|
Aggressive Christianity - a book review
by
Mark Selke
The book Aggressive Christianity: A Modern Rendition of a
Revolutionary document by Catherine Booth with Corey Harrison
is a look into the aggressive Christianity evangelism
technique used by Catherine Booth while founding the Salvation
Army in the eighteen hundreds. The points she made back then
are still very relevant to our day and age and there is
something to be learned from her Evangelism techniques.
Catherine spoke a lot about adapting to the
area around to spread the gospel by as many means as possible.
Whether it was going up to random people and presenting them
with the gospel message in any way possible. Her point was
have the willingness to do what it takes to spread the gospel
and then going out and actually evangelizing. If a person is
too stuck in there way of evangelism that they are not
listening to the Holy spirit in how to evangelism then there
will be missed opportunities to reach people for Jesus.
Another major point Catherine spoke on was how
there should be urgency in each of us to reach people for God.
There are millions of people a moment away from eternity in
Hell and as Christians we should be going out there and saving
them from this incredible punishment. Urgency is something
that is missing among the church and Christians in general
evangelism should be a much higher priority then it is. Booth
goes on to explain how Christians as a whole have been doing a
poor job of spreading the gospel. She acknowledges there is a
lot of good things being done but the good being done is a
very small amount in the grand scheme of things.
The main thing that stood out to me from the
book Aggressive Christianity is how important keeping yourself
clean and being in a proper relationship with God affects our
effectiveness at evangelism. We need to live what we preach if
not we will not be taken seriously and people will just call
us hypocrites and wont’ take the message were talking about
seriously. If we claim to be changed by the power of God and
we act just like everyone else no one is going to believe in
God. In that case a look to our own personal life is likely in
order. One bad Christian influence is very destructive it is
way more destructive then many people saying there is no God.
This is because someone who claims to know God and there is no
evidence of it has a much more convincing statement then those
people who go around claiming there’s no God. A major point in
making sure your ready for evangelism is to realize we can’t
do it on our own and we need God’s help. That is why letting
the Holy Spirit work in and through is so important to
spreading the gospel. If it wasn’t for the work of the Holy
Spirit the kingdom of God would not be as strong as it is
today.
What this book has taught me in regards to how
to evangelize is that I need a renewed urgency in reaching
people for Jesus. It has given me a good reminder on how close
so many people are to going to hell. I also am reminded of how
in everything I do I should try to be more aware of the
opportunities to share the gospel with others. Another thing
that will affect how I evangelize is how I prepare myself
spiritually before going out and advancing the kingdom. If I
am not sensitive to what the Holy Spirit wants me to do then
my efforts are going to be wasted because what man can do on
effort alone is very small but with God’s help we are capable
of great things. The last thing that affected me from this
book is how adapting to situations to do what God wants is
important I should avoid letting my selfish pride get in the
way of God’s work in me.
|
