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.

One of the questions that I have received frequently via “Ask Evangelism Coach” has been on the role of the Holy Spirit in Evangelism.

That as a topic is broad, so I’ll begin a series of posts on that topic.   Here is an older post I wrote: Role Of The Holy Spirit In Evangelism that speaks of the actual conversation moment.

Prepare the way

The focus of this post will be on the work of the Holy Spirit in your life before you came to faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus makes this claim: “No one comes unto me unless the Father draws him.” 

That drawing, that wooing is accomplished by the activity of the Holy Spirit.

To use the cultivation imagery as found the in the New Testament, one might say the Holy Spirit prepares the soil, waters the seed, and prepares the seed for harvest. 

Various tools

Think about your own conversion journey.  Or if you don’t have a season in time where you know you became a Christian, think about the early influences upon your life that shaped your faith.

• How many individual conversations about God did you have?
• How many different individuals helped you talk about your faith while exploring Christianity?
• How many different sermons did you hear?
• Where there songs, art, poetry, or music that moved you to explore Christianity more?
• Did you have some late nights pondering life issues such as is there life after death, how do you find meaning, how can you ?
• How many times did you look at the beauty of nature and wonder about the nature of God?

As I have coached people in developing their personal faith story or testimony, I have seen a few common tools that the Holy Spirit uses to draw people to Jesus.

1.  Conversations

These conversations between friends, and sometimes between strangers, add up over the course of time. 

Some people can point to specific conversations that set them on a journey to find the truth about Jesus, or presented plausible explanations for their questions.  

Some people can point to several conversations that had a cumulative effect of helping them deciding to follow Jesus.

Individually, these conversations may not cover all topics related to a faith journey, but over a period of time, they gather the collective weight to help one examine the Christian faith and make an intelligent and informed choice to follow Jesus.

I think of causal conversations over a bar-b-que at a picnic, friendly chatter at a stay at home dad’s group, or casual chit-chat while playing golf.  

In your life, you might be able to recall several individual conversations that eventually pointed you to faith in Christ.

2.  God’s self revelation

God sometimes will reveal Himself in some way to the person seeking to find Him. 

This might come in the form of an answered prayer, a clear act of guidance, or an encounter in worship.  This might come while reading the Bible for the first or second time, or while admiring the beauty of nature.  

In my journey to faith, there were two distinct moments where I was aware of God’s self-revelation.  One was an answered prayer, and the other was the night I decided to follow Jesus with my life.

I have coached people (see: Do you Need Evangelism coaching?) who have similar stories, where a self-revelation of God is part of their journey to faith, often helping the individual discover that God is not only real, but wants to be involved in their life.

3.  Contemplations or Reflections

I am convinced that many go through times in their life when their brain mulls over spiritual things. 

• What happens when I die? 
• How can I find peace in the face of death? 
• How can I know forgiveness? 
• How can I find purpose and direction in life? 
• Is life here on earth meaningful, or purposeless?

These life questions pop into our minds from time to time.  Sometimes during major life transitions, other times when things seem the be falling apart.   They come when one is backpacking up a mountain and takes in the vista from the peak.  They come when on a small boat, out in the middle of the Pacific ocean under the star light sky when the moon is not out.

These questions burden our soul and sometimes keep us awake at 2 in the morning.  Other times, they dance in our brain as when we feel the need to think about life at that level.

I am convinced that the Holy Spirit uses these contemplations to point out our spiritual yearnings, our desire to connect with God, and our desire to participate in God’s plan for our life.

4.  Sermons

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include the proclamation of the Word of God. 

I have met many people that started going to church because of the first three tools here.  A small diet of excellent preaching is often used by the Holy Spirit to help people discover their faith.  The Holy Spirit empowers the preaching to communicate to the deep areas of the human heart.

Let me ask you this?

What would you add to this list?  What helped you come to faith in Christ? 

Share it with us in the comment section below.  I’d like to come up with a list of 10 and could use your help.

Today’s guest post is from Robert Shaw, Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Winfield Indiana.  I’ve met Robert at the Evangelism Conference for the PCUSA last year, and ran into him again at the transformation pastors conference that just ended in St. Pete’s Beach in FL.

He shares with us some of the things that he does as pastor in a local church to help folks with evangelism.

___________________________________

Breathing Exercises

by the Reverend Robert Shaw¹

Sharing the gospel is as easy as breathing. But then I also find swimming just as easy.

For many mainline Christians being asked to share the good news of Jesus Christ is as scary as being thrown off the end of a pier without the benefit of swimming lessons. But like swimming, once one knows when and how to breath sharing the gospel is easy and the end of the pier becomes an a place to enjoy and dive into the water.

Blowing bubbles

I remember the lifeguard teaching my classmates and I to blow bubbles at my first swimming lesson. “Take a breath of air, put your face into the water, blow bubbles, turn your head to the side, take another breath, and repeat.” This is a lesson I mastered as a six year-old.

Similarly the first lesson when sharing the gospel is learning to blow bubbles. Take a deep breath of the Holy Spirit, then while out in the world slowly exhale. Return to the community of faith and take another deep breath of the Holy Spirit.

This lesson applies not only to sharing the gospel, but to life itself. During the week we face numerous challenges and make our share of mistakes. Some of these feel like getting punched and having your breath knocked out. Knowing where to get a refreshing and life restoring breath of the Holy Spirit helps Christians flourish from one Sunday to the next.

Practice Blowing Bubbles

To help Presbyterian congregations “provide opportunities for evangelism²,” I have, as part of morning worship, encouraged those present to talk about why they come to church in small groups. During the passing of the peace, which in my order for worship comes before the Scripture readings and the sermon, I ask those present to re-seat themselves into groups of three. I encourage people from the same household, or usual circle of friends, to sit in different groups.

After a brief introduction, as illustrated in above paragraphs, the sermon is presented as three segments. Each segment is comprised of a Scripture reading, a minute or two of exposition, then three minutes for participants to answer the related question within their triad. I have found using a verse of a hymn an effective and necessary transition between segments. Typically I have had the three questions (the section headings below) printed in the bulletin.

Time with Young Disciples

Before the introduction to the sermon, I invite all of the children to come forward for an object lesson. I hand each child a paper cup saying pretend this is your heart. Then I place a chocolate Kiss^® in each cup saying that love is like having a kiss in your heart. Then while pouring more candies from an opaque pitcher into their hands, I say, “But God’s love is heaped up, tamped down, and over flowing.” After the children finish scrambling for the chocolates that have spilled onto the floor, I tell them that with so much love they can could give one to everyone in the congregation and still have more than enough. If pressed for time, the sermon introduction could begin while the children distribute the candy.

hat is God doing in your life that excites you?

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 96.

The psalmist was excited about what God had done in creation. He wanted everyone to sing God’s praises with him. Consider the glorious creation that God has placed us in; the majestic beauty of the Grand Canyon, the scent of spring flowers, the song of a wren. Breath deeply to shout about what God is doing now!

What brings you spiritual calm when things are chaotic?

Scripture Lesson: John 20.

The disciples had retreated to the upper room following the Crucifixion. Stain glass windows help separate a congregation from the noise of life, creating a place for quiet reflection. Even the white spaces between the words of Scripture is sacred, for they help us to see the words more clearly. Teach others where to find rest from the storm, to breathe in the Spirit, and receive grace.

How do you contribute to building the Kingdom of Heaven?

Scripture lesson: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.

The Apostle Paul recorded several ways that people contribute to being church together. In addition to teaching, preaching, and healing, we contribute to bringing God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, and loose the bonds of injustice. Invite people outside the church to work alongside us so we might see God’s future together.

Concluding Remarks

While gathering joys and concerns in preparation for the Pastoral Prayer, following the Sermon, I ask people to name one thing heard in their triad, that someone outside the church should know.

Before the charge and benediction I ask if participants had enough time to discuss each question. I have always received a resounding “NO!” Then I charge everyone to continue the conversation during the coffee hour with people from other groups, over lunch with family, and during the week with co-workers and neighbors.

________________________________________________

1  Robert Shaw received a Masters in Divinity from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has served as the chair of church development committees for the Synod of Trinity and for the Synod of Lincoln Trails.

Currently he is the Designated Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church, Winfield, Indiana, which is in the midst of a Transformation project. This article is refined by experiences with six congregations including rural, suburban, and urban settings.

2 The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): Part II, The Book of Order, G-10.0102a.

I remember a model of evangelism that felt like a sales pitch.

I would attend a seminar and learn the newest script for evangelism.  The idea is that I would learn a series of conversational steps that would help people

• See their need for Jesus
• Make a decision to follow Christ
• Repeat a prayer after me.
• Sign here for follow up.
• All in less than 30 minutes.

The script was “the powerful new tool,” and it was meant to help you “share your faith” and confidently prepare you to “lead people to Christ.”

If we were truly honest with ourselves, in the practice of your life did it ever work?

Not in my life.

I never really latched onto that sales pitch.  Most of the readers of this blog never latched on to that model as it felt forced, maybe dishonest and turned Jesus in a product marketing.

Life doesn’t fit the script.

In the last few days I’ve had to deal with customer service people in various businesses. 

In each case, my need was not “in their script.” 

• Company A sent me to at least 4 departments today on the telephone, because no one could answer my question.  That was after going to 3 different departments yesterday.  I wasn’t permitted to speak to a supervisor because they didn’t have the  power to get out of their script.
• Company B simply said “I don’t cover that situation — you can’t be our customer anymore.”  I’ve been their customer for 11 years and now they don’t want me anymore.

I did not fit their script.  They didn’t have an answer for my questions.  They didn’t have a solution for my need.  Their scripts didn’t have a place for me.

This is the problem with scripts when they are positioned as the “one true way” of doing evangelism. 

Human beings and life conversations can’t all fit into a one size fits all  scripted evangelism presentation.  Humans have so many different needs, so many different starting points, so many different questions.

I don’t teach complicated scripts in any of my evangelism seminars. 

Rather, I help people learn how to listen to the Holy Spirit for the right place, right time, right words.   I don’t have a script I follow because each person and each conversation is unique.

What then are the role of Gospel Scripts?

I’ve written on gospel scripts before and will do so in the future (grab my feed to get these future posts).   They are handy little tools and I’m not throwing them out.

The gospel scripts that I like are all simple presentations of the gospel that are useful at an appropriate point in a relationship.  They address different needs but ultimately get at the Need to Follow Jesus.

In my life, I haven’t found that any of my conversation partners are at the same starting point the gospel script is at. 

The scripts assume

• that a person recognizes the consequences of sin. 
• that the person is ready to deal with a spiritual need. 
• that a person is seeking for a relationship with God.

Phillip and the Eunuch

Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch had a ‘chance’ conversational encounter.  Yet in that encounter, the text says that

“Beginning from that point [where the Eunuch was reading], Phillip went on to explain the good news about Jesus.”

Notice that Phillip began where the eunuch was. 

The eunuch was dealing with grammar issues with pronouns, frustrations with reading a foreign language, and perhaps his own disappointment in not finding what he was searching for in Jerusalem.

Phillip spent time talking with the eunuch at that point.  A point unique to the eunuch’s spiritual journey.

So many scripts want to “begin from their own point.” 

Yet not every conversation is at that starting point.

• It often takes a series of conversations to get there.
• It takes listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit
• It takes good questions that open new conversational lines.
• It takes some skill in noticing life themes and linking them to spiritual needs. 

Evangelism Scripts such as the Four Spiritual Laws, Bridge, or others are handy once a person has gotten to the starting point of the scripts. 

Being familiar with an evangelism script can help you comfortably explain the gospel when the moment presents itself in a natural manner.

Getting to that point?  There is no script for that.

From Golf to God

This week, I was listening to Michael Spencer’s Coffee Cup Apologetics at Podcast 46.  In these 15 minutes (listen on line at Podcast 46) Spencer discusses issues with scripted evangelism.

He refers to a great article called Gospel Connections in Suburbia. 

It deals with how to bridge a conversation from the subject at hand to the subject of the gospel. 

Can  you go from golf to God? 

There is a list of 8 topics that are great conversational topics and an example of a conversational bridge is given for each (I encourage you to read the whole entry).

1. Corruption, evil and sin.
2. Community.
3. Politics.
4. Environment.
5. War.
6. Family.
7. Church.
8. Art/pop-culture

Spencer’s podcast picks this up and points out that to make such transitions, one requires three skills

1. Relational Conversations — Casual life conversations with friends
2. Ability to see connections between the mundane and the spiritual
3. Make the transition from the mundane to spiritual in a natural way.

Part of doing this is developing the skills of

1. Making use of good questions
2. Making use of good observations.

Start to Notice

In your own conversations, start to ponder how the mundane can be bridged towards the spiritual.  I’m not talking about ketchup on fries representing the blood of Jesus.  Rather, listen to the heart cry in the culture.

• What is being looked for? 
• Why are people passionate about politics and what does that say about order in the world? 
• Why are people willing to sacrifice their marriage for a moment of personal pleasure? 
• Can you hear the spiritual need behind the conversation?
• What is the question behind the question?

Let me ask you this?

Taking a cue from the original blog post: Do you have some useful conversational bridges?  I invite you to elaborate in the comments.

Our primary model in our seminars for doing personal evangelism is Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

The basic premise:

When God "underlined" the eunuch for Phillip, (with "Go stand next to THAT chariot"), Phillip obeyed and found a spiritually thirsty person.  Phillip then began a conversation that lead to the eunuch coming to faith.

Our model is to encourage the same.  Notice who God underlines, position yourself in the right place, and then engage in a conversation.

In God’s sovereignty, a misdialed number:

Recently, I taught a seminar in a church, where the group had this as their practical assignment.  The testimonies that were shared in small groups were amazing — people found it easy to share their faith when they put themselves "next to" someone that God underlined, and began a conversation.

For example, the phone rang at a participant’s house.  The caller said, "Congratulations, and Happy Birthday."

"Well, I am very happy, but today is not my birthday.  I supposed you’ve got the wrong number" — she replied.

"Oh I’m sorry to have misdialed"

But before he hung up, she felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to say  "Even though today is not my birthday, I’m happy all the time because I know that today is another day that God has given me."

"You are a Christian lady?"

"Yes"

"I quit going to church many years ago, but recently been thinking about the mess my life has become .. . .  ." — the stranger confesses.

At that point, the conversation continues in a natural flow, with the stranger ultimately praying with the evangelism seminar participant to rededicate his life to the Lord and return to church.

You can do this!

This participant simply felt prompted to make such a statement that opened the conversation. 

Wondering if perhaps in God’s sovereignty the caller had misdialed, she threw out an opening line to see where the conversation might go. 

Simply, she took a risk with a stranger who crossed paths with her.

This is how simple evangelism can be — noticing who crosses your path in God’s sovereignty and engaging in a conversation.

Let me ask you this: 

Can you see who will cross your path today that God might be bringing you to connect with?

In my previous conversation at the corner McDonald’s where I spent two hours discussing faith, the gospel, and the need for Jesus, my conversation partner brought up

Mathew 7: 13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

She talked about trying to walk the straight and narrow, but that it was difficult and full of problems. 

God has prepared the way

In God’s sovereignty, we talked at a moment where the circumstances of life were overpowering and she’s looking for God’s comfort.  It’s hard to communicate in words the emotional context of her struggle. 

A tired, single mother, working 2 if not 3 jobs, having the cost of living go up substantially, and struggling to keep her little family afloat and raise her infant child in these circumstances.

All of us have moments when we think the world is crashing.  Sometimes those are passing moments, and we get back up on our feet and plow ahead.  Sometimes, we take these anxieties before the Lord and ask him for His peace and move forward.

Other times, those moments are not passing and we remain in a state of anxiety, a restless mind that keeps us awake at night and peace is hard to find.  Though we might even have faith in Christ, the body remains restless.

We talked in a divinely appointed moment where the circumstances of life were crowding in.

Asking Questions

Many of the questions I asked felt inspired in the moment. 

They weren’t scripted, they weren’t part of my morning devotions.  Rather, they were prompted as a result of the kairos moment we were having on the 2nd floor in the corner McDonalds. 

This is God’s working, and being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

“Why is the narrow road better?” I asked.

“It just is what I’ve been taught, I don’t know why.  Because it leads to eternal life?”

“Eternal life is for mañana.  What difference do you think that makes right now?”

“I don’t know.”

God’s presence

She’s right, it does lead to eternal life.

But something I believe God showed me at the moment was that walking along the narrow way with Jesus is just that — he is with us. 

The narrow way is better NOW because God is with us.  

We can face the challenges of today with God’s presence.  No matter what the world throws at us, nor our circumstances, the narrow way is better because we can know and experience God’s presence.

One of the most amazing promises of the bible is this: “Lo, I will be with you until the end of the age.”

My testimony = My experience with God.

We discussed this promise at length.  She invited me to tell stories of how I know this to be true. 

My testimony wasn’t about how I came to know the Lord, but rather I came to know this verse to be true.  How I came to know that the narrow way is better because I can experience God’s presence.

I was the credible witness, a living example of someone who can experience God’s comfort in the midst of struggle.

The more I shared about knowing God’s presence, the deeper the conversation went.  The more evident the spiritual thirst became.  I could see God drawing this person to Himself.

The final question for this conversation

After spending the two hours talking about all sorts of things, this question rose to the surface.  In the relational context we had established, this question was normal, and non-threatening.

“What keeps you from following Jesus today?” I asked.

“Fear.”

“Fear of what? Can you tell me?”

I won’t go into some of the answers as that’s part of the private conversation.  Clearly, my conversation partner wants some more time to think, consider, wrestle, examine, pick your own verb.  She’s counting the cost.

Let me ask you this?

Would you join me in prayer for this person?

In some of our weekend Evangelism Training Seminars, we often can build in a practical exercise in personal evangelism, a “lab time,” where people can leave the retreat setting and venture out to do evangelism in the style that we teach.  It is modeled after Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. 

The basic premise is that we ask God to show us in whom he is working to draw unto Himself and then ask God how to participate in that work.  Phillip was sensitive to the Lord’s leading to “Go stand next to that Chariot.”  Likewise, we listen for those promptings.

The conversation that follows develops out of the context and the direction that the Lord gives.

“On the way to Gaza”

So we spend time in prayer and then give about 5 hours for people to find their “desert road on the way to Gaza” to see who they will encounter.

“Go stand next to that chariot”

When the people go out with a simple task of asking God to point out where he is working, I’m always personally amazed at the ease of conversation.  Sometimes we plant, we water, or we harvest. 

We always find people who are easily talkative about spiritual things, about their life, and in some cases, have pretty open questions.  Conversations that follow are not forced, but natural.

Lab time

Its a great exercise and over the years, the stories that have come back have been encouraging to see God at work.

So how can one provide effective practice sessions in a local evangelism training session?

1. Provide time for practical evangelism experience.
2. Build in time for feedback after each evangelism activity.
3. Include positive and constructive feedback for each encounter.
4. Help groups monitor their time (some feedback discussions chase theological rabbit trails)
5. Do it again.

When the people return from their outing, we have a debriefing time.  We allow people to share their stories and we ask questions to help evaluate each encounter. 

Some questions I like to ask are:

1. “How did God point out that person to you?”
2. “Where did you notice God was already at work?”
3. “What was their spiritual thirst?”
4. “What would you do differently?”
5. “What did you share about Christ?”

Let me ask you this?

Think about your last encounter where you engaged a person in a spiritual conversation.  Answer the questions above.  If you would like help discussing your encounters, we provide 1-1Evangelism Coaching

If you’d like to have Evangelism Training workshops or seminars locally, see our various options at our Live Evangelism Training page.  

I was cleaning out a file cabinet this morning (what a way to spend a day) and came across my notes from a talk by Bill Hybels of Willow Creek given to an evangelism conference. I share them here as a pointed reminder about considering our life and witness.

Three ways to repel:
1. “In your face Christianity” — the pushy Christian forcing spiritual conversations at the wrong time. The conversations tend to be one sided, with the Christian not even listening, but marching through an agenda.

2. “Holier than thou” — holding to “my life is better than yours” “you are a sinner and i can’t hang out with you” “I’m better because i’m not like you” etc. This may manifest itself in all sorts of other ways.

3. “Cosmetic Christians” — skip deep, hypocritical, and unchanged deep down. This is the salt that stings, or the light that glares.

Three ways to attract a seeker:
1. Costly Christianity — you live your faith even when it costs. People see how important your faith is.

2. Compassionate Christianity — love demonstrated. Christianity is not all about right doctrine, but demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ as well.

3. Consistent Christianity — being real, authentic and consistent.

Let me ask you this?
As you spend time with the Lord today, ask Him to show you how your life reflects the gospel. Does your life help or hinder the advancement of the gospel?