PREPARING THE WAY:
How to Communicate the Gospel to the
Local People Who Speak Our Language
But Never Go To Church
By John Delius
Self Published: free pdf or paid print from
john.delius@psmail.net
The author wrote this booklet to help us communicate effectively with secular unbelievers.
It addresses the problem of ‘non-communication’, cross-cultural preaching, confronting postmodernism, using apologetics and then supporting converts in their new Christian life. It is relatively short – just 64 pages – with a few illustrations and photographs. It reflects the author’s lifetime of Christian service, some outside of the UK.
Entering their world
I wholeheartedly agree with the central argument: we need to connect with people’s current thinking by using language and situations they understand. Striving to enter their world is cross-cultural even if they also speak English. With humour, the author warns us against assuming too much or speaking Christianese. Absolutely!
However, there was a lack of clarity from the author on his target reader and situation. He assumed that our main unreached people group are everyday British working-class folk. Not where I serve. And he assumed the reader’s church would be rather staid and old fashioned. Not where I serve. Yet we still struggle to engage with any of the many strongly secular unbelievers around us!
More puzzling to me however – given the book’s subtitle – was the absence of any thinking on how to communicate the gospel outside of our structured church services. I was hoping to find a reasoned outreach approach to those who never go to church, but found a collection of wise suggestions for reinvigorat-ing church services. Perhaps that was the author’s aim? There certainly were some helpful insights and innovative ideas.
