1. Conversational Evangelism
In Action
By Dr David Geisler
Training Description
- introduce a new paradigm to evangelism
give you the overall concept and some ideas of how to incorporate this
new paradigm into your evangelism, in this first part of the training
- in the second part of the training, you will master the skills that will
create opportunities for pre-evangelism conversations that could lead to
the presentation of the gospel.
Learning Outcomes
- that you will become more effective in evangelism as a result of
incorporating pre-evangelism conversation into your daily witness
- that the first part of these two days of training will result in you
acquiring the skills necessary for pre-evangelism conversation at the
second level of training
Teaching Style
- lectures, trainee participation

2. Building Bridges to the Cross
In fact it may…
Do you know what I mean by this? It may take a while before someone seriously considers the person of Christ.

3. Has anyone ever explained to you the difference between Christianity and all other religions?
I can explain it to you in two words: Do versus Done
Muslims believe that man’s good works have to outweigh his bad works. (Do)
Hinduism teaches that if one does enough good he can pay off his karmic debt and escape the cycle of reincarnation. (Do)
Buddhism teaches that salvation comes about when one desires to stop desiring. (Do)
Jesus says accept the gift I offer. It has already been “Done” for you (you can do nothing to earn God’s gift) Invite me to come into your life and change you from the inside out (Phil. 2:13)

4. My Witnessing Experience With a Taxi Cab Driver
Introductory question
Me:
How long have you been driving a Taxi?
Him:
About one and a half years.
My wife’s uncle used to drive a taxi. It seems like it is harder and harder to make money these days being a taxi cab driver when petrol prices keep rising.
(This statement was to get him talking which he enjoyed doing and sharing his frustration)

5. My Witnessing Experience With a Taxi Cab DriverMe
(After he seemed more open to talking I asked)
Do you have any kind of religious belief?
Him:
I am a Buddhist
Me:
Are you a devout Buddhist?
(no real response) – meaning he probably was Buddhist in name only
Do you know the difference between Christianity and all the other religions in the world?
Pause wait for him to respond….

6. My Witnessing Experience With a Taxi Cab Driver
Him:
No, I won’t mind if you told me.
Me:
I can explain the difference between Christianity and all the other religions in the world using two words “Do versus Done.”
All the religious in the world basically say “do this.” For example, Muslims believe that their good works have to outweigh their bad works; Buddhists believe that one must get rid of desire; Hindus believe they must do good things to be released from the Karmic cycle and reach Nirvana. All these religions basically say you have to do something.
Christianity on the other hand says, there is nothing you can do, it has already be done. All you need to do is to accept the gift that God has provided in sending Jesus to die for us in our place and invite Jesus to come into our lives and to change us from the inside out.

7. My Witnessing Experience With a Taxi Cab Driver
Me:
Have you ever heard anything like this?
Him:
Sort of, my brother in law is a Christian.
So when he because a Christian did you see any changes in his life after that?
Yes….(I can’t remember what else he said here)
Another way to explain the difference between Jesus and all the other religious leaders is to say it this way.
“Buddha claimed to point to the way, Mohammed claimed to be a prophet of God, but Jesus Christ is the only major religious leader who ever claimed to be God, who lived a sinless life, who fulfilled prophecy written hundreds of years before he ever existed, who died on the cross, and rose from the dead and did a bunch of miracles to prove it.”

8. My Witnessing Experience With a Taxi Cab Driver
Him:
Pause….Why are there so many different religious beliefs?
Me:
It is partly because people see God in different ways. Some see there is one God, some see there are many gods, and some see (as in some form of Buddhism) there is no god.
But do you see that they all can not be right? God can not be one, many and none, all at the same time.
Pause…I believe in one God
Christians believe that no matter how much good we do, we can never do enough good. That is why Christians believe that God sent Jesus to die on the cross to take the penalty of our sins.
Have you ever heard anything like this before?

9. My Witnessing Experience With a Taxi Cab Driver
Him:
Not so clearly
Me:
But it is not just that we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, who died for our sins to take the penalty for what we deserve, that makes us a Christian. Each person must individually decide to accept Christ to come into their lives, forgive us or our sins, and change us from the inside out.
For example when I talk to people about Jesus I tell them that there are two decisions one must make about Jesus Christ.
First you have to decide is there good evidence to believe that Jesus is who he said he is.
Then once you have decided that you have to make the most important decision, do I want to put my faith and trust in Christ? And the second decision is much more difficult than the first decision because you have to decide whether you want to submit your will to another person.

10. My Witnessing Experience With a Taxi Cab Driver
Me:
So I can give you good evidence to show that Jesus really was who he says he was but you personally have to decide to put your faith and trust “in Him.”
For example, when I married my wife Charlene, I believed that she would make a good wife based on the evidence. But that evidence as to why I believed she would make a great wife never forced me to say ‘I do’ to her. That was a decision of my will, right?
In the same way you may be convinced that Jesus really is who he said he was but still you must decide whether you want to “believe in” Him before you can become a Christians.
Does that make sense?
Him:
Yes

11. My Witnessing Experience With a Taxi Cab Driver
Me:
Have you ever heard it explained in that way?
Him No
(I could see the Spirit was convicting him but he was not yet ready to make a decision for Christ).

12. Types of Sour Notes You Might Hear
Types of inconsistencies you might hear:
Belief vs. Heart Longing (Eccl. 3:11)
Belief vs. Behavior (Galatians 2:14-16)
Belief vs. Belief (Acts 17:22-30)
Illogical Belief (2 Cor. 1:18)
Revisit

13. Conversational Evangelism in Action Singapore
Interview with NTU Student Singapore about the DaVinci Code
Instructions for the presenter:
Play the video clip. Instruct those you are teaching to listen carefully to the conversation.
First, what did you hear them say?
Second, keeping the concepts of Conversational Evangelism in mind, what would you say to them in response?
Note:
This video clip is very helpful after you teach the first two concepts (Hearing and Illuminating). It helps people to get a handle on how to use conversational evangelism in real life situations and also gives them practice on becoming a better listener.
What assumption is the interviewer making about her view of God?
Ans: There is only one God.
She is confused
She said that she is Buddhist, she doesn’t like Christians pushing her to go to church. There might be some –negative experiences.
Q: She said she did not want to see the DaVinci code, what was her reason for this?
She said she did not want to watch because she feels the pressured to convert.
Q: Do you know that the Davinci code actually challenges many of the beliefs that Jesus teaches? Why would you feel pressured to convert if you go to see the movie?
They all feel pressured into converting to Christianity. She said, “All of us have had that negative experience”
The interviewer asked what is the difference between Christianity and other religions. Her response was that there was not much difference (very pluralistic) except they push their religion on people and also they take a lot of their time.
So follow up question would be:
Q: Do you think that’s the only difference between Christianity and other religions and that they basically all believe the same thing?
Follow up question: Doesn’t Christianity teach that salvation is thru faith, Muslim believe that good work…
If people think Christianity is the same with other religions, they are not motivated to consider what we have to say about Jesus. Because in their mind, they are all basically the same. We have to point out the discrepancy in pluralism to get them interested in listening to us about Jesus.
There are similarities but what separates them is in their distinctions, not their similarities. For example, the way of salvation is different.
She said, “We wait till they come and then… till they are prepared” What kind of questions could we ask her to get start to see the cracks in her Buddhism.
What question should you ask?
Possible Answer:
You mentioned that the Buddhist don’t try to convert people just wait for them to be ready, how do you know when someone is ready to talk about Buddhism?
Q: If you think there is something urgent about believing in Buddhism, why would you wait till they came to you? Wouldn’t the most loving thing be to tell them before its too late?
She ask, “We Christians believe there is one God vs many ways to God.” Yet at the same time the gal she interviewed seemed a little confused. Why do you think she was confused? How might you ask the question differently to minimize her confusion?
She implied that this kind of exclusive fundamentalism causes much of the problem today. She used terrorism as an example. So then the question is what is her misconception as it relates to Christianity and how would you help her to understand? What specific question would you ask her?
Q: Did you know that Jesus taught we should love our enemies and pray for those who prosecute us. By asking this question we can show there is much differences between terrorism and Christianity. This is the most important issue porthole into her soul. This is the way to build up bridge to Christianity.
What are the two main issues or misconception that she had you would want to focus on first? In other words, we want to focus on the red-flag issues we want to point out.
These are the two main issues that we would want to address:
Pluralism
Her negative association connected with believing in exclusive truth and how it inevitably leads to physical conflict.
It is not very nice to believe… (exclusive truth), because it leads to unhappiness.
She poses a question to help her see that not all views can be right and she gives the illustration about pregnancy. And then what was the girl’s answer?
Her answer is religion is not that kind of thing. What does it mean by that, it is not black and white. Then she doesn’t stop and let her pause, she
In her last question, Wendy can only be in NTU or NUS, then she asked would you be interested to know more about Jesus? Then she said no and that’s the end of it. So then the question is what is missing in her last question?
Answer:
She should have said contradictory claims cannot be true at the same time before asking her interest in Jesus.

14. Building a Bridge To The Gospel In Talking To Muslims
Use the Koran
Why?
“WE can use the Koran to lift Jesus out of prophet status and closer to Savior status in the mind of a Muslim.”
The Camel Method, p. 40

15. Building a Bridge to the Gospel
The Koran says that Christians are those closest to “the true believers.”
Surah 5:82-83 “…and though wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is because there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud. When they listen to that which hath been revealed unto the messenger, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of their recognition of the Truth. They say: Our Lord, we believe. Inscribe us as among the witnesses.”
The Camel Method, p. 57

16. Building a Bridge to the Gospel
Chosen 3:42-44
Announcement 3:45-47
Miracle 3:48-49
Eternal Life 3:50-55
The Camel Method, p. 47

17. Building a Bridge to the Gospel
Opening statement: “I have been reading the Koran and I discovered an amazing truth that has given me hope of eternal life in heaven. Will you read to me Sura Al-imran 3:42-55?”
Three steps to raising Isa up in the mind of a Muslim
a. Isa is holy (Surah 3:42-48)
b. Isa has power over death (Surah 3:49-54)
c. Isa knows the way of heaven and is the way (Surah 3:55)
Final Question: “I want to go to heaven when I die. Which prophet can help me get there.”
The Camel Method, p. 47

18. Building a Bridge to the Gospel
Opening statement: “I have been reading the Koran and I discovered an amazing truth that has given me hope of eternal life in heaven. Will you read to me Sura Al-imran 3:42-55?”
2. Three steps to raising Isa up in the mind of a Muslim
a. Isa is holy (Surah 3:42-48)
He is the word of Allah (45)
He is the Messiah, held in honor (45)
He is near to Allah (45)
He is righteous (46)
He is virgin born (47)
The Camel Method, p. 47

19. Building a Bridge to the Gospel
2. Three steps to raising Isa up in the mind of a Muslim
b. Isa has power over death (Surah 3:49-54)
He gave sight to the blind (49)
He healed lepers (49)
He raised the dead to life again (49)
The Camel Method, p. 47

20. Building a Bridge to the Gospel
2. Three steps to raising Isa up in the mind of a Muslim
c. Isa knows the way of heaven and is the way (Surah 3:55)
The Camel Method, p. 47

21. Building a Bridge to the Gospel
Final Question: “I want to go to heaven when I die. Which prophet can help me get there.”
The Camel Method, p. 47

22. Building a Bridge To The Gospel In Talking To Muslims (Review)
Opening statement: “I have been reading the Koran and I discovered an amazing truth that has given me hope of eternal life in heaven. Will you read to me Sura Al-imran 3:42-55?”
Three steps to raising Isa up in the mind of a Muslim
a. Isa is holy (Surah 3:42-48)
b. Isa has power over death (Surah 3:49-54)
c. Isa knows the way of heaven and is the way (Surah 3:55)
Final Question: “I want to go to heaven when I did. Which prophet can help me get there.”
The Camel Method, p. 47

23. A Biblical Perspective
The Apostle Paul said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all means, I may save some.”
I Cor.9:22

24. Conversational Evangelism Four types of conversations we want to have with non-believers
Intro:
The Conversational Evangelism model consists of four different kinds of conversations we want to have with our not-yet Christian friends.
A Hearing Conversation, an illuminating conversation, and uncovering conversation, and a building conversation.
Understanding how to have each of these four kinds of conversations with our not-yet Christian friends is important if we are going to help them take steps towards Christ, especially in the kind of world we live in today.

25. Four types of roles you need to play in your friend’s life
Artist
Builder
And these four kinds of conversations correspond to four roles you need to play in your not-yet Christian friends,
A musician
An artist
An archeologist
A builder
Musician
Archeologist

26. Application Exercise This next week I will:
1. Listen for the types of “sour notes” I hear in my conversations with others.
2. Look for opportunities to ask clarifying questions in my witness to others.
Ask, what do you mean by…? (Example: Free Thinker)
Attempt the process of building a bridge with a not-yet-believer by asking probing questions to reach areas of common understanding and agreement.
Actively seek for opportunities to transition to spiritual things. (example: Do versus Done)
5. Discuss the results of this exercise with my small group.

27. Conversational Evangelism
In Action
By Dr David Geisler
Training Description
- introduce a new paradigm to evangelism
give you the overall concept and some ideas of how to incorporate this
new paradigm into your evangelism, in this first part of the training
- in the second part of the training, you will master the skills that will
create opportunities for pre-evangelism conversations that could lead to
the presentation of the gospel.
Learning Outcomes
- that you will become more effective in evangelism as a result of
incorporating pre-evangelism conversation into your daily witness
- that the first part of these two days of training will result in you
acquiring the skills necessary for pre-evangelism conversation at the
second level of training
Teaching Style
- lectures, trainee participation