Connecting Resources

 “What’s your goal? How will you know you’re successful?” In fact, my goal should be SMART:

How Jesus Related to People

Zacchaeus: https://navigators.co.uk/blog/navresources/zacchaeus/ 1st-century Judaism was concerned with maintaining personal holiness, but this undermined the heart of Old Testament law: mercy. Biblical holiness is being merciful to sinful people. Jesus calls us into the world just as he was in the world. This talk is for anyone who wants to follow Jesus into our world.

Woman at the well: https://navigators.co.uk/blog/navresources/samaritan-woman/ In His gracious dealings with the Samaritan woman, Jesus demonstrates His depth of love for us. Our calling is to go to the world, not just our own people. Jerram reveals the beauty of Jesus’ example of reaching people who are different. PDF presentation 

Bible Scholar: https://app.box.com/s/g2mv0hnyiteynyxfs2t4n4wdy9l63b4g the man who asks how to inherit eternal life. Jesus does not tell him the whole Gospel. He tells him what he needs to know at that moment. That is, He tells him what it truly means to love your neighbor as yourself and how he is miserably failing to do that. That is the area where he is challenged so that he will return another day to hear the good news about Christ. He needs to hear the good news about what God's law truly means and then the impact that has on his life. You should declare the aspect of God's truth that is appropriate for where this person is in your conversations with them and challenge them there. There are many different aspects for the good news of the Gospel in addition to Christ's death and our call to repent and have faith in Him.

Rich Young Ruler: https://app.box.com/s/tyztk0iace16buny13tj4bpusxfc9f96 Jerram looks at the way Jesus interacted with the rich young ruler and the lawyer. He unpacks the worldviews of these devout men and the way Jesus subverted their questions to reveal the gospel to them. This talk is appropriate for anyone interacting with people who believe they are good enough without God.  

(PDF summary of several people Jesus met) PDF “Apologetics & Building Bridges”

Book “Learning Evangelism From Jesus” https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Evangelism-Jesus-Jerram-Barrs/dp/1433503182

Book “the Heart of Evangelism" Table of Contents:

Section One: Mission ot the World

Sent to All Nations

The Power of the Spirit

Horizons for Our Mission

How Clear Was Jesus?

“Whom Shall I Send? And Who Will Go for Me?”

What About Me?

Where Do We Begin?

For What Are We to Pray?

After Prayer, What Comes Next?

Living Faithfully in the Workplace

A Life of Love

An Open Home

The New Community

Section Two: The Kindness and Perseverance of God

Is God Reluctant?

A Reluctant Evangelist

The Importance of Our History

God’s Infinite Variety of Means I

God’s Infinite Variety of Means II

A Personal Testimony

Section Three: Barriers in the Way of Communicating the Gospel

Barriers Within Ourselves

Barriers Between the Church and the World I

Barriers Between the Church and the World II

Barriers Between the World and the Church

What Is My Neighbor Thinking About Me?

The Pharisee Within

Memorized Summaries of the Gospel

Section Four: Making the Gospel Known

All Things to All People

Showing Respect–Principle I

Jesus Shows Us the Way

Building Bridges for the Gospel–Principle II

Understanding What Others Believe–Principle III

Revealing the Heart’s Secrets I

Revealing the Heart’s Secrets II

Speaking the Right Language–Principle IV

Reasoned Persuasion–Principle V

Answering the Objections to Reasoned Persuasion

Clarifying the Good News–Principle VI

Challenging the Heart and Mind–Principle VII This book contains the call to share in the joy of the gospel with those who are local and distant — i.e. to those close to us / similar to us and to those that are far away / not like us.  The breadth of this call, and the work required in this call can make us feel intimidated.We are finite, very limited in our knowledge, power, and love. But God sets us in particular places, in contexts of work, study, and play where we meet a limited number of people. He wants us to pray for them, for our relationships with them, for the impact of our lives on them, and for their salvation. He can handle the big picture; He wants us to concentrate on our small part of the vast landscape that He is painting.(p. 48)

Jerram Barrs reminds us of the impact humility can have on others:

“So often as Christians we behave as if we have everything to give to the non-Christian and nothing to receive. We imagine that it would be demeaning for us to acknowledge any weakness or need. Christians are supposed to “have it all together,” and we fear that letting unbelievers see that we don’t, might bring discredit on us and on the gospel. This is folly, for the truth is that we are always weak and needy and the gospel is not served by pretending otherwise. To acknowledge, as Jesus does, our need of the kindness, gifts, wisdom, or advice an unbeliever can give us is encouraging and ennobling to those who might have been led to expect only scorn or condescension from us.”

Here’s the bottom line. It’s not enough to do good work, there has to be something attractive about our character. And especially, the ability to admit our failures and brokenness stands out in stark relief to the culture around us. People need to smell the sweet aroma of Jesus’ presence in our character, which comes most strongly through the humble character he creates in us.

When heaven’s Answer met earth, he came with questions. The very first Gospel account of His words describes Him ‘asking them questions’. This isn’t simply to do with His young age. This is His ancient way. Right from the beginning – right from ‘Adam, where are you?’ – God’s Wisdom has engaged in dialogue, not simply download. And so in the Gospels, Jesus puts 290 different questions to his hearers. That’s over three per chapter – which is a lot!

Be interested, not interesting

This challenges my pride. I kid myself that I’m interesting. But Jesus calls me to be interested. Truth be told, that’s a relief because, a) I’m not very interesting, and b) there is little more boring than a person trying to be interesting. On the other hand, there are few things more nourishing than an interested conversation partner.

In future columns I’ll say more about the questions we can ask, but here let me share some general lines of inquiry – four ways to go a bit deeper than the regular chit-chat.

1. What gets you thinking?

This is about meaning. What makes you consider whether there’s more to life than the daily grind? You might ask people: ‘Have you ever had a religious experience?’ It’s OK if you might not use such language ordinarily – there’s a breed of evangelical that is suspicious of both ‘religion’ and ‘experience’! – but your friend will know what you mean. Whether it’s the beauty of nature, the shock of tragedy, the example of a changed life, the birth of a child, the death of a parent, many life events make us think. When your friend has opened up, feel free to share your own answer to that question. But it will come home so much more profoundly if your witness is in the context of shared experiences.

2. What gets you up in the morning?

This is about purpose. What do you live for? We’ve all got a common need for significance and joy. My own answer to that question (which I can volunteer once I’ve delved into their own thinking), is my bone-deep conviction that all of life is about knowing the God of love and passing it on. Nothing could give greater purpose. Asking, further, where such purposes come from and why such joys resonate with us will get you into some very fruitful areas.

3. What gets you down?

This is about frustrations, and not just everyday peeves. What is getting you down about life right now? Getting into your friend’s real answer may take a bit of probing (especially if they are male. It usually takes about 17 ‘How are you… really?’s to get an honest answer from a bloke). But as you explore struggles, be ready to share about your frailty and fallenness. On frailty I can point to such things as a pandemic, intensifying the natural course of life. One in a thousand Brits died with Covid in 2020. But one in a hundred die of all causes every year. And one in one will die. That’s a confronting reality. But it’s not just my frailty that gets me down, it’s my fallenness. Here’s a chance to name my selfishness and stupidity. I find that the best way to provoke repentance in others is to begin with confession about myself!

4. What gets you through?

This is about comfort and hope. Given our struggles in life, what are our coping mechanisms? Here, if the opportunity presents, I’ll finish this sentence: ‘I couldn’t have gotten through this last year without…’ This is a chance to offer a testimony of Christ’s sustaining grace, but it comes in the context of a deeper conversation.

Of course, none of these questions guarantee that you’ll have a ‘God conversation’. But they do make for a good conversation. And in that context we pray for God’s Answer to shine through.

“What do you do?” This question has always rubbed me the wrong way, it doesn’t always create the best environment to really get to know someone, and Geekwire explains a few reasons why:

It’s understood as “What do you do for a living?” and ranks paycheck activities above all others in the get-to-know-you hierarchy.

It assumes permanence and stability when our economy and values pave choppier paths.

It pins your identity to a job instead of pinning a job to your bigger, evolving identity.

It loads the resume, an automatic output given time and time again.

The person may not have a job at the moment, which is awkward to explain in this context.

The person may not care about what they do for a living. But they have to tell you anyway.

One way to break out of the mold and have more authentic conversations might be to prime ourselves with lots of alternatives to The Question.

Here are quite a few—some are only minor deviations from “What do you do?” while others spin off in an entirely new direction.

The key, according to Chris Colin and Rob Baedeker, authors of What to Talk About: On a Plane, at a Cocktail Party, in a Tiny Elevator with Your Boss’s Boss, is to ask an open-ended question. Their advice?

“Aim for questions that invite people to tell stories, rather than give bland, one-word answers.”

30 alternatives to ‘What do you do?’

What do you like to do?

What are you working on?

What do you do for fun?

What are some of your favorite movies/apps/sites?

What’s something you’re really into right now?

Do you have a hero or mentor that you admire? 

What books have inspired/shaped/encouraged/interested you? 

What’s the most interesting thing that’s happened to you lately?

What are you most passionate about?

What’s the best thing that happened to you today/this week?

What are you most excited about right now/lately?

If money were no object, what would you do with your life?

How do you feel your life has worked out so far?

What was the best part of your week/weekend?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

What are you looking forward to right now?

What’s the last picture you took on your phone?

What is your favorite thing to spend money on?

What’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about you?

What habit or improvement are you working on?

What cheers you up?

What’s your favorite word?

What cause are you interested in?

What’s on your mind lately?

What personal habit or achievement are you proud of?

How do you spend your days/evenings?

What problem do you wish you could solve?

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned recently?

What’s your favorite emoji?

Whom in the world would you most like to share a meal with?

Study Guide: https://www.discoveramplified.com/s/GODTEST-STUDY-GUIDE-wbc9.pdf

The new GODTEST App is designed to promote dialogue on the critical questions surrounding faith, skepticism, and the purpose of life. Developed by Dr. Rice Broocks, THEGODTEST is a tool for helping believers engage unbelievers with the Gospel.

There are 10 questions for both those who believe in God and those who do not. Check out this video:

Once the test is completed, the responses are submitted to the development of history's largest global survey on God.