Pick any blog on personal evangelism, and one will encounter a conversation over different gospel presentations.
On one hand, it’s great to be concerned about messing up. [Read more…] about 6 Different Gospel Presentations for Personal Evangelism
I found an interesting post at Farming the Field blog that looks at the types of evangelistic encounters that were had in the New Testament.
The author is a teacher of Ray Comfort’s material from the way of the Master. He cites a book that looks at contact evangelism, a popular style in that method.
Contact evangelism is defined as sharing the biblical gospel in direct contact with strangers.
The author of the book cited goes on to say
These incidents provide us with a clear model for evangelism, based on sheer volume of examples of Christ Himself doing contact evangelism.
Furthermore, it is instructive that most of the friendship evangelism opportunities in the Gospels were the direct result of previous encounters in the public.
For example, consider Zacchaeus. He is often touted as an example of friendship evangelism because he and Jesus shared a meal together. The fact that he met Christ in the context of His public ministry is entirely neglected by most proponents of Friendship Evangelism (Luke 19:1-4).
This is true Friendship Evangelism: a friendship that begins (not ends) with the proclamation of the gospel.
At least the author says that is a model, not the model. The author of the review clearly says they are not presenting Contact Evangelism as the one and only model. Rather they seek to encourage us to consider it since it is a prevalent model in the Gospels and Acts.
I’m not arguing with the writer, neither am I agreeing or disagreeing. But here are my thoughts and reactions to what I read:
This model as found in the NT might very well have happened simply because Jesus was a very public figure, unlike most of us.
Most of us don’t have those experiences. I don’t have strangers knocking on my doors. I don’t have people coming to see me.
Crowds and individuals were taking the initiative to seek Jesus out.
These are some examples. If you think of who made the first move with the stranger, it appears that it wasn’t Jesus.
Now, there are other stories where Jesus did take notice and made the first move
My lists are not exhaustive. But it from the rapid scan I did, it appears to me that most of this contact evangelism was initiated by the individual, not by Jesus.
His style of ministry was very different from most of our lives. He was a very public figure, unlike most of us. He was in a context where contact evangelism naturally occurred.
Now, people do start conversations with me when we happen to be in the same place at the same time, but they are not seeking me out. They happen in an entirely different context than the public ministry of Jesus.
I think the book author is trying to prove his point to justify his own evangelism style.
I do the same.
I’ve got my take on how I practice effective evangelism and how I train others to do so.
Given what works for me and how I’ve helped people find faith in Christ, I see examples of my style in the New Testament and when I teach, I too use the gospel and New Testament stories as illustrations.
I’ve got my own lenses through which I find stories in the NT to help me illustrate my point.
There are many different styles, many different forms. Proponents of the different evangelism styles can find examples of their style in the New testament
As long as one communicates the gospel clearly, how it is done is simply the means.
To read more on Styles, read:
On October 14, I’ll be doing a radio interview with Jeffrey Johnson on Blog Talk Radio.
Start here with this MP3 Download on Evangelism Training from the store ($10) to help you see where you need to grow.
It’s a 80 minute audio file that takes just a few minutes to download, but it may help you answer the question:
What can you do in the next 90 days to grow in your evangelism skills?
(Photo Credit: Image found at the original blog post).
One of my loyal readers (via RSS feed) wrote an interesting post:
Today, I had coffee with a friend of mine who said, “I don’t believe that it is my responsibility to share the gospel.” He just wanted to live his life in such a way that people would be attracted to that example and hopefully come to Christ.
I reminded him that for a Christian, the Bible teaches that sharing the gospel is not optional. Jesus commanded us to tell others about his death, burial and resurrection.
Who is to say that your life well lived will look any different than that example of a good atheist, Buddhist, Muslim or any other religion?
St. Francis of Assisi quote:“Preach the gospel at all times and
when necessary use words.”
St. Francis of Assisi quote
(attributed to him, I’ve not seen documentation if it really was him).
But I’ve often wondered if Francis of Assisi got it right, or if we have so misused his words to justify our lack of communicating the gospel with words.
In the comments at the original post, I wrote:
One of the things I like to say is that St. Francis got it wrong.
In our culture today, meaning is determined by the meaning maker. In other words, meaning is implied in how I interpret your actions, unless you interpret your actions for me.
If none is given (just being silent), what separates one’s actions from that of a moral kind and loving atheist?
I think of art in a museum.
I look at it but apparently I’m supposed to figure out what it means.
I wish someone would tell me what those splotchs of seemingly random color smears are supposed to mean.
I wrote about this idea at “Is your outreach the same as evangelism?”
If your actions are no different than another morally upright and well behaved person, what really makes you stand out?
Of course, we are the salt the the earth, and to let our light shine.
God will make our righteousness shine like the dawn, etc.
There is something to be said about our righteousness that is attractive.
That righteousness is revealed when we are under pressure — where people face the temptation to give in and fail — our righteousness shines like the dawn. Our kindness is evident when the world has treated someone wrong and its unexpected.
But in our day to day life — is our moral behavior any different from the person in the next cubicle? Does that alone make us stand out?
This is where I think St. Francis’ quote is misused. Perhaps in his day, his extreme actions spoke louder than the culture which raised the curiosity factor into Saint Francis of Assisi’s life.
One of the clearest points I got out of Becoming a Contagious Christian, was the importance of clear communication.
Without an explanation of the resurrection of Christ and it’s application to you, what are people to believe? That one can simply be good?
Ray Comfort’s Way of the Master approach is all based on Clear Communication.
It is our obedience to share our faith in Christ.
It is our duty and calling to speak of our relationship with Jesus. The gospel is important and we want people to believe in the gospel as revealed in Scripture. We don’t need to let people guess for themselves.
Servant evangelism offers a card with their actions that explain that they are doing their service as an active demonstration of the love of Jesus Christ. The cards given usually don’t explain the gospel, but give an invitation to the church, and provide a contextual moment for a gospel conversation to occur if the Holy spirit is opening the door.
When has a non-Christian asked you why your behavior is different?
How did you answer that question?
What can you do to make sure your life is interpreted in light of the gospel?
This evening I read a post about evangelism scripts at this blog.
The main gist of the entry is of an encounter between an evangelist with a script and the author being the one evangelized.
The evangelism script in the discussion came from Evangelism Explosion, a tool that has been highly useful in the past and one that can be still useful today.
In following the script, the evangelist never really listened to the person’s answers. Read the original article yourself.
As evangelists, we need a “Default setting.”
A default setting is a gospel script that we have mastered so well that it is second nature to use it.
A default setting enables us to explain a few points of the gospel clearly when its appropriate.
A default setting allows us to be diamond clear, rather than muddy clear.
A default setting allows us to be calm while communicating the gospel.
Each one of these can provide a script that we can use as a “default setting.”
However, we still need to listen to the person we are talking to and be flexible with the script, adapting it to the context of the conversation.
I’m not saying in any of this that I’m changing the gospel, or leaving anything out. I’m being flexible in the give and take of a conversation to listen and respond, present or inquire.
Some will find fault with the theology of certain gospel presentations. No script is able to capture the full richness of the gospel in 3 or 4 propositional points.
While I think all of us would agree on the main points, some of the theological nuances will be the points of difference.
For example, I know people who think the Four Spiritual Laws is wrong because it starts in the wrong spot. Others believe the gospel is all about law and sin, and so the starting point must be the 10 commandments.
All of these scripts deal with the problem of sin, but how they discuss sin is often related to some theological presuppositions.
For example, read are you a Genesis 3 Christian? Would sin have been the best starting point for her?
Or for a different point, where would you start the gospel with a member of an indigenous tribe who doesn’t have a Western worldview, but worships an alligator?
The solution is to find one that fits your theological stream that you can be comfortable with.
Following a script as exactly as possible can be as impersonal as calling a 1-800 number for customer service.
The customer service person in the remote call center has a script to follow, who cares what you really need or are really asking.
For the user who is following the script as strictly as possible, the give and take of the conversation messes it up. This leads to interior anxiety and frustration because it’s out of line.
I’ve talked with some who think a presentation doesn’t work (as if the gospel presentation is a magic formula) unless it’s followed exactly, which means there can be no give and take of a discussion.
I’ve encountered others who place so much emphasis on the right presentation, that their “conversations” are actually monologues led by their own rhetorical questions.
When we follow a script, we have to listen to the “customer” (don’t get carried away with my analogy) and respond appropriately with love. Conversational evangelism is sharing the good news of the gospel, not a canned product placement pitch.
See our entire series on Gospel Scripts
Do you have a default setting you use?
Can you share how you are conversationally flexible with it?
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photo credit: deivanTi xx via cc
