Evangelism Coach

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Gospel scripts have their role to play in helping to explain the gospel simply and clearly.  Over the years, various scripts have been developed, such as

• Four Spiritual Laws
• The Bridge (see How to Use the Bridge Illustration)
• Evangecube (see Evangecube video)
• Way of the Master
• Romans Road
• Do vs. Done (see Do versus Done)
• the Four Rs
• Evangelism Explosion
• Wordless Book and the Bead Bracelet
• The Good Person Test (a setup for the Way of the Master)
• FAITH

Some of these have even launched a whole ministry surrounding it’s training, distribution, and development.  During this week, we’ll take a look at a few of them.

The Key to Using Gospel Scripts

The key to using gospel scripts is to know ONE “inside out”so that your explanation is crystal clear.  (That point developed in this article on knowing a script and at this article on Scripts on evangelism).

Meaning that you can use it at any given moment, can “do it in your sleep” (a phrase meaning that you can explain the script without having to think too hard because you are so familiar with it).  Meaning that at any given moment, you can focus on an aspect of the script that is appropriate for the conversational context you are in.

Once you are deeply familiar with one, then add another one to your skill set.

Lesson learned the hard way

A self declared non-Christian friend asked me one time:

“Chris, what is the Gospel?” 

I had the perfect opportunity to explain the gospel simply and clearly.

Instead, my explanation was a clear as the muddy Mississippi River during a flood.

After that moment, I decided that I needed to learn a script so that I’d not be caught unprepared again.  In God’s sovereignty, my friend eventually came to faith, but certainly not because of my eloquently clear presentation.

Theological Issues

Each script is focused an aspect of the gospel. 

By the very nature of the focus of a gospel script, there will be some shortcoming.  Theological websites are abundant in ripping apart scripts for lack of some feature, or instead of ripping a script apart, suggest some additive to make the script more complete.

What is clear in almost every script I’ve seen is the fundamental agreement that we are separated from God because of our sin, that God has provided Jesus Christ as the solution for our sin, and that we need to start following Jesus and receive this gift from God.

Flexibility in the Script

The role of the evangelist is not to follow the script like a cake recipe.  Gospel scripts are not designed that way.  Rather, they provide a foundational outline for your conversation.

This suggests that your conversation partner may want to linger on a certain point a little longer, which in turn suggests the evangelist takes the time to develop a particular point a whole lot further. 

This is where knowing the Script inside and out helps the evangelist from getting lost. 

Take the freedom to go off script to develop a particular theme appropriate in the context, then return to the script outline.

Let me ask you this

Which script of those listed above do you know inside and out?  If you don’t know one, commit this week to learn one.

 

If you want live coaching on using gospel scripts, see our 1-1 mentoring program.  We’ll be glad to provide some training.

Crystal Snow Globe under creative commons from jurek d
River Image under creative commons from Topato

In our personal evangelism seminars, I have found that most participants have heard of a particular gospel script and think they know how to use it.

The practice

Since I use the Bridge Illustration as my default setting, I use it in training others with a little practice exercise

I  use a whiteboard to draw the pictures, go through the script as if I was with a live person. 

Then I ask participants to break up into groups of two, and repeat the process.

Then I coach through the process and we debrief the exercise together.

I thought I knew how

This hands on experience reveals to most participants that they don’t really know how to present the Bridge Illustration, nor are they initially comfortable with the script.

This practical group exercise

• Helps you practice your presentation
• Reveals gaps in your own understanding
• Increases comfort when the kairos moment comes.
• Reveals your use of Christianeese (words that only make sense to Christians).

Consider this

• Have you picked a gospel script to use as your default setting? 
• Are you so familiar with it that you can go through it with ease and flexibility?

Let me suggest this

Find a good friend and ask permission to practice going through your default setting. 

• Where do you need to improve your presentation? 
• What Christianeese do you need to remove?
• What was clear as mud?
• What was clear as crystal?
• What part do you need to remember more clearly?

If you speak with a non-Christian, let them know you are practicing — that helps alleviate some of the inherent tension in a religious conversation.  God can still use it however in bringing a person to faith, but you’ve shared your motive ahead of time.

Got questions about how to do this?  Feel free to send me your questions via email (Contact us).

The next series of posts will look at a few of the scripts

My default setting is the Bridge Illustration. 

This is the one that I use the most, and that when I was a youth pastor, reviewed with my teenagers at least once every three months.  No one left our youth group without knowing this script inside and out.

I like it for various reasons:

• Simple
• Visual (for those visual learners).
• Free
• I can make it my own and customize on the fly.
• I can use questions to keep it conversational.

Theological notes:

David Fitch has a good series of posts and discussion about some of the theological questions about the Bridge as a gospel script.  The comments raise great issues, and point to some other scripts. (See also Part 2 and Part 3). 

I think an excellent addition to the bridge is to stress some of the benefits of following Christ:

• The reality of our global brokenness from God’s good creation: war, famine.  Not just individual brokenness.
• Inclusion into the community of faith (adoption).
• Christ’s forgiveness also helps us deal with our corporate sin
• Calling to Participate in God’s plan for the new creation.

Practical tips:

All you really need is a writing surface and a instrument.  I’ve used markers on a whiteboard, pens on a napkin, my kids’s crayons on the back of a paper placement in a diner.

Step 1

When you sense that it’s time to share, ask for permission unless it seems very natural in the current conversation that you are having.  “Can I share a drawing with you that explains what we are talking about?” 

Step2

Draw two lines horizontally, making two columns. Write God on the right side line and draw a little stick figure on the left.  I space about 2 or 3 inches between them. 

Step3

Explain  about the separation between the person and God. 

Most times when I share this illustration, the person I’m speaking with is well aware of the Separation — that’s why they are look for God to start with. 

You can draw two vertical lines from the inside of the horizontal lines to show a cliff of separation.

A good verse to share here is Romans 3:23, and I might write the word sin or separation at the bottom of the gap.  Another might be Hebrews 9:27 about the coming judgment for our sin.

Step 4

I explain that people try to reach God through all sorts of means: drugs, philosophy, good deeds.  I ask the person I’m talking with the share with me what things they have tried to do to reach God.

Step 5

Draw a cross that closes the gap while sharing how Christ died for us.  A good scripture would be Romans 5:8.  That gift is free, sharing from Ephesians 2:8-9.  We can believe and receive (John 1.12).  This is showing God’s solution to the problem of our separation

Step 6

I ask the person I’m speaking with, “Where would you put yourself on this drawing?”

That helps me to discern where that person is spiritually, and helps to suggest the next part of the conversation.  Perhaps there is something to debate, discussion, or an objection to resolve.  Perhaps a person wants more time to consider what is being heard. 

Resources:

Here is a free bridge illustration download I found on the web that provides lots of additional scripture verses that one could use.

Bridge Illustration Video 7:00 minutes of Mark Mittleberg  (I’d make my own, but Mark is so much better and it’s already done).

 

If you want live coaching on using gospel scripts, see our 1-1 mentoring program. We’ll be glad to provide distance training, or live in person  Contact us for more info.

James Choung has written a few books on explaining the Christian Faith. On of the issues that he tackles is updating or improving the Bridge Illustration.  The whole article is here at The Big Story | Tell It Slant .

“Choung’s ‘napkin theology’ and its ‘four-worlds’ diagram promise to be for evangelism in the twenty-first century what the ‘Four Spiritual Laws’ were for the twentieth century.”
— Leonard Sweet, author of The Church of the Perfect Storm, podcaster of the weekly “Napkin Scribbles” podcast

Check out these videos to see the telling of the story.  There are two here.

It comes with it’s own training document and a complete write-up of this diagram.

Here is what I like about the illustration:

• It’s much less individual in it’s focus. 
• It adds in that we follow Christ to join in God’s redemptive story.
• It talks about worldviews
• It’s simple and can be reproduced on a napkin.
• It incorporates some of the social aspects of the gospel.

After sharing this video on his blog, Choung received lots of feedback and suggestions and created version 2, which continues from the prior video

Let me ask you this?

What do you think of Choung’s improvement?  What do you make of how he explains sin, righteousness, eternity, kingdom?  Join the conversation below and comment.

The “Do vs Done” Gospel Evangelism Script is one of those scripts that is very well known and has a long history.  It is very simple to think through, and gets at one focus of the gospel message. 

However, it’s so common that actually finding the evangelism script on the Internet was difficult.  I guess “everyone” knows it. 

I tried several keywords to locate it, but it never rose to the surface.  Many entries make reference to this gospel script, yet there is no real explanation of how to use it. 

Do vs. Done

I actually had to turn to print.  I found this in Becoming a Contagious Christian, Hybels and Mittleberg.  

Religion is spelled D-O, and is all about trying to DO enough to please God.

The trouble is we don’t know if we ever do enough, and the Bible tells us we never can do enough (Romans 3.23).

But Christianity is spelt D-O-N-E.

Jesus has done what we could never do. He lived the perfect life and died on the cross to pay for all the wrong stuff
we have done.

But it’s not enough just to know this; we have to receive what he has done; we have to ask Jesus to forgive us and to be the leader of our lives.

Then you could ask them what they think, whether they understand the difference, and if they see the need for Jesus.

Of course, the six sentences above are basic. It focuses on one aspect of the atonement.

The point is not to memorize it, but to become so comfortable with it that you can fill in the gaps, linger on conversational points, use scripture to fill out parts that are meaningful in the conversation that you are having. 

The above is an outline to help you remember where you are in the conversational flow.

By the way, this script works in Spanish as well, Hace vs. Hecho.

Let me ask you this?

Have you used this script?  What kinds of questions do people bring up in response to it?  Tell us your stories in the comments.

Pick any blog on evangelism, and one will encounter an attempt to summarize the gospel. What points must one share? What happens if I forget a point? Can I mess it up?

On one hand, its great to be concerned about messing up. We always want to be prepared to explain our faith, and get better at it as we mature in Christ.

On the other hand, God is more sovereign than our mistakes and will not deny His grace to another because our explanation was as clear as mud.

God’s sovereignty is not an excuse to avoid evangelism, nor to be sloppy in our presentation.

What must a clear explanation have?

A good explanation of the gospel must convey information about

1. The nature of sin and our separation from God.
2. The love of God and his desire to be reconciled to the lost.
3. Christ as God’s plan of redemption:
4. That God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
5. Christ died for our sins and rose again.
6. The promise of forgiveness of sins
7. Belief in Jesus is the response to God’s irresistible grace.

Scripts

One of most popular forms (see our series on evangelism scripts) to explain the gospel is the Law and Gospel script by the Way of the Master folks.

I like the theology of the Law and Gospel, but don’t agree with how some practicioners say its the only valid form of the gospel message.

The implication is that if you didn’t get the right explanation of the gospel, you are a false convert. Or if you miss an element in the explanation, the conversion has misfired.

In my own testimony, my conversion misfired 20 years ago because I didn’t come to faith in the right way.

Other scripts include Four Spiritual Laws, Romans Road, Good Person Test, Evangecube (video), the The Bridge Illustration, Do versus Done and so forth. There are plenty of scripts out there one could use.

Pick One

Each script has its critics, and its endorsers. It’s not my point here to pick one over the other.

My point however, is to pick a script and get very familiar with it so that you can explain the gospel clearly when given the opportunity.

I use the  Bridge Illustration as I think it covers a lot of ground. The imagery is clear.

Practice it over and over on a napkin until you can explain it clearly at any given moment. Learn how to share it lovingly and in the form of a dialogue (the script is not a tool to cream people).

Let me ask you this?

What script do you like you to use? Can you share the gospel message clearly when needed?  See our entire series on scripts.