Andrew Baughen gives us a taster of his seminar at this year’s upcoming Keswick Convention
Do you lack confidence in sharing the gospel?
Perhaps you’d be happy to invite your friends to an Alpha course or a seeker-friendly church service, but wouldn’t dare to broach the subject yourself? You’re not alone. Many Christians are afraid of evangelism, and want to leave it to the professionals. But you can evangelise just through your ordinary day-to-day conversations and friendships — and it’s not scary.
You don’t need to stand on a soapbox and start preaching, or bring out your five points to instruct your friends and colleagues. You can start to sow seeds and soften hearts every time you have a discussion with someone.
In fact, in our age today it’s unlikely people will respond to the message of salvation without significant ploughing of the earth beforehand. John 4.35-38 suggests that harvesting must take place after other work has been done.
The first step is always to pray. Pray for these people, and pray for opportunities to talk, and for the words to say. But we can split the process into four stages that can help you think through how you can practically engage people with the gospel.
• Relationship building (starting a conversation with a Christian)
• Respect building (seeing that Christians aren’t weird and believe in a good God)
• Relevance building (understanding how faith in Christ answers the issues I face in daily life)
• Response building (accepting Jesus, not just as an idea, but as Lord and Saviour)
Think about where your friends and acquaintances are on this path. How could you bring someone from one step to another?
Relationship building.
Start to think how many people you know who do not know Christ — everyone you know at work, everyone you chat to at the bus stop or out walking your dog, and every friendship you have outside of church. What about your hobbies and activities, or those of your children — how many people do you know? Can you get to know the people around you better than you do now?
How would it feel to ask someone what they think about the Christian faith? What kind of barriers do you think that they have about faith — have you heard them talk about it before? Of course, if you are merely ‘scalp-hunting’ or seeking to preach without any love, then someone is unlikely to be drawn to you. Pray for love for people, so that your light may shine.
Respect building
There are lots of strange views about Christianity out there. But when we are open about our faith and how it influences our lives, then we can naturally start conversations about Christianity and God. If you are merely having a discussion between equals rather than trying to impose your views onto them, then someone is much more likely to be open to a conversation. Perhaps you could talk about the influence that your pastor has had on you, or another Christian friend; or a great book you’ve read recently, or how you think Christianity has changed something in your life. For example, you might think: ‘I realised the other day, that my interest in getting drunk has decreased since I became a Christian’ or ‘My vicar really cheered me up the other day’.
It is good to be aware of some of the common barriers to Christ in our culture and understand what your response would be to these ideas. Some examples might be: the idea that science has somehow disproved God or is superior to faith, the idea that religion causes war or that Christians are hypocrites, a human being can be good without God, or that Jesus was just a myth.
There are many problems with all of these beliefs, philosophically and factually through academic studies, history and science. However, if you simply present your version of the facts, you may just get into a debate or, even worse, an argument. One method that can be more fruitful is to start asking that person about their beliefs and opinions. What is the evidence they have for that belief? Why do they think that science has disproved God? How do they define their morals, and how do they know that they are the right values to hold?
Imagine you are having a conversation with someone who holds these beliefs. You can practise these conversations on your own or with a Christian friend to get used to thinking about what people might say.
You don’t have to bring them to Christ then and there! You can take the long approach. If the conversations are friendly, interesting and not critical or demeaning, then the person is going to be happy to chat more in the future.
Relevance building
Following Christ has great and significant relevance for the lives of every single person we know. We can explore this with someone by exploring their lives and worldview. What are their hopes and dreams? What is their purpose in life? What do they think reality is? What makes them sad, and what makes them happy? You can offer your answers to these questions as part of a wider conversation. Talking about your faith openly without being pushy, but just as part of a general chat, can prompt interest from others. There may well be points of agreement and shared concern, such as the world’s poverty, or a desire to have a loving and secure family.
It can be helpful to identify what is replacing God in their lives. Is it material possessions, a real or hoped for romantic partner, sensual pleasures or a successful career? This can be identified by asking what they would take to a desert island, or what makes them happy. Once these things are identified, it’s possibly to question further to demonstrate the lack of security that comes from worldly things. The gospel offers something different — security in Christ, and the freedom in serving him. But what does that feel like to you? How can you articulate this to your friend?
You can use the world around you to begin conversations or to explore things in greater depth. For example, here’s a line in the song ‘When I grow up’ by the Pussycat Dolls: ‘When I grow up I wanna be famous; I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies; When I grow up I wanna see the world; Drive nice cars, I wanna have Groupies’. But then comes the final verse which goes like this: ‘Be careful what you wish for; ’Cause you just might get it’. What do you think the songwriter is trying to say here? Are the dreams and ambitions of your friend also likely to lead to difficulties?
Response building
Once someone has reached the stage where they may be ready to share the gospel, how should we present it to them? Prayer and the Holy Spirit will help you for each person individually.
There are many examples of how the early evangelists of Acts presented the gospel to people, that we can study and examine. The reality of sin, the necessity of the cross and the need to give our lives totally to Christ are all important points.
