Certainly, this question is closely related to the question we tackled in the last session. But it is worth some additional thought.
When we consider evangelism we usually think of a formal presentation with points that need to be covered logically. For example, The Four Spiritual Laws, a popular evangelism pamphlet developed by Cru, summarizes the essentials:
1. God loves you and offers you a wonderful plan for your life.
2. Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life..
3. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.
4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.
I might choose some different points. These are my Six Gospel Ideas:
1. God is the loving creator who wanted to share his world with some partners; so he created people to look after his world with him.
2. But the people messed things up—the world and our relationship with God—by trying to be in charge on our own.
3. We need to be forgiven, both corporately and individually, for trying to do things our own way.
4. God sent his Son into the world to patch things up through his life, death, and resurrection.
5. His resurrection started a new way of life that makes things right again.
6. However, to experience that new life we need to quit doing things contrary to God and his way, while we embrace Jesus and his way of doing things.
Compare my six points with those in the Four Spiritual Laws. What is different and what is similar?
Of course, the question that defines this session might represent a flawed understanding of how evangelism actually works. Most people don't come to Christ through a logical progression. Some people might be captivated by the idea of a God who loves us so much that he'd sacrifice his Son for us even before they understand that forgiveness is essential or that sin is a big problem. So, when we're talking with people we start with the things that first grab their attention.
Maybe the thing that really connects with someone is the idea that we can have a new life. Remember, Jesus invited Nicodemus in John 3 to consider that he could start life all over again before talking about sin or judgment.
The point is that while it is helpful to have some basic ideas you want to cover, you want to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the person or people to whom you are presenting the good news of Jesus. And often you'll not get to share all of the gospel in a single setting. You may get to make a single point about how loving God is. Or you may be able to say something about how messed up the world is and how it seems that we were made for something better.
I find that my gospel presentations often include a single point about something Jesus said that naturally fits in the context of a conversation. For example, someone was noticing some flowers and how fascinating it is that something which is around for such a short time are so beautiful. I matter-of-factly mentioned how often Jesus similarly talked about flowers, citing them as an example of God's love.
The conversation didn't turn to spiritual matters at that point but I made a point about God's love and it didn't weird anyone out. I'm trusting that someday I or someone else will be able to fill in more of the Jesus story. That's how everyday evangelism often works.
For this assignment, I'd like you to write out your own gospel talking points. Maybe it will be similar to the Four Spiritual Laws or my Six Gospel Ideas presented above. Make a list of the points that you think are essential to include when you share the good news of Jesus. Maybe your list will have 10 points. Perhaps it will be eight. I'll let you decide.
When you write your list use words that will be understood by the people in your life. Don't try to sound too spiritual or theological. Email your list to me at bboydston@piu.edu. This assignment is worth 25 points. If you add some appropriate scripture to go with each of your points I'll throw some bonus points your way.
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