Evangelism Coach

First time here? Thanks for dropping by. Get our Monthly Newsletter and get a free article on hospitality. Keep your evangelism passion high by subscribing to my Feed.

The next few posts on personal evangelism will deal with the role of the Holy Spirit in Evangelism.   

We know that God’s Spirit is at work in us as believers, training us, teaching us, and transforming us.

But, I also want to point out how the Holy Spirit prepares the way for evangelism to occur naturally.

Phillip and the Ethiopian

Consider Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.  Clearly the Spirit of God was at work in the life of the Eunuch. 

• He had gone to Jerusalem to worship.
• He was reading Scripture.
• He wanted someone to explain Scripture to him.

The eunuch had a spiritual thirst, created by the Holy Spirit, and he was busy searching to slake that thirst.  He was like the merchant looking for the fine pearl.

Easy Conversation

This was an easy conversation to for Phillip to participate in. 

He didn’t have to

• argue with a loud voice
• apologetically stand up for his faith
• use the 10 commandments as a hammer.
• verbally convince the eunuch of his sinfulness.
• spend 10,000 words arguing God’s existence.
• rationally defend against opposite worldviews.

The Holy Spirit had prepared the way.  The Holy Spirit had gone ahead of Phillip.

Both Sides of the Equation

There are two individuals involved in this story.  One seeking faith, and the other obediently positioning himself to share his faith.  Two sides of an equation.

The conversation would not have happened that day if both parties were not in the same GPS location at the same time, an encounter brought about in the sovereignty of God.

The Holy Spirit was working in Phillip and the Eunuch.  To borrow a phrase from my old algebra teacher, God was working “Both sides of the equation.”

As you do personal evangelism, notice how God is already at work in preparing the harvest field for you.  He has gone ahead of you!

Let me ask you this?

In your personal evangelism efforts, are you aware of God going ahead of you?  Are you noticing that when you are attentive to the Holy Spirit that you find those people where He is already at work?

Popularity: 28% [?]

Check out this article about the impact a Maryland church is having in its community.

Church prays for passion for the lost.

McCready and 14 others began praying in January 2002 that God would give them a passion for the non-Christians in their community. In the ensuing six years, nearly 260 people have made professions of faith in Christ.

One of their core values is prayer.  Evangelism and prayer go hand in hand.  Prayer is what fuels their growth, and keeps their evangelistic passion high. 

Here are some other articles about Evangelism and Prayer:

• Ten Prayer Points For your Friends
• Prayer and Evangelism
• Ten Devotional Questions about Your Evangelism
• Three Verses on Prayer (in a book review article)
• Take a risk and pray.
• Prayer and Evangelism (Acronym to lead your prayer)
• HEART.
• Evangelism PAINS
• Martha Reese writes about how prayer shapes the growth of a church in  Unbinding the Gospel.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Yesterday I had a conversation that simply continued into a 2 hour discussion on how to have a relationship with God.

Relational Context:

I’m translating some of my course material into Spanish, so I have a tutor who is helping me.  My tutor knows that I am a Pastor, evangelism trainer, and has helped me with translations for about 2 months.

The conversation I had was natural, not forced, nor “steered” to try and create one, but it happened naturally in the course of my ordinary life.

We were reviewing my translation of a slide about God’s unfathomable love (try translating that word).  It’s so deep that Paul prays that we might be able to grasp how wide, deep, long, is the love of God for us in Christ (Ephesians 2).

Poets, song writers, and artists have sought to explore the riches of God’s love.  I used a Spanish song quote that simply moves me to tears sometimes.

What would I be if you had not reached me?

Where would I be if you had not forgiven me? . . . .

If it wasn’t for your grace and for your love. . . . .

My tutor asks: “Why does that song move you so?”

That question opened up a 2 hour conversation about relating to God, having our sin forgiven, having his presence in our life, and all sorts of stuff.  I use the bridge illustration as my script (even if there are some shortcomings in it).

She’s not yet ready to receive Christ because of some fear, but she’s getting closer. 

Let me ask you this?

What was the last evangelistic conversation that you had?  Are you actively sharing your faith when natural opportunities occur?

Do you want one-to-one help with your personal evangelism?  Consider our Evangelism Training and Mentoring services.

Popularity: 22% [?]

I found this list of evangelism questions from Campus Crusade:

1. People invest time and energy into developing their career, their bodies and relationships, but often neglect the spiritual dimension of their lives. How do you actively pursue spiritual growth?

2. Do you think much about spiritual things? (This usually leads to conversation about what “spiritual” means–i.e. religion vs. relationship.)

3. How has this experience affected the way you look at God?

4. We’ve never had a chance to talk about your religious background. Where would you say you are in your spiritual pilgrimage?

5. I’d like to tell you how I established a personal relationship with God.

6. What is your concept of God? Do you view Him positively or negatively?

7. Have you ever come to a point in your life where you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, or do you think that is something you’re still moving toward? May I share with you how I came to that point?

8. Do you find that faith and spiritual values play a role in your (work) (day) (marriage) (perspective on life)?

9. If you could be sure there is a God, would you want to know Him? Or if you could know God personally, would you want to?

10. Bring a friend to your church or a Christian event, then ask:

• What did you think of it?
  
• Did it make sense to you?
  
• Have you made the wonderful discovery of knowing God personally?
  
• You’d like to, wouldn’t you?

11. Do you go to church? Why or why not?

12. I’d hate for you to come to my church and not understand what it’s all about. Would you want to get together and discuss our basic beliefs?

13. We’ve been friends for quite some time now, and I’ve never really talked to you about the most important thing in my life. May I take a few moments and do so?

14. Is church something that has had an influence in your life? Are you at a point now that you want church to be a bigger part of your life? What prompted this? Would you want to hear our basic beliefs so you’ll know if that fits in with what you’re looking for?

15. How do you think someone becomes a Christian?

16. Can I share the thing I’ve found most important to me as a (dad), (mom), (boss)?

17. What do you think about when you go to sleep at night?

18. Most people in America say they believe in God. What does believing in God mean to you?

19. Before I came to know Christ personally, God was a vague concept that I could not relate to or grasp. How would you describe your view of God? Jesus? Is He a reality to you or more of a vague concept?

20. If you were to die tonight are you sure you’d go to heaven? Has anyone ever explained how you can know for sure?

Source: 20 QUESTIONS

Download a PDF Version of 20 Evangelistic Questions.

Popularity: 18% [?]

I found that Intervarsity.org has a some good evangelistic questions during a reasonable conversation, broken out into groups.  Check these out:

Some sample questions. Here are some good questions that will help you move into a conversation about spiritual things. Be sure and listen carefully to their a

nswers. And be prepared to share your own answers to these same questions as well.

• Questions about CHRIST:
  • Who is/was Jesus Christ (i.e., his identity)? What do you think was significant about his life? What was he trying to accomplish (i.e., his purpose)?
  • What do you think was significant about his death?
  • A lot of people claim that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive today. What do you think?
  • How do you see Christ fitting into Christianity? (Try to separate religion from relationship.)
  • Jesus said a lot of interesting things like, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by me. What do you think he meant by these statements?
• Questions about HUMANKIND:
  • What is humankind’s reason for being? What is your purpose in life?
  • What do you think humankind’s basic problem is? Do you believe we are good or evil or both? What kind of solutions to this do you see?
  • What kind of needs do you see in the people around you? What is your deepest need?
• Questions about CHRISTIANITY:
  • How would you describe a real Christian? What exactly is it that makes one a Christian?
  • What’s been your experience with Christianity? What’s your church background?
  • What do you think it means to believe in Jesus?
• Questions about BELIEF IN GOD:
  • Why do you (or don’t you) believe in God?
  • When did God first become real to you?
  • How has your view of God changed since coming to college?
  • What do you think God is like and where are those ideas from? Is he concerned about us? What do you think God expects of us?
• Questions about their VIEW OF THE WORLD:
  • Many people say that if there is no afterlife, then life is meaningless. What do you think of life after death? How about the idea of heaven and hell? How would we get into heaven?
  • What is your basis for ethics? What absolute truths are there?
  • Why is there evil in the world?
  • What do you think sin is? (Or, how would you define sin?)
  • Would you be interested in getting together to discuss what the Bible says about the issues we’ve been talking about?

Source: Communication Skills for Evangelism - Evangelism - InterVarsity.org

The point of questions is not a have a litmus test, but to create and continue conversation.  These questions can help that process.  

Download Evangelistic Questions Conversation Starter

Print out this list of questions to use for your devotional time to reflect on your own faith.  Download your own version of “Evangelistic Conversation Starters.“  You are free to distribute or email this list as you see fit.

Popularity: 17% [?]

EvangelismCoach.org was listed as one of the

Best Christian web evangelism, outreach strategy and church ministry blogs and newsletters

Cool.

Thanks for including me in that list, and the link love it has generated!

Popularity: 11% [?]

Many of us who do personal evangelism have found useful questions or statements to help continue or start a conversation that potentially leads to a conversation about the gospel.

For example, sometimes I have asked long distance truckers:

"What to you do to take care of your soul in all that travel?"

The quality and level of their response can encourage further conversation or quickly reveal that there is no interest in talking along those lines.

We all need to have a group of questions that we use to facilitate a discussion about faith.
 

Let me ask you this?

What conversation starters have you used to help gauge a person’s interest in further spiritual conversation?

Feel free to share.

Popularity: 20% [?]