Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 02:1 (Spring 2004)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

The Art of Personal Evangelism. By Will McRaney, Jr. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2003, 268 pp., $19.99 paper.

In his introduction McRaney stated his purpose was “to blow the dust off the biblical essentials” of personal evangelism and help the reader “connect the timeless message of the past with the postmodern culture of the present in which God means everything and nothing.” This purpose involves the challenge of synthesizing the two very diverse tasks of clarification and contextualization.

In his preface McRaney shared a personal desire to “assist in reversing the church’s decline in the latter part of the twentieth century in many parts of the Western world” in personal evangelism. In order to attack this goal, he designed a book that was more “instructional than inspirational” and attempted to balance “the foundations and theories from which all of evangelism must flow, while providing principles and practical tips in communicating our rich message.” Convergence is key in understanding the intent of his work.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness with which McRaney has accomplished his purpose, one must distill his various intentions. By distillation one can say McRaney intended to establish the biblical essentials of personal evangelism while integrating them into the art of effective communication in a postmodern age. Inherent is this goal was the desire to stimulate a resurgence of personal evangelism among Christians. The first step in accomplishing one’s purpose is to clearly sight the target. McRaney drew his target into sharp focus.

The second step in accomplishing one’s goal is defining a systematic path to the desired end. McRaney was methodical in his pursuit of his stated purpose. One recognizes the presence of a structured approach painstakingly followed. McRaney regularly summarized previous statements and added logical bridges to introduce the next idea. This pattern of summarization, confirmation, and introduction was in a sense an embodiment of the method of communication, he advocated in The Art of Personal Evangelism. He took one step forward, confirmed the reader made the logical advance, and then proffered the next step.

While McRaney accomplished his goals of clarification and contextualization, it remains to be seen whether or not this will result in assisting the church in revitalizing the art of personal evangelism. Nevertheless, bringing the biblical message of salvation into focus for postmodern world was vital.

McRaney drew together salient and succinct insights from other authors in the field of evangelism. This synthesis of thought was helpful. He provided practical tools for becoming a more effective pers...

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