And Some Evangelists
By Roger Carswell
A book about evangelists by Roger Carswell can be likened to a book about tennis by Pete Sampras! For many years Roger has been widely used by God as an evangelistic work of many FIEC churches, so this book is written by an authority on the subject.
Roger is a man with a vision; he pleads for 'the setting aside of gifted believers to be devoted to the full-time work of evangelism, in the same way that pastors and missionaries are appointed for their task. They will spearhead evangelistic activity in their locality and beyond' (page 91). He sets out a simple plan of action for churches to realise this vision. They should pray for more evangelists, identiy people for the work, train them, use them, pray for them, and support them. Each stage is carefully explained with practical suggestions.
The book begins with the question burning on Roger's heart - "where have all the evangelists gone?". Then he takes us back to the Bible to look at evangelism in the Old Testament, Christ the evangelist, the Holy Spirit as an evangelist, New Testament evangelists and biblical pictures of the evangelist. He moves on to a brief historical sketch of evangelists in church history before he sets out the vision at the heart of the book. In the second half Roger looks at more specific areas such as the Bible and the tract as tools in evangelism, work with children, contentious issues and temptations evangelists face.
Although this book is primarily about evangelists, it provides a lot of useful ideas which will make us more effective in reaching the world. Roger suggests we make use of our junk mail by returning prepaid envelopes with tracts inside them! And he helps us think about how we can create an evangelistic programme, which will relate to peopl ewho have little or no knowledge of Christianity. He also challenges us to move out of our 'comfort zones' and make 'cold contact' with people outside our own circle of firneds. Roger's ideas are neither traditional nor gimmicky; they are biblical and relevant to our society.
This book also has a useful chapter about the message of the gospel, reminding us of the centrality of the cross and the importance of preaching about sin and calling for repentance and faith.
The book "and some ... evangelists" is one which comes from the heart, is grounded in the word of God, and leaves us with a clear challenge to set people apart for the work of evangelism. My prayer is that it will result in more people coming to Christ. Every church member should read it!
SIMON ROBINSON
pastor of Eastney Evangelical Church, Southsea