As a part of my PhD program at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, I am enrolled in a colloquium that examines contemporary issues in evangelism and apologetics. The reading for this class has been great, but one of the best books I have read so far (maybe ever) for conversational apologetics and evangelism is Tactics by Gregory Koukl.
Koukle does a great job of showing how to tactfully manage dialogue so as to get one’s Christian points of view across without being argumentative or angry. He reminds readers that the ultimate goal of personal evangelism and apologetics is not to win an argument, but rather to see others come to Christ and often that takes place as a result of a series of encounters that involve discussion about the Christian faith, Koukl writes:
I never set out to convert anyone. My aim is never to win someone to Christ. I have a more modest goal…all I want to do is put a stone in someone’s shoe. I want to give him something worth thinking about, something he can’t ignore because it continues to poke at him in a good way…As an ambassador for Christ, you don’t have to hit a home run in every conversation.
Koukl also goes out of his way to give some very practical advice to counter common questions in evangelism and apologetics pointing out that many arguments by non-Christians are logically suicidal. Some examples of these statements that “fail to meet their own criteria of validity” (with Koukls responses) include:
-There is no truth (is this statement true?)
-There are no absolutes (Is this an absolute?)
-You can only know the truth through experience (what experience taught you that truth?)
In short, I would heartily recommend this book. In fact, I plan to use it as a text for a conversational evangelism class within my own church and believe that you too could find it very helpful in the same setting.
