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In my August 8^th blog, I began to discuss Robert Putnam and David Campbell’s book American Grace, emphasizing their thesis that America is more pluralist and polarized than ever. The religious Americans are more religious than ever and the irreligious ones are more committed to their non-belief than ever.

Someone asked me my opinion about an article on CNN’s home page. You can read it all here: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/24/my-take-why-evangelicals-should-stop-evangelizing-2/

It’s by Carl Medearis, who believes we can have better relationships with Muslims if we stop trying to convert them and simply invite them to be “apprentices of Jesus.”

If you care about proclaiming the gospel in a secularized, gospel-hostile culture, you should know some of the lines of reasoning of Lesslie Newbigin. A long term missionary to India, Newbigin returned to his home country of England and found it to be just as “lost” as the mission field in which he had served.

The task of evangelism often includes telling our individual story along with the larger gospel story. Weaving the two together makes for a powerful articulation of God’s gracious work through all times and his specific salvific work in an individual heart – namely, yours.

In the previous blog I wrote that the paradox of evangelism is that when we remember that evangelism is impossible, we are more likely to evangelize!

Here’s the reverse of that paradox: If we think evangelism is supposed to be easy, we’re more likely to quit.