Ten Persuasion Tips - 2 Cor. 5:11

Ten Persuasion Tips - 2 Cor. 5:11

Introduction: People are more likely to change their opinions if you state your beliefs than if you let the audience draw their own conclusions.

* Pleasant forms of distraction can increase the effectiveness of a persuasive appeal.

* Information, by itself, almost never produces permanent changes. In time, the effects of oratory and persuasive communication wear off.

* People are more likely to change when the message is repeated more than once, and when the desired conclusion is presented at the beginning or at the end of the presentation, instead of in the middle.

* A persuasive appeal is more effective when people are required to be active (for example, by discussing an issue or by having to exert oneself to get information) than when they are merely passive listeners.

* Attempts to change people by arousing guilt and fear rarely bring lasting internal change.

* People are most likely to be persuaded when they perceive that the communicator is in some way similar to themselves. A communicator’s effectiveness is increased if he or she expresses some views that are also held by the audience.

* An audience is more likely to be persuaded if they perceive that the communicator has high credibility.

* If you assume that the audience might be hostile, it is most effective to present facts first (building a case), give more than one side of the argument, and present your position at the end.

* Communication is most effective when information comes through different channels (for example, through pictures, brochures, media "spots," and rational arguments), from different people who present the same message, and repeatedly over a period of time.

G. Collins, The Magnificent Mind, p. 193.

1. BE HOLISTIC. Persuasion involves causing a person to believe something. Effective persuasion involves rational, social, cultural, emotional and spiritual elements. Most people who comr to Christ do so as a result of seeing how a particular need is met through a personal- saving faith relationship with Jesus Christ. To convince people involves praying that the Spirit of God will give you wisdom to know the best way to bring people to have a personal relationship with Christ using contextualized motivations that are effective, suitable and along the lines of culturally conditioned values. For example, everyone in the USA cherishes freedom. Christ gives people freedom from sin, self-destructive practices and bondage to the powers of evil.

2. GIVE ASSURANCE OF ACCEPTANCE AND BELONGING. Persuade people by assuring them that all who come to Christ will be accepted in His family and gain a sense of eternal belonging to our heavenly Father and His children. When individuals feel that they are accepted and belong they are secure. IN ww2 Hitler’s youth felt accepted and cherished the feeling of belonging to a powerful movement. These young people gladly offered themselves as living sacrifices for an evil cause because they were made to feel special through their sense of belonging and acceptance. People in America are tired of just being tolerated they want to belong and feel accepted and loved. People who come to Christ will find a loving, accepting and embracing Father who provides them with a Christian family that provides unconditional acceptance, love and belonging.

3. PROVIDE INCENTIVES. Persuasion experts tell us that people make decisions on the basis of where they think they will get the greatest rewards. Occassionally companies will offer incentives to purchase their products to enhance the positive benefits that will come to those who buy their goods. Realize that a wide array of motivations are important to appeal to a broad audience. Some people have felt needs that are drawn to the offer of forgiveness, but others need the assurance of eternal life to bring them to make a decision to trust Christ as their Savior and Lord.

4. SUPPORT SMALL CHANGES. Many people need to be brought along slowly before they are ready to make a decision to place saving faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is hard for some people to repent and ask Christ to come in to their lives as Savior until they have come through stages of belief, understanding and conviction of their sins. Ask the Spirit of God to convict them of their sins, righteousness and judgment to enhance the person’s realization of their need to be reconciled with God through faith in Christ.

5. DESCRIBE THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE TO BELIEVE IN CHRIST. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. (Psa 112:1,2)Help people know that the consequences of failure to decide for Christ are judgment, eternal separation from God and agony in hell forever. Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven because he knew that people are persuaded by the awful consequences of failure to believe in Him for their forgiveness of sins. John 3:36 Jesus warned, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on Him." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.