Starting a gospel conversation

Questions are a great way to bridge into stories. For example, ask, “How do you think the world got here?” Listen to the person’s point of view (this is essential), then ask if you can tell a story you believe addresses that question.

Another easy conversation starter is to ask, “Why is the world such a painful place to live in?”

Almost everyone has an opinion on that. Listen first to that opinion, then ask if you can tell a story. You can still tell the creation story first by saying, “The world was originally perfect. Can I tell a five-minute story about that first and then explain what went wrong?” Letting people know the length of the stories is useful because it lets them know this won’t be an endless conversation from which there is no escape.

Mr and Mrs Lim, handbag sellers, had just experienced a natural disaster that buried their hometown in mud three metres deep. They shared their grief and pain, which enabled me to ask (very gently), “Why do such terrible things happen?” Their viewpoint was formed by their religious upbringing. They wondered what terrible sin their town and they as individuals had committed to result in this disaster. Our discussion led me to tell the Genesis 1-3 stories. Normally I would tell these in two separate sessions, but that day it was the second part they needed to hear. Rather than skip the creation section, I used it to set up the contrast between the perfect world God created and the current one marred by sin.

From ‘Telling the Gospel Through Story’, (IVP), p. 90-91