by Randy Siever

Got Style?  Personality-based evangelism, by Jeffrey A. Johnson
Judson Press, 2009; 168 pages, including a ton of references, charts and graphs.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I was asked by the publisher to read this book and participate afterward in a “virtual book tour.” (I’d never heard of a virtual book tour before). I was asked to participate, I suppose, because Doable Evangelism was sort of included in the book via Jim Henderson’s “Evangelism Without Additives,” which is currently our textbook here in DE Land. They bribed me to participate with a free book offer, which I’m always a sucker for. I agreed to give it a read and then write up a review of it for our website.  Here you go.

First Impressions.  The cover and title were…well, less than inspiring, frankly.  If I were shopping for a book on evangelism, I probably would have passed this one over.  “Got Style” is the authors brand, but honestly it reminded me too much of the more famous “Got Milk?” campaign.  And a guy in a suit doing a handstand on a pew?  Impressive, but it didn’t do much for me in terms of making me want to pick up the book.  Just sayin’…

Second Impressions.  After reading it, I think it would be fair to say that this offering is somewhat unique in the evangelism book genre.  Rather than the typical “how to” book that tries to get you to be braver and bolder, with a peppering of success stories from a seasoned evangelist, Jeffrey Johnson takes us through a pretty decent summary of almost every version of evangelism that’s been pitched over the past decade or so.   It’s a virtual “best of” compilation.  The resource list in the back of the book covers just about everybody and every program, as far as I can tell.

He then introduces us to his own version of the personality assessment test as a tool for identifying what kind of style is natural for you. He uses six styles:  Assertive, Analytical, Storytelling, Relational, Invitational, and Incarnational.  Many of these seem to bleed over into each other in their definitions and applications, but I think that is intentional and instructive.  There is a personality/style test to take in chapter eight, which he instructs the reader to go take before you go very far in the book.  (BTW: My primary and secondary styles were assertive and analytical, but I scored in double digits in every style except invitational.  Johnson says we evangelists will probably score pretty high across the board.)

Using a personality assessment approach is not new, of course.  Almost nothing in the book is new, really.  Johnson admits this openly throughout the book, while actually citing where these kind of assessments seemed to have begun, giving credit where credit is due.  He really spans the spectrum of evangelism techniques and styles, from Bill Bright to Steve Sjogren.  This kind of complementary compilation of methodologies from such a diverse group of writers is rare (at least to me, and I read stuff like this a lot).  I mean, pitching Evangelism Explosion and Brian McLaren…in one book?  Wow.

What was refreshing to me was the consistent revaluing of some ways to do evangelism that have in recent decades been minimized, devalued and even condescended to (you know…the stuff we pitch here in DE Land).  While he is a little tough on the assertive style (appropriately, in my opinion), saying it is less effective and efficient except in specific circumstances in our culture, he fairly points out the plusses and minuses of each of the six styles he categorizes, and gives equal credence to them all.  This allows people of all personality types to find meaning and purpose in evangelism methods that fit their own style and personality, eliminating the guilt and shame so often associated with books on evangelism.  You don’t have to be anything other than what God hard wired you to be to get in the game.  This is really good news.

I also really liked his definition of evangelism:  “The simplistic and practical definition of biblical evangelism is inviting someone to meet Jesus.  Introducing someone to Jesus might be an even better definition.” (p.91-92) How one introduces a person to Jesus is not the issue or point.  That can be done in a host of ways, by anyone, in a single moment or over a period of months or even years.  It allows for the verbal and non-verbal styles to work together, or even separately.  Not an either/or dichotomy, but a both/and collaboration.  This, too, was quite refreshing.  It reminded me of the whole eye, hand, ear and foot analogy in 1 Corinthians 12, which adds some weight to the argument.

I’m all for anyone who gives credence and affirmation to the ordinary Christian’s ordinary attempts to nudge people toward Jesus.  This book may be helpful to those who are looking for just that kind of help and encouragement to get off the bench and into the game.

Do what’s doable.