The Gospel and Personal Evangelism - eBook

Mark Dever (PhD, Cambridge University) is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and president of 9Marks (9Marks.org). Dever has authored over a dozen books and speaks at conferences nationwide.

C. J. Mahaney is the senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. He has written, edited and contributed to numerous books, including Proclaiming a Cross-Centered Theology; Don't Waste Your Sports; and Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God. C. J. and his wife, Carolyn, are the parents of three married daughters and one son, and the happy grandparents to twelve grandchildren.

C. J. Mahaney is the senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. He has written, edited and contributed to numerous books, including Proclaiming a Cross-Centered Theology; Don't Waste Your Sports; and Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God. C. J. and his wife, Carolyn, are the parents of three married daughters and one son, and the happy grandparents to twelve grandchildren.

Mark Dever is Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and Executive Director for 9Marks Ministries. Dr. Dever has contributed to several books on church health and church leadership, and is a visiting professor at both Beeson Divinity School and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Evangelism is so very central throughout Scripture and yet so oft-neglected. Mark Dever’s newest book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, is a fresh challenge to Christians to evangelize. Dever says quite simply in describing the focus of his book, “In sum, we discuss in this book the best news that there has ever been, and how we should share that news.” (p. 17)
I appreciate Dever’s humility, his clarity, and his brevity (the book is only 119 pages). The chapters are designed to answer basic questions concerning evangelism: Why don’t we evangelize? Who should evangelize? How should we evangelize? Why should we evangelize? Dever does a thorough job answering these questions in a very biblical and logical manner.
The chapters on “What is the Gospel?” and “What Isn’t Evangelism?” are especially valuable. Both of these chapters get to the heart of true evangelism and set this book apart from other modern evangelistic books. Listen to this challenge from Dever: “That which passes for the gospel too often becomes a very thin veneer spread lightly over our culture’s values, becoming shaped and formed to its contours rather than to the truth about God.” (p. 32)
Dever has a very readable style, including many personal illustrations, highlighting both successes and failures at living out the message of this book. Also, the author does not merely fill the mind with great theology, but gives many practical steps in which the principles he highlights can be lived out.
I highly recommend The Gospel and Personal Evangelism as a clear and concise manifesto for personal evangelism. Pastors would not only benefit themselves by reading this book, but should make this book available to their congregations to stir up the faithful to evangelize. I would especially recommend this book to those who think evangelism is “not for them.” – Todd Burgett, Christian Book Previews.com