Book Review: Personality Based Evangelism
Review by: Eric Hoey, Director for Evangelism and Church Growth, General Assembly Mission Council, PCUSA
Mention the word “evangelism” and Presbyterians generally tend to deny, ignore, and make any excuse that evangelism is not a significant part of what we are called to do. Excuses range from: “Evangelism is offensive!” to “I don’t want to go knocking on doors!” and “Who am I to push my religion upon someone else?” When I encounter these responses in presbyteries, I find that the biggest “Ah-ha!” moment is to demonstrate that Scripture offers more than one way to do evangelism.
In an excellent book, Got Style? Personality Based Evangelism, author and pastor, Jeffery Johnson, argues that “personality is the human component involved in effective evangelism.” He says:
Evangelism is not about convicting, convincing, or converting the non-Christian. That is the work of God through the activity of the Holy Spirit in a person’s heart. Evangelism is about persuasive presentation, using both speech (lips) and actions (life) to share the Good News. (p. 12)
Johnson offers six chapters to explain six styles of evangelism: Assertive, Analytical, Storytelling, Relational, Invitational, and Incarnational. There are detailed explanations of each style, the pros and cons of each, as well as how Scripture supports each style. This is a great book for any church leader looking for Biblical texts to preach or teach a series on the styles of evangelism. Johnson also provides a rich bibliography that helped shape his thoughts on evangelism. There is also a unique assessment tool (which is recommended to be taken first) for people to discover their own particular style. Got Style is a well written, detailed resource to help churches move beyond themselves and into the world that needs to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
