More Ready than You Realize: The Power of Everyday Conversations

Get ready for something completely different. This is not an evangelistic techniques book. This is not a traditional questions-answers apologetics manual. It's not even a book about how to do "friendship evangelism". It's a book that radically alters what we think evangelism is all about. It's a book that presents an exciting new vision of what spreading Christian faith will look like in this postmodern era. McLaren even avoids using the term evangelism - with all of its connotations of confrontational street preachers, formulaic spiritual laws, or guaranteed soul-winning methodology - preferring the concept of spiritual friendships. In other words, McLaren points out that in today's postmodern world what we need is not more formulas or more hit-and-run evangelists; what we need is more Christians willing to invest the hard work of building authentic relationships with non-Christians, not for the sheer purpose of converting them, but out of genuine love and friendship. Such spiritual friendships should become places where seekers can feel free to ask hard questions of their friends without being given easy answers; where they can share their struggles without fear of condemnation; where they can have questions and doubts without being pressured for a quick decision. McLaren recognizes that coming to faith is a process, a journey, and almost never a one time event.This book is really more of an extended case study of a real life experience McLaren had with this kind of spiritual frienship. It is not a comprehensive treatise on evangelism or even a thorough study of all the implications of McLaren's approach. I'd recommend this book primarily for small group discussions where you can apply the principles he derived from this case study to your own personal situations. I'd also recommend it to anyone who is discouraged by traditional approaches to evangelism, perhaps thinking that they're really only suitable for ultra-extroverts or neo-Billy Grahams. This book gave me hope that even an introverted intellectual like myself can in fact lead people to faith in Christ.

More Ready Than You Realize  I loved this book and I've put it into the hands of all kinds of people who think they suck at evangelism. As you read about the ongoing dialogue between Alice and Brian, you see how much people honestly want to find the way, know the truth, and live the life, but they've been put off by people who don't know how to simply listen and care and understand before they speak. The email conversation part is brilliant. Since I read the book, I've been carrying on spiritual conversations via email with all kinds of people, and Christ in Me gets a chance to talk every once in awhile! Email can be a terrible waste of time, or it can be wonderfully redeemed for people who like to talk through that particular piece of pipe.

Received different version than shown, but good condition.

What intrigued me was see how the story unfolded, and although the author mention several years have occurred during their conversation it felt only a few months. Otherwise, the author brought other insights that I didn't know about evangelism, so it is an encouraging book to read.

Can you say, "evangelism"?!? Brian McLaren can! And we better develop that ability ourselves. How do you take somebody who has all sorts of opinions about what Christianity is -- and doesn't want much of anything to do with it, thank you very much -- and encourage that person to explore their deepest questions, guiding and nurturing and trusting that God is doing something here, slowly helping this person to become receptive to a message they might never have heard because of all the baggage that they bring with them to the conversation?McLaren offers a helpful little book that tells the story, mainly through lots of email conversations, of nurturing one young woman into a transformative faith experience. It's a little synecdoche about doing evangelism in the postmodern world.

This book is perfect for the everyday layman that is looking to explore their faith and how to "discuss" it with others. McLaren writes by using an ongoing dialogue he had with a young woman who was having an internal debate about whether she wanted to be - was willing to be - a Christian. He brings the reader reasonable discussion points. If you are looking for something heavy and laden with deep Biblical knowledge, you might want to keep looking. But for many, myself included, this book brought a good number of thought-provoking discussion points.

I have struggles for many years with evangelism. What does it look like? How assertive should I be? Why does it never feel right when I try to do it? Why have a never felt comfortable bringing a friend to church? Brian answers these questions by discussing how we should approach evangelism for the post-modern generation.He is critical of what we are doing wrong. He strives to be God centered. He invites you to struggle with deep issues. The writing is simple, straightforward, and honest. I think he makes some very valid points. Not everyone is a post-modern, but MRTYR contains wisdom for understanding how Jesus would love one.

Great!

Written in McLaren's easy narrative style this book explores how to do evangelism by being a spiritual friend, walking with somebody on their journey, not trying to lead but just to be there listening and caring. He illustrates this with the story of his interaction, largely through e-mails, with 'Alice', who he met briefly and who he nurtured through her struggle to faith.Richard Seel.