My favorite Bill Hybels Quote

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 a seeker:

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.

Bill Hybels has influenced me

I was once the obnoxious in your face evangelist, but I’ve changed.

Becoming a Contagious Christian helped me change my approach to personal evangelism and now I teach these same principles in my materials throughout the US and Latin America.

I have made them my own, rephrased them to suit me, and these principles are integrated into the DNA of the evangelism style I teach.

Read a full descriptions of these 6 evangelism styles and see Lee Strobel give a video summary.

Let me ask you this?

As you spend time with the Lord today, ask Him to show you how your life reflects the gospel and your impact on seekers.

Does your life help or hinder the advancement of the gospel?