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The 7 Principles of an Evangelistic Life
Just hearing the word 'evangelism' stirs emotions in believers and unbelievers alike. Because of this, many shy away from the topic altogether. Douglas Cecil believes we must bring a sense of balance into our approach to evangelism. The 7 Principles of an Evangelistic Life is not another book on evangelism methods; instead the author focuses on helping believers develop a lifestyle of evangelism that relies completely on the Holy Spirit. Evangelism is a spiritual adventure, and readers will be challenged to re-think how they live it out.
224 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 29, 2012
I must preface this review by saying that while I assume the author must be very passionate about helping the church become more biblical in its thinking regarding evangelism, I am extremely sensitive to poor writing and found that I was unable to read this book without becoming extremely frustrated. I am sure Dr. Cecil is a good person with good intentions, and he may be an excellent soul-winner and lecturer. He may even be a good author, but this book is definitely not an example of good writing, and I have reviewed it accordingly. It should not taken personally.
Cecil presents the argument that too often evangelism how-to books focus on method to the neglect of reliance upon the Holy Spirit. He argues, then, that his book “is not another book on evangelism methods,” but that instead he attempts to defend the truth of “relying on the Holy Spirit for the work of evangelism” (14). To that end, he posits seven principles that are to characterize an evangelistic lifestyle, presented in two parts—the first focusing on personal preparation for evangelism, and the second on practical proclamation. The seven principles are essentially as follows: (1) Keep your priorities straight; (2) Evangelism is an event in the process of disciple-making; (3) Make the Gospel clear; (4) Evangelism is spiritual rather than being primarily methodological; (5) Being a good witness means passionately pursuing the lost in love; (6) Progress in evangelism happens as Christians get involved in ministry and service; and (7) New converts need to be discipled, nurtured, and integrated into the church. Cecil attempts to argue that these characteristics are necessary or characteristic of evangelistic Christians. And to some extent he succeeds. Unfortunately, his argument is not clearly or consistently outlined, nor is it particularly well written. This text is riddled with seemingly non-sequitur statements that are abrupt and jarring. The text therefore neither flows well, nor conveys a consistent argument.
This tendency begins with Cecil’s illustrations. He tells stories well, but sometimes they are the wrong illustration for his point. One particularly egregious example is found in chapter 4, where he spends nearly a full page telling the story of how he got home in a snowstorm by staying focused on the lights ahead of him. The moral of the story? Stay focused and you’ll get home. His application? “On the other hand, sometimes we can become too focused. That happens in evangelism” (52). What?! In a single sentence he contradicts the entire last page! Why even bother telling the story? This might be acceptable if it were limited to a few minor illustrations, but this tendency for illogical transition extends to his major assertions as well. For example, after presenting the seven strategies listed in the paragraph above—each of which is really broken down into multiple sub-strategies—he concludes with this odd statement: “The strategies in this book work. Just love people!” Clearly, none of the strategies is specifically to “just love people,” and all seven of these complex principles about how evangelism works out in the life of a believer certainly do not add up to just loving people. This unfortunate lack of coordination and flow extends throughout the book at the macro-level as well. For example, after spending twelve pages explaining the three sub-points of the principle of keeping priorities straight, Cecil suddenly switches to a chapter of case studies, in which he asks the reader to decide whether some cases amount to true evangelism without giving any guidance or sign-posting. (In the next chapter he explains what he believes evangelism is, and the reader connects it to the previous chapter, but it would have been better for the definition to precede the test.) Then he suddenly switches gears for the next two chapters to discussing the reader’s openness to following God’s lead, and then to motivation for evangelism. It is not at all clear to me how one chapter necessarily flows out of the previous, and no transitional statements are made to even attempt to connect the thrust of one chapter to the next.
This is certainly not the worst book that I have read. There are others whose writing style is even worse and yet are in publication. And the content is actually reasonably good and somewhat helpful to keep in mind. But frankly, I could have done a better job editing this work (and you probably could have too), and I have no idea how this book made it out of editing at a publisher as large as Moody in this form. Needless to say, the poor writing style distracted significantly from this reader’s ability to appreciate the content of the text. And in the final analysis, while the information served as a good reminder about the key principles to keep in mind when thinking about evangelism, there was little that was new. I would not recommend it to others over other books on evangelism, such as those by Chafer and Spurgeon.
Cecil presents the argument that too often evangelism how-to books focus on method to the neglect of reliance upon the Holy Spirit. He argues, then, that his book “is not another book on evangelism methods,” but that instead he attempts to defend the truth of “relying on the Holy Spirit for the work of evangelism” (14). To that end, he posits seven principles that are to characterize an evangelistic lifestyle, presented in two parts—the first focusing on personal preparation for evangelism, and the second on practical proclamation. The seven principles are essentially as follows: (1) Keep your priorities straight; (2) Evangelism is an event in the process of disciple-making; (3) Make the Gospel clear; (4) Evangelism is spiritual rather than being primarily methodological; (5) Being a good witness means passionately pursuing the lost in love; (6) Progress in evangelism happens as Christians get involved in ministry and service; and (7) New converts need to be discipled, nurtured, and integrated into the church. Cecil attempts to argue that these characteristics are necessary or characteristic of evangelistic Christians. And to some extent he succeeds. Unfortunately, his argument is not clearly or consistently outlined, nor is it particularly well written. This text is riddled with seemingly non-sequitur statements that are abrupt and jarring. The text therefore neither flows well, nor conveys a consistent argument.
This tendency begins with Cecil’s illustrations. He tells stories well, but sometimes they are the wrong illustration for his point. One particularly egregious example is found in chapter 4, where he spends nearly a full page telling the story of how he got home in a snowstorm by staying focused on the lights ahead of him. The moral of the story? Stay focused and you’ll get home. His application? “On the other hand, sometimes we can become too focused. That happens in evangelism” (52). What?! In a single sentence he contradicts the entire last page! Why even bother telling the story? This might be acceptable if it were limited to a few minor illustrations, but this tendency for illogical transition extends to his major assertions as well. For example, after presenting the seven strategies listed in the paragraph above—each of which is really broken down into multiple sub-strategies—he concludes with this odd statement: “The strategies in this book work. Just love people!” Clearly, none of the strategies is specifically to “just love people,” and all seven of these complex principles about how evangelism works out in the life of a believer certainly do not add up to just loving people. This unfortunate lack of coordination and flow extends throughout the book at the macro-level as well. For example, after spending twelve pages explaining the three sub-points of the principle of keeping priorities straight, Cecil suddenly switches to a chapter of case studies, in which he asks the reader to decide whether some cases amount to true evangelism without giving any guidance or sign-posting. (In the next chapter he explains what he believes evangelism is, and the reader connects it to the previous chapter, but it would have been better for the definition to precede the test.) Then he suddenly switches gears for the next two chapters to discussing the reader’s openness to following God’s lead, and then to motivation for evangelism. It is not at all clear to me how one chapter necessarily flows out of the previous, and no transitional statements are made to even attempt to connect the thrust of one chapter to the next.
This is certainly not the worst book that I have read. There are others whose writing style is even worse and yet are in publication. And the content is actually reasonably good and somewhat helpful to keep in mind. But frankly, I could have done a better job editing this work (and you probably could have too), and I have no idea how this book made it out of editing at a publisher as large as Moody in this form. Needless to say, the poor writing style distracted significantly from this reader’s ability to appreciate the content of the text. And in the final analysis, while the information served as a good reminder about the key principles to keep in mind when thinking about evangelism, there was little that was new. I would not recommend it to others over other books on evangelism, such as those by Chafer and Spurgeon.
February 26, 2009
Great book underlining how Evangelism is not something you manufacture but should be something that flows out of your relationship with Jesus Christ, an natural extension of your life. Beyond just a collection of theological principles, the book offer practical insights on why and how to develop a clear Gospel outline and your evangelistic testimony.
The section on the dynamics between the closeness of our relationship and what strategy we should adopt is very eye opening. The author is saying if we honestly reflect our relationships, most of them are casual so the adage that one can simply show off one's "good life" as way to attract non believers just don't work, because they don't see you that often! So if we can come to terms with that, we will be more direct in our communication of the Gospel.
The only part I wish the author expanded on is what does it mean to "walk in the Spirit". For that, please see Lewis Chafer's book "He that is Spiritual". It is dry but THE best book by non-charismatic author on the ministry of the Holy Spirit that I have ever read.
The section on the dynamics between the closeness of our relationship and what strategy we should adopt is very eye opening. The author is saying if we honestly reflect our relationships, most of them are casual so the adage that one can simply show off one's "good life" as way to attract non believers just don't work, because they don't see you that often! So if we can come to terms with that, we will be more direct in our communication of the Gospel.
The only part I wish the author expanded on is what does it mean to "walk in the Spirit". For that, please see Lewis Chafer's book "He that is Spiritual". It is dry but THE best book by non-charismatic author on the ministry of the Holy Spirit that I have ever read.
June 17, 2012
Easy to understand, straight-forward, "handbook" type of book about telling others about Jesus.
July 15, 2013
Excellent book!
August 27, 2015
Meh, I had to read it for class. The first part about inner spirituality was helpful in some ways, but the rest was rather intuitive.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews