Customer Reviews

Sharing Your Faith with Friends and Family: Talking about Jesus without Offending

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Michael Green has a lifetime of experience as a preacher and theologian. In Oxford he spent many years at St Aldate's, a large evangelical Anglican church with a vibrant academic and student congregation.

He speaks and writes clearly, making Sharing Your Faith a quick read. Implementing the process of evangelism described in the book will take longer.

I recommend this as a book to turn to again and again. The typeface is fresh like the writing in the book. This is Basic Evangelism 101 (or Tripos Part I) that Green sets forth in a postmodern context.

My main criticism of the book is that if you really have doubts about Christianity you will have a very difficult time getting rid of them by reading this book. Some people don't evangelize because they are not 100% convinced of Biblical truths or they don't really feel Christianity is essential to their lives.

Green's Facts may indeed be questionable for some skeptics. For example, the Fact of Design - "There is abundant evidence of intelligent design in our world. It is even more apparent in nature than in the artifacts that intelligent human beings design. Why? Because 'the heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork' Psalm 19:1". I don't believe the majority of people think that the world is designed - some of it has evolved - some is the result of random events - some has geological causes.

The main processes described for Sharing Your Faith are:
1. Getting Motivated - essential for any endeavor
2. Building Bridges - a postmodern way to communicate
3. Starting the Conversation - essential for meaningful dialog
4. Knowing the Good News - do your homework, be prepared
5. Becoming the Midwife - ultimately God does the real work
6. Handling the Responses - this chapter needs more depth
7. Offering the Aftercare - Green says emphasize this more
8. Avoiding the Mistakes - based on Green's lifetime experience
9. God the Evangelist - don't leave God out!

Many could have written this book - but Green's wealth of experience from real world evangelism over decades, with leading intellectuals and bright minds, are what differentiate this book and make it worth reading.

Pray for lots of faith to benefit from this book. If you have it then you will find the book is full of pragmatic ideas for sharing the Christian gospel with friends, family and coworkers.

Each chapter has questions for discussion that would make this a fine book for a Bible Study or Christian discussion group. It is an excellent book for those leaving the cocoon of a university Christian fellowship and embarking on a career who are anxious to promote Christianity among their friends. It is also useful for those from non-Christian backgrounds who have become Christians and want to share their faiths with their relatives.

I wouldn't recommend this book for non-Christian book circles as it assumes too much belief in Christianity on the part of the reader.

This is classic Michael Green - popular Christian writing with an edge that urges you to action.

This book deals with the problem that most Christians have--not sharing their faith, and it does it in a very practical way.