Questioning Evangelism

Years ago in the early 2000s' I remember doing a Two Ways to Live course with the Christian group on uni. For the final week, we would walk up to random students sitting around campus and ask if they would like to hear something about Jesus. I would then give the 5-minute spiel of the six boxes. After that, we would ask some open-ended questions and for most (of the very few people who agreed in the first place) a discussion wouldn't really take place. The whole nature of the presentation was a bit one way, and really I think the course was more for me to know the gospel, rather than to really have a gospel conversation with someone else. Don't get me wrong, it is good to learn a gospel presentation, but most of the time, in conversations you might not get a five-minute space and permission to give a mini talk.

A while back one of our staff members suggested that this book was worth a read in the context of modelling how we need to listen to people when talking about faith and Jesus. The approach in this book is to really have an evangelism conversation by hearing and then asking questions. Asking questions also helps to get to a real issue, rather than some debater who just wants to stump you with tiresome or argumentative questions, and not put forward any of their own thoughts. It is asking the right questions that help disarm the conversation and allow both parties to put forward what they think.

Randy worked on a university campus in America and in his time has come across many conversations about hot-button issues that the contemporary West has with Christianity. The middle section of the book is made up of apologetic discussions on issues like tolerance, evil and suffering, 9/11, AIDS, marriage and sexual orientations. Having a chapter on 9/11 did date the book, it was originally written in 2004, and my 2017 edition said it had updated the same-sex chapter. I think if it were to be updated again, the issues of transgender and binary sex would probably be added. 

Overall I didn't think the apologetic chapters were very groundbreaking, but it was fine to read similar things. The strength was more the tone of the discussion, as it did seem sensitive to the person asking the question (unless it assumed they were only seeking an argument).  In most of the chapters, there was a pretend script/dialogue which I appreciated as these seemed a bit realistic in that the opponent never all of a sudden became a Chrisitan. They would continue to be sceptical or close or hostile, but maybe there might be a point they might consider more.

This book reminded me of another book called Tactics. Both these books are about conversations and questions. Tactics might be a bit clearer on a method or structure in talking to a hostile person and steering the conversation, but I felt Randy might have more of a heart for the other person.

This book may be a little dated in some of its specifics, but it does present a good model on really listening and understanding the person in front of you, hearing what they know (or don't know) and asking a few questions to think through a point more.