A New and Ancient Evangelism: Rediscovering the Ways God Calls and Sends - Paperback

by Judith Paulsen (Author)

Christianity Today 2025 Award of Merit (Apologetics / Evangelism)

2025 Annual Word Awards Finalist (Academic)

"An engaging narrative packed with the kind of wisdom that, if heeded, could truly turn the world upside down."--Christianity Today

Evangelism has a bad reputation. It's been loaded with sales tactics, market analysis, and high-pressure psychology, an approach that often flattens other cultures and dishonors those we want to reach. Evangelizers are encouraged to believe that everything depends on their understanding of the gospel and their powers of persuasion. No wonder so few people want to get involved in sharing the faith.

This book recovers the ancient tradition of the church's evangelism, rooted in the conversion stories of the Bible, to offer a truly biblical understanding of evangelism. Drawing on twenty-five years of experience teaching evangelism to laypeople and ministry students, Judith Paulsen shows that God uses ordinary people of faith within their everyday spheres of influence to draw people to himself. She helps readers share the good news in a way that is authentic, respectful, and ideally suited to the cultural dynamics of today's world. Above all, she places the real work of evangelism where it belongs: with the God who is still at work calling people to himself.

This book will be a valuable resource for professors and students in evangelism, discipleship, and missional theology courses as well as pastors and church leaders. Discussion questions are included.

Back Jacket

"A thoughtful and theological approach that equips people for witness"

In A New and Ancient Evangelism, Judith Paulsen explains that God uses ordinary people of faith within their everyday spheres of influence to draw people to himself. She offers a truly biblical understanding of evangelism that is ideally suited for sharing the good news in our current cultural context.

"Whether used as a textbook for courses in evangelism, as a study guide for small groups, or as a helpful catalyst for individual Christians, I believe this book will help equip the church for its mission of introducing people to Jesus and the life that can only be found in and through him."
--Ed Stetzer, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

"We are in sore need of a fresh examination of evangelism. A New and Ancient Evangelism is that foundational text. Comprehensive, engaging, profoundly theological. Read Paulsen's book and become awakened to what God is doing all around you in bringing the world to himself."
--David Fitch, Northern Seminary, Chicago; author of Faithful Presence

"Paulsen reignites our passion for evangelism. By showing that the conversion stories of the Bible offer a relational model for sharing the good news, A New and Ancient Evangelism invites Christians to freely participate in God's redemptive work by investing in respectful and compassionate relationships."
--Marilyn Draper, Tyndale Seminary

"I'm one of those people Paulsen identifies at the beginning of this wonderful book: not interested in a book on evangelism. But I read on and was amazingly rewarded. This is a book on evangelism I am more than happy to recommend."
--Alan James Roxburgh, The Missional Network

"Paulsen draws on her many years of teaching evangelism to offer a thoughtful and theological approach that equips people for witness, using stories of conversion from Scripture. A gift to those in both the church and the academy."
--Ross A. Lockhart, Vancouver School of Theology

Author Biography

Judith Paulsen (DMin, Fuller Theological Seminary) has served for over a decade as professor of evangelism at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario. She previously directed the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe. A daughter of missionaries, Paulsen lived her early childhood years in northwest India. She served for 15 years as a priest in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto and currently works with congregations and denominational groups across North America to cultivate a richer understanding of, and enthusiasm for, the calling of evangelism.