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The Reluctant Witness: Discovering the Delight of Spiritual Conversations
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New research finds that Christians are less involved in spiritual conversations today than we were twenty-five years ago. As society has changed, it seems we have become more uncomfortable talking with people about our faith. We are reluctant conversationalists. The reality is that many of our churches and communities are shrinking instead of growing. What can we do about
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Start your review of The Reluctant Witness: Discovering the Delight of Spiritual Conversations
Absolutely great book! Very helpful to help you understand how you yourself operate when it comes to spiritual conversations and definitely helps to remove some of the myths and barriers to us being bolder in our conversations
Summary: One reluctant witness shares personal narrative, helpful principles, and survey data that indicate that spiritual conversations may be delightful rather than dreadful.
Most Christians are reluctant to bear witness to their faith. The idea of this raises images of street preachers, intolerance, arguments, and offended friends. Most of us don't want to be those kind of persons. We love people too much, and frankly want to be loved by them as well. Don Everts was like so many of us, except ...more
Most Christians are reluctant to bear witness to their faith. The idea of this raises images of street preachers, intolerance, arguments, and offended friends. Most of us don't want to be those kind of persons. We love people too much, and frankly want to be loved by them as well. Don Everts was like so many of us, except ...more
“There is something delightful about spiritual conversations,” writes Don Everts in The Reluctant Witness. Scripture seems to agree. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15) is the way Paul puts it, quoting Isaiah 52:7. Can anyone not smile in response to a friend saying, “I have good news”? I doubt it.
And yet, spiritual conversations strike many Christians as “pesky, painful, awkward things,” as Everts puts it. He defines a spiritual conversation as “any convers ...more
And yet, spiritual conversations strike many Christians as “pesky, painful, awkward things,” as Everts puts it. He defines a spiritual conversation as “any convers ...more
Mar 03, 2020
Chad Warner
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Christians
Recommended to Chad by:
Cilas Menezes
Shelves:
christian,
non-fiction
A motivational and practical guide to seizing opportunities to witness in everyday life. It describes steps to take and things to say, without being formulaic. It combines biblical direction with tips based on research from Barna.
The book explains that you should expect spiritual conversations in everyday life, and that you should initiate and pursue such conversations. In your conversations, you should share good news (how God has worked or is working in your life), and gently push through awkw ...more
The book explains that you should expect spiritual conversations in everyday life, and that you should initiate and pursue such conversations. In your conversations, you should share good news (how God has worked or is working in your life), and gently push through awkw ...more
This is an excellent book for Christians about having spiritual conversations with those who are not Christians. The book is short: 157 pages and maybe 1/3 of those are charts. The positive is this allowed me to digest the book in one sitting. I think this is an excellent tool to introduce new Christians or reluctant Christians to the idea of talking to other people about Jesus, I found the author's suggestions for other resources to be helpful too. To me, the constant charts were a little off-p
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A low-pressure encouragement for spiritual conversations. Where we are and how we can have more. Author works for Lutheran Hour Ministries and presented some resources LHM has. I haven't seen then, but everything LHM does is first-rate.
"People need good news. They need peace. They become desperate for happiness, for salvation, for hope. And they are sitting right next to us."
"The good news is that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how will they call on someone they don' ...more
"People need good news. They need peace. They become desperate for happiness, for salvation, for hope. And they are sitting right next to us."
"The good news is that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how will they call on someone they don' ...more
Good book on evangelism. Better than most I've read. I challenged myself to read 2 books on evangelism this year. This was one of them. It's helped me be encouraged personally to have more spiritual conversations and it's helped me see the people in the pew a little differently. Linked to the Barna/Lutheran Hour Ministries research that resulted in the published report "Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age," it was a presentation of that material from the perpective of a life-long evangeli
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A great book for those who may seem on the shy side of having spiritual conversations. Myths about spiritual conversations are broken down as well as how to develop habits of engaging in spiritual conversations more often. If you’re looking to grow in sharing good news with those in your life, this is a good book to start with.
Don Everts shares current research about the attitudes of Christians about the challenges of sharing the faith with others. He also shares relevant stories from his personal experience as a reluctant witness that help to illustrate the truths of the research he is presenting. This is a very readable book for laypeople that helps to overcome our resistance to witness
Good resource for telling others about God. Would be a great book for leading a class along with the book "out of the saltshaker and into the world" by Pippert. Written on a level that anyone can learn from.
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A mix between personal stories and insights from research done by Barna, this is a short read and introduction to some reasons why people are scared to have spiritual conversations, how research debunks those myths, and what people can do to have more conversations
Fantastic well researched and practical book on witnessing. Very much in the same category as Rebecca Manley Pippert whom he quotes. delightful, personal, encouraging and challenging.
I may have to buy this one in hard cover to fully appreciate the work. However, as I already a good portion of the background work by way of LHM, the impact of this one was more like, "Yes, that's exactly what Tony Cook and company at LHM have been needing to polish up based on the research they commissioned." This one strikes me as a potential game changer.
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Don Everts began writing while spending nearly two decades on college campuses in Washington and Colorado. He wrote his first book, Jesus with Dirty Feet, as a 25 year-old who had just gotten married and moved to Boulder, CO.
Since then Don has published 12 books with InterVarsity Press and is currently mulling over writing an uplifting zombie novel.
Having finally gotten off the college campus, Do ...more
Since then Don has published 12 books with InterVarsity Press and is currently mulling over writing an uplifting zombie novel.
Having finally gotten off the college campus, Do ...more
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