Don't be put off by the title. This is not just another book about evangelism. Promoting the Gospel is a significant ground-breaking treatment of the whole matter of mission. This book will set the agenda amongst us for years to come.

I do not know of any other such book that brings together such first class experience and first class scholarship. John Dickson has been passionately and effectively involved in front line evangelism for many years. He has also earned a doctorate in ancient history, specialising in early Christianity. That is why Promoting the Gospel is both a distillation of his published doctoral thesis, Mission-Commitment in Ancient Judaism and the Pauline Communities (WUNT II 159, Mohr Siebeck, 2003) and John's own evangelistic experience. It is easy to read, down to earth and yet has scholarly depth.

The central claim of Promoting the Gospel is that all Christians are called to be involved in activities which promote the gospel, but these activities are much wider than the specific task of evangelism. In this, I suspect John's conclusions would be regarded by some as controversial. However, it is with careful biblical argument that he states, "most Christians are not "evangelists" (in the biblical sense of the word) and should not be made to feel the pressure to act as if they were'. Dickson argues that "evangelism' in the Bible is not any activity that draws people towards Christ , let alone any teaching ministry based on the gospel, but that is restricted to the crucial task of "outlining the message of God's kingdom in the life, death and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus'.

But it is not the negative point which dominates the book. Dickson argues that evangelism is at the heart of the Bible's idea of mission but that, as he puts it, "proclamation of the gospel by no means exhausts the promotion of the gospel' (p.15). It is a refreshing and broad encouragement to all Christians to be involved in as many ways as they can in the great combined task of promoting the gospel.

The list of activities Dickson sees in the New Testament churches is quite wide. Christians promote the gospel with prayers ("of all the things which the New Testament mentions as gospel-promoting activities [. . .] prayer is the most frequently urged'); good deeds of the Christian community; the attractiveness of Christian behaviour; giving financial resources to those engaged in evangelism; the specific work of evangelists; the attractiveness and power of public praise of Christian community; and the appropriate and apt conversations and replies of the normal Christian. It is a refreshing and inspiring book that surprisingly, by denying that all Christians are evangelists and broadening the concept of promoting the gospel, would draw every Christian reader into the teamwork activity of promoting the gospel.

As you can see, Dickson is not afraid of knocking over any number of sacred cows. At one end of the spectrum, he decisively disposes of the common claim of popular pluralism, that "all religions are basically the same' (no doubt drawing upon his more extensive discussion in A Spectator's Guide to World Religions but going beyond it in outlining the monotheistic / universalistic foundation of gospel mission). At the other end of the spectrum, Dickson critiques a common assumption that I have noticed in many churches in the Diocese when he writes "I want to stress in the strongest terms that visitor-focused services are not an evangelistic necessity' (p140). He raises the interesting question whether dumbing down services just for outsiders may be counterproductive compared to the vibrant service looking up to God to which visitors are invited.

Although the book is brief at only 220 pages, it has a depth of inspiring material. The appendix on "What is the gospel?" alone makes the book worth buying. Dickson is able to combine the moving anecdote and the discreet scholarly footnote to make Promoting the Gospel an essential starting point for all our discussions about evangelism.

I regard Promoting the Gospel as a must-read and hope it has the widest possible circulation. I notice that Bluebottle Books is making that easy through a well written and accessible discussion guide by Simon Smart.