Full of practical and inspirational ways of sharing the gospel
Jeremy Marshall was one of the most remarkable men I have ever had the privilege of knowing.
His father, John, was a pastor whose idea of a good summer holiday was to bundle Jeremy, his three sisters, and their mum into an old estate car packed with Bibles to smuggle into Communist Eastern Europe in the 1960s and 70s. Those dangerous childhood sorties seemingly engraved a passion on young Jeremy’s heart to reach people with the gospel – a passion that stayed with him until his death last year in 2023.
Nearly ten years ago, whilst CEO of the UK’s oldest private banks, C. Hoare & Co., Jeremy was diagnosed with incurable cancer and given months to live. In the event, the Lord spared him to use his last decade to become the most natural and effective personal evangelist I have ever known. He was simply full of a heart to pass the good news to others in a natural and winsome manner.
In the ‘extra time’ the Lord granted Jeremy, he spoke at hundreds of church events, sharing his hope in the face of death. In addition, he engaged in dozens of one-on-one personal conversations, particularly sharing the Bible with City business colleagues. To have something to give people, seven years ago he wrote Beyond the Big C, weaving his testimony into a very readable explanation of the gospel.
Scattering Seeds of Hope was written by Jeremy (co-authored by Mary Davis) in his final months. It therefore carries an implicit weight and urgency.
Jeremy rehearses practical, simple ways he learned along the way as he shared the gospel with so many people.
The core chapters of the book focus on power - namely, the power of stories, of questions, of weakness, of social media, of prayer and the Holy Spirit, and of God’s Word. The final chapter is a short but heartwarming encouragement to daily rehearse the miracle of salvation.
The book concludes with a focus on our own stories, with the encouragement that the easiest story to tell is of how you came to Christ, what convinced you to trust him, and why you love him.
Jeremy has left us with a short book full of practical and inspirational ways of sharing the gospel.
The content lends itself to numerous ways of encouraging one another to “scatter gospel seed”. It would make a great short series for small groups or could be read together and discussed at staff or leadership team meetings. And of course, it could simply be put in the hands of individual church members to equip and inspire them to evangelism.
Trevor Archer, FIEC
Scattering Seeds of Hope
So who among us are comfortable doing evangelism? ‘Not many of us,’ is probably the answer. Why else would our good friend Jeremy Walker have written a piece in the November edition of ET entitled ‘Scared to evangelise’? Cue another Jeremy – Jeremy Marshall this time, whose insights and heart are in this book. And we owe a debt to Mary Davis for ensuring that we can have this book in our hands today. Why? Because this Jeremy is now with the Lord, whose name he did so much, while on earth, to make known to sinners.
Chris Hand
A precious gift to the Church
I had the great privilege of knowing the author for a short while before he went to be with Lord last year. Jeremy Marshall was one of the most gracious and godly men that I have ever met, a natural evangelist, he had a gentle and gracious way of sharing his faith that was very effective. In the pages of his evangelism guide - a final gift to the church before he went to be with the Lord, Jeremy walks us through why and how we should share our Christian faith with others.
The book itself is divided up into ten short chapters full of spiritual encouragement and practical helps, it is a bit like having your own personal evangelism mentor!
At the beginning of the book, the author encourages the reader that even if they aren’t a natural evangelist they can still be very effective in sharing their faith. He then moves on to explore how we begin a conversation about faith - the “scattering of seeds” into the interactions that we have with people around us.
Jeremy also explores the different sources of power in our personal evangelism, with different chapters focusing on the power in: stories, questions, our own weakness, enthusiasm, our use of social media, prayer and the Holy Spirit and of God’s Word. In the final chapter, we are brought to the miracle of salvation and Jeremy closes with such a beautiful and encouraging testimony of how God used him right at the end of his life to bring a lost soul to Christ.
There is so much wisdom and help packed into this wonderful little book encouraging all Christians to share their faith, whether they have the gift of evangelism or not:
“But evangelism, even if it is done in a faltering way, will help our discipleship because it is an essential part of the expression of our faith. In short, we see that the power is not in us but in the word.” (p63)
*Disclaimer: 10ofThose kindly provided me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
Bible Books
