Tim Keller’s top 10 evangelism tips

by Martin Salter

A while ago on our elder retreat we listened to a talk Tim Keller gave at Lausanne. As part of that talk he gave 10 tips to help our lay folk in their evangelism. They were so helpful I wanted to put them down somewhere, so here they are:

1. Let people around you know you are a Christian (in a natural, unforced way)
2. Ask friends about their faith – and just listen!
3. Listen to your friends problems – maybe offer to pray for them
4. Share your problems with others – testify to how your faith helps you
5. Give them a book to read
6. Share your story
7. Answer objections and questions
8. Invite them to a church event
9. Offer to read the Bible with them
10. Take them to an explore course

What Keller also advises is that we (generally) start with 1-4. If people are interested and want to talk more you can move them to stages 5-7. If they’re still interested go on to stages 8-10. Sometimes people will want to go straight to 10, but often people start from way back and need some time to think and discuss things in a non-pressured way. We often think that only stages 8-10 count and invest all our energy there. TK suggests that to get people at stages 8,9,10 you have to put the work in at 1-4. Sometimes you’ll have to keep going round the loop multiple times.

TK suggests to leaders that we should aim to get 20% of our folk doing this (of course it should be 100% but let’s be realistic). If we do, we’ll see a steady stream of conversions over the long term, and sustainable church growth.

To read more from Martin Salter, click here.

The Terrible Truth About Christians

By Michael K Reynolds

Christians really have the unique ability to drive people nuts. Most other folks of faith are pretty good about keeping to themselves and staying out of other people’s business. But the same can’t be said of us Holy Rolling, Bible Thumpers.

The reality is there truly is a diamond hidden amongst all of that bothersome coal, and if you can somehow get past our many shortcomings, you’ll discover our hearts are in the right place.

So before you give up on us completely, here are a few helpful things you should know about Christians.

This is an example of a fake↑↑↑↑

Yes…Most Of Us Are Fake
If you see a guy wearing a Coca Cola shirt, don’t assume he works for the company. Anybody can wear a shirt, few are the real thing. The same holds true for us. So many people will claim to be a Christian, but very few are really “followers of Christ.” What’s the big difference? Well…one is someone who is merely using the title for convenience and to be part of the club, while the other is really committed to changing their life in a major way.

 …And Heavily Flawed
If it wasn’t hard enough to have to identify real “followers of Christ,” here is some more bad news. Even the “Christ followers” are a messed up bunch as a whole. Just know that if we were perfect, we wouldn’t need the fixing that Jesus Christ offers us in the first place. When we give our lives to Christ we are forgiven, but it takes all of a lifetime to become more like Christ. We’ll need your patience.
 
 …And Confused
Anyone who tells you they understand each and every facet of the Bible and their Christian faith is a heretic and when you hear this you should start boiling the water. The truth is that the Truth is very complicated.  After hundreds of years of research and study to rely upon, even the greatest Biblical scholars still disagree over some of the finer details of the faith. Yet, what is clear is that when you begin to study the Bible, the major truths become quickly apparent and the more you learn, the more you want to share it with others.

…And Pushy
Probably one of the biggest complaints about “followers of Christ” is that we are so pushy. I mean, why can’t we just keep our beliefs to ourselves? Well here is the answer. We imagine ourselves as if we’re on a river leading to a beautiful lake that we’ll be able to enjoy for all eternity. We want all of the people we love to be there with us. Across the way, we see friends and family going down a separate river that we believe with all our hearts is headed for a terrible waterfall that will spell their doom. We understand that we must look like complete loons as we’re waving frantically and shouting from the distance for you to get out of the boat before it’s too late. But you should be flattered that we’re willing to sacrifice whatever fragments of our dignity we have left for your benefit. More concerning to you should be those “Christians” who would calmly wave from abroad and whisper, “Enjoy your trip, my friend”

 Who Can You Trust?
To continue reading, click here

Tactics

As many of you know, this is a book I believe every Christian can benefit from greatly to strengthen our skills as ambassadors in this world, in particular our weakness on evangelism. This is a good article that breaks some of the basics down, but I strongly encourage you all to get the book for a more thorough understanding. - BC

by Julia S from tOSU

One unique thing about college is that it creates an excellent atmosphere to share and discuss ideas, even controversial ones relating to things like politics and religion.

Even though college provides a great avenue to have these discussions, many people don’t from fear of discord and petty arguments, myself included at times.  It’s a shame though, because the world couldn’t make any progress without sharing bold ideas or tactfully challenging those of others. Ohio State in particular is a place with outstanding diversity, making it worth out-of-state tuition.  I knew that coming here would be a huge transition, not just in the normal college way, but in the ideological atmosphere.  OSU is teeming with students interested in making an authentic difference (and not in a cliché way), making it a superb place to stretch your mind ideologically both inside and outside of the classroom, and it can be done without the face-to-face equivalent of a flame war.  How?  Through 3 tactical questions.

These questions, developed by Stand to Reason founder Greg Koukl, and expanded upon in his book, Tactics, are great ways to navigate hot topic conversations.  They are, as follows:

• What do you mean by that?
• How did you come to that conclusion?
• Have you ever considered…?

If someone brings up their opinion on a controversial issue, the average person might want to either:

• Steer the conversation away from anything political or religious ASAP

Or

• Lunge into a list of reasons for supporting the opposite view

But Koukl’s questions offer up option #3:  Taking the time to learn about why they think that way.  Maybe they have reasons you’ve never considered before, or maybe upon asking them a few neutral questions you’ll both learn that he/she may not have thought some aspects of their argument through yet.  It’s a great way to not only learn something new, but maybe also politely challenge someone’s point of view without humiliating them.  People like to talk about what they think, and it immediately mellows out the conversation if you show you care about really understanding what they think while also avoiding the accusation of putting words in their mouth.  Immediately throwing back reasons why they’re wrong will only result in aggressive defense from them, since they’ll feel subject to blatant public undermining of their opinion.

A very rudimentary template of the tactics in use could be as follows:

A:  You know, I really think that _____.
B.  That’s an interesting thought.  Could you expand on what you mean by that?  I want to make sure I understand your point of view.
A.  Sure.  I just really feel that _________.
B.  Okay, I think I get it.  May I ask how you came to that conclusion?
A. Well, I’ve observed that _________.
B.  That’s a unique perspective.  If you don’t mind, have you ever considered…?

Of course, in real life the conversation would be a lot more fleshed out (and much less scripted :-P).  If at any point you feel like you’ve found a potential flaw in someone’s logic, using these questions can help them realize for themselves if they happen to have taken an illogical turn in their reasoning without grinding them into a fine powder over it.

The bottom line is that if either interlocutor gets angry, no one wins.
To continue reading, click here