My thoughts on Sam Chan, "Evangelism in a Skeptical World"

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.