Reading: Video Transcript - Lee Strobel: Different Styles of Sharing the Gospel

Lee Strobel: Different Styles of Sharing the Gospel

How Can I Be More Effective in My Personal Evangelism

I think one of the biggest impediments for people who are Christians talking to others about Jesus is they think they have to become something great they can never become - sort of like Billy Graham, someone very articulate, very powerful in their communication ability. Or somebody really weird like the guy they see on the street corner who is babbling about God or something, and they say, "I don't want to be that. I can't become this great thing. I don't want to become this weird thing."

So they just sort of check out of the process of sharing their faith with others about Jesus. So I think one of the keys is to understand that we all have different styles of sharing our faith. And that's okay. You can be yourself and be effective in the way you talk about Jesus to other people.

For instance, some people do have a direct style like Billy Graham does. And they're like Peter at Pentecost who got up and said, "Hey look! Guys, you just murdered Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. What are you going to do about it?"

And 3,000 people that day realized what they've done, then they repented and they became followers of Jesus, and the church was born. So he had a very direct kind of confrontational style. But most people don't have that style. I don't have that style. Some people have an intellectual style, sort of like the Apostle Paul in Acts 17, who talked about the philosophers of Greece and talked to them about God. Many people, I included, like to talk to other people about evidence and about facts that back up our faith. Other people have a testimonial style, sort of like the blind man who was healed by Jesus and he was taken before the religious authorities. And he didn't be very confrontational with people and he didn't try to reason with them. He just said, "Look. I was blind, and now I see. Deal with it."

And some people have an ability to tell their story in a compelling way, the story of how they met Jesus Christ and how he's changed their life. And that's a great style, a great way that those people talk to others about Jesus.

Other people have a serving style. There's a person in the New Testament called Dorcas. She would make clothing for all of the widows in her neighborhood and through that have an opportunity to talk to others about God. And some people have this ability to serve other people in a very practical way and through that to find an opportunity to be able to talk about Jesus Christ.

Other people have a relational style. That is, they make friends really easily. They love getting together with people. They're people persons. They seem to be extroverted and they love to get into conversations and go deep with people about issues in their life, to have a cup of coffee, and a piece of the pie, and to talk about God.

Those people are very effective many times in building a friendship and through that friendship, getting into deep, and important, and liked, and eternity changing conversations about God.

Then other people have an invitational type of style. Maybe they're not the most articulate people in the world. Maybe they're not the most extroverted people in the world. But they love to invite people to go to places where they can hear the message of Jesus being taught. And I think of the Samaritan woman in John chapter four, who meets Jesus and realizes he's the Messiah. So what does she do? She runs back into town. Does she try to persuade people that Jesus is the Messiah? No. Does she confront them? No. What she does is invite them back. She said, "You've got to hear this guy Jesus. I think he may be the Messiah."

And they came back to hear Jesus and some of them did indeed come to believe in him. And some people, these days, are just really good at inviting other people to join them at an outreach service, or at a church service, or an event, or a Christian concert, or someplace where someone who's gifted either in music, or drama, or communication, who is going to explain the Gospel that their friend can then hear and hopefully respond to.

So I think one of the most liberating things about the Christian life is, it's not a cookie cutter approach. We don't all have to share Jesus in the same way. We can do it in a way that suits how Jesus wired us up, and we can do it naturally, and we can do it effectively.