The Soul-Winning Church

My childhood pastor used to say, ‘The first thing to get cold in your body is usually your feet.’ J.A. Medders and Doug Logan remind us that the mission of God belongs to the whole church. The Great Commission is not a special calling for a few ‘special forces’ in the church; it’s something he intends for all of us. The Soul-Winning Church shows us how to be a church that lives out that calling.

Medders and Logan help churches, pastors, and ministry leaders consider how to build not just platforms for evangelism but a culture of evangelism in every aspect of the church’s ministry. In a time when partisanship and politics fill our pulpits and pews, it is time for the church to be renewed in one of her primary callings—winning souls for the person of Christ. I believe the church is on the cusp of renewal and revival, but that begins with creating a culture of evangelism, and this book is a great place from which to start.

Finally, a book that both demystifies the ministry of evangelism and practically applies the ministry to the life of a local church! The Soul-Winning Church can help your fellowship develop the postures and practices necessary for faithful sharing of the gospel outside the building.

I love the tone of this book! It’s hopeful, inspiring, and so practical. Evangelism can cause fear in the heart of every Christian, but this book provides motivation and joy, not guilt or shame. The biblical wisdom and tangible application offered on these pages will—if you let them—change your approach to evangelism, the culture in your church, and maybe even your city, if the Lord allows. May God use this book, and may he use us!

I think this will become the key book on mobilising the local church for evangelism in the English-speaking Western world over the next ten years. It’s short (I read it in one sitting). It’s crystal clear on the essential stepping stones we need in place for an evangelistic culture in the church. It’s realistic about the difficulties as we seek to mobilise the church and individuals. And it’s clear that Christ is the treasure we hold out. The authors have spent decades getting their theology and practice clear—we need to take advantage of their hard-won wisdom.

This book is not merely a manual on evangelism; it is a heartfelt plea to embrace our role as ambassadors of grace and agents of transformation. Whether you are a seasoned pastor or ministry leader or someone seeking to step out in faith for the first time, this book will inspire and empower you to make an eternal difference in the lives of those around you.

This book isn’t pushing a program or a method. Instead, it is clearly pointing to the local church as God’s method for reaching the lost. The Soul-Winning Church is a great book, and I have no doubt it will be a great resource to many. Buy it, and buy some for your church too.

Every godly pastor and planter wants their church to have a genuine gospel-sharing culture that sees souls regularly being won for Jesus. But for some leaders, it seems like a pipe dream, or it’s an area that just doesn’t seem to get any traction or something that seems to drop down the priority list. It’s because of this reality that I am so thankful that Jeff and Doug have written The Soul-Winning Church. It’s clear, gracious, and challenging, and I would encourage every church leader to read it, adopt its principles, and lead their church in the wonderful privilege and honour of sharing Christ with those who are desperate for him.

Church life is busy, and church leaders have seemingly infinite demands placed upon their finite time and energy. Being told you need to shoehorn in yet another programme or make space for yet another course can be deflating. In The Soul-Winning Church, authors J.A. Medders and Doug Logan don’t hit us with another thing to bolt onto church life. Rather, they outline a sensible, achievable, and attractive process by which to cultivate a genuine evangelistic culture in a church community. Reading and applying this book to a local congregation would do a power of good.

North America and Europe are the two continents in the world where Christianity is declining. We desperately need existing churches and new church plants to experience a renewed passion to engage cities with the gospel and reach the unreached, and so I am so thankful for this book, which takes a deep dive into the word and will inspire a new generation of churches to join in Christ’s mission of seeking and saving the lost. I highly recommend this resource to anyone wanting to join in God’s activity of expanding his kingdom locally and globally!

“For as long as I have known Doug and Jeff, they have shown a passion for reaching the least and the lost in their own communities. As faithful Christians in healthy churches, we are to work together to reach the unreached. When we do that, our church will be, by the grace of God, a soul-winning church.