Effective Strategies for Spiritual Conversations

In Episode 7 of Season 4, hosts Shane Pruitt, Paul Worcester, and Lacey Villasenor meet up with author, apologist, pastor, and professor Lee Strobel to discuss his insights on training the next generation of Christ followers to engage those outside the Christian faith with the hope of the gospel. Discover new, practical ways that you and your leaders can engage the lost with the love of Christ and go deeper in relationship with those who are searching for answers. Learn why the Lord is calling us away from earthly comforts so that we can see lives changed through the power of His Word.

Also in This Episode:

• The biggest hurdle young people have when engaging others in gospel conversations
• The #1 tool for Next Gen evangelism (and why there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach!)
• Why relational connection is essential for training students to share the gospel
• Effective questions you can ask to gauge a person’s spiritual openness
• How your awkward conversations could change the trajectory of a person’s life forever!

Helpful Resources:

• The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith: Check out Lee’s series that takes a deeper look into many of the hard questions of Christianity, as well as the most common “heart barriers” to accepting the Christian faith
• Is God Real?: Check out Lee’s new book that considers the bigger questions surrounding God’s existence amidst the reality of human suffering. Explore these questions as you engage more deeply in the world of apologetics.
• Contagious Faith: Discover your own natural style for sharing the love of Jesus with others and unpack Mark Mittelberg’s five approaches to evangelism.
• How to Share Jesus Using Gospel Appointments: Nervous about sharing the good news with others? Read through our step-by-step guide to having intentional gospel conversations with strangers.
• Life Essentials: These 6 short videos by Shane and Paul discuss what to do now that new believers have received eternal life. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?
• NAMB Apologetics: As you share the gospel with friends, neighbors, coworkers, and more, you may encounter questions about your faith and other religions. Find answers to the most common questions here.
• The One-Verse Bridge Diagram: Incorporate this tool into your next gospel conversation to help you demonstrate the truth of Romans 6:23 using a visual diagram to assist you as you engage the lost with the gospel.
• Q Place: Receive coaching to grow in confidence as you help others discover Jesus in our culture today. Learn how to start and lead a group for the purpose of building relationships and inviting friends into safe spiritual conversations.

Shareable Quotes:

• “Being Jesus to people is much more effective than trying to be ‘Mr. Apologetics’ and giving intellectual reasons for something.” – Lee Strobel
• “Sharing the hope of Christ with people turns us into listeners. A lot of times in evangelism, it can very quickly turn into us doing all the talking, but asking questions turns us into listeners, which was the model that Jesus often led with.” – Shane Pruitt
• “A lot of theological and apologetics questions start at the head, but what you’re doing is bringing it down to the heart level and connecting with the person in love. People need to know that we genuinely love them, and love covers a multitude of sins.” – Paul Worcester
• “When I say the word ‘evangelist,’ I would like your name to come to mind, that you’re an evangelist. Even though you don’t see yourself that way, you can be yourself and share Christ in a way that syncs up with who God made you to be, and God will use you.” – Lee Strobel
• “The more we hear ourselves articulate the gospel, the more confident we’ll get. And the more confident we are in what we’re saying, the more we will be able to share it.” – Shane Pruitt