they hear our message. Our lives and character should not contradict what we preach. Things like keeping promises, appointments, etc matter. Being continually filled with the Spirit helps a Christian to live a Christ-like life which is a message on its own. We can be continually filled with the Spirit through the christian disciplines of worship, prayer and meditating on God's word. We should be willing to accept the sinner but not approve of their sins(Jesus accepted the woman with the alabaster box). "While there are many things people can impart to us through the “laying on of hands,” such as certain gifts of the Spirit, character is not one of them".
Section 3 Practical Evangelism: In this section, the author says that there are six essential truths of our evangelistic message: the gospel(the stunning story of what Jesus has done for us), the law, repentance, faith, baptism in water and in the HolyGhost, commitment to a local church. He also gave helpful steps on how to lead a person to Christ. There's an anslysis of the kinds of people a Christian can meet during evangelism: the careless sinner, the confessing sinner, the convicted sinner, etc. Prayer is also a powerful tool for evangelism. Pray for family members that are still unsaved(you can have a prayer list), Fast, pray for cities and nations (including nations of the 10/40 window like Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan who are somehow resistant to the gospel have very small proportion of christians), keep praying and don't stop until you see results. Servant evangelism/loving service involves meeting people's needs (like giving drink to a thirsty person) and sharing the gospel while doing so. Friendship evangelism involves sharing the gospel with friends. Survey has shown that this produces lasting converts. It's however important to know where the Holy Spirit is already moving/working and then Christians can go ahead and reap there (Jesus said the fields are ripe already for harvest). "Evangelism is a process. Sharing the right message the right way at the right time in a person’s life will make your efforts more successful"
Section 4 Power Evangelism: This section contains testimonies of people whose lives were never the same after the Holy Spirit's infilling and people that reached nations for Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Section 5 Profound Evangelism Prophetic evangelism is when a christian prophesies to an unsaved person, eventually leading the person to Christ. e. g Jesus with the woman at the well. Presence evangelism is when the presence of God convicts a sinner e. g Saul on his way to Damascus. Section 6 Purposeful Evangelism Marketplace/workplace evangelism is preaching the gospel at work. The author invites Christians to think of what they do and what they bring to their workplace as their ministry. Eg a teacher can lead his/her student to Christ. "Remember, however, that evangelism is just the beginning. God wants us to transform every area of society—family, business, education, government, the arts, media and the various religions. “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness” (Psalm 24:1, NKJV)."
I found this book very helpful. Recommended for every Christian.
All really engaging as you can feel Ché's enthusiasm coming off the page as you read. The experiences he's had and the stories he's included were both inspiring but also served as practical examples of how evangelism has worked for him.
The book goes through different types of evangelism which was interesting and gave me lot of ideas as well.
I agreed with most things until one of the appendixes which mentioned prophecy and dream interpretations in relation to creative evangelism ideas. While I don't have any scripture to back anything up, I feel these areas aren't as widely known, talked about, accepted etc and I couldn't 100% agree on them happening now, but it's a minor point in relation to whole book.
And just as the final chapter ended: Lord, come quickly.
Best approach to evangelism I've encountered. Ahn is very networked in the world of ministry, and his broad connections, give him a very well-balanced approach to evangelism. The book is both practical and inspirational. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to grow in this ministry.