One of the greatest challenges in getting into evangelistic conversations is having a “one line” question, short and brief. Most people are under the false allusion that sharing the gospel “ONLY” involves you trying to articulate the great message of salvation and hoping that someone will stick around to listen. The reality is that to get into a conversation about anything, you often have to ask a question to get someone to respond. It’s no different in evangelism.
Imagine doing a survey and just holding out a series of questions on a sheet of paper but never asking or explaining what is in the survey. Most people would never respond. Many people will do public evangelism and have slim to hardly any conversations with unbelievers because they don’t engage people with questions. They’re hoping that unbelievers will take their gospel information while they are moving along, and then ask and engage with you. It can happens, but it rarely does. Why? For two reasons.
1- People with no expression don’t convey they have something beneficial.
I want to encourage my friends that if you want to get into gospel conversations in public two things are involved. A right approach, and a correct question are profitable in starting gospel conversations with people.
For example a car salesman, when they see you in their lot doesn’t wait for you to search for them BUT they come to you with a smile on their face and immediately start asking questions. They arlready know what to say and have the offer of a bunch of cars that are just right for you.
People who are good at selling homes know the right questions to ask and have a listing of homes to offer. A good real estate agent is prepared for a meeting with questions and solutions and they are filled with energy.
As a gospel ambassador we should have both a positive demeanor and good questions that follows up with a full accurate gospel to offer.
If you don’t have a good demeanor people won’t care that you are in their path and beyond this if you don’t have a good question, people will keep on skipping down the road. Asking questions requires effort and blows up you ego. Many aren’t interested in having a spiritual conversation, but Jesus is looking for some (Mt 14:22).
People will walk by you, and never notice you IF your not prepared. This past fall, evangelizing in London, I would have hundreds of people pass by me sometimes without a single tract being taken BUT I kept my resolve. God is sovereign over the hearts of people and knows who will be part of his family. He changes hearts in his own time with whomever he chooses. It’s not like that in the USA. More people are willing to talk if you ask the right question. We need to remember that God often has people go through multiple gospel interactions before they trust in Christ. As the scriptures say “One plants, one waters, and GOD gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6-8). The question is, will we be ready?
2- People who don’t know the answers to questions will get discouaged and quit. The good news is that 90% of the questions I hear have been asked before. The challenge is, are you willing to go get stumped (yes I don’t have all the answers), GO GET THE ANSWER, and then return with the right answer for the next encounter. The key in gospel conversations is knowing scripture and being able in your answers to point people to scripture so that they see from the bible that their is more truth they don’t yet know.
In my street evangelism, I’ve settled on the simple question “Can I give you something to read about Jesus”? I am looking for someone to enter my path, I look them straight in the eye with a smile, and I ask them the above question. I’m not beating around the bush, I’m not trying to trick them with some fake promise and they know what I want to talk about right from the get go.
Here’s a scenario I’ve experienced: Tom – “Can I give you something to read about Jesus”. Responder- I’m already a Christian”! Now here is the tricky part. Do you agree with them and say praise God, bless your day, OR do you challenge their answer? Words matter! Sometimes what a person says has an entirely different meaning than you think.
My response is this, Tom- “When did you become a Christian”? The secret in evangelism is to challenge every response that is not clearly a biblical response by responding with a question.
Why do I ask this? Because what people believe concerning what a biblical Christian is, often is much different than what a cultural Christian is. A biblical Christian aligns their faith with the bible, and a cultural Christian embraces many unbiblical alternatives.
For example…….. Responder-” I was baptized, my family is Christian, I’m a good person who goes to church, I follow a certain churches creed. THE PROBLEM is none of these declare you are at least a professing Christian. So our goal as witnesses for Jesus is to get someone to the bible. I might then say “do you know that it DOESN’T SAY that _____”good works”______________ declare you a Christian. Then go to a passage like Galatians 2:16 that contrasts faith and good works.
So I will say “can I show you what the bible says about being a Christian”. In this scenario, I would bring them to John 1:12 and show them, that someone has to trust in or receive Jesus Christ to be justified or become a child of God.
All other alternatives that people state other than repentance and faith in Jesus are wrong. Our authority and trump card is the bible. We can try and convince one another of our views but the bible trumps all opinions. Remember, don’t assume what a person says is what they mean. Challenge unbiblical responses, and then try to show them to the bible, showing them in multiple places if necessary.
I hope this helps you start the process of asking questions and then answering them biblically
To see some of these engagements click on my you tube page which has hundreds of interactions.
