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Concentric Circles of Concern: Seven Stages for Making Disciples

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This book is helping change our church and the way we do outreach and evangelism. The author's premise is that we cannot reach the world for Christ if we are not reaching our families, friends or inner-circles first. If there are any broken relationships or "ruptured relationships" in a christian's life, then we are not able to go and share the gospel message honestly with anyone. It is a powerful book that is very blunt and sometimes slaps you in the face with the honesty and insight of the author.

There are so many books on the market right now on every topic. This one seems no different. It is hard to choose which books are worth your time. I was required to read this for a Christian Discipleship class in college. It completely changed my life. I have given it to friends and family. Many of them are busy people, but I give it to them with a promise, "This is worth every second you spend on it; this will change you life."
Oscar Thompson gives you a glimpse of the heart of God towards people. It is not another "method" to seek converts. He shows you how to effectively love people.
Read this book. It is worth every bit of your time and money. Evangelism starts in the heart of God. Be a person after His own heart.

I read this book in school and I was blown away. The book made me think! It has radically changed the way I treat my family, neighbors, and those I may only meet once. This book also made me rethink ministry and do things 180 degrees differently. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn how to better deal with people, and who wants to grow in wisdom and sensitivity in the area of people skills. It will give you a passion for your life and ministry. As I teach others how to minister to people and how to tell others about Jesus, I use the principles in this book.

Author Information

Oscar Thompson passed away in 1980 from a struggle with cancer. He had a great interest in helping others who struggled with the same problem. He was a pastoral consultant for the Cancer Counseling and Research Foundation along with Trinity Valley Hospice Association, Inc., where he served an additional role as a board member. Thompson was a pastor for twenty years at a Baptist Church before becoming a part of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Before his passing, Thompson served as the president of the Oscar Thompson Evangelistic Association.
Carolyn Thompson Ritzmann is the wife of Oscar Thompson. Outside of Concentric Circles of Concern she co-authored another book with her husband in the six volume Growing Disciples Series. That book is titled Witness to the World.
Claude V. King attended seminary in New Orleans, but before attending seminary he worked as part of the faculty for a dynamic and evangelistic church in Nashville, TN. He developed the six volume Growing Disciples Series. His most recognized work is Experience God. It appears that King may have a calling to the Spanish community because he has made Experience God available in Spanish and also co-written another religious book, En la presencia de Dios, in Spanish.

Content Summary

The approach Thompson has towards evangelism is that through relationships everyone can show the love of Christ in their areas of influence, otherwise known as concentric circles of concern. The foundation of Thompson's approach is simplistic in nature but advanced in effectiveness.
Thompson makes the statement that the most important word in the English language is relationship. A person's primary relationship should be with the Heavenly Father. For it is in this example that people will understand how to meet the needs of others. Thompson theorizes that his method of starting in the center and working outward is imperative because if a person does not have a right relationship with those closest to him, how can he have one with those furthest from him?
Thompson sets out for his reader seven concentric circles. Circle 1: Self, Circle 2: Family, Circle 3: Relatives, Circle 4: Friends, Circle 5: Neighbors and Associates, Circle 6: Acquaintances, and Circle 7: Person X. He gives Biblical support to his outline by citing examples from the Gospels and Acts. The verse he emphasizes most is Acts 1:8 which shows the outward progression of the Gospel message. This, however, does not mean that you cannot reach out and share the Gospel message with your friends until you have shared it with your family. Thompson realizes that God will present opportunities to those who are seeking. He gives the reader this order because he has found it to be true both experientially and Biblically.
Before describing how people can impact those around them, Thompson describes three main barriers that prevent them from sharing the Gospel. The first is fundamental to any aspect of life. You cannot share about what you do not know. If you do not know Jesus personally, then you cannot share His message. The second preventative measure to sharing the Gospel is the emotion of fear. If people are afraid of rejection or failure, the Good News will never be shared. Lastly, Thompson states that broken relationships will hinder the Word of God. In order for the Divine well to keep flowing, people need to right any relationships that have been broken.
Thompson sets forth Seven Stages for Making Disciples. Stage 1: Get Right. That is, people need to be right with God, with themselves, and with others. One must accept God's conditions for forgiveness and salvation. Once in agreement, he will shape the person's life and mold him to be like-minded with God. The new view of the person reborn allows him to reconcile broken relationships and love everyone as God does.
Stage 2: Survey Your Relationships. As heartless as it may seem, take time to categorize those around you by putting them into one of the seven categories. Then identify the ones who need the Lord and begin Stage 3: Pray. Thompson teaches the reader to pray for God engineered situations and to pray for very specific things. Prayer also allows the working of the Holy Spirit to show someone what a lost person's need is.
Stage 4: Building Relationship Bridges to people opens the door and allows for easier acceptance of the Gospel message. Thompson informs the reader that he can share the message of Christ through Stage 5: Show God's Love By Meeting Needs. Thompson repeatedly tells the reader that love is not a feeling or emotion, but the meeting of others needs. You become a channel for God to share his love with others. However, people cannot be satisfied with just acts, they must also verbally share the Good News. Stage 6: Make Disciples and Help Them Grow encourages the reader to confront the lost with a decision for Christ. After they decide to turn their life to Christ this initiates Stage 7: Begin Again. Not only will the reader begin again, but he will help the new disciple start bringing others into the fold.

Evaluation

Thompson's purpose is to show that relationships are the most important thing and that we can show God's love by meeting the needs of others. This thesis is well proven in the pages of his book. The multitude of examples Thompson provides the reader help validate that what Concentric Circles of Concern teaches really does work.
Thompson does come to the table with some presuppositions. One assumption that many would disagree with is that love is not a feeling. His view is of love is that it is a commitment. Specifically, love is meeting needs of other people. Love is something a person does, not something he feels. Emotions change and can be dependent upon external events. Therefore, he argues, love should not be classified as a feeling or emotion. Thompson's claim can be a tough pill to swallow but it is absolutely true. God commands his followers to forgive those who trespass against them. It does not matter if a person feels like forgiving. Since the Lord commands it, so should it be done. The idea of having a pure heart before acting is a new and post-modern way of reading the Bible.
Thompson's work was great upon first reading. But after pondering its words for a while some troubling thoughts arose. His constant hammering of the idea that prayer works and so does his technique will leave some struggling when prayer is not working and neither is this process. His idea of meeting needs can also become over burdening. In this fallen world there are many people in need. One person cannot fulfill everyone's needs, nor should they feel as if it is their duty in this world to be Superman. This path can quickly lead to a burnt out Christian.
Thompson shares with the reader many great thoughts and stories on how to show the love of Christ, but he does not teach enough on telling about the love of Christ. A person can pray until they are blue in the face and help the lost with every need they may have, but unless the evangelist shares with his lost friend why he does what he does, the meaning will be lost. Thompson does speak to this area in Stage 6, but it does not seem to give balance to the rest of the work. Taking the book as a whole, it is apparent that Thompson would agree whole heartedly with St. Francis of Assissi when he offered this wisdom: "Share the Gospel always...when necessary, use words." Words and deeds should not be seen as separate modes or opposite ways to share the Good News. Rather they should be seen as complimentary, much like cheese and crackers. These two forms of sharing the Word of God should be placed on equal ground. Do not let it seem that a person cannot do a good work without first sharing the Gospel. That certainly should not be the case. But, let it be seen that neither is more important then the other.
Unfortunately, the postmodern way of thought is on the rise. With this destructive force quickly growing, the Christian community will have to adapt to reach this new and diversified community. Over emphasizing the action part of faith is an excellent way for postmodern people to see what it is the community of faith believes. For if one does not put into practice what he believes, those who look on will question if he really believes it.
The most revelatory part of this book was the effectiveness behind his concept of helping those who are closest to us. When a person brings a lost sheep back to the flock, it is easier for that newly found sheep to stay within a Christian community because he already has a friend to help ease any fears. The friend also serves as a personal mentor in the growing process. It does not do the church any good to traverse land and sea to make a single convert to later leave him with no Christian community to support him.
Thompson's book, Concentric Circles of Concern, is a book that everyone within the Church community can read. It helps illustrate that a person does not have to be a missionary to have a mission. The mission field is all around them. It is their family, friends, neighbors, associates and acquaintances. Everyone has a part to play and they do not have to travel to a foreign country or learn another language to do their part. This book gives its readers a systematic way in which to approach and execute the Great Commission.

Thompson explains evangelism in a very personal way, demonstrating the responsibility each believer has to share the love of Jesus with everyone they know, from their family to total strangers. He discusses the circles of people with whom every believer interacts, beginning with self, and moving out to "Person X" (p. 111). King introduces the concept of stages in making disciples, and provides practical applications for individuals and small groups at the close of each chapter.

Thompson's desire as communicated in this work is that believers would be obedient through building relationships with believers and unbelievers, in order that God might be glorified. The additional material provided by King contributes in a practical way to this goal. The book achieves this desire. This book would be an excellent resource for personal or small group study in a church setting.

The concepts in this book have shown this reviewer that being an effective witness is simple but not easy. Simple, because one only need look to his own family and friends to see opportunities to witness; however, it is not easy, because the flesh wars against the spirit and we must daily bring our troubles to the cross and lay them down. Concentric Circles of Concern: Seven Stages for Making Disciples will be another tool in the box for the work of ministry.

This book was required reading for a class, and it is one I will be keeping. I enjoyed it so much, that I have purchased it for a couple of my interns for a practical reading assignment.

In spite of the age of the material, every bit is still for today. This is a classic in relational evangelism.

Are you concerned about the salvation of your family, friends, neighbors and community as well? Then this book is a great starter for people who enjoy sharing the Gospel in their homes and community. This book has diagrams and pictorial effect that aid the reader in developing a home mission plan that permeates throughout their neighborhood and eventually to the world.
Thompson takes the reader through a seven stage process of relationship building that is so effective that members of ones' household become disciples that are productive in producing more disciples.
The author concludes that healthy, loving relationships will be generated as a result of understanding and implementing each stage in the process of making disciples, by first starting at home. This author's proposal begins with the discipleship of family members. This is unusually heard of, often times missionaries, preachers and evangelist start outside their home - however, the author has demonstrated that the real need for a loving family relationship begins with the person seeking to develop a clear conscience by knowing and loving God first, then self, then family , then others for the purpose of making disciples

Concentric Circles of Concern serves not only as a method of evangelism it issues a challenge to all that read it. Making evangelism a component of each relationship of our lives is truly "an assignment that you cannot finish . . . until God takes you home." Thompson's process not only shows how to improve evangelism, it shows how to improve life and the lives of others.

The book was received very quickly and exactly as advertised. It was a gift for a friend who had been in the author's class at seminary. His copy of the book had been loaned out and not returned. He was glad to get this one, even with an autographed message from the co-author to the seller. I was able to tell him about the seller due to his excellent description of himself included in the description of the sale item.

This book will teach you from the ground up how to have better relationships from those who are the closest to you, also with your family and even to strangers. It is a reader friendly book that is great for group studies.

Concentric Circles of Concern presents an overview of evangelism and discipleship that can be used in personal study and in small Bible groups. The book is easy to follow and presents as close to a step-by-step program as there is concerning evangelism. This book contributed to my understanding on the subject in a major way. The aspect of relationship and how vital it is to spreading the gospel and to discipleship, has truly left an impression in me. The gospel is not just about facts and Bible verses. In order to make the truths of the gospel useful in evangelism, we need a good relationship with God and with others around us.