Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness [Paperback]

Bryan P. Stone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

Most people think of evangelism as something an individual does--one person talking to one or more other people about the gospel. Bryan Stone, however, argues that evangelism is the duty and call of the entire church as a body of witness. Evangelism after Christendom explores what it means to understand and put to work evangelism as a rich practice of the church, grounding evangelism in the stories of Israel, Jesus, and the Apostles. This thorough treatment is marked by an astute sensitivity to the ways in which Christian evangelism has in the past been practiced violently, intentionally or unintentionally. Pointing to exemplars both Protestant and Catholic, Stone shows pastors, professors, and students how evangelism can work nonviolently.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Not often, but every now and then, a book comes along that not only draws together the literature of the last thirty years but also pushes the conversation forward for decades to come. Bryan Stone has written such a book. Everyone writing in the field of evangelism cannot go around, only through, this masterpiece."--Leonard Sweet, author of SoulTsunami

"Bryan Stone's Evangelism after Christendom takes the study of evangelism to a new depth. This book brings hope to those perplexed by the popularity of evangelism techniques that seemingly contradict the faithful witness of the church. Evangelism after Christendom, theologically framed and biblically grounded, is essential reading for those seeking an in-depth treatment of evangelism as a constitutive Christian practice."--Laceye Warner, Duke Divinity School

"Bryan Stone has provided a significant contribution to the important, ongoing discussion of what evangelism is and how it is best practiced. Evangelism after Christendom takes seriously Christ's call to bear witness in the North American context in the twenty-first century. He is attentive to issues of ecclesiology, history, and politics, and he carefully considers conflicting theological interpretations of evangelism. This is a challenging and important book for all those who seek to study how the church can embody a truly Christian evangelistic practice."--Scott J. Jones, Bishop, The United Methodist Church

"This book is thoroughly believable. It brings evangelism into the twenty-first century with the wit of a scholar and the force of the church as its champions."--Robert G. Tuttle, author of The Story of Evangelism: A History of the Witness to the Gospel

About the Author

Bryan Stone (PhD, Southern Methodist University) is E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at the Boston University School of Theology, where he is also cofounder and codirector of the Center for Practical Theology and founder of the Center for Congregational Research and Development. Stone has written books such as Faith and Film: Theological Themes at the Cinema, and served as editor for the Journal of Christian Theological Research.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Brazos Press (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587431947
• ISBN-13: 978-1587431944
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bryan Stone was born in San Diego, California and is currently the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Boston University School of Theology. His background is in urban social ministry and faith-based non-profit development. He received his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Southern Methodist University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Form Of Religion That Does Not Seem To Need The Biblical Church, September 21, 2007

By 

Jacques Schoeman (SA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness (Paperback)

'What the gospel needs most is... disciples who follow Jesus with or without the support of their culture. It does, however, require a people that has been made into the temple of God in which the Spirit dwells, built upon the church's only secure foundation, Jesus Christ.' p 12

Bryan Stone is good at what he does. He has the intellectual capacity to pursue the biblical instruction of the Great Commission. His theology is mission-centric which typifies the structures incorporated and identifiable with missions. The introduction is short of staggering - it is breathtaking. It convinces and succeeds in its emotional plea for a return to making evangelism a priority again. Stone accurately and scholarly brings the 'North American' mega-churches to their knees, but also knows that it is their hearts that are at fault.

'On this view, any evangelism for which the church is irrelevant, an afterthought, or instrumental cannot be Christian evangelism. It is within such a social imagination that salvation is able finally to be construed as 'a personal relationship with Jesus' and thus something that takes place outside, alongside, or as a substitute for the church.' p 17

One point that I differ on, would be why Stone chose to use a secular reference in MacIntyre, to lay the biblical foundation of our faithfulness to the Great Commission. It serves no paradigm in the ecclesiology of the church - past, present or future. A preference toward sound biblical greats that support his thesis would have much more informed our theology. Was Wesley such a poor example?

As with most Reformed evangelicals, I struggle to find the balance when focusing on the lost, and our obedience to the biblical text. The question of election is one I completely hold, yet the practice of Christian witness is surely intended for the lost primarily, though not exclusively?

The author knows how to challenge these views, and he succeeds only to the degree that we allow him to inter-act with our own, because he never dogmatically lays it on the line. Instead, he prefers to be instructive and informative towards the ecclesia. The challenge of our mercy toward the lost being divine or human, is superseded by how he brings the topic to be a matter of the heart's response to and guidance by the Holy Spirit. Such is His penetrative ability!

'The church is inevitably a counterpolitics insofar as it is shaped by the politics of God's reign rather than the politics of the city or nation in which it finds itself.' p 179

So I heartily enjoyed this book, even though it fell beyond the praxis of my own doctrinal beliefs. It was informative to the point that it made me realize that at no time does one person have exclusive rights to the whole truth of God and His plan of redemption.

'To assign the church this sort of centrality is not, however, to reduce God's reign to the church, or to make it identical with the church. It is rather to construe the church as a people whose confession of God as sovereign is embodied in its politics.' p 189

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exhilarating, April 22, 2009

By 

A. Ballentine (Williamsburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness (Paperback)

In this brilliant book, Bryan Stone advocates a direction for the church that is both exhilarating and terrifying. It is terrifying because the church needs to recognize that Christendom is in ruins, and that we must turn away from the only way we know to do church: being concerned with status and power and statistical "success." But Stone delves into Scripture and the scholarly literature of the past couple of decades to present an exciting alternative that outweighs any fear. We can stop devoting energy to the despair-inducing work of trying to shore up what is in ruins. We can be open to what God is doing that is new!

According to Stone, evangelism is an invitation to live in the church, according to God's reign in the world. This life is marked by such practices and virtues as worship, forgiveness, hospitality to the stranger, economic sharing, faith, hope, charity, joy, presence, patience, courage, humility. The church is called to those practices and virtues, as a corporate body. As Stone writes: "Jesus talked about the reign of God as a radically new order that comes to put an end to the age-old patterns of wealth and poverty, domination and subordination, insider and outsider that are deeply ingrained in the way we relate to one another on this planet. But in order for that new order to become a serious option for the world, it must be visibly and imaginatively embodied in the world. And if Scripture is a faithful witness, the purpose of God throughout history is the creation and formation of a new people whose mission is to do just that." Stone asserts that evangelism cannot happen without this witness of the church.

Is it easy to live according to these practices and virtues, as citizens of God's reign? No! Life in the church entails constant confession of failure, continual forgiveness, a process of life-long conversion. In this community, we are learning from each others' modeling. We are modeling for each other. We are receiving the ability to do this from the Holy Spirit.

Here's how enthusiastic I am about this book: I think it outlines the direction for my work, as the pastor of a congregation, for the last decade of my active ministry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If the formerly mainline churches can't learn to evangelize, they're toast., December 2, 2007

By 

S. Harvester "Steve Harvester" (Westfield, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness (Paperback)

For half a century and more there has been a great divide between the churches that call themselves "evangelical" and the churches that flee in terror from that word. Stone is employed by one of the last bastions of peace-and-social-justice Christianity, Boston University. There's a statue honoring an alum, Martin Luther King, Jr., outside of the chapel. He was recruited to be their first and only professor of evangelism because the church he started, "Liberation Community" in Dallas/Fort Worth, was evangelical, interracial, and in solidarity with the poor (he built membership by first getting grants to do effective social service work in a run-down neighborhood).

This book is the fruit of over a decade standing at the divide between those churches that hear God's call for peace and justice, and those that hear God's call to proclaim the Good News, baptize, and make disciples in God's name. Stone is one of the very few that understands it's one and the same God calling two essential and interrelated things. Read the book.