We don’t have to talk about Jesus, we get to!
“But I’m not sure how to go about it Jonathan!” As one of my favorite quotes is from G. K. Chesterton said it once, “Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Badly.”
Here are some tips that perhaps will help us with us in order to have a Gospel Conversation.
Storing: Three stories
1. Their Story: Ask a person his / her story!
Instagram for instance is just telling the best story of themselves. That’s what it is. People are desperately wanting to be heard and known. What an opportunity for us to share that the God of the universe and Creator and Redeemer of our Soul who longs to know our story and sharing the greatest story!
I call this the “21st century Church visitation for the next generation” Simply meeting at coffee shops, as today, people often meet not at homes but elsewhere even at restaurants.
2. Your Story
This gives then the next opportunity for us to share Share our story, the story of God’s grace and truth forever changing our lives. (Testimony)
3. God’s Story
This leads to the last and final story, the story of the gospel. This opens the door for us to share the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ and opportunity for them to ponder upon it.
Approach the Heart
“What does that even mean? How do you approach the heart?” We must see specifically see in these three sphere that will allow us to understand the holistic approach of one’s heart
Some are thinker Orthodoxy (Intellect)
Some are doers Orthopraxy (Practice)
Some are feelers Orthopathy (Emotion)
In essence you are in the category of;
Thinkers: (Presbyterian Theologian)
Doer: (Baptist Missionary)
Feeler: (Charismatic raising hands person)
When we have the combination of two without;
If you got only a thinker / doer, you are a Pharisee!
If you got only a doer / feeler, you are a Liberal!
If you got only a thinker / feeler and not a doer, you’re a monk!
If you’re a monk, you are simply sitting in a monastery and not doing anything. We functionally just hang out and do life with just church people and no engagement with the world. That is terrible and a tragic!
I find myself often telling students who are seminarians to, ”Stop reading your book! Go hang out and witness to people.” Give up being “Sophisticated”, but instead be faithful and engaging. All sphere of balance is crucial.
Who to talk to? Your Friend!!!!
Religious groups of all kinds roam through neighborhoods, searching for converts. Their missionaries knock on doors, eager to tell us that we are lost and that we need their particular beliefs to find God. How do you feel when you open the doors to one of these missionaries? Do you feel excited and eager to hear what they have to say?
Open to friends: Despite their negative opinions about the institutional church, most unchurched people are open to discussing spiritual matters with a friend. The research showed that:
The first few minutes of conversation set the tone.
We do not come to “make the sale,” “close the deal,” or “force a decision.” The old saying remains true: “They own’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.”
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78 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to listen to someone who wanted to talk about their Christian beliefs. The number rose to 89 percent among adults 18-29 years of age.
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78 percent of adults 30 years and older said they would enjoy an honest conversation with a friend about religious and spiritual beliefs, even if they disagreed with the friend.
“Even though the unchurched have a confused view of God and a negative view of the church, they are overwhelmingly open to someone sharing about their Christian faith,” Stetzer said.
“We think religion is a topic that is off-limits in polite conversation, but unchurched people say they would enjoy conversations about spiritual matters.”
Anything we care about we will do it more and more. It sure is the devil telling us that we are not going to get better so we simply just move on.
As Alvin Reid said it once, “Lost people are more amazed by our silence than us offending them with the message.”
God can use a terrorist in the early church (Apostle Paul), he can use a terrorist even today (YOU)!