Books on Evangelism
In the autumn of 2025, Ross Lockhart of St. Andrew’s Hall at UBC came to St. George’s to offer a workshop on evangelism. As part of his presentation, he cited from several books, six of which are included below.
Pope-Levison, Priscilla. Models of Evangelism (Baker Academic, 2020)
Aware of the uneasiness many Christians have towards evangelism, Pope-Levison, Professor of Ministerial Studies at Perkins School of Theology, presents eight models of evangelism that have proven to be successful at various times and in various places. The more familiar models include one-on-one personal evangelism, evangelistic Bible studies, visitations, revival meetings, and church planting. Less familiar models include evangelism through the worship of the church, working for social justice, and using modern media. After assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each model, she identifies five characteristics of good evangelism, whichever model is used: expressions of hospitality, based on relationship, demonstrations of integrity, articulations of the good news of the gospel, and rooted in a church. Walter Brueggemann of Columbia Theological Seminary writes: “The familiar faces of evangelism are hot, coercive mantras and cool, manipulative marketeering. Priscilla Pope-Levison will have none of that! Instead, she provides a rich, comprehensive taxonomy of the various speres of evangelism, each of which reaches out in hospitable ways to different populations.”
Osmer, Richard R. The Invitation: A Theology of Evangelism (Eerdmans, 2021)
Formerly Professor of Mission and Evangelism at Princeton Theological Seminary, Osmer presents in a more weighty volume an understanding of evangelism as an alternative to what might be called “conversionism”—the view that evangelism is the effort of an individual to persuade someone to make a once for all, life-changing decision involving turning from sin to embracing Jesus as one’s saviour. In contrast, Osmer describes evangelism as the way the community of faith witnesses to the gospel—i.e., “the story of God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ”—a witness that is expressed by saying, by doing, and by being the gospel, a witness which forms an invitation for others to come and join the community of Jesus followers. Osmer grounds his study both in scripture and in theology, most especially the theology of Karl Barth. One of the helpful perspectives that Barth put forward was to see evangelism not just as a one-off experience, but as something that recurs throughout our lives. Osmer also offers much practical advice in reforming churches to become missionally oriented. Jason Byassee of the Vancouver School of Theology writes: “Richard Osmer has written the definitive book on evangelism today and likely for years to come. It is biblically rigorous, theologically erudite, lucidly written, and often quite moving…. This is essential reading.”
Guder, Darrell L. Be My Witnesses: The Church’s Mission, Message, and Messengers (Eerdmans, 1985)
Darrell Guder was a Presbyterian pastor and theologian concerned with the mission of the church; towards the end of his career, he taught at Princeton Theological Seminary. In Be My Witnesses, one of his first books, Guder develops an understanding of the church’s mission, writing primarily with lay Christians in view. He divides the book into four parts: (i) Toward a Theology of the Church’s Mission; (ii) The Church’s Mandate: Be My Witnesses; (iii) Defining the Church’s Mission Incarnationally; and (iv) Becoming the Church of Incarnational Witness. Bishop William Frey of the Diocese of Colorado commented: “A superlative book … the most refreshing and challenging work on missionary theology to come out of this country.”
In this book, Stone redefines evangelism for the Western church that now finds itself on the sidelines of culture, sounding strange and irrelevant to most people. He takes issue with two forms of evangelism—trying to establish the intellectual respectability of the gospel in secular terms, and asserting the practical value of Christianity, with value being defined by a market economy. Instead, he argues that the best approach to evangelism is for a church to be a vibrant embodiment of the kingdom of God. But it will now necessarily be a church that acts and speaks from the margins of society. He defines faithful evangelism as “an invitation to be strange, to become a member of a prototypical but inevitably deviant community intended by God for the whole world…. Evangelism then does not seek ‘customer satisfaction’ but is carried out as a response to the new world that in Jesus of Nazareth has broken in and because of which things can never be the same.”
Winner of the Non-fiction (culture) category of the Canadian Writing Awards of The Word Guild in 2003, this book is written for Christians who think that evangelism is something done by weird people, not by “normal” people like them. John Bowen, professor at Wycliffe College in Toronto, presents evangelism as something that God does by inviting people into relationship, a process that we are encouraged to participate in through whatever our role may be. In the first half of the book, Bowen develops a biblically-based evangelistic mindset; in the second half he gives a clear definition of what the gospel is and addresses some of the difficult questions that often arise in connection with evangelism. Michael Peers, former Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, writes: “The book is an engaging combination of personal journey, biblical and theological grounding, and stories of real people and situations. For too many in the church, ‘evangelism’ is fraught with unnecessary anxiety; the accessibility of John’s book qualifies it for that rarest of accolades—actual help.”
This second book by John Bowen has a wider scope than simply evangelism. Here he proposes that the solution to what are often bleak visions of the future of the church is not to be found in new programs, but in a recovered vision of Jesus and his gospel. This is what will transform every aspect of life. So, beginning with a description of what the gospel is (God’s determination to make all things new through Jesus Christ), Bowen goes on to discuss discipleship, the church, evangelism, church planting, leadership, and culture (where the gospel is lived out). Cam Roxburgh, leader of Southside Community Church in Vancouver, writes: “Finally! A book for those who want to follow Jesus and are serious about inviting others to do the same. John Bowen’s background in the English Renewal Movement, his participation in all things missional in North America, and his commitment to scholarliness make this an outstanding book…. Now, this book written in his usual winsome and wonderful manner, will help many, many more live out the good news of the kingdom of God.”