Sam Chan, Evangelism
in a Skeptical World: How to Make the Unbelievable News about Jesus More
Believable. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018. 288 pp.
Last fall I had the privilege of serving on Christianity Today's adjudication panel for the book of the year in the category of Apologetics & Evangelism. All four finalists were excellent (not perfect, but excellent) works, with different strengths. I'd like to take a couple of posts to share some of my thoughts on the four finalists:
Sam Chan, Evangelism in a Skeptical World (Zondervan)
David & Marybeth Baggett, The Morals of the Story (IVP Academic)
Alan Noble, Disruptive Witness (IVP)
Joshua Chartraw & Mark Allen, Apologetics at the Cross (Zondervan)
Chan’s Evangelism in a Skeptical World (ESW) is an excellent theoretical and
practical guide to sharing the Gospel in the contemporary Western world. He accurately diagnoses the condition of our
culture, noting that traditional (4 Spiritual Laws, Two Ways) evangelistic
approaches may no longer be effective in reaching a changed demographic. At the heart of Chan’s advice to the
contemporary Christian is story:
recognizing that the majority of our audience will be “concrete-relational”
learners (Chapter 7) who resonate more naturally with narrative than
propositions, and emphasizing the storied nature of our experience with Christ
(Chapter 2) when we bring the Gospel to bear in our relationships with
non-Christians.
A primary strength of ESW is his practical application for the
lay reader. In Chapter 2 particularly,
Chan lays out an achievable means of building evangelistic relationships, with
strong focus on the need to build community relationships (“Get your friends to
become their friends”) of mutual love and trust (“Listen to their story”) that deepens
over time (“Coffee, dinner, Gospel”).
Another strong aspect of
Chan’s model for evangelism is his tri-fold apologetic response to friends’
“defeater beliefs” (Chapter 10): “Resonate – Dismantle – Gospel.” Building on biblical examples (particularly
Paul’s Mars Hill address in Acts 17), Chan advocates identifying common ground,
affirming and restating (in stronger terms, if possible) what is good and
biblically-consonant (Resonate), then demonstrating a deficiency or dissonance
within their presuppositions (Dismantle), before demonstrating how the Gospel
of Jesus Christ serves as the “best completion to their storyline”
(Gospel). Chan’s Resonate – Dismantle –
Gospel model also serves well in his suggested outlines for biblical
storytelling (Chapter 7), topical addresses (Chapter 8), and expository talks
(Chapter 9).
Furthermore, Chan does
exemplary work on Gospel contextualization, first by identifying markers of
postmodernism in the West (Chapter 4), then by outlining the need for and means
of contextualizing the Gospel to our situation/audience (Chapter 5). As an added bonus, the Concluding chapter
(Moving People from Hostile to Loyal) outlines various stages of people’s faith
journeys.
The primary shortcoming
of Evangelism in a Skeptical World is
the lack of a clear potential audience.
In my estimation, the proper target audience for ESW should be the faithful layperson in the church who desires to
become more openly and effectively evangelistic. The practical advice given in Chapters 2
(Everyday Evangelism), 3 (How to Craft a Gospel Presentation), 5
(Contextualization for Evangelism), and 10 (Religious Epistemology,
Apologetics, and Defeater Beliefs) is outstanding, and has the potential to
transform believers’ day-to-day walk and mission.
The book seems, however, to bounce between
aiming for that faithful layperson and aiming instead for an
academic/professional audience of Christian scholars, pastors, and
speakers. Chapter 1 (A Theology of
Evangelism) is a tad heavy for the layperson (though arguably necessary
groundwork for the practical advice that follows). Chapters 8 (How to Give Evangelistic Topical
Talks) and 9 (How to Give Evangelistic Expository Talks), however, are more
clearly applicable only to a narrower audience.
Chan could have worked around this difficulty in one of two ways. First, he could have written ESW for the broad lay audience, in which
case he would have shortened and simplified Chapter 1, entirely omitted
Chapters 8 and 9, and reconsidered Chapters 6 (Gospel-Cultural Hermeneutics)
and 7 (Storytelling the Gospel), either eliminating them or recasting them in
lay terms. Second, Chan could have
provided a brief Introduction which articulated his desire to reach a dual
audience (lay Christian and academic/professional minister), and pointed the
respective audiences to the most applicable chapters (and which each audience
might avoid).
Overall, however, ESW is a tremendous tool for the
believer who desires to deepen their walk with Christ in the realm of personal
evangelism.
