If you found yourself trapped on an elevator with someone for an hour, what would your conversation look like?
I suppose you could use that as an example of the opportunity that my friend asked me to write about. She wanted me to write a step-by-step guide for witnessing to someone when you only have one opportunity and the person is a complete stranger. For many Christians this situation can arise while doing street witnessing, or door-to-door visits in a neighborhood. But, regardless of where the opportunity arises, the fact is that we will face this opportunity on a regular basis, if we are normal Americans. When you go out to eat, when you talk to a cashier at a grocery store, even when you chat with someone via an online game, you have brief interactions with someone you may only see one time. So, if you were going to take that opportunity to witness to the person in front of you, what would that look like?
I did the last post on the first of three divisions: Be prepared. This post will address the last two divisions in my step-by-step recommendation: Witnessing, and Afterwords. Most of the time will be spend on the first of those two divisions: Witnessing. This is the part that scares most people, but I've already written that this is the easiest part, assuming you have done the necessary preparation. If you are prepared, knowing Scripture, being in regular prayer, and trusting God, then the witnessing itself is the easy part of the event.
The witnessing is the easy part because it should be something you do naturally. Consider it this way, for a Christian the news about what Christ has done should be the easiest thing in the world to talk about. I don't mean that you necessarily need to tell about all the things you've done and how God has radically changed your life (not every Christian has that testimony) but rather that telling someone that Christ stands ready to forgive all who come to him should be a simple matter. Someone told us about the gospel, and we believed what they told us. So likewise all we have to do is tell others, even if in our own stumbling way, and trust God that they will believe.
But how do we actually do the witnessing? It is easy to say, "Go talk to someone about Christ," but it is a different thing to actually do that.
The first step in witnessing is the first step in any relationship: develop rapport. If the person you are talking to is dismissive or closed off to others then you will have a hard time talking with them about the gospel, so you have to find a way to open the conversation. There are basically an infinite number of ways to do this, from the blunt and direct approach, to asking leading questions, to engaging in intentional conversation that will slowly let you work your way to what you want to talk about. Which of these methods you choose will depend on your personality, the situation you are in, and what the other person seems to respond to.
One of the things we discussed in personal evangelism classes, and something I have used myself in talking with others, is a developing a number of questions that can be used as bridges to the gospel. For instance, you could ask someone what is really of worth, how they think people get to heaven, who the most important person in history is, or even if they consider themselves to be "good" people, and why that matters. There are lots of questions you can ask that will open up doorways to discuss the gospel. Using these questions is one way of developing a rapport that will then lead to a discussion involving the gospel.
This step is probably the hardest part of doing one-time witnessing, because we live in day where more and more people are less and less connected to those around them. It is easy to get on a bus or a plane and see that everyone has some kind of electronic device or book in their hands. In such situations it can be very hard to develop rapport because people have walls up and do not want others to get into those walls. For this reason we must be both brave enough to breach the defensive walls of those around us, but also polite enough to know how to do this in a way that is not offensive, lest we ruin the chance to speak to the person about Christ.
Once you've established rapport, everything else becomes easy. Once you open your conversation you should be intentional about leading your conversation to the gospel. Again this can be a blunt statement like, "I know you're busy, but I'd like to tell you about what I think is the most important thing in the world, do you have a minute?" But, it can also be a much more subtle conversation that allows you walk up the gospel rather slowly. Depending on how much time you have with the person and how good you are at conversation you may be able to take a much longer path to the gospel, or you may have to be very blunt.
If you've taken the time to know the gospel as Scripture lays it out, and you've developed rapport with the person you are talking to, then you simply need to lay out the gospel to that person. Again, this can be a rather simple presentation, such as telling the person that everyone is a sinner (guilty of crimes against God), and because of that, God, being holy (meaning worthy of perfect devotion) has condemned all men for their crimes. But, because God loves humanity he has made a way for all who will to come to him through his Son. Jesus, the Son of God, lived a perfect life, then died the death of a criminal, so that our crimes could be placed on him. But, because he was innocent of any crime, death could not ultimately hold him, and so he rose again from the grave. Now, everyone who puts their trust in Jesus and loves him (obedient love, not mere lip service) will find forgiveness for their crimes against God through his kindness to us. And one day we too will be raised from the dead just as he way. This is a somewhat simple but understandable presentation of the gospel.
One thing you have to be careful with is the words you use. Remember, we have a lot of words that don't have the same meanings to everyone. For instance if I were to say people are sinful, people would take that in different ways. If I were to say that all men are guilty of crimes against God, then that makes more clear what I'm talking about. I may have to explain what crimes specifically we are guilty of, but "crime against God" carries less cultural baggage than a word like "sinful" does. The best thing to do when talking about Christ with someone you don't know is to try not to use words that may have vague or specialized meanings. If you want to be clear about the gospel, then use clear language that the other person can understand. Be careful with what words you choose.
An older way of discussing the words you want to use is to be "winsome." Intentionally craft your words so that the other person wants to listen to what you are saying. Asking someone, "Have you ever stolen anything, even something as simple as an extra few minute of break time, from your employer?" is better than saying, "Look, you're a thief. I know you're a thief because all people steal." In the second case you will likely cause the person to become guarded. In the first instance you let the person talking to you tell you about themselves, something that most of us like to do.
The final step in the actual witnessing event is to make sure you exit the conversation in a graceful manner. What I mean is that if you are going to take the time to witness to your waitress (please make sure it is not a busy time and you are not keeping her from other tables), then leave her a tip that shows you actually care about her. If you took 5 minutes talking with her about Christ, and 45 minutes eating at the table and leave her a 5% gratuity, she isn't going to be very grateful. Think about the impression you leave behind when you finish your conversation.
This final step can be all the more important if the person gets hostile in reaction to your conversation. Remember, we are supposed to love others. Don't treat the person as some notch on your spiritual belt of righteousness. When you witness to others your motivation needs to be out of a deep love for humanity and an understanding that hell is real and those who don't come to Christ are facing very real and eternal danger. If you do not have love then you don't have much business going out and talking about the God who is love, and his love in sending his Son, his very heart, to earth.
If you've done the work to be prepared to witness, and you've taken the opportunities that God has given you to be a faithful witness, then there is one last step after witnessing to someone. This it the step I call Afterwords. Literally it is what you do after words have been spoken. This step brings us full round to the first step. After you have witnessed, pray to God on behalf the person you spoke with. Bring intercession for the person and offer a supplication to God that the seed planted might grow into a fruit bearing plant. Remember, the point of prayer is to ask the Father for those things which will glorify the Son, and this, being the delight of the father, he will do.
If you are living your life in a way that glorifies Christ and reflects your commitment to his holiness, then the steps I've outlined above should be fairly simple. Unfortunately there is a lot that can be said about witnessing. There is not shortage of books on the subject. This is unfortunate because there is no way I can exhaustively cover everything in a few blog posts. But, if you want a series of steps you should follow to make the most of the opportunities you have to speak with someone one time and share the gospel, these are the steps I would follow: Prepare; Witness; Afterwords.
But, in all that you do, do it for the glory of Christ. It is not the gifted speaker or the know-it-all guy who will accomplish the works of God, but it is the faithful servant who loves God and speaks the truth. Moses, who spoke the Word to a whole nation and confronted one of the most powerful kings in the world in his day, said that he could not talk. Paul tells us that people said that his words were weak and that he wasn't a good public speaker. Yet, God tells us that he made the tongue of man, and that it is not powerful words but the work of the Spirit that brings his results. So do not be afraid, but glorify Christ in sharing the good news about him every time you get the chance.
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