Reviews for Finding Common Ground: How to Communicate with Those Outside the Christian Community

The average rating for Finding Common Ground: How to Communicate with Those Outside the Christian Community based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-05-23 00:00:00 Teresa Chahine The author, an evangelical Christian who worked for Campus Crusade for Christ, raises a number of good points about communicating Christianity to non-Christians both humbly and wisely. Sometimes Christians -- depending on what circles you travel in -- have a mindset that communicating the gospel is all about "harvesting," by which the author means making a full gospel presentation resulting in the hearer confess in heart and mind that Jesus is Lord. For example, take a look at Matthew 9:37-38 and Luke 10:2: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." I used to interpret these verses to mean that the field is always ready for harvest. After reading this book, I see that Jesus in these verses may have instead been referring to a season of harvesting in his particular culture. For one thing, a field that's always ready to harvest would be unlike anything a farmer would ever encounter. There are times for sowing and times for harvesting. Secondly, the fields may be at a stage for sowing, which will be ready for harvesting in due course. Some take away points: -Essentially, the main message of the book boils down to how Christians can sow seeds, nurture the soil, and "garden" the gospel in a way that makes future harvests possible. And of course, all these activities go hand in hand. Some sow seeds, some water, some nurture the soil, and others harvest. But God makes the plant grow for He's at work throughout the whole process. -I was struck by how the Apostle Paul communicated the gospel to the non-Christians he encountered (as recorded in the book of Acts). -I liked the author's point that instead of being an "answer man," sometimes it's better to ask questions along the themes below. This approach is less confrontational, can open up conversations, and the hearer may better process the ideas than if you spouted off the Christian answer. Background: Talk about the person's background. Opinion: What do you think about that? Imagination: If you took that person's place, how would you react? Emotion: How does that make you feel? -The author also raises issues about how Christians think about "Christian" work. Is a Christian book something that's written by a Christian and informed in a general sense by this person's Christianity? Or is it only one that has specific Christian references and ideas? Could missionary work be someone with a a task of mainly "sowing seeds"? It's not how we typically think of missionary work, but I think that's the practical reality for what many missionaries do.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-06-25 00:00:00 Daniel Crew Good book about evangelism... he makes a solid case for an increased emphasis on sowing within the body of Christ. He also gives practical direction on how to view and go about the process of sowing.