Evangelism Training: How To Fearlessly Bring Christ Into Any Conversation. Series

ICC Evangelism Training #1

Revival is here - Over 260,000 people hear the gospel and more than 174,000 trust Christ worldwide every single day (34,000 in SA, over 30,000 in China, 25,000 in Africa, 16,000 in Muslim countries and more all around the world)!

Verses: Acts 17:26-27, Mt.4:19, Mt.13:1-9 and James 1:22.

Evangelism is "MY" responsibility.

Introduce concept of the 3 modes.

Natural Evangelism - Sharing with your sphere of influence throughout the natural course of your friendship.

Evangelism - Inviting someone to church, a Bible study, a retreat, a concert or some Christian event Body where they will see the Body of Christ functioning (Jn.13:35).

Mininstry Evangelism - Hardest & scariest BUT what we see most in the Bible.

It isn’t always as fruitful as the other 2 as far as decisions but...

It is the most effective at growing you and destroying fear and doubt.

It is the most effective for reaching large numbers of people.

Activity 1 - What are you already talking about?

Introduce concept of the 4 Sound barriers.

Sharing the gospel involves breaking 4 different “sound barriers.” They are called sound barriers because each involves your need to speak. Each barrier represents a real point in every conversation where you will be tempted to give in to fear and back down. It is vitally important to analyze where you are at in a conversation and trust Him to cross the next sound barrier.

The 4 Sound Barriers (I don’t know who came up with this idea but CCC uses it in some of their training)

Sound Barrier #1 – Meeting someone and starting a conversation.

This can be done in a natural way (ex. Ask a question of someone you are near at some location - like asking, “What’s the best item on this menu?” at a coffee shop or restaurant).

After meeting someone, asking questions about them is a natural way to keep a conversation going.

Learn to ask good questions to develop and direct good conversations.

This can be done using various ministry tools - like a short spiritual interest survey (ex. Ask, “do you have a couple of minutes for a quick spiritual interest survey?”)

Using a tool like a survey or the Soularium naturally gets you through the 1st 2 barriers instantly.

Activity 2 - Come up with creative ways to meet people and create 3 good questions you’ll use to get the conversation going naturally.

Ask about their interests, job, hobbies, etc and try to relate (remember your conversation topics from activity 1).

Sound Barrier #2 – Transitioning into a spiritual conversation.

Once you are talking with someone about general topics (the weather, news, hobbies, etc.) it is easy to transition to a spiritual conversation by asking thoughtful questions.

Ex. If you’re talking about the news and the bad in the world you could easily ask why they think evil exists.

Activity 3 - Come up with creative transition questions to a spiritual conversation from the topics you listed in Activity 1.

Come up with 2 transition questions for each of your main conversation areas listed in activity 1.

Sound Barrier #3 – Transitioning into the gospel.

From a spiritual conversation you can easily transition to the gospel by asking another transition question like, “what has been your experience with Christianity?”

Activity 4 - Come up with creative transition questions to the gospel from a spiritual conversation. Ex. What has been your experience with Christianity.

From there it is very easy to continue into a presentation of the gospel.

Sound Barrier #4 – Brining someone to the point of a decision.

No presentation of the gospel is complete without asking them to respond to Christ’s message. Most good tools will include this (ex. “The “Knowing God Personally” booklet concludes by asking the person where they’re at and where they’d like to be and then telling them how to get there). Whatever tool or method you use, make sure to convey the fact that they have a decision to make.

Introduce concept of using tools for sharing: Why use tools? They will effectively move you through all 4 barriers:

Take the initiative in the power of the Holy Spirit and then trust results to God!

Tool: The “Knowing God Personally” booklet.

Activity 5 - Get in pairs and go through the “Knowing God Personally” booklet.

Workshop #1 - Application Challenge:

Pray

Be consciously filled with the Spirit.

Take the initiative in the power of the Holy Spirit - Use Spiritual Interest surveys and the “Knowing God Personally” booklet to share the gospel this afternoon and evening.

Trust the results to God.

Bring people that are interested or become Christians to the follow up tent.