20 Truths from ‘How to Revive Evangelism’ by Craig Springer

“Evangelism training should have as its utmost priority developing and training great listeners.”

1. "In the US especially, the instinct to evangelize is eroding. No matter how much our walk with Jesus has impacted our lives, many of us simply aren’t talking about it—not to our families, not to our friends, and not within our communities. The data shows this on a number of levels, and the conclusive nature of the findings should be setting off alarm bells everywhere." (2)
2. "What if our methodologies of evangelism, designed to work during the past fifty years or so, are something like a cassette tape that we ask Millennials to play when what they’re really looking for are Spotify playlists?" (6)
3. "Our post-Christian culture is yearning for deep, meaningful dialogue about spiritual things. Our post-family culture is looking for a place where they can belong. Our post-technology culture is seeking out genuine interactions. Our post-super-size culture desires intimate communities." (12)
4. "The Bible records 307 questions that Jesus asked, along with 183 questions others asked of him—but do you know how many times Jesus gave a direct answer? Eight. Eight times. And some scholars argue that on only three of those occasions was the answer he gave completely direct. Jesus was 40 times more likely to ask a question than to provide a direct answer (give or take)." (46)
5. "I was a pastor for many years. We relied almost entirely on proclamation alone. Ours was a large church, and we invested millions of dollars every single year on one main proclamation event. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s known as the Sunday morning service. Our goal was to attract into our services people who were exploring faith, and once we had them there, we proclaimed the truth through worship songs and sermons." (47)

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