Ma In Divinity

“THE SACRAMENT OF EVANGELISM BOOK REVIEW”


THE SACRAMENT OF EVANGELISM BOOK REVIEW

The Sacrament of Evangelism by Jerry Root and Stan Guthrie published in 2011 by Moody Publishers is an outstanding piece of work for this generation to understand what evangelism is all about.
Let me provide you a quick overview. Root and Guthrie start this magnificent book by challenging the reader. Theirintention is to persuade the reader to understand that God will keep on expanding His kingdom whether the reader chooses to obey the commandment of making disciples or not. Sounds pretty straight forward, however the authors main idea is that evangelizing should be seen as part of our worship to the Lord. They state that,

“ The sacrament of evangelism is not about getting a few more notches inour outreach belts, about following a formula. It’s about working with Him, worshiping Him, and knowing Him as we participate with Him in bringing lost, sinful, and hurting people to Himself. The work will go on, with or without you. But if you choose to stand aside, God will still work, but you will be the loser.”

The authors provide the different tools needed in order to get started in thesacrament of evangelism. They provide an extensive chapter on prayer and how to deal with the fears of evangelism. They also suggest that you need to know yourself, know
your method but most importantly know God. Some of the questions that the authors ask to challenge the reader are, “Will the generation that follows yours know God? If not, what will your generation have failed to do? What canyou do now in your sphere of influence so that the next generation knows and loves God?”
The great commission (Matthew 28:18-20) becomes a fundamental section in this book because is the main reason why it was written.
Part two of this book deals with the believer himself and his preparation in obeying God’s great commission. The authors talk about how the believer should discover God’s love,respond to His love, understand and experience God’s abiding and empowering presence, as well as how he/she should allow God to build his/her character by practicing habits of the heart such as courage, temperance, justice and wisdom. The more we practice being like Him, the more we can mirror the presence of Christ in the world.
The authors continue on part three by directing the born againChristian to build relationships and allow Jesus to use these relationships to further the Kingdom of Christ. Root and Guthrie show the reader how “evangelists have the privilege of speaking explicitly to others at their place of deep relational longing.” They also write some pages on other types of longings such as love, safety and meaning.
In the last section of the book the authors remind us ofour fallen nature and how apart from God is impossible to fill up these gaps or longings we have in life.
One of the major points I like about this book is how the authors explain that God is already with the person that you are going to evangelize. He is already doing evangelism. It is a matter of whether you are going to join Him or not. God has already planned the way for you to share thegospel with that person. In other words you are directed to where God already is instead of God going with you to face the unbeliever. They explained it this way,“ When we share the good news, we do not, to borrow a common expression, “take Christ” to anyone. Remember, He is already there. The sacrament of evangelism doesn’t “do anything” to God—it does something to us. It opens our eyes to His workand grace.” So the main question Jerry Root and Stan Guthrie ask in their book is whether or not we want to be part of watching and experiencing the magnificent power of God in other people. Let me tell you something, it is worth the shot!
Another aspect I like about this book is the examples and stories used to help the reader understand the text better. I really like the way the authors...