Re-Imagining Evangelism Book Discussion

Chapter 8
Invitation to a Wedding: Journey vs. Event

When I first met my wife, Florence, I was awe-struck by her.  I'd never met anyone like her.  I thought about Florence all the time, introduced her to my friends, spent hours on the phone, wrote letters (even ones in actual ink on actual paper), and was completely enamored with her.  Sti ...

Re-Imagining Evangelism Book Discussion

Chapter 7
Good News!

The Greek word for gospel, used in the New Testament is euangelion, which is translated into English to mean good news. Unlike other religions or ideologies, which focus on advice or maxims to live a better life (e.g. treat others as you want to be treated, forgive your enemies, pursue justice and ...

Re-Imagining Evangelism Book Discussion

Chapter 6
Jesus Outside the Box

I’m constantly surprised by the level of misinformation that’s out there about Jesus… There’s the blatant tabloid-esque gossip, such as “Jesus had an affair with Mary Magdalene, and they had kids,” recently mainstreamed in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (which I consider a terrific read fo ...

Re-Imagining Evangelism Book Discussion

Chapter 5
The Power of Story

“The reason that story is so basic to us is that life itself has a narrative shape-a beginning and an end, a plot and characters, conflict and resolution… Jesus taught the truth by telling stories, and his stories still reverberate in our souls centuries later: the prodigal son, the sower, the parable ...

Re-Imagining Evangelism Book Discussion

Chapter 4
The Art of Spiritual Friendship

Talking about faith is not neutral... and especially in San Francisco, many people consider Christianity to be the root of all sorts of evils. Many of our friends have been hurt by Christians or the church in their hometowns and have fled to the city to escape.  I remember one of my friends at the g ...

Re-Imagining Evangelism Book Discussion

Chapter 3
The Witness of the Community

When I read through the stories of the early church, I'm struck by the communal nature of everything Jesus' followers did.  They ate together, celebrated together, mourned together, served the poor together, were persecuted together, commended their faith together... This may come as a shock to us post ...

Re-Imagining Evangelism Book Discussion

Chapter 2
Rediscovering the Holy Spirit

God is already at work in our friends' lives... it's our role to be on the lookout for what God may be doing and collaborate with God for the good of our friends' spiritual growth. My friend in San Diego, Rev. Matt Hammett, used to tell me (paraphrased): "Matt, it's not the surfer's job to create the wav ...

You're invited! Read this thoughtful, impactful book > on sharing your faith by Rick Richardson -- 1 chapter a week -- and share your thoughts here. Of course, if you don't read the book, you can still add to others' thoughts... but isn't it more fun and stretching to actually do the growth work?!  Join the conversation.

Chapter 1 ...

One metaphor for the process of coming to believe and follow Jesus, is being awakened, as from sleep or death (See Ephesians 2:3-7; Ephesians 5:14). Waking up to a reality far bigger than our shame or guilt, our overconfidence or overwhelming sense of not mattering at all. Waking up to a God who is present, who knows us in all of ou ...

(see Grahm Tomlin's The Provocative Church, which much of this is based on)

I have spoken to many groups over the years about this topic and usually the most common feeling Christians have about this subject is GUILT. The combination of knowing you ought to be doing something and yet not actually having the courage, ability, or time to do it, is a classic recipe for guilt.

Often churches and ministers make this worse by communicating a "catch fish" or be ...