While publishers have released several books in recent years about living on mission sharing the gospel with others, I haven’t seen many self-described as books on evangelism. Speaking of the term itself in his new book The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing, Jonathan Dodson agrees: “Evangelism has become a byword . . . fallen to the wayside in Christian vocabulary” (11).
The book’s stated thesis is to “recover a believable evangelism, one that moves beyond the cultural and personal barriers we have erected in contemporary evangelism to rediscover the power of the biblical gospel” (14). To that end Dodson, pastor of City Life Church in Austin, Texas, lays out his case by explaining why people find the gospel so unbelievable, followed by a detailed cultural analysis of four distinct evangelistic practices common to the North American context. After showing precisely where these practices fall short, Dodson unfolds a way forward that involves (1) gaining a fresh vision of the gospel, (2) handling the gospel in its different forms, and (3) speaking the gospel in cultural key. In each of the remaining chapters he presents a number of gospel metaphors that can be used in evangelistic conversations—metaphors like acceptance, hope, intimacy, tolerance, approval, and community.
Fresh Approach
From my experience with this genre, evangelism books have either tried to (1) motivate toward the practice of evangelism, whether by encouragement or rebuke; (2) prescribe a certain method by which evangelism should be conducted; or (3) combine the approaches. Dodson, however, departs from this template in a couple of respects. First, he isn’t prescribing an evangelistic strategy per se but is providing an extensive assessment of various strategies commonly employed today. Whether it’s the Impersonal, Preachy, Intolerant, or Uninformed type of witness to which we’ve all become accustomed, Dodson carefully analyzes how each fails to fruitfully engage the contemporary landscape with the gospel.
The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing
Jonathan K. Dodson
The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing
Jonathan K. Dodson
Second, as a part of this general cultural critique, I appreciated the apologetic content incorporated into the discussion. Not only is it rare to hear robust apologetic content in a book about evangelism, it’s even rarer to hear how apologetic content can be related to gospel-centered theology. For whatever reasons, many tend to bifurcate between the discipline of apologetics and gospel-centeredness, assuming the former has to do with prepackaged rational arguments void of special revelation while the latter is rooted in Scripture and independent of human reason. This has long been the caricature of some forms of apologetics, especially within the Reformed tradition. However, it’s a false dilemma. Evangelical theology has been incredibly helped by apologetics—and its sister discipline, philosophy of religion—in recent decades. Reflecting on the helpfulness of apologetics in general, Dodson observes, “Apologetics enable the gospel story . . . to be heard. It reveals the inner coherence of Christianity and its intellectual credibility, and it offers an existentially satisfying purpose for anyone who will trust in Christ” (92).
Pressure Off
Another welcome aspect to Dodson’s approach is his encouragement that “good evangelism isn’t an all-or-nothing endeavor” (47). While some believe that any evangelistic conversation must include a full gospel presentation, Dodson discerns that for many today, a presentation of the gospel—that Jesus lived and died and rose for our sins—can come across as abstract and impersonal. This observation is helpful in at least two ways. First, it relieves Christians of the unwarranted pressure of thinking they have to “seal the deal” every time they engage an unbeliever by leading them to make a decision for Christ. While the ultimate desire is always for one to urgently come to a saving knowledge of God, it’s unrealistic to always expect conversion in the first encounter. Instead, Dodson suggests, the Christian should attempt to steer the conversation toward the heart, helping the individual overcome intellectual obstacles, detect hidden heart idols, and grasp how the person and work of Christ makes a difference.
In addition, this mindset helps believers become more personal in their interactions with others. Freed from the pressure to always seal the deal, we can naturally engage in meaningful dialogue without needless stress. We listen with a critical and discerning ear to various worldviews before articulating a response uniquely situated for the other person. We are not only capable of avoiding the evangelistic defeaters mentioned throughout the book, but are also equipped to better communicate our responses in an intelligable and compelling way.
While one may wish The Unbelievable Gospel addressed additional concerns related to our witness in today’s context, overall it’s overwhelmingly helpful and stands out in the genre of evangelism books.