Editor: Ricky Kirk, a pastor from Ohio, blogs at Panta ta Ethne, where this post recently appeared. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Our church as recently been studying/exploring evangelism as we prepare for an upcoming revival and Easter weekend. I am modifying material from several sources and approaching evangelism as something more than the Romans Road or the rote memorization and sharing of a few particular verses. I am also challenging our church to have a greater understanding of God’s overarching story of the Bible, so we have covered God, creation, man, fall, Christ, and consummation as well as OT promises made and NT promises kept.
Part of our learning is utilizing Bible storying and incorporating biblical stories with our personal testimonies, thus giving the Word of God, which has authority and power, greater emphasis and our testimonies a secondary emphasis. This is pushing me and others to present the gospel in ways that truly connect with others where they are at, rather than recite a few verses to them, or what is more common, telling our story with out really telling His story.
For example, I had the opportunity this week to share the gospel in a rather unique setting. I am a ‘partner’ for a registered sex offender in a sex offender treatment program. I attend meetings with him and provide encouragement, support, and accountability with him. One thing led to another and the Holy Spirit opened a door and I was allowed to go through it.
To make a long story short, a spiritual issue was being addressed and when the opportunity presented itself I began sharing the gospel and began with the story of David and Bathsheba. I explained that David is called a man after God’s own heart, and he loved and worship God in such a way that he wrote many songs to God called Psalms. I then storied the account of David not serving on the battlefield, his lust, his sin with Bathsheba, the conspiracy to commit murder and the consequences of his sin. This led to his discussion with Nathan and David’s conviction and confession of sin before God (Psalm 51). I then moved to sharing how David’s guilt and shame were removed by the forgiveness of God, and likewise we see this demonstrated through the sacrificial death of Jesus. In His death He bore the wrath of God against sin and removes the guilt and shame of sin for those who receive Him.
That is the summary, and I am sure there was more that I shared, but honestly can’t remember everything. The Holy Spirit just took over and I shared as succinctly as I could in a way that spoke to the context of the group. I might have just used the Roman Road presentation, or something similar, but storying David and his sexual sin with this group resonated with them. The particular gentleman I was sharing with connected with the story which connected to the gospel.
I don’t know where that will lead him, I didn’t ‘close the deal’ and lead him (or any others) in a sinner’s prayer (in fact I didn’t begin nor end my presentation with a prayer), and I didn’t ask him to personally receive Jesus Christ as His personal Lord and Savior. What I did was allow the Holy Spirit to lead and share a biblical story that connected not only to his context but built a bridge to the gospel and presented to him (and the group) the gospel of Jesus Christ. Obedience and honoring God was most important, not ‘closing a deal’. I pray the Holy Spirit continues to speak to this man and that he will respond to God’s offer of salvation.
As we share the gospel, may we remember that while our personal testimonies might be real, personal, and meaningful, they are not the Word of God. By having an understanding of the overall biblical storyline, we find there is a wealth of stories that can be used to speak to a person where they are and if we use the Word of God (more than just a tract or a particular tool) as the Holy Spirit leads to make much of Jesus we will find sharing the gospel brings such joy to our lives.
I would love to your experiences sharing the gospel. Share away!
“Obedience and honoring God was most important, not ‘closing a deal’.” I like that. Really interesting.
At some point, people have to be told that Jesus died for their sins and rose to offer new life. But I like how you were laying the foundation here.
Thanks for sharing this.
Ricky,
We are moving toward a storying style of teaching for our small group discipleship. I have also used storying in our Thursday night Bible study and elsewhere and I have been so excited to see how well people can connect with the Scripture as they hear it this way. In our presumably more literate culture here in the west, we seem to have forgotten the power of a story. Thanks for reminding us.
There are a couple stories I’d like to tell, but I’ll share the most “outrageous”. We’d just finished a mission trip week in Nassau and were leaving on Saturday morning. The group leader (there were 40 of us .. mostly HS kids) asked me to stay outside and see that all the baggage was handled, while he took the kids through. After the luggage was all handled, I went in and went through customs etc, and walked down the concourse. I passed an empty gate and heard a man say “but love is love”, and another say “but if the… Read more »
Rick, As one who interacts on a regular basis with men who are sexually-broken in a number of ways, I want to thank you for being wiling to address biblically the reality of the weight of guilt and shame that often leads sexual offenders away from the church. By walking with him and also witnessing in a truthful, compassionate way, you communicated to all of them that God can forgive them as He forgives all of us. For men who have felt removed from the Gospel, this can make all the difference: when someone who truly believes also believes that… Read more »
@dave ~ You are absolutely correct. One of the points I keep stressing with my congregation is the very fact that we really never get to the gospel in our witnessing. If we are not pointing people to Jesus, it is not evangelism. Asking someone to church, or to Sunday School, or an ‘event’ might be a good start, might build a bridge, but it is not sharing the gospel. As I was sharing with this guy, I was sure to connect his situation with David and build a bridge to an understanding of Jesus. Jesus is the gospel! May… Read more »
God grant us all that we might become sensitive to the needs of others for the Gospel message and salvation. Likewise grant that we might be burdened with prayer for our fellow citizens and for the cause of Christ, specifically, for the glory of God in Christ Jesus. I ask the Lord to visit us, for the heavns to drop down (Isa.45:8), that is, for such a sense of the presence of Heaven to be so evidnt that people’s hearts are melted and transformed. In short, I pray for a Third Great Awakening that shall win the whole earth by… Read more »