YOU MAY THINK THAT THIS BOOK is just plain weird. When it comes to evangelism, I think differently than a lot of people. I ask questions that other people don’t ask. I come up with answers that many people don’t think of. And answers that a lot of people find knock- down, drag- out invincible leave me unconvinced.
Maybe you think like I do. Or maybe you know people who ask the same kinds of questions that I ask. Or maybe our world has changed so significantly that we need to rethink evangelism.
The questions that I ask are not unreasonable. People often say, “Good question.” When I say that certain answers are unconvincing, it’s as if I’ve shouted something about the emperor’s new clothes. And in response to the answers that I offer, people often tell me, “Gee, I wish I’d thought of that.”
For a long time, I wondered if I should just keep quiet and cling to the proverb, “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise” (Prov. 17:28 NASB). Wishing to find another option, I tried out my questions and answers on some real live non- Christians. In the course of writing this book, I met with dozens of amazingly kind and thoughtful people who were making progress on their own spiritual journeys. They were gracious in allowing me to join them for part of the trip. Some of them were students, a few were professors, and most were ordinary folks from various walks of life. One of the first people to share his uncertainties with me (and allow me to share some of my ideas with him) was a fireman who read Nietzsche!
Along the way, I received enough encouragement to write this book.
My prayer is that readers will be encouraged and aided in the task of telling others the best news ever announced. I’m not calling into question the validity of evangelism. I’m calling Christians to use questions in the venture of evangelism. I have two fears, however. The first is that some people might see Questioning Evangelism as a criticism of other books on evangelism or apologetics. Such landmark works as Josh McDowell’s More Than a Carpenter, Paul Little’s Know Why You Believe, or C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity come to mind. It would be the height of presumption for me to criticize such works. These books (and many others like them) are gifts from God to His church, and He has used them in amazing ways. I give away copies as often as I can, because they’re very effective—with certain people.
I also like several newer books in the evangelistic arsenal. Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith are best sellers for good reason. They are well written, well reasoned, and compelling works that our Lord has used and will continue to use to bring many into the kingdom.
A diverse audience, though, requires diverse approaches. Questioning Evangelism offers another approach. If Jesus teaches us anything about evangelism, it’s that He used a variety of methods with a variety of people.
Any evangelistic approach, though, requires three skills. The first and most basic involves declaring the gospel, including the ability to clearly and concisely articulate the message of salvation. A tool such as Bill Bright’s “The Four Spiritual Laws” is helpful in presenting the message clearly while avoiding unnecessary distractions or confusing rabbit trails. Declaring the gospel also includes the sharing of one’s own story or testimony. Every Christian needs fluency in articulating how the Lord changed his or her life and the difference that change makes daily.
The second evangelistic skill is defending the gospel. Anticipating common questions, acquainting oneself with helpful discoveries from the past, and planning how to deliver this information in a logical sequence has to be part of “always being ready to make a defense” (1 Peter 3:15 NASB).
The third skill—and this is where Questioning Evangelism fits in—is built upon the foundations of declaring and defending the gospel. That skill is called dialoguing the gospel. Often neglected, difficult to master, but absolutely essential, this skill of giving and taking—asking questions and bouncing ideas back and forth—might be just what our postmodern audience needs. We need all three skills if we’re to be Christ’s ambassadors in the twenty-first century.
My second fear is that some people might view Questioning Evangelism as a technical handbook. If so, they might be tempted to use its approach to evangelism in a cookie-cutter, mechanical way. Doing so, however, would prove unfruitful and frustrating. I don’t want people to respond to my examples by saying, “I’ve got to memorize this so the next time someone asks me that question, I’ll say these words, use these phrases, ask these questions,” and so forth.
Instead, I hope that readers will develop a different way of thinking about people, their questions, and our message. And because of that difference, our evangelistic conversations will sound less content/ persuasion driven and more relationship/understanding driven. They’ll sound more like rabbinic dialogues than professorial monologues. They’ll be an exchange of ideas that lead both participants to the truth of the gospel. For one participant, it will be the first arrival at that point; for the other participant, it will be a rediscovery and a new appreciation of the message of the cross.
The goal of Questioning Evangelism is to help people know how to think about an issue more than what to think. This book will help followers of Jesus to develop their minds (“the mind of Christ”) more than their methodologies, giving readers a sense of what to say. More important, though, readers will grow in confidence, knowing what to ask, because this book is about questions—questions that Christians can ask to move the conversation in a Christ-ward direction, questions that non-Christians are asking (either directly or indirectly), and questions that Christians can use as answers!
Some of the questions that people ask today are the same old questions that people have asked for millennia. For example, “Why does a good God allow evil and suffering?” But people today ask that question in the wake of terrorist attacks and school shootings, making the question less sterile than it might have been in the past.
Some of the questions have been asked before, but the temperature in the tone is hotter now. When someone asks, for example, “Can Jesus really be the only way to God?” it might be more an accusation than a sincere inquiry. After all, the eternal state of the proverbial “heathen in Africa” is no longer the issue. Rather, it refers to the Hindu who lives next door, the Muslim whose desk is next to yours, the Jew who coaches your son’s soccer team, or the New Age, crystal-clinging, tie-dyed T-shirt–wearing unmarried couple living together down the street.
Some of the questions are new. Twenty years ago, few people brought up the issue of homosexuality in the context of an evangelistic conversation. Now, however, people raise that question often, and often word it as an attack: “Why are you Christians so homophobic?”
A number of questions that lurk within evangelistic chats are unspoken. At one time, only a few rogue fraternity brothers had the boldness to ask why they should stop sleeping with their girlfriend(s!). And even then, their questions were more defense than honest inquiries, with a fair amount of guilt mixed in. Today, thanks to the sexual revolution, marital fidelity and chastity are on the defensive and modern questioners might wonder (aloud or in their jaded hearts), “What’s so great about marriage?” or “If I believe in this God you talk about, will I have to go along with His [your?] antiquated, stifling, and unhealthy ideas about sex?” or “Why should I have sex with just one person for the rest of my life?”
Whether the questions are old or new—or angry varieties of either—we should be more engaging and less confrontational in our sharing of the good news. We must find new hinges upon which to swing open new doors. We must be disciples of our Lord and rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, so that more and more people will join us in that great gathering of worshippers around the Lamb. If He sees fit to use this book toward that end, giving you confidence along the way, I will be grateful.