Book Review: Sharing Jesus (Without Freaking Out) by Alvin Reid

When it comes to evangelism people either embrace it or not. Some will say, it is the pastor's job to that. Other would say, I am not an evangelist. Yet it is the Christian's duty and privilege to share Jesus with others. Still there are some that will be a little nervous because they fear rejection or ridicule.

In his book, Sharing Jesus (Without Freaking Out), Alvin Reid gives us eight principles which are covered one by one. Those principles, I will paraphrase from the majority of this review, teach that God has created us for His glory and to advance the gospel using whatever He has given us. If we want to share Jesus with others, we must preach to ourselves this gospel that God has given us.

Reid continues that we must be in conversation instead of doing a gospel presentation with people so we can be more real to our lost friends. We must recognize that God has placed in our neighborhoods, jobs, and circumstances of life to reach people for Christ. We must be willing to share the gospel and minister where lost people are even though it may not communicate to their specific circumstance in life and we must develop a plan to share Jesus regularly.

I appreciate some of the things that Reid said in his book. I am glad that he takes time to realize that evangelism is a challenge for some because they do not know the gospel or they have been under some legalistic teaching. I am not a fan of the subtitle of the book, which says "Evangelism The Way You Were Born To Do It." That is a nice catchy phrase if you were a word of faith preacher, which is what Reid is not. We were born in sin and rebellion. Evangelism comes out of the Spirit's work in our lives through the preaching of the gospel.

This is book is an easy read. I would not consider it as one of my go-to books on evangelism, but it is worth the time. I am not saying Reid's principles are divinely inspired, but he does make some good points. One thing he does say in the book is we don't talk about Jesus with lost people because we don't talk about Jesus with those inside the church, which is true if you think about it.

Thanks B&H Publishing Group for letting me review this book.