The title caught my attention.  What was the author saying with such a title?  That we shouldn’t share the Gospel with people?  The teaser from the back cover explained why and the concept behind the book kept me coming back for more.

Author Randy Newman poses the question, “Have we been approaching evangelism with the wrong angle?”  His book answers the question with a affirming, “Yes.”  For years, Christians from all denominations and backgrounds have been taught to give out tracks, lead people through the “Romans Road” or “Ten Commandments Test,” leave them with the Gospel and move on.  But what happens when people don’t respond?  What happens when their questions go past the “Romans Road?”  What do you say to win over someone who is jaded, angry and sick of intolerant, hypocritical, judgmental Christians?

As easy as it would be to say, “Well, not all Christians are like that,” most of the time, that answer won’t make up for the bad experiences people have had with other Christians in the past.  The question is, what will they experience with you?  And, how do we make sure that we don’t act or answer in the same way?

This book is all about asking the right questions.  Through thirteen chapters, this Questioning Evangelism will guide you through a series of ideas and theories that will change your mind on how to approach evangelism.  The author opens the first chapter with an example of how the traditional form of evangelism failed when he was witnessing to a guy who had sincere questions that went deeper than what the Gospel track explained.   The rest of his book introduces new ways and ideas to make a lasting, compassionate, yet, firm witness to the lost and dying world.  After the main idea is presented, Randy takes each chapter to explain different ways we can address the questions/situations that are considered “controversial” and handle them with tack, but be to the point and make people think at the same time.  People seldom want to be preached at, but most are open to discussing questions (when carefully approached in a non-offensive manner.)  For example, there is a chapter that talks about abortion, why Christians are “intolerant,” why Christians believe marriage is good and why some people who are Christians are, as the author put it, jerks.  LOL.

I really, really liked Randy’s approach to witnessing and I’m convinced that if Believers would use this method more often, they would see more results.  This approach reminds us that people don’t want to hear memorized answers we learned from apologetics books; they want Christians to be compassionate listeners.  They want to know that people care, even if we can’t answer the really tough questions of life.  You will find the book divided into three parts – Part 1 deals with why asking questions is the best way to start and keep a witnessing conversation successful, Part 2 looks at the questions people are asking in our modern world and Part 3 covers the situations when questions and even the best available answers aren’t enough when people are deeply wounded.  If you’re involved in ministry or seeking to be a bright light for Christ in your workplace, community or outreach programs – I highly recommend this book!

I read the Kindle version of this book, 272 pages.

To purchase, click on the book title here —-> “Questioning Evangelism”