In my sermon on April 27th, I talked about our mission to bring the good news of the Gospel to the world. If you attend church consistently, you hear the Word of God preached. What many of us fail to remember is that a non-Christian will rarely, if ever, have opportunities to audibly hear the Word of God. This is where the responsibility of personal evangelism comes in. People need opportunities to hear the message of the gospel, that Jesus Christ was the promised Savior who died on the cross and rose from the dead to cover our sin, creating a way for us to know God. For them to hear this message audibly, it requires someone being willing to open their mouth and initiate the conversation with them.

This sermon was sparked by a conversation Bonnie Orme and I had about using questions to start conversations with people about God. This isn't easy. Some of us may not have non-Christian friends with whom to even start these conversations. We may fear if we try to communicate the Gospel to others, it could negatively impact our relationship with the person.

Perhaps the greatest reason we fail to successfully engage in spiritual conversations with non-Christians is this: we don't know what to say. We fear we don't know enough, we don't know what to ask, we fear saying the wrong thing. There's no magic formula. The answer is in asking good questions!

Why use questions? Questions are non-threatening because the unbeliever is the one doing most of the talking. Questions help lower a person's defenses because instead of telling a person what to believe, you are asking what they believe first. Questions lead to questions in return. Most mature listeners, after being asked several questions about themselves, sense it's only fair to ask a question or two in return. Questions can help a person to discover truth for themselves.

After reading an article from Campus Fellowship and the book Share Jesus Without Fear, I suggest four questions for us to use as we seek to initiate gospel conversations. I wrestled a LOT with what questions, and then I realized it's not about the "perfect" questions!

1. Do you believe in God? Would you consider yourself a spiritual person?

2. Is truth something that you discover or create?

3. How do you find peace and contentment in life?

4. What do you think is the meaning or purpose of life?

Are we willing to engage others and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ? We have the power of the Holy Spirit in us. We can share how Jesus Christ has changed our lives and share who Jesus is. Let's start today!

In Christ's ministry together ~ Pastor Caryn