Scripts for Evangelism
This evening I read a post about evangelism scripts at this blog. The main gist of the entry is of an encounter between an evangelist with a script and the author being the one evangelized.
The script came from Evangelism Explosion, a tool that has been highly useful in the past and one that can be still useful today. In following the script, the evangelist never really listened to the person’s answers. Read it your self.
As evangelists, we need a “Default setting.” A default setting is one that we have so mastered, that it is second nature to use it. A default setting enables us to explain a few points of the gospel clearly when its appropriate. A default setting allows us to be diamond clear, rather than muddy clear.
Some Default settings that I have encountered:
- How to Use the Bridge Illustration by Navigators
- Four Spiritual Laws
- Evangelism Explosion
- Do versus Done
- Romans Road
- Evangecube (video)
- Ten Commandments (Living Waters, Ray Comfort).
Each one of these can provide a script that we can use as a “default setting.” However, we still need to listen to the person we are talking to and be flexible with the script, adapting it to the context of the conversation.
I’m not saying in any of this that i’m changing the gospel, or leaving anything out. I’m being flexible in the give and take of a conversation to listen and respond, present or inquire.
Following a script can be as impersonal as calling a 1-800 number for customer service. The customer service computer has a script to follow, who cares what you really need or are really asking.
When we follow a script, we have to listen to the “customer” (don’t get carried away with my analogy) and respond appropriately with love. Conversational evangelism is sharing the good news of the gospel, not a canned product placement pitch.
See our entire series on Gospel Scripts
Let me ask you this:
Do you have a default setting you use? Can you share how you are conversationaly flexible with it?
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Hi Chris… I’ve used Evangelism Explosion’s diagnostic questions and several of their illustrations. I also find that the Bridge provides a useful means of sharing. Having said that, both and most approaches are useless unless a person is listening to the responses they’re receiving. Since I hate being railroaded in half a dozen areas of my life, I seek to use scripts that I’ve come across through the years as tools for content rather than an agenda that must be completed.
Lindsay
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