How to Bring Up The Gospel With A Friend By Brent Knox

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[blonde]

How to Bring Up The Gospel With A Friend
By Brent Knox

Perhaps the greatest challenge of sharing the good news about Jesus with a friend is to naturally bring up the subject. How do you make a transition from the Vikings to Jesus? It seems like natural bridges from every day conversation to spiritual things never come. And then years can go by without talking about Jesus at all! 
Several weeks ago, I felt compelled to talk about my faith with a neighbor. But how?  Every time I see him our spouses are also present. These social occasions never seem the right time or place to bring up spiritual issues.  I felt compelled, but I also felt perplexed.

Then I remembered an old evangelism training program from many years ago. I learned how to draw out the gospel on a piece of paper. I dug up my old materials and re-learned it. Then I phoned my neighbor and asked, “Hey, Bob (not his real name), I am working on an informal presentation that explains an overview of the main points of the Bible. I need to show it to someone outside of my church so I can find out if it is understandable to someone outside of my church. I find that many people understand the Bible in sound bites but don’t really grasp the main points. Would you be willing to be my guinea pig?” I was asking him to help me. Because of our friendship, he was willing to do me a favor, so he said, “Sure.”

A couple of days later, I came over to his house and I sketched out a presentation of the gospel on a sheet of paper. It was designed to be interactive and drawn one step at a time. We had a great time. He was not persuaded, but I think he understood the gospel better. He gave me feedback.

At Evergreen, we will begin this evangelism training in January. Stay tuned for details.  If you join this training, you will learn a method that will help you bring up the gospel to friends. You can ask them for help! And most people respond very well. You can actually make appointments and have purposeful conversations about Jesus.

[LucyB]

In Matthew 12, Jesus said, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Our Lord taught that when people speak--and especially when they speak without thinking--they are revealing their true CHARACTER.  I find it odd, then, to teach that the only qualification for leadership is to be a man of good character while excusing those who preach cruel or false things.

This made me think of Cossette's post on the other thread, so I brought it forward. Hope she doesn't mind. 

[Inside]

For a movement that evangelizes actively, it's not surprising that they have evangelism training. Tools and tricks are shared that make it easier for people to evangelize in such a way that the people they are evangelizing to feel like the topic just happened to turn in that direction.

Last year, Bill Young did a personal 40 day evangelism challenge and chronicled it on a blog.

[Grace Abounding]

Is deception an allowed practice if your goal is to evangelize?

[AgathaL'Orange]

I'm uncomfortable with "tricks" as well.  We used to do "surveys" for GC and Campus Crusade, and I'm not sure the results were ever tabulated or used in any way.  I always felt like I was being deceptive asking people to take a survey, when we were actually witnessing and knew that would turn them off.

I don't think God needs gimmicks.  We should spread the word, but honestly in a "I have something wonderful to share with you" way.  Even if it turns people off.  The bait and switch, in my opinion, is dishonest.  I led lots of people to the Lord this way, but somehow I still feel guilty having done it that way.

[Huldah]

I'm uncomfortable with "tricks" as well.  We used to do "surveys" for GC and Campus Crusade, and I'm not sure the results were ever tabulated or used in any way.  I always felt like I was being deceptive asking people to take a survey, when we were actually witnessing and knew that would turn them off.

I had completely forgotten about that. Come to think of it, I even had a conversation with one of the brothers about it once. When I pointed out that we didn't actually do anything with the survey results, he claimed that he kept track of them just for his own personal interest. It was just one more frustrating instance of trying to discuss a genuine misgiving, but having my concerns dismissed out of hand.

To be fair, the survey idea wasn't unique to GC. It was a bit of a fad among evangelicals in the late 70's. We did door-to-door surveys  as part of the interdenominational "Here's Life" campaign before I ever joined Solid Rock.

[blonde]

I recall Mark Darling saying or quoting the verse Matt 10: 16 about evangelism: "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves."

He suggested it was OK to decieve people to come to church, use PR in the sermon and then a Gospel message at the very end as the kicker for the reasons for success in his sermons principles, meaning that to have a successful family sermon series was all practical, no Bible verses and at the last sermon, you have to have Jesus to have what he was talking about.

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

[MidnightRider]

He suggested it was OK to decieve people to come to church, use PR in the sermon and then a Gospel message at the very end as the kicker for the reasons for success in his sermons principles, meaning that to have a successful family sermon series was all practical, no Bible verses and at the last sermon, you have to have Jesus to have what he was talking about.

A bit of wisdom from an elder at a non-GCx church I attended a few years ago: The method you use to draw people into your church will determine what kind of church you have.

[MidnightRider]

I'm uncomfortable with "tricks" as well.  We used to do "surveys" for GC and Campus Crusade, and I'm not sure the results were ever tabulated or used in any way.  I always felt like I was being deceptive asking people to take a survey, when we were actually witnessing and knew that would turn them off.

I don't think God needs gimmicks.  We should spread the word, but honestly in a "I have something wonderful to share with you" way.  Even if it turns people off.  The bait and switch, in my opinion, is dishonest.  I led lots of people to the Lord this way, but somehow I still feel guilty having done it that way.

I took an early version of this evangelism class. Learned how to do the survey and the 45-minute diagram presentation. We were sent into the college dorms to practice with a mentor.

I was terrible at it. I really lacked the people skills. On top of that, I had the same misgivings as AgLO about asking people to do a "survey".

One of our deacons (later an elder) once wondered out loud to me if there was eventually going to be some payback for this. He was concerned that a few years down the road, we would be known as the "survey-taking cult" after word got around that the survey was just a foot-in-the-door technique.

[edited to fix typo.]

[blonde]

I'm uncomfortable with "tricks" as well.  We used to do "surveys" for GC and Campus Crusade, and I'm not sure the results were ever tabulated or used in any way.  I always felt like I was being deceptive asking people to take a survey, when we were actually witnessing and knew that would turn them off.

I remember doing that, and that was pre-ECC called Great Commission Church of South Minneapolis!  It was a bait-and-switch....did anyone else do that?

[BTDT]

We used to do "surveys" for GC and Campus Crusade

I remember doing that, and that was pre-ECC called Great Commission Church of South Minneapolis!  It was a bait-and-switch....did anyone else do that?

Yep.  We lived in a huge apartment complex, and we saw great, white fields ready for harvest.  I felt awkward about the deception at first, but got Matthew 10:16'd, and that appeased my conscience.

In fact, surveying in those apartments is how I got "got".  I had just moved out on my own, and was starting to look for a church, when 2 guys from GCC came to my door "surveying".  Though I was cautious -- I wouldn't let them in -- I was glad to meet some Christians, and they invited me to a discussion group they had just started in our apartment complex.   I went, and that's where it all began.

[Huldah]

I felt awkward about the deception at first, but got Matthew 10:16'd, and that appeased my conscience.

LOL, I just got this mental image of a couple of woolly sheep at someone's door with notepads and pens, taking a survey.

[LucyB]

Matthew 10:16 (New International Version, ©2010)

   16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

[BTDT]

LOL, I just got this mental image of a couple of woolly sheep at someone's door with notepads and pens, taking a survey.

It wasn't quite that baaaaaaad.    They sure pulled the wool over my eyes, though. I feel quite sheepish about it now.

That should be enough to reveal my identity to anyone who knows me, so I may as well start signing my real name.  
-Ed-

[Grace]

Matthew 10:16 (New International Version, ©2010)

   16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

The funny thing is that this verse isn't even about getting the gospel out. In context, it is about persecution.

[GC No More]

Matthew 10:16 (New International Version, ©2010)

   16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

The funny thing is that this verse isn't even about getting the gospel out. In context, it is about persecution.

A lot of verses are often used out of context to make some point or the other. Messages at weekend and campus services are often loaded with scripture to back up the speaker's points, but more often than not they are verses that are taken out of context. I think that is more because of ignorance than the intent to deceive, but what it does is that apart from making people think that the bible condones or condemns certain things, it also encourages other believers to also start taking verses out of context in their daily lives.

[Huldah]

When I was at GC, many of the saints operated on what I call, "bold-print exegesis". You'd be reading along in your Bible, with some personal problem at the back of your mind, and suddenly a phrase would jump out at you, "as if it were in bold print!" This would be God's command or promise to you, even though it was clearly taken out of context.

For example, while I was deciding whether to move into the sisters' house, I came across a verse in the Psalms where the phrase, "dwell in the house of the Lord," just seemed to leap out at me. I took this as God's leading to move in with the sisters. Moreover, the deacon from whom I sought counsel heartily agreed, even though I was taking the verse so far out of context I was practically in heresy. But that poor deacon had no theological training of any kind. It was probably a difficult spot for him to be in, with people putting so much trust in his opinions when he was so unprepared for that kind of responsibility. It was the blind leading the blind.

[BTDT]

When I was at GC, many of the saints operated on what I call, "bold-print exegesis". ...

Huldah, that is so true, and I love your term for it. It was often mixed in with our "get a verse" mentality -- got a problem, go get a verse on it.  That often led us to draw conclusions that weren't even close to being in the Scripture we were reading. 

As I wrote about Jim in another thread, we often mistook our own inner voice for the voice of the Holy Spirit.
-Ed-

[Grace]

The church I used to go to, people would claim verses for different situations in their life.