The Evangelistic Love of God and Neighbor: A Theology of Witness and Discipleship, by Scott J. JonesI admittedly read The Evangelistic Love of God and Neighbor (Abingdon Press 2003) pretty quickly; this is one of the texts for my evangelism directed study, and I need to get a few more books read and move toward writing my first paper. But I did enjoy it and commend it as a helpful exploration of love of God and neighbor as the governing standard for evangelism. This book is especially applicable for parish ministry, particularly in a United Methodist setting, as that is its audience.
Jones begins chapter one thus: "To evangelize non-Christian persons without loving them fully is not to evangelize them well. To love non-Christian persons without evangelizing them is not to love them well. Loving God well means loving one's non-Christian neighbor evangelistically and evangelizing one's non-Christian neighbor lovingly." Love is the source and rule of evangelism. This is not a general, sweeping, vague love but a concrete, contextualized, Biblical love. Jones stresses the importance of relationships, not simply as means to an end but as genuine meeting places where God's love is shared.
Jones wrestles throughout the book with varying definitions of evangelism. He notes the danger of seeing evangelism too narrowly, in the sense that its goal is conversion and its activity ends there. He works from a definition set forth by William Abraham and expands it thus: evangelism is "that set of loving, intentional activities governed by the goal of initiating persons into Christian discipleship in response to the reign of God." For Jones, evangelism and discipleship cannot be separate. He draws on the commission text found in Matthew's gospel: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19).
Although I could have stood for a tighter structure in the book overall, I would recommend it for its accessibility and relevance. Particularly useful is the appendix, which includes a list of misconceptions about evangelism and 20 components of an evangelistic congregation.
Favorite Quotations
"The triune God is the primary agent in evangelism. Human agents play an important, but secondary role."
"[W]hatever privileged position we understand the church to hold in God's mission, it is highly presumptuous to suppose that God is not at work outside the church."
"It is not the aim of Christian evangelism to convert people. Rather, the aim of evangelism is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, and conversion is one part of that process."
"All Christians are called to bear witness in all places because Christ died for all persons."
"[L]ove is the chief criterion for the adequacy of evangelism."
"[T]o feed someone without inviting them to become a Christian is to fail to love them fully. Conversely, to invite someone into Christian discipleship without attending to their social, political, and physical needs is to fail to love them fully."
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