Product Description

Everybody feels as if they should be evangelizing someone, somewhere. In fact, most of us probably feel guilty because we're not meeting our evangelism quota for this lifetime. But sharing our faith with nonbelievers can often feel like making a sales call during dinnertime: uninvited, unacceptable, and highly unlikely to get any results. Author John Shore proposes a radical solution: Maybe it's time to take the focus off evangelism. As he builds his case with sound theology, humorous insights, and "me too" moments, John suggests that we move beyond the Great Commission and start living the Great Commandment, because the only thing better than telling someone about God's love is to let them actually experience it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #800108 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Review

"Has America been effectively evangelized? Have the non-Christians in our lives already heard the Gospel? According to John Shore, yes! Calling for a cessasion of domestic evangelism (while being very clear, however, about the importance of evangelizing both to people who've never heard about Christianity, and to anyone who has first asked to hear about it), he turns his razor-sharp wit towards exposing the problems inherent with the efforts of modern evangelism. While championing the Great Commandment over the Great Commission, Shore humorously illustrates his experiences as both a non-Christian being 'evangelized' and a Christian trying to share his new-found faith. First-person testimonies from non-Christians' experiences with attempts to evangelize them are supplied to bolster his position, as are refutations of key biblical texts commonly used to support evangelism." (Strictly speaking, this isn't a "review" of the book; it's a description of the book written by Chrisitanbook.com's Evangelism Books editor.) -- Christianbooks.com

" ... a must-read not just for pastors, but for anyone who has a passion for the Gospel, yet lacks the ability to see the Church as others often see it. ... Shore succeeds in presenting a viewpoint worthy of consideration and advantageous for the growth of outreach-focused believers."-- Outreach magazine -- Outreach magazine

"John Shore helps us accept that we aren't OK, and that's OK. As with all of John's books, I'm OK--You're Not is very insightful, and very funny." --Stephen Arterburn, author of Healing Is a Choice and Every Man's Battle; founder of New Life Ministries; host of the nationally syndicated "New Life Live!" daily radio program. -- Stephen Arterburn

"This book gives me hope that Christ's church might become the church Christ intended."--Shari Llyod, co-publisher, tollbooth.org -- Shari Llyod

" .... Shore is a humorist whose work is more comedic than Donald Miller, and his appeal to Christians is more direct. Shore is preaching and teaching under the comedy, and he's very effective as a critic and motivator. Shore turns evangelism upside down and engages in just enough hyperbole to effectively make the point. Readers of this web site will recognize many of the same critiques I've made in posts like Wretched Urgency. The problem in evangelism isn't what we think. The information is there; the credibility of the Christian community isn't. ...

"Shore ends each chapter with sets of extended comments from unbelievers on what they want to say to Christians. Shore calls these sections "Ouch," and that's what they are. These unbelievers are articulate, thoughtful and way out in front of many Christians on the subject of love, respect and dialog.

"Shore appeals to Christians to ponder the nature of love, the importance of honest and mature Christian character and how relationships with non-Christians really look. Shore speaks so much common sense, and skips so much Christian-ese and predictable rhetoric that some Christians will be offended immediately. Younger, thoughtful, humble Christians who know something is very wrong will find Shore saying exactly what they've been thinking.

"This is a great book for a discussion group, and it has questions to stir up those discussions. If you let this book loose "in church," however, the response may be explosive, which would be a lot of fun. ... [An] Outstanding book to stir up thought and conversation. And a good book to show to a thoughtful unbeliever."--The Internet Monk -- Internetmonk.com

"Have you ever wondered why evangelizing doesn't work? It really doesn't matter if you're trying to convert others to Christianity, to your particular political beliefs, or any other kind of evangelizing; John Shore explains why it's so ineffective. Assuming you really want people to listen to you, he then goes on to give some practical suggestion. Along the way he says a lot of things that are important in iife in general. If you read for the "big picture", you'll get a lot more out of this book than if you only focus on the main topic. The author also shares some pretty personal stuff from his life. It takes a lot of guts to be this personal, and it's pretty useful in understanding his perspective. This book is easy to read. Though the title (and the main message) may sound critical, the author uses generous doses of humor to help the medicine go down. -- Janice Meyer, "Can I Change a Life?"

"John Shore is one of those rare writers who can make people laugh and think at the same time. Irreverantly reverant, "I'm OK -- You're Not" is a book perfect for the times we're in. Ministers should read a chapter to their congregations every Sunday. That would be the Christian thing to do, because John offers us compassionate laughter during a most uncompassionate and unfunny period of our nation's history. Non-Christians will love this book, too -- which proves John's point."--Richard Louv, bestselling author of Last Child in the Woods and Fly-Fishing for Sharks. -- Richard Louv

From the Back Cover
In our zeal for the Great Commission, have we forgotten the Great Commandment? Instead of reading the back of this book, shouldn't you be out right now evangelizing someone? It's easy to feel that way, isn't it? Like you're failing to meet your evangelism quota for this lifetime? On the other hand, let's face it: "Sharing" our faith with nonbelievers can often feel like making a sales call during dinnertime--uninvited, unacceptable, and unlikely to get any results. Author John Shore proposes a radical solution: Maybe it's simply time to take our focus off of evangelism. With humorous insights and a wealth of "me too" moments, John suggests that we shift our emphasis from fulfilling the Great Commission to really living the Great Commandment. After all, the only thing better than telling someone about God's love is letting them actually experience it.

About the Author
John Shore is a humorist, writer, and editor living in San Diego. He is the author of Penguins, Pain, and the Whole Shebang: Why I Do the Things I Do: by God, as told to John Shore, is currently coauthoring a book with Stephen Arterburn, and is a featured writer/blogger on the popular website Christianity.com. John's life as a Christian writer began the moment when, at thirty-eight years old, he was very suddenly (and while in a supply closet at his job, of all places) walloped by the benevolent hand of God.

Customer Reviews

Evangelize or love without pushing?
As you can see from the other reviews, people are very polarized over this book. Some absolutely love it, while others abhor it. It is very polarizing because it tells Christians to love neighbors without being so forceful about it. The author recommends to get to know non-Christians instead of simply telling every non-Christian you know that they need to be Christian.

If you think that evangelizing is the most important thing a Christian can do, then you will dislike this book. If you are uncomfortable evangelizing or think Christians need to be more loving to non-Christians, you will like it. The author does not make many points that are overly persuasive, so you will likely leave the book thinking the same things that you thought before reading it.

Since everyone else just wants to argue over Christian theology, I will stay away from that and focus on the book itself. I thought the author was hard to read because his writing was very choppy. It had no flow. Although he probably would have been very funny in person, I found many of his jokes not all that funny in book form. Personally I did not find the book all that good even though I agree with a lot of the author's general principles

Negative reviewers just don't get it
After reading negative reviews, I'm wondering if those reviewers even read the book at all. The author is not saying to not evangelize those who haven't heard the Gospel. His point is that most people in America have already heard it ad nauseum, so shoving it down their throats is unnecessary, ineffective and--most of all--unloving. In addition, he does not say that we shouldn't evangelize those who HAVE heard the Gospel. In fact he gives tips on how to do that at the end of the book. Finally, his suggestions and methods are not a cop-out as some have suggested. They are a call to truly love others as Christ intended.

Now, to my actual review: while his writing style can be hard to get used to initially, the points he makes are very salient and challenging. It has really helped me see how I have hurt people and pushed them away over the years under the guise of evangelizing them. In addition, I feel more free to love others than I ever have in my twenty-five years as a believer.

A funny Christian
John Shore could have condensed his message into half as many pages, but then we'd have missed out on a lot of the fun. This very readable book offered me, a "Normie", a real glimpse into what Christians regard as so swell about being Christian. The discussion questions a the ends of the chapters are more than though-provoking, and the Ouch sections from other "Normies" couldn't be better to illustrate his point. I doubt this live-and-let-live movement will sweep the planet anytime soon, but maybe a few people will understand each other better. (And isn't that the point?)