I have attended numerous evangelism classes. I am committed to presenting an accurate, clear Gospel. I am ready to present the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation, Rom 1:16. Yet —– in my life I have had few opportunities to share the Gospel with my lost friends and workmates. WHY?

Well, a few reasons actually, but today I want to focus on one: My inability to cross the Spiritual Gap. How do I soften up the hard ground of my friend’s heart such that they are ready to hear the Gospel? How do I break through the wall of spiritual apathy? How do I turn a conversation to spiritual things? I submit this is THE MISSING SKILL of most believers. We want to share the Gospel with our friends, but never can find a way to do it, without being really weird or awkward. So, what did Jesus do?

Jesus asked questions. Dan Grider at the end of his book, Crucial Conversations, lists 223 questions of Jesus recorded in the Gospel accounts. A well positioned question can literally open the door of a person’s inner thoughts. Consider the dynamics of a question:
1) You are important to me, I value your opinions
2) I want to understand what you think about this
3) We are both in this thing called life together, together we can help each other
A genuine question communicates respect for the other person. There is no judgment, there is no “I have all the answers, and you need to listen to me.” A well positioned question can move a person to reassess long held assumptions.

Do you long to have a spiritual conversation with your lost friend? Perhaps the acquired skill of asking questions is the key. This will be a topic of some of the upcoming blogs. Also, the weekly Disciple Making Assignments in the equipping booklets help us to develop that skill.

May the Lord use each of us to be part of a Disciple Making Movement within our sphere of influence.