I was in Panama last month on a business trip.
I had lunch with one of the people that I met.
He was a German business man living in Panama.
He left Germany behind and trying to start his life over in Panama on the crest of a real estate building boom.
This is when an example of spiritual thirst appeared. [Read more…]
You’ve probably seen it:
An opening in a conversation when a non Christian expresses their spiritual insight, or opens up about some restlessness in their heart.
Then well-meaning Christians become a one-way torrent of gospel information about what a person needs to believe and why other religions are wrong.
Or maybe you’ve seen this:
Your small group has two first time guests who have come to check out a little more about Christianity, but a well meaning Christian tries to get them saved the first night by explaining the need to be washed in the blood of the lamb to satisfy the wrath of a God who hates sin.
These are conversation killers.
These are spiritual thirst killers. The tender shoot is growing forth and just got squashed.
I’ve seen it in small groups I’ve been a part of, conversations that I’ve learned from, and mistakes that I have made.
When a person first opens up to their spiritual need, it’s the time to have a genuine spiritual conversation about their struggles and questions.
Allow God room to work in the life of the person with whom you are talking – we don’t have to rush the process, we are invited to help it along.
Listening shows love. Impatiently spewing forth doctrinal truth to correct their mis-beliefs does not.
If someone has become vulnerable enough to freely talk about their spiritual thirst, or even share their current beliefs about life, death, or other spiritual themes, you need to listen.
In small group gatherings, love means listen to the beliefs and opinions of all who express them. It’s important to listen to their story, not think about your own or how you need to correct them.
In personal conversation, love means listen to your friend and understand them.
Tolerance is not approval, but giving space to people to express their views even if we disagree. There is a time to engage in critique, but not at the first glimpse.
Asking great questions invites your conversational partner to express their opinions and beliefs. Asking questions invites further conversation, further sharing, and further insight into people.
Good questions uncover the truth about what people really think, and they create the opportunity to share life and truth together.
I like to follow my curiosity when people express something I don’t understand:
I also like to follow my curiosity about where beliefs might cause internal conflict:
Drilling down with “how” questions, without it being an interrogation, allows a conversation to grow deep, and creates the safety and security between you to allow for the formation of new ideas.
Rather than squashing spiritual thirst in my enthusiasm to share the gospel, I listen and use questions to help the spiritual conversation along.
I call this watering – nurturing a spiritual journey to Jesus.
I trust in the sovereignty of God to be at work.
By giving space for small group visitors or my friends to express their beliefs or even disagreements about Christianity, I eventually earn the right to express my belief and engage them in meaningful and safe discussions.
I get the chance to answer questions, shape ideas, and help a person in their discovery of Jesus. But only after helping them feel safe talking with me.
Before we came to know Christ, we were sinners.
Before we started following Jesus, we were spiritually dead, and spiritually blind.
If we have been a Christian for a long time, perhaps we have forgotten how our spiritual eyes couldn’t see in the dark, how impossible it was to see
Perhaps we can’t recall the process of evangelism that removed our spiritual blinders enough to take the leap of faith and begin to follow Jesus.
How has Jesus changed your life?
In your journey to faith, your spiritual blindness was removed by the Holy Spirit, allowing God to speak into your life.
As people around you spoke into your life, as strangers spoke the right word to your heart, the influence of your church community and messages brought clarity, your spiritual blindness was removed.
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound) That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed!
Amazing Grace
In today’s prayer, thank God for His work in your life to bring you to that place of seeing, understanding, and believing.
Ask God to excite your heart with memories of your conversion process (or awakening process) that first drew you to following Jesus.
My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king;
my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. (Psalm 45:1)
I thank You God for the influences in my life that helped me become aware of my own need for You.
I thank You that, by Your Holy Spirit, You removed the spiritual blindness that existed in my heart.
I thank You that You made Your offer of grace so irresistible, that I had to respond.
You did not wait for me to draw near to You
But You clothed Yourself with frail humanity
You did not wait for me to cry out to You
But You let me hear Your voice calling me
And I’m Forever Grateful to You
I’m Forever Grateful for The Cross
I’m Forever Grateful to You
That You came to seek and save the lost
Juanita Buyan, Forever Grateful
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Watch this video and comment below.
Every life has a story.
One listening evangelism exercise we do is to spend time praying for the strangers we might meet.
As we go out into the streets, strangers will occasionally start talking with us about their stories. If we slow down long enough to listen, we might hear their spiritual thirst and share a little of the water of life with them.
If you are leading an evangelism training small group, how can you use this video for discussion?
Share your thoughts below.
(HT: Shawn Anderson)
A young man came to me one evening during the camp meal and he asks,
“Do the non-elect go to hell?”
I was startled. This question was out of context, out of the blue, seeming to come from left field. I was in this guy’s life for just a couple of days while we were on a work team together at a service camp hours away from our homes. We were painting trailers, cleaning yards, and doing community service type work. Most of the conversations during this week of co-laboring with teenagers focused on mundane trivial stuff like sports teams and Hollywood gossip, and even who had started liking whom.
“Pastor, do the non-elect go to hell?”
This was a question out of the blue, asked by an 18 year old doing more than making conversation.
I’ve learned that questions like this are more likely a reflection of something deeper underneath. Eighteen year old boys don’t regularly ask me that question. Most don’t even think upon such things. Here is where I sensed the Holy Spirit underlining this moment, drawing my attention to this boy’s spiritual thirst.
I could sense this was not an academic question of curiosity, but something underneath was causing this man to think along these things. Instead of answering I ask: “Well, why do you ask?” And he says,
“Well, because I’m afraid that I’m not elect and that I’m going to hell.”
There it is. The real motive behind his question was a fear that he was separated from God.
A lot of practical evangelism training starts with us trying to manipulate the conversation to our required starting point. If our gospel starting point is man’s sinfulness, we have to steer the conversation to that point, attempting to convince people of their sinfulness. If our gospel starting point is God’s kingdom and our role in it, we have to steer the conversation there. So many scripts require us to attempt control of a conversation. Manipulating conversation is part of the root of the our conversational fear — we feel like we have to control the conversation. Intuitively, controlling the conversation doesn’t feel good. So how to we have a spiritual conversation that moves a person towards Christ without manipulation?
“Well, because I’m afraid that I’m not elect and that I’m going to hell.” There is the spiritual thirst. A fear that he was separated from God. His spirit was not bearing witness with God’s Spirit that he could cry, ‘Abba Father’. Our conversation naturally centers around Romans 8:16, “Our spirit bares witness with God’s Spirit that we can cry, ‘Abba Father.’” He is experientially aware that he is separated from God. This makes it very easy to talk about sin as the cause of that separation.
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast [of Tabernacles], Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” (John 7.37) Scholars tell us that during that feast, the High Priest would go to the Pool of Siloam, take a golden pitcher, dip it into that pool, and carry it back to the temple. There he would pour that water out on the altar of sacrifice. At that moment the Levites would blow the trumpets, and the great crowd would cry out,
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).
There would be leaping, and dancing, and shouting, and singing, and great hallelujah’s would fill the air. Jesus said something entirely different on that last day. He rewrote the litany:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” (v.37b)
“If anyone thirsts.” Jesus plainly taught that if anyone wants a relationship with God, it can be obtained. But notice that this claim to a relationship here is specifically addressed only to those who are spiritually thirsty. That thirst is the starting point of a person’s quest to seek God. That thirst is the restlessness of the human heart that drives one to Jesus.
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”(Psalm 42:1-2a).
“God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).
“I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land” (Psalm 143:6).
Does this describe the longing of our soul? A thirst for knowing God that is almost a desperation?
A recent survey of my readership showed that nearly one out of three do not know how or where to start a spiritual conversation with their friends about Jesus. Spiritual thirst is the starting point. Spiritual thirst is the initial contact point. Spiritual thirst is the need that causes people to seek the water to satiate it. Spiritual thirst is the experiential evidence that helps a person see their separation from God. Spiritual thirst is the launch point that makes conversation natural. Spiritual thirst is the conversational context to begin the conversation. Spiritual thirst is the open door to the heart when it comes time to starting a conversation about following Jesus.
I want to give you examples of how spiritual thirst can play out in real life.
In your journey to faith in Christ, what was the underlying need that drove you to start seeking for God? What helped you realize that you were separate from God? For more information on my thoughts on spiritual thirst, click some of the related links below. Talk #2 in the Fear Free Evangelism Study Course is all about spiritual thirst and the role it plays in drawing people to start following Jesus.
Well Water Image Source: Flickr, Department for International Development
I’ve started compiling a list of encounters with Jesus, wondering –
(BTW, I do believe that understanding sin is important part of the discipleship and conversion process, I’m simply asking is that first and foremost the starting point? After all, one foundational claim of the gospel is that Jesus died for our sin, according to Scripture. To ignore sin is to cheapen grace.)
A few observations about people seeking out Jesus:
I have intentionally left out the challenges of the religious leaders when they sought out to trap him. They were not seeking him to learn nor receive nor follow.
The list that follows is simply a list to jog memory of various stories.
For more information on my thoughts on spiritual thirst, click some of the related links below.
Talk #2 in the Fear Free evangelism Study Course is all about spiritual thirst and the role it plays in drawing people to start following Jesus.
What observations do you see in this list?
“I guess I’m not good at seeing spiritual thirst,” shared a pastor in my coaching group for 30 days for more spiritual conversations.
He had completed an assignment I had given him, found himself surrounded by nonbelievers in his social networks.
However, his image of personal evangelism was all about making a monologue presentation, rather than a conversation centered around a person’s spiritual thirst.
To increase the number of conversations helping people along in their faith, one needs to see spiritual thirst and know ways to respond to spiritual thirst.
I’ve started meeting regularly with one of the men who comes to our core group.
He and his family are recent immigrants, fleeing the political unrest from his home country. Truly, they are starting over.
He is a follower of Christ, and we’ve started meeting recently to discuss topics like
After our last meeting, I gave him a scripture passage to study and prepare a message.
There is a church planting principle about finding the “person of peace.”
It is a phrase that comes from Luke 10, when Jesus sends out the 72.
In Luke 10:5-6 Jesus said, “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.”
This shows a level of spiritual receptivity. Gary Rohrmeyer writes in Spiritual Conversations:
How does one discern if a Person of Peace is in his or her life? Here are a few things to look for:
Did they receive you openly into their lives knowing that you are a follower of Jesus?
- Are they open to spiritual conversations? Meaning, you can dialogue with them about spiritual issues without them shutting down emotionally.
- Are they willing to look into the Scriptures with a curious spirit and not a critical one?
- Do they have influence with others? Are they in a position of influence over their family, friends and within the community?
- Is their home a hub of activity for the neighborhood and extended family?
- Do they have the ability to introduce new people into their sphere of influence effectively?
- Do they have a natural ability of including and bringing others to small groups, events or worship services?
The person of peace is essentially a “point person” through whom a church planter can make lots of new connections.
This person may be spiritually seeking, or already a believer who has lots of unchurched contacts. Sometimes it’s a person who has many people seeking them out for spiritual conversations.
This man I’ve stared meeting with seems to be a “person of peace.”
Even though he’s only been in this country for a relatively short amount of time, he has several people approaching him with lots of spiritual questions that he can’t answer.
He wants to learn how to answer their questions with gentleness and respect.
Put another way he’d like to know how to have a deep conversation around those themes. People with tremendous spiritual thirst are seeking him out and he’s not sure how to manage those opportunities to share his faith without killing a conversation.
He wants to help his friends and has turned to me for help. We’ve started meeting for that very reason.
I think in a few weeks, we’ll have a gathering in his house with his friends to talk about their questions and search for answers together.
Who around you seems to be spiritually thirsty? Who around you seems to be really connected to spiritually thirsty people?
I have a DVD set (or digital download) that focuses on a conversational style evangelism that would be effective in:
Read more about the Effective Evangelism Conversations in the store.
A download version and a DVD version are available.
Do you want to grow in your skill in talking about your faith?
One discipline that I use that helps me grow comfortable in talking about my faith is through writing about that conversation in a journal.
I have done a mental review of nearly every evangelistic conversation that I have. I write about it in my journal and reflect upon what I learn from it.
It’s a good practice to follow, and will help you in the future. It has been a practice that has been deeply beneficial in my life, particularly in removing fear from my practice of personal evangelism.
Here are 10 questions I like to ask myself or the people I’m training:
I don’t follow this list religiously. But I do review each conversation and learn from it. This has helped me greatly in growing more comfortable in sharing my faith in Christ with other people.
By taking the time to review each potentially evangelistic encounter and every conversation, I become aware of where I need to grow and where I need to pray.
What questions do you ask yourself in review with each evangelistic conversation that you have?
Think about the last faith conversation encounter you had and walk through the list above.
Last night, I watched a deeply powerful film.
The story is based on the book of the same name about a real-life South African farmer named Angus Buchan. Buchan accepted Jesus at a moment of crisis and began experiencing miracles, ranging from sudden rain putting out a wildfire to reviving a woman struck by lightning.
(Note: There is a death scene of a child that might be too graphic for some people.)
His character is developed from the beginning as the self-made man, broken by anger, rage, failure, and fear.
In one scene, he’s drowning his sorrows in alcohol that he vomits on an acquaintance. In another, he assaults and punches a driver who cuts him off.
A friend invites his wife to breakfast at a church.
He doesn’t want to go and is angered over the issue of wearing a tie, but he goes at her insistence.
He goes to the breakfast, where a stranger invites him to church on Sunday.
For reasons not explained in the film, he attends church the next day, hears the testimony of someone’s life change by following Jesus, and the pastor gives a simple invitation to surrender one’s life to Jesus.
During that testimony and invitation, flashbacks from Buchan’s childhood are shown, where a missionary is telling the young Buchan about the Lord.
Those seeds of faith from his childhood, the present circumstances in his life, and the working of the Holy Spirit come together in a moment where Buchan responds to the invitation and offers his life to the Lord.
Here is a trailer:
Feed Readers, see the video trailer: Trailer from Faith Like Potatoes
I saw a similar film last year, Flywheel (see my review) where the central character undergoes a conversion experience that was deeply powerful as well.
The story line reveals the struggles of the main character and all the circumstances that the Holy Spirit uses to bring this man to the place of surrendering his life to Jesus Christ.
The main character is a liar, a cheat, and morally bankrupt. His marriage is falling apart, bills are stacking up, bank threatening to foreclose, and his own son doesn’t want to be like him.
One night, flipping through the TV channels, he hears a preacher who says the right words that speak deep to his heart.
“You are in this mess because of the decisions you made.”
On top of all other circumstances, this one line hits the man deep in the heart. He turns off the TV, kneels on the floor, and invites Christ into his life with his own prayer.
Different seeds, different circumstances, different personalities, different portrayals of the experience of Christian conversion.
I think of my own conversion experience.
Different seeds planted early in life, different circumstances, situation, and so on.
The Holy Spirit, as the author of the story of my life, wove together the different elements to bring me to a place where I decided to follow Jesus.
In my case, I wanted to know God.
In my search and discovery, I learned that to know God, I needed to start following Jesus.
My conversion experience was driven by a thirst to know who God is.
I started following Jesus so that I could start to know God.
Different story, different need, different life situation.
Neither character, nor myself prayed a “repeat after me” prayer formula.
Their conversion was real, though the action of their responses was entirely different.
The genuine conversion experience is a work of the Holy Spirit unique in each individual.
We can’t restrict conversion to following a formula. The act of praying can make an X marks the spot type of surrender, but the prayer itself is not a formula. (See my thoughts at The Mystery of Christian Conversion).
God is the one who works conversion in the human heart.
As evangelists, preachers, and individuals who call people to start following Jesus, we can offer to pray with them, we can help them pray, but we are to help them respond to what God is doing in their heart.
Praying is one form of response to God’s awakening.
In the coming posts next week, I’ll tie this into:
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