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Evangelism in the Inventive Age (Mission Studies) [Paperback]

Doug Pagitt (Author)
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Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2012 | Series: Mission Studies
We live in changing times of significant cultural change. In the Inventive Age (the cultural turning following the Agrarian, Industrial, and Information ages) how people think has changed. This has created a new context for Evangelism. Previous methods not only do not work, they are often counterproductive.
Evangelism in the Inventive Age is not a "next-level"resource for those who are already comfortable and confident evangelists, but is a book for the rest of us.
For most Christians the issue of converting other people or sharing their faith is a troubled endeavor. Very few are in a comfortable place of natural invitation, faithful integration, and hopefulness in sharing faith.
This book will create a new perspective on evangelism for the ordinary person who has extraordinary questions. Evangelism in the Inventive Age is for those who have deep questions about the validity of evangelism and for whom evangelism does not come naturally.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Doug Pagitt is the founder of Solomon's Porch, a holistic missional Christian community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and one of the pioneering leaders of Emergent Village, a social network of Christians around the world. He is co-founder of an event and social media company and author of a number of groundbreaking books: A Christianity Worth Believing, Church Re-Imagined, Preaching Re-Imagined, and BodyPrayer.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 168 pages
  • Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers (February 1, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1451400942
  • ISBN-13: 978-1451400946
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #788,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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› Visit Amazon's Doug Pagitt Page
Doug Pagitt
Doug is a speaker and consultant for churches, denominations and businesses throughout the United States and around the world on issues of postmodern culture, social systems and Christianity.

Doug has worked in churches, for a non-profit foundation and owns three businesses in Minneapolis.

Doug's current professional endeavors include pastoring a Holistic Missional Christian Community in Minneapolis - (www.SolomonsPorch.com), speaking and writing (www.DougPagitt.com) and owner of JoPa Productions (JoPaProductions.com)and host of Doug Pagitt Radio (www.DougPagittRadio.com).

He is seeking to find creative, entrepreneurial, generative ways to join in the hopes, dreams and desires God has for the world.

Doug is married to Shelley and the father of 2 young adults and two teenagers.

Doug has a BA in Anthropology and a Masters of Theology from Bethel Seminary.

Doug is the author of A Christianity Worth Believing (Jossey-Bass 2008),
Church Re-Imagined (Zondervan 2004),
Preaching Re-Imagined (Zondervan 2005), and
BodyPrayer (Waterbrook 2005).
He is the co-editor of An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (Baker Books 2007).

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Finding Resonance February 7, 2012
Format:Paperback
The issue of evangelicalism is something that resonates deeply with me. So, I was eager hear what the pastor of Solomon's Porch had to say about the subject. I am happy to report that I was not disappointed.

I found Evangelism in the Inventive Age to be a fascinating and challenging critique of the current model for evangelism, one which obviously defines much of evangelicalism. It's the cookie cutter model that Pagitt is critiquing, the model which views the gospel and its presentation as a stagnant, monolethic thing which never needs adapting. It can be published on a tract or proclaimed from a street corner with no consideration for the audience. For Pagitt, however, "Evangelism is not the act of telling. It is the act of communicating."

Perhaps there was a time when the monolithic approach was, on some level, effective, but as Pagitt clearly demonstrates in the book, this is no longer the case for a global, interconnected society. According to Pagitt, and I think he is correct, the church needs an approach to evangelism that "resonates" with the listener. This concept of resonance is something that appears constantly throughout the book, and it should. As Pagitt explains, people are not going to connect to the gospel unless it resonates with who they are, what their context is, or where they are on their personal journey.

That's not to say that the gospel should be fundamentally altered, but rather Pagitt argues, we should follow the lead of the early church in Acts and speak the language of the culture. In other words, he says, we need to not put up unnecessary barriers that hinder the ability of the listener to hear the gospel. Rather, we need to find ways to help them discover how their own story resonates with the story of God. As Pagitt explains, "Evangelism in the Inventive Age demands that we deliver the good new of God by finding the resonance between God's story and the story playing out in each of us."

I think this is a brilliant and timely insight, something all of us need to hear. Too often we force our own version of the faith onto other people and other cultures. We speak to others in what is for them a foreign language, and then wonder why they don't understand and respond. If we are serious about evangelism, then we need to accept the fact that the majority of people on this planet do not speak, look, talk, think, act, dress, eat, play, or worship exactly how we do. But that's ok. Diversity is a wonderfully beautiful thing that only adds to the church. It never "soils" it.

If the church is seriously interested in making genuine disciples, if the church is seriously interested loving and embracing "the other", if the church really wants to follow in the footsteps of her founders, then I think this book would make a great tool to get started down that path.

Whether you're in full-time ministry or not, all of us have been called to preach the gospel to the very ends of the earth. So, help yourself out in answering that calling and pick up a copy of this book today.
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Re-setting the E-word February 3, 2012
Format:Paperback
The last time I read an evangelism book, I thought it would be the last time I read an evangelism book. But last week, I received a copy of Doug Pagitt's new book, Evangelism in the Inventive Age, so, I read. Though my passion for the E-word has waned in recent years, I must say, I sense a re-dedication. This book will help many of us who, for years, have negatively responded to that big E-word. In Evangelism in the Inventive Age, Doug Pagitt writes an exploration of evangelism that invites us to be creatively active as we engage with each other, especially around issues of faith.

From all of Doug's illustrations and explorations, I most appreciate his reading of Jesus. Pagitt shows that when Jesus is the model, evangelism is more interesting and challenging than the flyer passing and tract reading that typically comes to mind. With Jesus as the example, evangelism becomes something we CAN and, possibly, already do (as long as we are not relying on pamphlets). Evangelism must not be reduced to a series of bible verses. Genuine evangelism is deeper than four special laws. Evangelism is personal because our faith is personal.

And, Jesus is personal. The Son of God who is "The Word made flesh" is personal and particular. Jesus offered particular answers to the particular people he interacted with and, as Doug writes, "Jesus practiced a first-name faith, a particular faith that was directed specifically at whomever he was talking to a the moment. The Jesus we find in the Gospels never gives the same answer twice."

Never the same answer twice... Doug is right, and our individual experiences with God's reinforce that observation. We do not believe in a generic God who can be reduced to a couple pages of cheaply printed and creatively folded paper, so why should we waste time and resources trying to peddle God that way?

The answer, of course, is we shouldn't. We can't.

What we can do is take a fresh look at Jesus, our faith, scripture, life and especially evangelism. That is what Doug offers. It is not a book of solutions and answers, rather Evangelism in the Inventive Age is a primer or guidebook for our journey as we prepare to share our lives, and especially share our faith, with each other. So, take some time, if you are down on the e-word, and I think you might be encouraged, refreshed and possibly, re-dedicated.
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Format:Paperback
The best thing about Doug Pagitt's 'Evangelism in the Inventive Age' is that it is very short.

Now please understand: I am a big fan of books and literature in general, and of the writing of Doug Pagitt in particular. I've loved all of Doug's books, and his longest book-- 'A Christianity Worth Believing'-- is one that I wished would go on and on.

I love the brevity of his latest book because it is so purposeful: it is an expression of the thing it describes. Namely, where 'evangelism'-- the sharing of the message of God-- has become such a stigmatized and technical and guilt-ridden enterprise for so many people, Doug charts a different path without being as prescriptive and constraining as we have come to expect from lesser books about evangelism.

With a winsome, sweeping style, Doug gets the reader to:

1. Inquire after the nature of the 'Good News' (aka 'the Gospel). Rather than promoting an unnatural, exacting, and/or painful conversion experience, Doug suggests that the task of evangelism is to help people find resonance between themselves and God. As such, he dismisses out of hand any evangelistic effort that is based in fear, since that is antithetical to God's intentions for people. So what exactly are we trying to give to people?

2. Think about holistic, honest, genuine ways of communicating this message. Informed by the massive literature around the Enneagram personality sorter, Doug shares some great insights into the fears, hopes, and dreams of different kinds of people. As an Enneagram skeptic, this section didn't resonate with me as much, but I did appreciate the new skill set it highlighted: listening and empathizing and caring over and against the preaching and telling and converting that is promoted elsewhere. Which will prevent us from trying to change them, and allow ourselves-- our ideas, our biases, and our faith-- to be transformed in the process. So how can Christians connect with others?

3. Provide an example of the instantiation and expression of that Good News by an early Christian community. Here, Doug leads us through a fascinating literary reading of the New Testament book of Acts. Which sees this book as descriptive, not prescriptive, and which focuses on the multiplicity of actions and activities that the early church employed in spreading the new message of Jesus. So how can communities of faith embody these ideas?

And then, right when you expect him to tell you what to think, what to do, and how to act, the book is unexpectedly over. Done. Implicitly inviting you with the last blank page to write your own contribution to the story of God, and to find your own way to share your good news about God with others.
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